Theory-Led Design of Instruments and Representations in Learning Analytics: Developing a Novel Tool for Orchestration of Online Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Nick; Thompson, Kate; Yeoman, Pippa

2015-01-01

This paper describes theory-led design as a way of developing novel tools for learning analytics (LA). It focuses upon the domain of automated discourse analysis (ADA) of group learning activities to help an instructor to orchestrate online groups in real-time. The paper outlines the literature on the development of LA tools within the domain of…

State of the art in on-line techniques coupled to flow injection analysis FIA/on-line- a critical review

PubMed Central

Puchades, R.; Maquieira, A.; Atienza, J.; Herrero, M. A.

1990-01-01

Flow injection analysis (FIA) has emerged as an increasingly used laboratory tool in chemical analysis. Employment of the technique for on-line sample treatment and on-line measurement in chemical process control is a growing trend. This article reviews the recent applications of FlA. Most papers refer to on-line sample treatment. Although FIA is very well suited to continuous on-line process monitoring, few examples have been found in this areamost of them have been applied to water treatment or fermentation processes. PMID:18925271

On-Line Analysis of Southern FIA Data

Treesearch

Michael P. Spinney; Paul C. Van Deusen; Francis A. Roesch

2006-01-01

The Southern On-Line Estimator (SOLE) is a web-based FIA database analysis tool designed with an emphasis on modularity. The Java-based user interface is simple and intuitive to use and the R-based analysis engine is fast and stable. Each component of the program (data retrieval, statistical analysis and output) can be individually modified to accommodate major...

TrAVis to Enhance Online Tutoring and Learning Activities: Real-Time Visualization of Students Tracking Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

May, Madeth; George, Sebastien; Prevot, Patrick

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper presents a part of our research work that places an emphasis on Tracking Data Analysis and Visualization (TrAVis) tools, a web-based system, designed to enhance online tutoring and learning activities, supported by computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools. TrAVis is particularly dedicated to assist both tutors and students…

Analysis of Online Quizzes as a Teaching and Assessment Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salas-Morera, Lorenzo; Arauzo-Azofra, Antonio; García-Hernández, Laura

2012-01-01

This article deals with the integrated use of online quizzes as a teaching and assessment tool in the general program of the subject Proyectos in the third course of Ingeniero Técnico en Informática de Gestión over five consecutive years. The research undertaken aimed to test quizzes effectiveness on student performance when used, not only as an…

Developing an Ecosystem Services online Decision Support Tool to Assess the Impacts of Climate Change and Urban Growth in the Santa Cruz Watershed; Where We Live, Work, and Play

EPA Science Inventory

Processes through which ecosystems provide goods or benefit people can be referred to as "ecosystems services”, which may be quantified to clarify decision-making, with techniques including cost-benefit analysis. We are developing an online decision support tool, the Santa Cruz W...

Knowledge maps: a tool for online assessment with automated feedback.

PubMed

Ho, Veronica W; Harris, Peter G; Kumar, Rakesh K; Velan, Gary M

2018-12-01

In higher education, most assessments or examinations comprise either multiple-choice items or open-ended questions such as modified essay questions (MEQs). Online concept and knowledge maps are potential tools for assessment, which might emphasize meaningful, integrated understanding of phenomena. We developed an online knowledge-mapping assessment tool, which provides automated feedback on student-submitted maps. We conducted a pilot study to investigate the potential utility of online knowledge mapping as a tool for automated assessment by comparing the scores generated by the software with manual grading of a MEQ on the same topic for a cohort of first-year medical students. In addition, an online questionnaire was used to gather students' perceptions of the tool. Map items were highly discriminating between students of differing knowledge of the topic overall. Regression analysis showed a significant correlation between map scores and MEQ scores, and responses to the questionnaire regarding use of knowledge maps for assessment were overwhelmingly positive. These results suggest that knowledge maps provide a similar indication of students' understanding of a topic as a MEQ, with the advantage of instant, consistent computer grading and time savings for educators. Online concept and knowledge maps could be a useful addition to the assessment repertoire in higher education.

An Analysis of Organizational Approaches to Online Course Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Cheng-Yuan; Dickerson, Jeremy; Winslow, Joe

2012-01-01

The structure of an online course, including the navigational interface, visual design of materials and information, as well as the communication tools to facilitate learning, can affect students, instructors, programs and educational organizations in various ways. This paper examines online course structural issues derived from previous research…

Community College Students' Perceptions of Effective Communication in Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Donna Alice Hill

2012-01-01

This quantitative research project analyzed the application of instructional communication tools and techniques used by community college students to determine how they perceive communication in their online classes. Online students from a community college participated in this study by completing an electronic survey. Data analysis revealed that…

Remote Sensing Data Visualization, Fusion and Analysis via Giovanni

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, G.; Zubko, V.; Gopalan, A.; Khayat, M.

2007-01-01

We describe Giovanni, the NASA Goddard developed online visualization and analysis tool that allows users explore various phenomena without learning remote sensing data formats and downloading voluminous data. Using MODIS aerosol data as an example, we formulate an approach to the data fusion for Giovanni to further enrich online multi-sensor remote sensing data comparison and analysis.

SentiHealth-Cancer: A sentiment analysis tool to help detecting mood of patients in online social networks.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Ramon Gouveia; das Dores, Rafael Marques; Camilo-Junior, Celso G; Rosa, Thierson Couto

2016-01-01

Cancer is a critical disease that affects millions of people and families around the world. In 2012 about 14.1 million new cases of cancer occurred globally. Because of many reasons like the severity of some cases, the side effects of some treatments and death of other patients, cancer patients tend to be affected by serious emotional disorders, like depression, for instance. Thus, monitoring the mood of the patients is an important part of their treatment. Many cancer patients are users of online social networks and many of them take part in cancer virtual communities where they exchange messages commenting about their treatment or giving support to other patients in the community. Most of these communities are of public access and thus are useful sources of information about the mood of patients. Based on that, Sentiment Analysis methods can be useful to automatically detect positive or negative mood of cancer patients by analyzing their messages in these online communities. The objective of this work is to present a Sentiment Analysis tool, named SentiHealth-Cancer (SHC-pt), that improves the detection of emotional state of patients in Brazilian online cancer communities, by inspecting their posts written in Portuguese language. The SHC-pt is a sentiment analysis tool which is tailored specifically to detect positive, negative or neutral messages of patients in online communities of cancer patients. We conducted a comparative study of the proposed method with a set of general-purpose sentiment analysis tools adapted to this context. Different collections of posts were obtained from two cancer communities in Facebook. Additionally, the posts were analyzed by sentiment analysis tools that support the Portuguese language (Semantria and SentiStrength) and by the tool SHC-pt, developed based on the method proposed in this paper called SentiHealth. Moreover, as a second alternative to analyze the texts in Portuguese, the collected texts were automatically translated into English, and submitted to sentiment analysis tools that do not support the Portuguese language (AlchemyAPI and Textalytics) and also to Semantria and SentiStrength, using the English option of these tools. Six experiments were conducted with some variations and different origins of the collected posts. The results were measured using the following metrics: precision, recall, F1-measure and accuracy The proposed tool SHC-pt reached the best averages for accuracy and F1-measure (harmonic mean between recall and precision) in the three sentiment classes addressed (positive, negative and neutral) in all experimental settings. Moreover, the worst accuracy value (58%) achieved by SHC-pt in any experiment is 11.53% better than the greatest accuracy (52%) presented by other addressed tools. Finally, the worst average F1 (48.46%) reached by SHC-pt in any experiment is 4.14% better than the greatest average F1 (46.53%) achieved by other addressed tools. Thus, even when we compare the SHC-pt results in complex scenario versus others in easier scenario the SHC-pt is better. This paper presents two contributions. First, it proposes the method SentiHealth to detect the mood of cancer patients that are also users of communities of patients in online social networks. Second, it presents an instantiated tool from the method, called SentiHealth-Cancer (SHC-pt), dedicated to automatically analyze posts in communities of cancer patients, based on SentiHealth. This context-tailored tool outperformed other general-purpose sentiment analysis tools at least in the cancer context. This suggests that the SentiHealth method could be instantiated as other disease-based tools during future works, for instance SentiHealth-HIV, SentiHealth-Stroke and SentiHealth-Sclerosis. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Using Formative Student Feedback: A Continuous Quality Improvement Approach for Online Course Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bloxham, Kristy Taylor

2010-01-01

The objective of this study was to examine the use of frequent, anonymous student course surveys as a tool in supporting continuous quality improvement (CQI) principles in online instruction. The study used a qualitative, multiple-case design involving four separate online courses. Analysis methods included pattern matching/explanation building,…

Assessing Accessibility: How Accessible Are Online Courses for Students with Disabilities?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massengale, Lindsey R.; Vasquez, Eleazar, III

2016-01-01

Delivering course material in a manner that is accessible to all students including those with disabilities is important in the online environment. This article presents an analysis focusing on the accessibility of six courses presented through the Webcourses platform. Six professors volunteered one course for analysis. The tool used for analyzing…

SU-F-BRB-07: A Plan Comparison Tool to Ensure Robustness and Deliverability in Online-Adaptive Radiotherapy

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

Hill, P; Labby, Z; Bayliss, R A

Purpose: To develop a plan comparison tool that will ensure robustness and deliverability through analysis of baseline and online-adaptive radiotherapy plans using similarity metrics. Methods: The ViewRay MRIdian treatment planning system allows export of a plan file that contains plan and delivery information. A software tool was developed to read and compare two plans, providing information and metrics to assess their similarity. In addition to performing direct comparisons (e.g. demographics, ROI volumes, number of segments, total beam-on time), the tool computes and presents histograms of derived metrics (e.g. step-and-shoot segment field sizes, segment average leaf gaps). Such metrics were investigatedmore » for their ability to predict that an online-adapted plan reasonably similar to a baseline plan where deliverability has already been established. Results: In the realm of online-adaptive planning, comparing ROI volumes offers a sanity check to verify observations found during contouring. Beyond ROI analysis, it has been found that simply editing contours and re-optimizing to adapt treatment can produce a delivery that is substantially different than the baseline plan (e.g. number of segments increased by 31%), with no changes in optimization parameters and only minor changes in anatomy. Currently the tool can quickly identify large omissions or deviations from baseline expectations. As our online-adaptive patient population increases, we will continue to develop and refine quantitative acceptance criteria for adapted plans and relate them historical delivery QA measurements. Conclusion: The plan comparison tool is in clinical use and reports a wide range of comparison metrics, illustrating key differences between two plans. This independent check is accomplished in seconds and can be performed in parallel to other tasks in the online-adaptive workflow. Current use prevents large planning or delivery errors from occurring, and ongoing refinements will lead to increased assurance of plan quality.« less

The Multimedia Case as a Tool for Professional Development: An Analysis of Online and Face-to-Face Interaction among Mathematics Pre-Service Teachers, In-Service Teachers, Mathematicians, and Mathematics Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGraw, Rebecca; Lynch, Kathleen; Koc, Yusuf; Budak, Ayfer; Brown, Catherine A.

2007-01-01

In this study, we consider the potential of multimedia cases as tools for teacher professional development. Specifically, we examined online and face-to-face discussions that occurred within groups composed of pre-service mathematics teachers, in-service mathematics teachers, mathematicians, and mathematics teacher educators. Discussions within…

Exploring JavaScript and ROOT technologies to create Web-based ATLAS analysis and monitoring tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez Pineda, A.

2015-12-01

We explore the potential of current web applications to create online interfaces that allow the visualization, interaction and real cut-based physics analysis and monitoring of processes through a web browser. The project consists in the initial development of web- based and cloud computing services to allow students and researchers to perform fast and very useful cut-based analysis on a browser, reading and using real data and official Monte- Carlo simulations stored in ATLAS computing facilities. Several tools are considered: ROOT, JavaScript and HTML. Our study case is the current cut-based H → ZZ → llqq analysis of the ATLAS experiment. Preliminary but satisfactory results have been obtained online.

Validation, reliability, and specificity of CliniCom™ Psychiatric Assessment Software.

PubMed

Handal, Nelson; LePage, James; Dayley, Philip; Baldwin, Barbara; Roeser, Amellia; Kay, Joni; Theobald, Heather Ann; Nellamattathil, Michael; Drotar, Scott; Weir, Connor; Tindell, Neil; Tice, Kevin

2018-07-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the specificity and reproducibility of CliniCom™ Psychiatric Assessment Software to appropriately diagnose five prevalent mental health disorders. This online assessment tool incorporates proprietary algorithms for its propensity assessment. Unlike other questionnaires, which require a survey per specific mental disorder, CliniCom can simultaneously assess multiple mental disorders for an individual. CliniCom was concordant with other commonly used assessment tools in diagnosing five prevalent disorders including: Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Social Phobia. The online tool was overall 78% concordant in diagnosing the same disorder during a test-retest analysis. When subjects exhibited two, three, or four disorders, the tool was less consistent in diagnosing the same set of disorders during the test-retest analysis (53% concordant). However, if evaluated as individual disorders within subjects, the more persistent disorders had a higher rate of concordance: MDD (83.3%), ADHD (81.0%), and OCD (68.4%). This study proposes CliniCom as an online assessment tool that demonstrates specificity in identifying specific psychiatric conditions and shows reproducibility over multiple administrations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Analysis of Higher Order Thinking in Online Discussions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLoughlin, D.; Mynard, J.

2009-01-01

This paper describes a study of online discussion forums as tools for promoting higher-order thinking. The study was carried out in a women's university in the United Arab Emirates. Data, in the form of online discussion forum transcripts, were collected over a 20-week semester and were analysed according to a model developed by Garrison,…

Online Problem-Based Learning in Postgraduate Medical Education--Content Analysis of Reflection Comments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez, Maria L.; Salmoni, Alan J.

2008-01-01

We developed the Med-e-Conference, an online tool to teach clinical skills to medical students, which integrated problem-based learning with collaborative group tasks. The final task asked students to consider what they had done (reflection). These comments were analysed using content analysis, and 10 themes were elicited. The number of agreements…

On Designing Multicore-Aware Simulators for Systems Biology Endowed with OnLine Statistics

PubMed Central

Calcagno, Cristina; Coppo, Mario

2014-01-01

The paper arguments are on enabling methodologies for the design of a fully parallel, online, interactive tool aiming to support the bioinformatics scientists .In particular, the features of these methodologies, supported by the FastFlow parallel programming framework, are shown on a simulation tool to perform the modeling, the tuning, and the sensitivity analysis of stochastic biological models. A stochastic simulation needs thousands of independent simulation trajectories turning into big data that should be analysed by statistic and data mining tools. In the considered approach the two stages are pipelined in such a way that the simulation stage streams out the partial results of all simulation trajectories to the analysis stage that immediately produces a partial result. The simulation-analysis workflow is validated for performance and effectiveness of the online analysis in capturing biological systems behavior on a multicore platform and representative proof-of-concept biological systems. The exploited methodologies include pattern-based parallel programming and data streaming that provide key features to the software designers such as performance portability and efficient in-memory (big) data management and movement. Two paradigmatic classes of biological systems exhibiting multistable and oscillatory behavior are used as a testbed. PMID:25050327

On designing multicore-aware simulators for systems biology endowed with OnLine statistics.

PubMed

Aldinucci, Marco; Calcagno, Cristina; Coppo, Mario; Damiani, Ferruccio; Drocco, Maurizio; Sciacca, Eva; Spinella, Salvatore; Torquati, Massimo; Troina, Angelo

2014-01-01

The paper arguments are on enabling methodologies for the design of a fully parallel, online, interactive tool aiming to support the bioinformatics scientists .In particular, the features of these methodologies, supported by the FastFlow parallel programming framework, are shown on a simulation tool to perform the modeling, the tuning, and the sensitivity analysis of stochastic biological models. A stochastic simulation needs thousands of independent simulation trajectories turning into big data that should be analysed by statistic and data mining tools. In the considered approach the two stages are pipelined in such a way that the simulation stage streams out the partial results of all simulation trajectories to the analysis stage that immediately produces a partial result. The simulation-analysis workflow is validated for performance and effectiveness of the online analysis in capturing biological systems behavior on a multicore platform and representative proof-of-concept biological systems. The exploited methodologies include pattern-based parallel programming and data streaming that provide key features to the software designers such as performance portability and efficient in-memory (big) data management and movement. Two paradigmatic classes of biological systems exhibiting multistable and oscillatory behavior are used as a testbed.

GenomePeek—an online tool for prokaryotic genome and metagenome analysis

DOE PAGES

McNair, Katelyn; Edwards, Robert A.

2015-06-16

As increases in prokaryotic sequencing take place, a method to quickly and accurately analyze this data is needed. Previous tools are mainly designed for metagenomic analysis and have limitations; such as long runtimes and significant false positive error rates. The online tool GenomePeek (edwards.sdsu.edu/GenomePeek) was developed to analyze both single genome and metagenome sequencing files, quickly and with low error rates. GenomePeek uses a sequence assembly approach where reads to a set of conserved genes are extracted, assembled and then aligned against the highly specific reference database. GenomePeek was found to be faster than traditional approaches while still keeping errormore » rates low, as well as offering unique data visualization options.« less

Coastal Online Analysis and Synthesis Tool 2.0 (COAST)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Richard B.; Navard, Andrew R.; Nguyen, Beth T.

2009-01-01

The Coastal Online Assessment and Synthesis Tool (COAST) 3D geobrowser has been developed to integrate disparate coastal datasets from NASA and other sources into a desktop tool that provides new data visualization and analysis capabilities for coastal researchers, managers, and residents. It is built upon the widely used NASA-developed open source World Wind geobrowser from NASA Ames (Patrick Hogan et al.) .Net and C# version is used for development. It is leveraged off of World Wind community shared code samples and COAST 2.0 enhancement direction is based on Coastal science community feedback and needs assessment (GOMA). The main objective is to empower the user to bring more user-meaningful data into multi-layered, multi-temporal spatial context.

An online spatial database of Australian Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge for contemporary natural and cultural resource management.

PubMed

Pert, Petina L; Ens, Emilie J; Locke, John; Clarke, Philip A; Packer, Joanne M; Turpin, Gerry

2015-11-15

With growing international calls for the enhanced involvement of Indigenous peoples and their biocultural knowledge in managing conservation and the sustainable use of physical environment, it is timely to review the available literature and develop cross-cultural approaches to the management of biocultural resources. Online spatial databases are becoming common tools for educating land managers about Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge (IBK), specifically to raise a broad awareness of issues, identify knowledge gaps and opportunities, and to promote collaboration. Here we describe a novel approach to the application of internet and spatial analysis tools that provide an overview of publically available documented Australian IBK (AIBK) and outline the processes used to develop the online resource. By funding an AIBK working group, the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS) provided a unique opportunity to bring together cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary and trans-organizational contributors who developed these resources. Without such an intentionally collaborative process, this unique tool would not have been developed. The tool developed through this process is derived from a spatial and temporal literature review, case studies and a compilation of methods, as well as other relevant AIBK papers. The online resource illustrates the depth and breadth of documented IBK and identifies opportunities for further work, partnerships and investment for the benefit of not only Indigenous Australians, but all Australians. The database currently includes links to over 1500 publically available IBK documents, of which 568 are geo-referenced and were mapped. It is anticipated that as awareness of the online resource grows, more documents will be provided through the website to build the database. It is envisaged that this will become a well-used tool, integral to future natural and cultural resource management and maintenance. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Spec Tool; an online education and research resource

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maman, S.; Shenfeld, A.; Isaacson, S.; Blumberg, D. G.

2016-06-01

Education and public outreach (EPO) activities related to remote sensing, space, planetary and geo-physics sciences have been developed widely in the Earth and Planetary Image Facility (EPIF) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. These programs aim to motivate the learning of geo-scientific and technologic disciplines. For over the past decade, the facility hosts research and outreach activities for researchers, local community, school pupils, students and educators. As software and data are neither available nor affordable, the EPIF Spec tool was created as a web-based resource to assist in initial spectral analysis as a need for researchers and students. The tool is used both in the academic courses and in the outreach education programs and enables a better understanding of the theoretical data of spectroscopy and Imaging Spectroscopy in a 'hands-on' activity. This tool is available online and provides spectra visualization tools and basic analysis algorithms including Spectral plotting, Spectral angle mapping and Linear Unmixing. The tool enables to visualize spectral signatures from the USGS spectral library and additional spectra collected in the EPIF such as of dunes in southern Israel and from Turkmenistan. For researchers and educators, the tool allows loading collected samples locally for further analysis.

Online tools for uncovering data quality issues in satellite-based global precipitation products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Z.; Heo, G.

2015-12-01

Accurate and timely available global precipitation products are important to many applications such as flood forecasting, hydrological modeling, vector-borne disease research, crop yield estimates, etc. However, data quality issues such as biases and uncertainties are common in satellite-based precipitation products and it is important to understand these issues in applications. In recent years, algorithms using multi-satellites and multi-sensors for satellite-based precipitation estimates have become popular, such as the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) and the latest Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). Studies show that data quality issues for multi-satellite and multi-sensor products can vary with space and time and can be difficult to summarize. Online tools can provide customized results for a given area of interest, allowing customized investigation or comparison on several precipitation products. Because downloading data and software is not required, online tools can facilitate precipitation product evaluation and comparison. In this presentation, we will present online tools to uncover data quality issues in satellite-based global precipitation products. Examples will be presented as well.

Initiating an Online Reputation Monitoring System with Open Source Analytics Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuhud, Mohd Ilias M.; Alwi, Najwa Hayaati Md; Halim, Azni Haslizan Abd

2018-05-01

Online reputation is an invaluable asset for modern organizations as it can help in business performance especially in sales and profit. However, if we are not aware of our reputation, it is difficult to maintain it. Thus, social media analytics is a new tool that can provide online reputation monitoring in various ways such as sentiment analysis. As a result, numerous large-scale organizations have implemented Online Reputation Monitoring (ORM) systems. However, this solution is not supposed to be exclusively for high-income organizations, as many organizations regardless sizes and types are now online. This research attempts to propose an affordable and reliable ORM system using combination of open source analytics tools for both novice practitioners and academicians. We also evaluate its prediction accuracy and we discovered that the system provides acceptable predictions (sixty percent accuracy) and demonstrate a tally prediction of major polarity by human annotation. The proposed system can help in supporting business decisions with flexible monitoring strategies especially for organization that want to initiate and administrate ORM themselves at low cost.

WebArray: an online platform for microarray data analysis

PubMed Central

Xia, Xiaoqin; McClelland, Michael; Wang, Yipeng

2005-01-01

Background Many cutting-edge microarray analysis tools and algorithms, including commonly used limma and affy packages in Bioconductor, need sophisticated knowledge of mathematics, statistics and computer skills for implementation. Commercially available software can provide a user-friendly interface at considerable cost. To facilitate the use of these tools for microarray data analysis on an open platform we developed an online microarray data analysis platform, WebArray, for bench biologists to utilize these tools to explore data from single/dual color microarray experiments. Results The currently implemented functions were based on limma and affy package from Bioconductor, the spacings LOESS histogram (SPLOSH) method, PCA-assisted normalization method and genome mapping method. WebArray incorporates these packages and provides a user-friendly interface for accessing a wide range of key functions of limma and others, such as spot quality weight, background correction, graphical plotting, normalization, linear modeling, empirical bayes statistical analysis, false discovery rate (FDR) estimation, chromosomal mapping for genome comparison. Conclusion WebArray offers a convenient platform for bench biologists to access several cutting-edge microarray data analysis tools. The website is freely available at . It runs on a Linux server with Apache and MySQL. PMID:16371165

FIESTA—An R estimation tool for FIA analysts

Treesearch

Tracey S. Frescino; Paul L. Patterson; Gretchen G. Moisen; Elizabeth A. Freeman

2015-01-01

FIESTA (Forest Inventory ESTimation for Analysis) is a user-friendly R package that was originally developed to support the production of estimates consistent with current tools available for the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) National Program, such as FIDO (Forest Inventory Data Online) and EVALIDator. FIESTA provides an alternative data retrieval and reporting...

ExAtlas: An interactive online tool for meta-analysis of gene expression data.

PubMed

Sharov, Alexei A; Schlessinger, David; Ko, Minoru S H

2015-12-01

We have developed ExAtlas, an on-line software tool for meta-analysis and visualization of gene expression data. In contrast to existing software tools, ExAtlas compares multi-component data sets and generates results for all combinations (e.g. all gene expression profiles versus all Gene Ontology annotations). ExAtlas handles both users' own data and data extracted semi-automatically from the public repository (GEO/NCBI database). ExAtlas provides a variety of tools for meta-analyses: (1) standard meta-analysis (fixed effects, random effects, z-score, and Fisher's methods); (2) analyses of global correlations between gene expression data sets; (3) gene set enrichment; (4) gene set overlap; (5) gene association by expression profile; (6) gene specificity; and (7) statistical analysis (ANOVA, pairwise comparison, and PCA). ExAtlas produces graphical outputs, including heatmaps, scatter-plots, bar-charts, and three-dimensional images. Some of the most widely used public data sets (e.g. GNF/BioGPS, Gene Ontology, KEGG, GAD phenotypes, BrainScan, ENCODE ChIP-seq, and protein-protein interaction) are pre-loaded and can be used for functional annotations.

Discovering online learning barriers: survey of health educational stakeholders in dentistry.

PubMed

Schönwetter, D; Reynolds, P

2013-02-01

Given the exponential explosion of online learning tools and the challenge to harness their influence in dental education, there is a need to determine the current status of online learning tools being adopted at dental schools, the barriers that thwart the potential of adopting these and to capture this information from each of the various stakeholders involved in dental online learning (administrators, instructors, students and software/hardware technicians). The aims of this exploratory study are threefold: first, to understand which online learning tools are currently being adopted at dental schools; second, to determine the barriers in adopting online learning in dental education; and third, to identify a way of better preparing stakeholders in their quest to encourage others at their institutions to adopt online learning tools. Seventy-two participants representing eight countries and 13 stakeholder groups in dentistry were invited to complete the online Survey of Barriers in Online Learning Education in Health Professional Schools. The survey was created for this study but generic to all healthcare education domains. Twenty participants completed the survey. demonstrated that many online learning tools are being successfully adopted at dental schools, but computer-based assessment tools are the least successful. Added to this are challenges of support and resources for online learning tools. Participants offered suggestions of creating a blended (online and face-to-face) tutorial aimed at assisting stakeholders to help their dental schools in adopting online learning tools The information from this study is essential in helping us to better prepare the next generation of dental providers in terms of adopting online learning tools. This paper will not only provide strategies of how best to proceed, but also inspire participants with the necessary tools to move forward as they assist their clients with adopting and sustaining online learning tools and models. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Create, run, share, publish, and reference your LC-MS, FIA-MS, GC-MS, and NMR data analysis workflows with the Workflow4Metabolomics 3.0 Galaxy online infrastructure for metabolomics.

PubMed

Guitton, Yann; Tremblay-Franco, Marie; Le Corguillé, Gildas; Martin, Jean-François; Pétéra, Mélanie; Roger-Mele, Pierrick; Delabrière, Alexis; Goulitquer, Sophie; Monsoor, Misharl; Duperier, Christophe; Canlet, Cécile; Servien, Rémi; Tardivel, Patrick; Caron, Christophe; Giacomoni, Franck; Thévenot, Etienne A

2017-12-01

Metabolomics is a key approach in modern functional genomics and systems biology. Due to the complexity of metabolomics data, the variety of experimental designs, and the multiplicity of bioinformatics tools, providing experimenters with a simple and efficient resource to conduct comprehensive and rigorous analysis of their data is of utmost importance. In 2014, we launched the Workflow4Metabolomics (W4M; http://workflow4metabolomics.org) online infrastructure for metabolomics built on the Galaxy environment, which offers user-friendly features to build and run data analysis workflows including preprocessing, statistical analysis, and annotation steps. Here we present the new W4M 3.0 release, which contains twice as many tools as the first version, and provides two features which are, to our knowledge, unique among online resources. First, data from the four major metabolomics technologies (i.e., LC-MS, FIA-MS, GC-MS, and NMR) can be analyzed on a single platform. By using three studies in human physiology, alga evolution, and animal toxicology, we demonstrate how the 40 available tools can be easily combined to address biological issues. Second, the full analysis (including the workflow, the parameter values, the input data and output results) can be referenced with a permanent digital object identifier (DOI). Publication of data analyses is of major importance for robust and reproducible science. Furthermore, the publicly shared workflows are of high-value for e-learning and training. The Workflow4Metabolomics 3.0 e-infrastructure thus not only offers a unique online environment for analysis of data from the main metabolomics technologies, but it is also the first reference repository for metabolomics workflows. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling Periodic Impulsive Effects on Online TV Series Diffusion.

PubMed

Fu, Peihua; Zhu, Anding; Fang, Qiwen; Wang, Xi

Online broadcasting substantially affects the production, distribution, and profit of TV series. In addition, online word-of-mouth significantly affects the diffusion of TV series. Because on-demand streaming rates are the most important factor that influences the earnings of online video suppliers, streaming statistics and forecasting trends are valuable. In this paper, we investigate the effects of periodic impulsive stimulation and pre-launch promotion on on-demand streaming dynamics. We consider imbalanced audience feverish distribution using an impulsive susceptible-infected-removed(SIR)-like model. In addition, we perform a correlation analysis of online buzz volume based on Baidu Index data. We propose a PI-SIR model to evolve audience dynamics and translate them into on-demand streaming fluctuations, which can be observed and comprehended by online video suppliers. Six South Korean TV series datasets are used to test the model. We develop a coarse-to-fine two-step fitting scheme to estimate the model parameters, first by fitting inter-period accumulation and then by fitting inner-period feverish distribution. We find that audience members display similar viewing habits. That is, they seek new episodes every update day but fade away. This outcome means that impulsive intensity plays a crucial role in on-demand streaming diffusion. In addition, the initial audience size and online buzz are significant factors. On-demand streaming fluctuation is highly correlated with online buzz fluctuation. To stimulate audience attention and interpersonal diffusion, it is worthwhile to invest in promotion near update days. Strong pre-launch promotion is also a good marketing tool to improve overall performance. It is not advisable for online video providers to promote several popular TV series on the same update day. Inter-period accumulation is a feasible forecasting tool to predict the future trend of the on-demand streaming amount. The buzz in public social communities also represents a highly correlated analysis tool to evaluate the advertising value of TV series.

Modeling Periodic Impulsive Effects on Online TV Series Diffusion

PubMed Central

Fang, Qiwen; Wang, Xi

2016-01-01

Background Online broadcasting substantially affects the production, distribution, and profit of TV series. In addition, online word-of-mouth significantly affects the diffusion of TV series. Because on-demand streaming rates are the most important factor that influences the earnings of online video suppliers, streaming statistics and forecasting trends are valuable. In this paper, we investigate the effects of periodic impulsive stimulation and pre-launch promotion on on-demand streaming dynamics. We consider imbalanced audience feverish distribution using an impulsive susceptible-infected-removed(SIR)-like model. In addition, we perform a correlation analysis of online buzz volume based on Baidu Index data. Methods We propose a PI-SIR model to evolve audience dynamics and translate them into on-demand streaming fluctuations, which can be observed and comprehended by online video suppliers. Six South Korean TV series datasets are used to test the model. We develop a coarse-to-fine two-step fitting scheme to estimate the model parameters, first by fitting inter-period accumulation and then by fitting inner-period feverish distribution. Results We find that audience members display similar viewing habits. That is, they seek new episodes every update day but fade away. This outcome means that impulsive intensity plays a crucial role in on-demand streaming diffusion. In addition, the initial audience size and online buzz are significant factors. On-demand streaming fluctuation is highly correlated with online buzz fluctuation. Conclusion To stimulate audience attention and interpersonal diffusion, it is worthwhile to invest in promotion near update days. Strong pre-launch promotion is also a good marketing tool to improve overall performance. It is not advisable for online video providers to promote several popular TV series on the same update day. Inter-period accumulation is a feasible forecasting tool to predict the future trend of the on-demand streaming amount. The buzz in public social communities also represents a highly correlated analysis tool to evaluate the advertising value of TV series. PMID:27669520

High School Online: Pedagogy, Preferences, and Practices of Three Online Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Shantia

2011-01-01

This multiple case study explores how three online, high school teachers used technological tools to create meaningful learning activities for their students. Findings reveal that teachers use a wide variety of tools and approaches to online learning. Tools are categorized as content, communication, and management tools. Approaches include…

Data processing, multi-omic pathway mapping, and metabolite activity analysis using XCMS Online

PubMed Central

Forsberg, Erica M; Huan, Tao; Rinehart, Duane; Benton, H Paul; Warth, Benedikt; Hilmers, Brian; Siuzdak, Gary

2018-01-01

Systems biology is the study of complex living organisms, and as such, analysis on a systems-wide scale involves the collection of information-dense data sets that are representative of an entire phenotype. To uncover dynamic biological mechanisms, bioinformatics tools have become essential to facilitating data interpretation in large-scale analyses. Global metabolomics is one such method for performing systems biology, as metabolites represent the downstream functional products of ongoing biological processes. We have developed XCMS Online, a platform that enables online metabolomics data processing and interpretation. A systems biology workflow recently implemented within XCMS Online enables rapid metabolic pathway mapping using raw metabolomics data for investigating dysregulated metabolic processes. In addition, this platform supports integration of multi-omic (such as genomic and proteomic) data to garner further systems-wide mechanistic insight. Here, we provide an in-depth procedure showing how to effectively navigate and use the systems biology workflow within XCMS Online without a priori knowledge of the platform, including uploading liquid chromatography (LCLC)–mass spectrometry (MS) data from metabolite-extracted biological samples, defining the job parameters to identify features, correcting for retention time deviations, conducting statistical analysis of features between sample classes and performing predictive metabolic pathway analysis. Additional multi-omics data can be uploaded and overlaid with previously identified pathways to enhance systems-wide analysis of the observed dysregulations. We also describe unique visualization tools to assist in elucidation of statistically significant dysregulated metabolic pathways. Parameter input takes 5–10 min, depending on user experience; data processing typically takes 1–3 h, and data analysis takes ~30 min. PMID:29494574

Faculty Recommendations for Web Tools: Implications for Course Management Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Kevin; Moore, John

2008-01-01

A gap analysis of web tools in Engineering was undertaken as one part of the Digital Library Network for Engineering and Technology (DLNET) grant funded by NSF (DUE-0085849). DLNET represents a Web portal and an online review process to archive quality knowledge objects in Engineering and Technology disciplines. The gap analysis coincided with the…

OLTARIS: On-Line Tool for the Assessment of Radiation in Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandridge, Chris A.; Blattnig, Steve R.; Clowdsley, Martha S.; Norbury, John; Qualis, Garry D.; Simonsen, Lisa C.; Singleterry, Robert C.; Slaba, Tony C.; Walker, Steven A.; Badavi, Francis F.;

Development and analysis of educational technologies for a blended organic chemistry course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Michael James

Blended courses incorporate elements of both face-to-face and online instruction. The extent to which blended courses are conducted online, and the proper role of the online components of blended courses, have been debated and may vary. What can be said in general, however, is that online tools for blended courses are typically culled together from a variety of sources, are often very large scale, and may present distractions for students that decrease their utility as teaching tools. Furthermore, large-scale educational technologies may not be amenable to rigorous, detailed study, limiting evaluation of their effectiveness. Small-scale educational technologies run from the instructor's own server have the potential to mitigate many of these issues. Such tools give the instructor or researcher direct access to all available data, facilitating detailed analysis of student use. Code modification is simple and rapid if errors arise, since code is stored where the instructor can easily access it. Finally, the design of a small-scale tool can target a very specific application. With these ideas in mind, this work describes several projects aimed at exploring the use of small-scale, web-based software in a blended organic chemistry course. A number of activities were developed and evaluated using the Student Assessment of Learning Gains survey, and data from the activities were analyzed using quantitative methods of statistics and social network analysis methods. Findings from this work suggest that small-scale educational technologies provide significant learning benefits for students of organic chemistry---with the important caveat that instructors must offer appropriate levels of technical and pedagogical support for students. Most notably, students reported significant learning gains from activities that included collaborative learning supported by novel online tools. For the particular context of organic chemistry, which has a unique semantic language (Lewis structures), the incorporation of shared video was a novel but important element of these activities. In fields for which mere text would not provide enough information in communications between students, video offers an appealing medium for student-student interaction.

Feasibility of lane closures using probe data : technical brief.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-04-01

This study developed an on-line system analysis tool called the Work Zone Interactive : Management Application - Planning (WIMAP-P), an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn tool for : predicting the traffic impact caused by work zone lane closures on freewa...

Guidelines for Online Assessment for Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westhuizen, Duan vd

2016-01-01

This work starts with a brief overview of education in developing countries, to contextualise the use of the guidelines. Although this document is intended to be a practical tool, it is necessary to include some theoretical analysis of the concept of online assessment. This is given in Sections 3 and 4, together with the identification and…

Online Reflections about Tinkering in Early Childhood: A Socio-Cultural Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jane, Beverley

2006-01-01

Science education research predominantly shows that students improve their scientific understandings when they tinker (or pull apart) tools and simple household machines. In this study, the qualitative data collected took the form of online journal entries by final year, female, primary teacher trainees, who reflected upon their early childhood…

A Dynamic Analysis of the Interplay between Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication in Online Learning: The Impact of Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giesbers, B.; Rienties, B.; Tempelaar, D.; Gijselaers, W.

2014-01-01

With the increased affordances of synchronous communication tools, more opportunities for online learning to resemble face-to-face settings have recently become available. However, synchronous communication does not afford as much time for reflection as asynchronous communication. Therefore, a combination of synchronous and asynchronous…

The development of the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ).

PubMed

Demetrovics, Zsolt; Urbán, Róbert; Nagygyörgy, Katalin; Farkas, Judit; Griffiths, Mark D; Pápay, Orsolya; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi; Felvinczi, Katalin; Oláh, Attila

2012-01-01

Online gaming has become increasingly popular. However, this has led to concerns that these games might induce serious problems and/or lead to dependence for a minority of players. The aim of this study was to uncover and operationalize the components of problematic online gaming. A total of 3415 gamers (90% males; mean age 21 years), were recruited through online gaming websites. A combined method of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied. Latent profile analysis was applied to identify persons at-risk. EFA revealed a six-factor structure in the background of problematic online gaming that was also confirmed by a CFA. For the assessment of the identified six dimensions--preoccupation, overuse, immersion, social isolation, interpersonal conflicts, and withdrawal--the 18-item Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ) proved to be exceedingly suitable. Based on the latent profile analysis, 3.4% of the gamer population was considered to be at high risk, while another 15.2% was moderately problematic. The POGQ seems to be an adequate measurement tool for the differentiated assessment of gaming related problems on six subscales.

Sustaining an Online, Shared Community Resource for Models, Robust Open source Software Tools and Data for Volcanology - the Vhub Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patra, A. K.; Valentine, G. A.; Bursik, M. I.; Connor, C.; Connor, L.; Jones, M.; Simakov, N.; Aghakhani, H.; Jones-Ivey, R.; Kosar, T.; Zhang, B.

2015-12-01

Over the last 5 years we have created a community collaboratory Vhub.org [Palma et al, J. App. Volc. 3:2 doi:10.1186/2191-5040-3-2] as a place to find volcanology-related resources, and a venue for users to disseminate tools, teaching resources, data, and an online platform to support collaborative efforts. As the community (current active users > 6000 from an estimated community of comparable size) embeds the tools in the collaboratory into educational and research workflows it became imperative to: a) redesign tools into robust, open source reusable software for online and offline usage/enhancement; b) share large datasets with remote collaborators and other users seamlessly with security; c) support complex workflows for uncertainty analysis, validation and verification and data assimilation with large data. The focus on tool development/redevelopment has been twofold - firstly to use best practices in software engineering and new hardware like multi-core and graphic processing units. Secondly we wish to enhance capabilities to support inverse modeling, uncertainty quantification using large ensembles and design of experiments, calibration, validation. Among software engineering practices we practice are open source facilitating community contributions, modularity and reusability. Our initial targets are four popular tools on Vhub - TITAN2D, TEPHRA2, PUFF and LAVA. Use of tools like these requires many observation driven data sets e.g. digital elevation models of topography, satellite imagery, field observations on deposits etc. These data are often maintained in private repositories that are privately shared by "sneaker-net". As a partial solution to this we tested mechanisms using irods software for online sharing of private data with public metadata and access limits. Finally, we adapted use of workflow engines (e.g. Pegasus) to support the complex data and computing workflows needed for usage like uncertainty quantification for hazard analysis using physical models.

OASIS 2: online application for survival analysis 2 with features for the analysis of maximal lifespan and healthspan in aging research.

PubMed

Han, Seong Kyu; Lee, Dongyeop; Lee, Heetak; Kim, Donghyo; Son, Heehwa G; Yang, Jae-Seong; Lee, Seung-Jae V; Kim, Sanguk

2016-08-30

Online application for survival analysis (OASIS) has served as a popular and convenient platform for the statistical analysis of various survival data, particularly in the field of aging research. With the recent advances in the fields of aging research that deal with complex survival data, we noticed a need for updates to the current version of OASIS. Here, we report OASIS 2 (http://sbi.postech.ac.kr/oasis2), which provides extended statistical tools for survival data and an enhanced user interface. In particular, OASIS 2 enables the statistical comparison of maximal lifespans, which is potentially useful for determining key factors that limit the lifespan of a population. Furthermore, OASIS 2 provides statistical and graphical tools that compare values in different conditions and times. That feature is useful for comparing age-associated changes in physiological activities, which can be used as indicators of "healthspan." We believe that OASIS 2 will serve as a standard platform for survival analysis with advanced and user-friendly statistical tools for experimental biologists in the field of aging research.

Open source tools for management and archiving of digital microscopy data to allow integration with patient pathology and treatment information.

PubMed

Khushi, Matloob; Edwards, Georgina; de Marcos, Diego Alonso; Carpenter, Jane E; Graham, J Dinny; Clarke, Christine L

2013-02-12

Virtual microscopy includes digitisation of histology slides and the use of computer technologies for complex investigation of diseases such as cancer. However, automated image analysis, or website publishing of such digital images, is hampered by their large file sizes. We have developed two Java based open source tools: Snapshot Creator and NDPI-Splitter. Snapshot Creator converts a portion of a large digital slide into a desired quality JPEG image. The image is linked to the patient's clinical and treatment information in a customised open source cancer data management software (Caisis) in use at the Australian Breast Cancer Tissue Bank (ABCTB) and then published on the ABCTB website (http://www.abctb.org.au) using Deep Zoom open source technology. Using the ABCTB online search engine, digital images can be searched by defining various criteria such as cancer type, or biomarkers expressed. NDPI-Splitter splits a large image file into smaller sections of TIFF images so that they can be easily analysed by image analysis software such as Metamorph or Matlab. NDPI-Splitter also has the capacity to filter out empty images. Snapshot Creator and NDPI-Splitter are novel open source Java tools. They convert digital slides into files of smaller size for further processing. In conjunction with other open source tools such as Deep Zoom and Caisis, this suite of tools is used for the management and archiving of digital microscopy images, enabling digitised images to be explored and zoomed online. Our online image repository also has the capacity to be used as a teaching resource. These tools also enable large files to be sectioned for image analysis. The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/5330903258483934.

A method for screening active components from Chinese herbs by cell membrane chromatography-offline-high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and an online statistical tool for data processing.

PubMed

Cao, Yan; Wang, Shaozhan; Li, Yinghua; Chen, Xiaofei; Chen, Langdong; Wang, Dongyao; Zhu, Zhenyu; Yuan, Yongfang; Lv, Diya

2018-03-09

Cell membrane chromatography (CMC) has been successfully applied to screen bioactive compounds from Chinese herbs for many years, and some offline and online two-dimensional (2D) CMC-high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) hyphenated systems have been established to perform screening assays. However, the requirement of sample preparation steps for the second-dimensional analysis in offline systems and the need for an interface device and technical expertise in the online system limit their extensive use. In the present study, an offline 2D CMC-HPLC analysis combined with the XCMS (various forms of chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry) Online statistical tool for data processing was established. First, our previously reported online 2D screening system was used to analyze three Chinese herbs that were reported to have potential anti-inflammatory effects, and two binding components were identified. By contrast, the proposed offline 2D screening method with XCMS Online analysis was applied, and three more ingredients were discovered in addition to the two compounds revealed by the online system. Then, cross-validation of the three compounds was performed, and they were confirmed to be included in the online data as well, but were not identified there because of their low concentrations and lack of credible statistical approaches. Last, pharmacological experiments showed that these five ingredients could inhibit IL-6 release and IL-6 gene expression on LPS-induced RAW cells in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with previous 2D CMC screening systems, this newly developed offline 2D method needs no sample preparation steps for the second-dimensional analysis, and it is sensitive, efficient, and convenient. It will be applicable in identifying active components from Chinese herbs and practical in discovery of lead compounds derived from herbs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

moocRP: Enabling Open Learning Analytics with an Open Source Platform for Data Distribution, Analysis, and Visualization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pardos, Zachary A.; Whyte, Anthony; Kao, Kevin

2016-01-01

In this paper, we address issues of transparency, modularity, and privacy with the introduction of an open source, web-based data repository and analysis tool tailored to the Massive Open Online Course community. The tool integrates data request/authorization and distribution workflow features as well as provides a simple analytics module upload…

Using FIESTA , an R-based tool for analysts, to look at temporal trends in forest estimates

Treesearch

Tracey S. Frescino; Paul L. Patterson; Elizabeth A. Freeman; Gretchen G. Moisen

2012-01-01

FIESTA (Forest Inventory Estimation for Analysis) is a user-friendly R package that supports the production of estimates for forest resources based on procedures from Bechtold and Patterson (2005). The package produces output consistent with current tools available for the Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program, such as FIDO (Forest Inventory Data Online) and...

HYPATIA--An Online Tool for ATLAS Event Visualization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kourkoumelis, C.; Vourakis, S.

2014-01-01

This paper describes an interactive tool for analysis of data from the ATLAS experiment taking place at the world's highest energy particle collider at CERN. The tool, called HYPATIA/applet, enables students of various levels to become acquainted with particle physics and look for discoveries in a similar way to that of real research.

CNV-WebStore: online CNV analysis, storage and interpretation.

PubMed

Vandeweyer, Geert; Reyniers, Edwin; Wuyts, Wim; Rooms, Liesbeth; Kooy, R Frank

2011-01-05

Microarray technology allows the analysis of genomic aberrations at an ever increasing resolution, making functional interpretation of these vast amounts of data the main bottleneck in routine implementation of high resolution array platforms, and emphasising the need for a centralised and easy to use CNV data management and interpretation system. We present CNV-WebStore, an online platform to streamline the processing and downstream interpretation of microarray data in a clinical context, tailored towards but not limited to the Illumina BeadArray platform. Provided analysis tools include CNV analsyis, parent of origin and uniparental disomy detection. Interpretation tools include data visualisation, gene prioritisation, automated PubMed searching, linking data to several genome browsers and annotation of CNVs based on several public databases. Finally a module is provided for uniform reporting of results. CNV-WebStore is able to present copy number data in an intuitive way to both lab technicians and clinicians, making it a useful tool in daily clinical practice.

Online tools for individuals with depression and neurologic conditions: A scoping review.

PubMed

Lukmanji, Sara; Pham, Tram; Blaikie, Laura; Clark, Callie; Jetté, Nathalie; Wiebe, Samuel; Bulloch, Andrew; Holroyd-Leduc, Jayna; Macrodimitris, Sophia; Mackie, Aaron; Patten, Scott B

2017-08-01

Patients with neurologic conditions commonly have depression. Online tools have the potential to improve outcomes in these patients in an efficient and accessible manner. We aimed to identify evidence-informed online tools for patients with comorbid neurologic conditions and depression. A scoping review of online tools (free, publicly available, and not requiring a facilitator) for patients with depression and epilepsy, Parkinson disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or migraine was conducted. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Cochrane CENTRAL Register of Controlled Trials were searched from database inception to January 2017 for all 5 neurologic conditions. Gray literature using Google and Google Scholar as well as app stores for both Android and Apple devices were searched. Self-management or self-efficacy online tools were not included unless they were specifically targeted at depression and one of the neurologic conditions and met the other eligibility criteria. Only 4 online tools were identified. Of these 4 tools, 2 were web-based self-management programs for patients with migraine or MS and depression. The other 2 were mobile apps for patients with PD or TBI and depression. No online tools were found for epilepsy. There are limited depression tools for people with neurologic conditions that are evidence-informed, publicly available, and free. Future research should focus on the development of high-quality, evidence-based online tools targeted at neurologic patients.

Future Challenges and Opportunities in Online Prescription Drug Promotion Research Comment on "Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters".

PubMed

Southwell, Brian G; Rupert, Douglas J

2016-01-16

Despite increased availability of online promotional tools for prescription drug marketers, evidence on online prescription drug promotion is far from settled or conclusive. We highlight ways in which online prescription drug promotion is similar to conventional broadcast and print advertising and ways in which it differs. We also highlight five key areas for future research: branded drug website influence on consumer knowledge and behavior, interactive features on branded drug websites, mobile viewing of branded websites and mobile advertisements, online promotion and non-US audiences, and social media and medication decisions. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

Icarus: visualizer for de novo assembly evaluation.

PubMed

Mikheenko, Alla; Valin, Gleb; Prjibelski, Andrey; Saveliev, Vladislav; Gurevich, Alexey

2016-11-01

: Data visualization plays an increasingly important role in NGS data analysis. With advances in both sequencing and computational technologies, it has become a new bottleneck in genomics studies. Indeed, evaluation of de novo genome assemblies is one of the areas that can benefit from the visualization. However, even though multiple quality assessment methods are now available, existing visualization tools are hardly suitable for this purpose. Here, we present Icarus-a novel genome visualizer for accurate assessment and analysis of genomic draft assemblies, which is based on the tool QUAST. Icarus can be used in studies where a related reference genome is available, as well as for non-model organisms. The tool is available online and as a standalone application. http://cab.spbu.ru/software/icarus CONTACT: aleksey.gurevich@spbu.ruSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The "Language Barrier" in Private Online Tutoring: From an Innocuous Concept to a Neoliberal Marketing Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozar, Olga

2014-01-01

The "language barrier" is a common buzzword in Russian-English teaching discourse that has not yet been critically investigated. This study contemplates a recently emerging phenomenon of private online language tutoring in Russia through investigation of this popular phrase. The paper draws on Critical Discourse Analysis to explore…

MMOGs as Learning Environments: An Ecological Journey into "Quest Atlantis" and "The Sims Online"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Michael; Schrader, P. G.; Zheng, Dongping

2006-01-01

Michael Young, P. G. Schrader, and Dongping Zheng use the concepts of ecological psychology to examine how massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) promote specific learning processes in their players. In their analysis they identify and define nine principles of learning that allow such games to have valuable potential as tools for educators:…

Making a Game out of It: Using Web-Based Competitive Quizzes for Quantitative Analysis Content Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grinias, James P.

2017-01-01

Online student-response systems provide instructors with an easy-to-use tool to instantly evaluate student comprehension. For comprehensive content review, turning this evaluation into a competitive game where students can compete against each other was found to be helpful and enjoyable for participating students. One specific online resource,…

Qualitative analysis of the contributions of nutritionists to the development of an online instrument for monitoring the food intake of schoolchildren

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Consumo Alimentar e Atividade Fisica de Escolares (CAAFE) questionnaire is an online research tool that has been developed to enable the self-report of physical activity and diet by Brazilian schoolchildren aged 7–10 years. Formative research was conducted with nutritionists during the developme...

Online discussion boards in dental education: potential and challenges.

PubMed

Linjawi, A I; Walmsley, A D; Hill, K B

2012-02-01

Online discussion boards may enhance critical analysis and reflection, and promote the acquisition of knowledge. To assess the effectiveness of online discussion board as a pedagogical tool in augmenting face-to-face teaching in dental education. Data were collected from a discussion archive offered through the E-course website of the School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham, UK in 2008. A multi-component metric included; participation, social learning, cognitive processing, role of instructors, and quality of discussion. Messages were coded for 14 variables to evaluate these dimensions. Data were analyzed using content analysis methodology and a complete message was uses as the unit of analysis. There were no significant difference in participation between students and instructors (P<0.05). Social interaction with peers appeared only through students posting messages with open questions (27/135 messages). The discussion board was mainly used by students to understand concepts (27/102 messages) and apply procedural knowledge (17/102 messages). Instructors were mainly replying to students' messages with (49/120 messages) or without (54/120 messages) proposing another action. Online discussion boards were found to be successful pedagogical tools in dental education. Further development of instructor-led discussion approach is needed to promote higher level learning and collaborative thinking. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Online Student Collaboration and FERPA Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schrameyer, Alexander R.; Graves, Tracy M.; Hua, David M.; Brandt, Nile C.

2016-01-01

The increasing use of online or cloud collaboration tools in organizations creates a need for students to develop skills in the use of these tools. Instructors have an opportunity to prepare students by incorporating these collaboration tools into their courses. The use of these online collaboration tools has the potential to expose instructors…

Automatic analysis of online image data for law enforcement agencies by concept detection and instance search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Boer, Maaike H. T.; Bouma, Henri; Kruithof, Maarten C.; ter Haar, Frank B.; Fischer, Noëlle M.; Hagendoorn, Laurens K.; Joosten, Bart; Raaijmakers, Stephan

2017-10-01

The information available on-line and off-line, from open as well as from private sources, is growing at an exponential rate and places an increasing demand on the limited resources of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). The absence of appropriate tools and techniques to collect, process, and analyze the volumes of complex and heterogeneous data has created a severe information overload. If a solution is not found, the impact on law enforcement will be dramatic, e.g. because important evidence is missed or the investigation time is too long. Furthermore, there is an uneven level of capabilities to deal with the large volumes of complex and heterogeneous data that come from multiple open and private sources at national level across the EU, which hinders cooperation and information sharing. Consequently, there is a pertinent need to develop tools, systems and processes which expedite online investigations. In this paper, we describe a suite of analysis tools to identify and localize generic concepts, instances of objects and logos in images, which constitutes a significant portion of everyday law enforcement data. We describe how incremental learning based on only a few examples and large-scale indexing are addressed in both concept detection and instance search. Our search technology allows querying of the database by visual examples and by keywords. Our tools are packaged in a Docker container to guarantee easy deployment on a system and our tools exploit possibilities provided by open source toolboxes, contributing to the technical autonomy of LEAs.

Activity Theory and Qualitative Research in Digital Domains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sam, Cecile

2012-01-01

Understanding the interactions between people, computer-mediated communication, and online life requires that researchers appropriate a set of methodological tools that would be best suited for capturing and analyzing the phenomenon. However, these tools are not limited to relevant technological forms of data collections and analysis programs; it…

Online Learning Tools as Supplements for Basic and Clinical Science Education.

PubMed

Ellman, Matthew S; Schwartz, Michael L

2016-01-01

Undergraduate medical educators are increasingly incorporating online learning tools into basic and clinical science curricula. In this paper, we explore the diversity of online learning tools and consider the range of applications for these tools in classroom and bedside learning. Particular advantages of these tools are highlighted, such as delivering foundational knowledge as part of the "flipped classroom" pedagogy and for depicting unusual physical examination findings and advanced clinical communication skills. With accelerated use of online learning, educators and administrators need to consider pedagogic and practical challenges posed by integrating online learning into individual learning activities, courses, and curricula as a whole. We discuss strategies for faculty development and the role of school-wide resources for supporting and using online learning. Finally, we consider the role of online learning in interprofessional, integrated, and competency-based applications among other contemporary trends in medical education are considered.

Online Learning Tools as Supplements for Basic and Clinical Science Education

PubMed Central

Ellman, Matthew S.; Schwartz, Michael L.

2016-01-01

Undergraduate medical educators are increasingly incorporating online learning tools into basic and clinical science curricula. In this paper, we explore the diversity of online learning tools and consider the range of applications for these tools in classroom and bedside learning. Particular advantages of these tools are highlighted, such as delivering foundational knowledge as part of the “flipped classroom” pedagogy and for depicting unusual physical examination findings and advanced clinical communication skills. With accelerated use of online learning, educators and administrators need to consider pedagogic and practical challenges posed by integrating online learning into individual learning activities, courses, and curricula as a whole. We discuss strategies for faculty development and the role of school-wide resources for supporting and using online learning. Finally, we consider the role of online learning in interprofessional, integrated, and competency-based applications among other contemporary trends in medical education are considered. PMID:29349323

Identification and Affinity-Quantification of ß-Amyloid and α-Synuclein Polypeptides Using On-Line SAW-Biosensor-Mass Spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slamnoiu, Stefan; Vlad, Camelia; Stumbaum, Mihaela; Moise, Adrian; Lindner, Kathrin; Engel, Nicole; Vilanova, Mar; Diaz, Mireia; Karreman, Christiaan; Leist, Marcel; Ciossek, Thomas; Hengerer, Bastian; Vilaseca, Marta; Przybylski, Michael

2014-08-01

Bioaffinity analysis using a variety of biosensors has become an established tool for detection and quantification of biomolecular interactions. Biosensors, however, are generally limited by the lack of chemical structure information of affinity-bound ligands. On-line bioaffinity-mass spectrometry using a surface-acoustic wave biosensor (SAW-MS) is a new combination providing the simultaneous affinity detection, quantification, and mass spectrometric structural characterization of ligands. We describe here an on-line SAW-MS combination for direct identification and affinity determination, using a new interface for MS of the affinity-isolated ligand eluate. Key element of the SAW-MS combination is a microfluidic interface that integrates affinity-isolation on a gold chip, in-situ sample concentration, and desalting with a microcolumn for MS of the ligand eluate from the biosensor. Suitable MS- acquisition software has been developed that provides coupling of the SAW-MS interface to a Bruker Daltonics ion trap-MS, FTICR-MS, and Waters Synapt-QTOF- MS systems. Applications are presented for mass spectrometric identifications and affinity (KD) determinations of the neurodegenerative polypeptides, ß-amyloid (Aß), and pathophysiological and physiological synucleins (α- and ß-synucleins), two key polypeptide systems for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, respectively. Moreover, first in vivo applications of αSyn polypeptides from brain homogenate show the feasibility of on-line affinity-MS to the direct analysis of biological material. These results demonstrate on-line SAW-bioaffinity-MS as a powerful tool for structural and quantitative analysis of biopolymer interactions.

Applying social network analysis to understand the knowledge sharing behaviour of practitioners in a clinical online discussion forum.

PubMed

Stewart, Samuel Alan; Abidi, Syed Sibte Raza

2012-12-04

Knowledge Translation (KT) plays a vital role in the modern health care community, facilitating the incorporation of new evidence into practice. Web 2.0 tools provide a useful mechanism for establishing an online KT environment in which health practitioners share their practice-related knowledge and experiences with an online community of practice. We have implemented a Web 2.0 based KT environment--an online discussion forum--for pediatric pain practitioners across seven different hospitals in Thailand. The online discussion forum enabled the pediatric pain practitioners to share and translate their experiential knowledge to help improve the management of pediatric pain in hospitals. The goal of this research is to investigate the knowledge sharing dynamics of a community of practice through an online discussion forum. We evaluated the communication patterns of the community members using statistical and social network analysis methods in order to better understand how the online community engages to share experiential knowledge. Statistical analyses and visualizations provide a broad overview of the communication patterns within the discussion forum. Social network analysis provides the tools to delve deeper into the social network, identifying the most active members of the community, reporting the overall health of the social network, isolating the potential core members of the social network, and exploring the inter-group relationships that exist across institutions and professions. The statistical analyses revealed a network dominated by a single institution and a single profession, and found a varied relationship between reading and posting content to the discussion forum. The social network analysis discovered a healthy network with strong communication patterns, while identifying which users are at the center of the community in terms of facilitating communication. The group-level analysis suggests that there is strong interprofessional and interregional communication, but a dearth of non-nurse participants has been identified as a shortcoming. The results of the analysis suggest that the discussion forum is active and healthy, and that, though few, the interprofessional and interinstitutional ties are strong.

Visionmaker.NYC: An Online Landscape Ecology Tool to Support Social-Ecological System Visioning and Planning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DuBois, Bryce; Allred, Shorna; Bunting-Howarth, Katherine; Sanderson, Eric W.; Giampieri, Mario

2017-01-01

The Welikeia project and the corresponding free online tool Visionmaker. NYC focus on the historical landscape ecologies of New York City. This article provides a brief introduction to online participatory tools, describes the Visionmaker tool in detail, and offers suggested ways to use the tool for Extension professionals based in and outside New…

Feasibility Assessment of ITS Deployment Analysis System (IDAS) for ITS Evaluation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-12-01

This study investigated the feasibility of utilizing the ITS Deployment Analysis System (IDAS) program version 2.2 as a tool for evaluating Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) deployment plans. Firstly, an online survey was conducted among metro...

Adoption of online health management tools among healthy older adults: An exploratory study.

PubMed

Zettel-Watson, Laura; Tsukerman, Dmitry

2016-06-01

As the population ages and chronic diseases abound, overburdened healthcare systems will increasingly require individuals to manage their own health. Online health management tools, quickly increasing in popularity, have the potential to diminish or even replace in-person contact with health professionals, but overall efficacy and usage trends are unknown. The current study explored perceptions and usage patterns among users of online health management tools, and identified barriers and barrier-breakers among non-users. An online survey was completed by 169 computer users (aged 50+). Analyses revealed that a sizable minority (37%) of participants use online health management tools and most users (89%) are satisfied with these tools, but a limited range of tools are being used and usage occurs in relatively limited domains. Improved awareness and education for online health management tools could enhance people's abilities to remain at home as they age, reducing the financial burden on formal assistance programs. © The Author(s) 2014.

The Development of the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ)

PubMed Central

Demetrovics, Zsolt; Urbán, Róbert; Nagygyörgy, Katalin; Farkas, Judit; Griffiths, Mark D.; Pápay, Orsolya; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi; Felvinczi, Katalin; Oláh, Attila

2012-01-01

Background Online gaming has become increasingly popular. However, this has led to concerns that these games might induce serious problems and/or lead to dependence for a minority of players. Aim: The aim of this study was to uncover and operationalize the components of problematic online gaming. Methods A total of 3415 gamers (90% males; mean age 21 years), were recruited through online gaming websites. A combined method of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied. Latent profile analysis was applied to identify persons at-risk. Results EFA revealed a six-factor structure in the background of problematic online gaming that was also confirmed by a CFA. For the assessment of the identified six dimensions – preoccupation, overuse, immersion, social isolation, interpersonal conflicts, and withdrawal – the 18-item Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ) proved to be exceedingly suitable. Based on the latent profile analysis, 3.4% of the gamer population was considered to be at high risk, while another 15.2% was moderately problematic. Conclusions The POGQ seems to be an adequate measurement tool for the differentiated assessment of gaming related problems on six subscales. PMID:22590541

Using Kepler for Tool Integration in Microarray Analysis Workflows.

PubMed

Gan, Zhuohui; Stowe, Jennifer C; Altintas, Ilkay; McCulloch, Andrew D; Zambon, Alexander C

Increasing numbers of genomic technologies are leading to massive amounts of genomic data, all of which requires complex analysis. More and more bioinformatics analysis tools are being developed by scientist to simplify these analyses. However, different pipelines have been developed using different software environments. This makes integrations of these diverse bioinformatics tools difficult. Kepler provides an open source environment to integrate these disparate packages. Using Kepler, we integrated several external tools including Bioconductor packages, AltAnalyze, a python-based open source tool, and R-based comparison tool to build an automated workflow to meta-analyze both online and local microarray data. The automated workflow connects the integrated tools seamlessly, delivers data flow between the tools smoothly, and hence improves efficiency and accuracy of complex data analyses. Our workflow exemplifies the usage of Kepler as a scientific workflow platform for bioinformatics pipelines.

Exploring Learner's Patterns of Using the Online Course Tool in University Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamamoto, Yoshihiko; Usami, Akinori

2015-01-01

Online course tools such as WebCT or Manaba+R are popularly used in university classes and enhance learners' understanding of their course contents. In addition, teachers try to utilize these online course tools for their students such as giving their students online discussions, providing students with additional materials and so forth. However,…

The AstroVR Collaboratory, an On-line Multi-User Environment for Research in Astrophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Buren, D.; Curtis, P.; Nichols, D. A.; Brundage, M.

We describe our experiment with an on-line collaborative environment where users share the execution of programs and communicate via audio, video, and typed text. Collaborative environments represent the next step in computer-mediated conferencing, combining powerful compute engines, data persistence, shared applications, and teleconferencing tools. As proof of concept, we have implemented a shared image analysis tool, allowing geographically distinct users to analyze FITS images together. We anticipate that \\htmllink{AstroVR}{http://astrovr.ipac.caltech.edu:8888} and similar systems will become an important part of collaborative work in the next decade, including with applications in remote observing, spacecraft operations, on-line meetings, as well as and day-to-day research activities. The technology is generic and promises to find uses in business, medicine, government, and education.

[Purifying process of gynostemma pentaphyllum saponins based on "adjoint marker" online control technology and identification of their compositions by UPLC-QTOF-MS].

PubMed

Fan, Dong-Dong; Kuang, Yan-Hui; Dong, Li-Hua; Ye, Xiao; Chen, Liang-Mian; Zhang, Dong; Ma, Zhen-Shan; Wang, Jin-Yu; Zhu, Jing-Jing; Wang, Zhi-Min; Wang, De-Qin; Li, Chu-Yuan

2017-04-01

To optimize the purification process of gynostemma pentaphyllum saponins (GPS) based on "adjoint marker" online control technology with GPS as the testing index. UPLC-QTOF-MS technology was used for qualitative analysis. "Adjoint marker" online control results showed that the end point of load sample was that the UV absorbance of effluent liquid was equal to half of that of load sample solution, and the absorbance was basically stable when the end point was stable. In UPLC-QTOF-MS qualitative analysis, 16 saponins were identified from GPS, including 13 known gynostemma saponins and 3 new saponins. This optimized method was proved to be simple, scientific, reasonable, easy for online determination, real-time record, and can be better applied to the mass production and automation of production. The results of qualitative analysis indicated that the "adjoint marker" online control technology can well retain main efficacy components of medicinal materials, and provide analysis tools for the process control and quality traceability. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Exploring the Interactive Patterns of Concept Map-Based Online Discussion: A Sequential Analysis of Users' Operations, Cognitive Processing, and Knowledge Construction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Sheng-Yi; Chen, Sherry Y.; Hou, Huei-Tse

2016-01-01

Concept maps can be used as a cognitive tool to assist learners' knowledge construction. However, in a concept map-based online discussion environment, studies that take into consideration learners' manipulative actions of composing concept maps, cognitive process among learners' discussion, and social knowledge construction at the same time are…

Qualitative analysis of the contributions of nutritionists to the development of an online instrument for monitoring the food intake of schoolchildren

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Consumo Alimentar e Atividade Fisica de Escolares (CAAFE) questionnaire is an online research tool that has been developed to enable the self-report of physical activity and diet by Brazilian school children aged 7–10 years. Formative research was conducted with nutritionists during the developm...

Assessing Understanding of Complex Learning Outcomes and Real-World Skills Using an Authentic Software Tool: A Study from Biomedical Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dermo, John; Boyne, James

2014-01-01

We describe a study conducted during 2009-12 into innovative assessment practice, evaluating an assessed coursework task on a final year Medical Genetics module for Biomedical Science undergraduates. An authentic e-assessment coursework task was developed, integrating objectively marked online questions with an online DNA sequence analysis tool…

Data Visualization and Analysis for Climate Studies using NASA Giovanni Online System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rui, Hualan; Leptoukh, Gregory; Lloyd, Steven

2008-01-01

With many global earth observation systems and missions focused on climate systems and the associated large volumes of observational data available for exploring and explaining how climate is changing and why, there is an urgent need for climate services. Giovanni, the NASA GES DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd ANalysis Infrastructure, is a simple to use yet powerful tool for analysing these data for research on global warming and climate change, as well as for applications to weather. air quality, agriculture, and water resources,

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Student Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (S-EBPQ) in an Australian sample.

PubMed

Beccaria, Lisa; Beccaria, Gavin; McCosker, Catherine

2018-03-01

It is crucial that nursing students develop skills and confidence in using Evidence-Based Practice principles early in their education. This should be assessed with valid tools however, to date, few measures have been developed and applied to the student population. To examine the structural validity of the Student Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (S-EBPQ), with an Australian online nursing student cohort. A cross-sectional study for constructing validity. Three hundred and forty-five undergraduate nursing students from an Australian regional university were recruited across two semesters. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to examine the structural validity. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied which resulted in a good fitting model, based on a revised 20-item tool. The S-EBPQ tool remains a psychometrically robust measure of evidence-based practice use, attitudes, and knowledge and skills and can be applied in an online Australian student context. The findings of this study provided further evidence of the reliability and four factor structure of the S-EBPQ. Opportunities for further refinement of the tool may result in improvements in structural validity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Student Online Readiness Assessment Tools: A Systematic Review Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farid, Alem

2014-01-01

Although there are tools to assess student's readiness in an "online learning context," little is known about the "psychometric" properties of the tools used or not. A systematic review of 5107 published and unpublished papers identified in a literature search on student online readiness assessment tools between 1990 and…

75 FR 58374 - 2010 Release of CADDIS (Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-24

... 2010 version of the Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS). This Web site was... methods; information on basic and advanced data analyses; downloadable software tools; and an online... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL-9206-7] 2010 Release of CADDIS (Causal Analysis/Diagnosis...

The Right Tools for the Job--Technology Options for Adult Online Learning and Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regional Educational Laboratory, 2014

2014-01-01

Many options exist for using technology as a tool for adult learning, and each day, it becomes easier to share information online than it ever has been. Online learning technology has grown from one-sided communications to numerous options for audience engagement and interactivity. This guide introduces a variety of tools, online platforms, and…

Scientific Platform as a Service - Tools and solutions for efficient access to and analysis of oceanographic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vines, Aleksander; Hansen, Morten W.; Korosov, Anton

2017-04-01

Existing infrastructure international and Norwegian projects, e.g., NorDataNet, NMDC and NORMAP, provide open data access through the OPeNDAP protocol following the conventions for CF (Climate and Forecast) metadata, designed to promote the processing and sharing of files created with the NetCDF application programming interface (API). This approach is now also being implemented in the Norwegian Sentinel Data Hub (satellittdata.no) to provide satellite EO data to the user community. Simultaneously with providing simplified and unified data access, these projects also seek to use and establish common standards for use and discovery metadata. This then allows development of standardized tools for data search and (subset) streaming over the internet to perform actual scientific analysis. A combinnation of software tools, which we call a Scientific Platform as a Service (SPaaS), will take advantage of these opportunities to harmonize and streamline the search, retrieval and analysis of integrated satellite and auxiliary observations of the oceans in a seamless system. The SPaaS is a cloud solution for integration of analysis tools with scientific datasets via an API. The core part of the SPaaS is a distributed metadata catalog to store granular metadata describing the structure, location and content of available satellite, model, and in situ datasets. The analysis tools include software for visualization (also online), interactive in-depth analysis, and server-based processing chains. The API conveys search requests between system nodes (i.e., interactive and server tools) and provides easy access to the metadata catalog, data repositories, and the tools. The SPaaS components are integrated in virtual machines, of which provisioning and deployment are automatized using existing state-of-the-art open-source tools (e.g., Vagrant, Ansible, Docker). The open-source code for scientific tools and virtual machine configurations is under version control at https://github.com/nansencenter/, and is coupled to an online continuous integration system (e.g., Travis CI).

An online database for plant image analysis software tools.

PubMed

Lobet, Guillaume; Draye, Xavier; Périlleux, Claire

2013-10-09

Recent years have seen an increase in methods for plant phenotyping using image analyses. These methods require new software solutions for data extraction and treatment. These solutions are instrumental in supporting various research pipelines, ranging from the localisation of cellular compounds to the quantification of tree canopies. However, due to the variety of existing tools and the lack of central repository, it is challenging for researchers to identify the software that is best suited for their research. We present an online, manually curated, database referencing more than 90 plant image analysis software solutions. The website, plant-image-analysis.org, presents each software in a uniform and concise manner enabling users to identify the available solutions for their experimental needs. The website also enables user feedback, evaluations and new software submissions. The plant-image-analysis.org database provides an overview of existing plant image analysis software. The aim of such a toolbox is to help users to find solutions, and to provide developers a way to exchange and communicate about their work.

41 CFR 301-50.6 - What is an “online self-service booking tool?”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... EXPENSES, AND CLAIMING REIMBURSEMENT 50-ARRANGING FOR TRAVEL SERVICES § 301-50.6 What is an “online self-service booking tool?” An online self-service booking tool is an Internet based system that permits...

41 CFR 301-50.6 - What is an “online self-service booking tool?”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... EXPENSES, AND CLAIMING REIMBURSEMENT 50-ARRANGING FOR TRAVEL SERVICES § 301-50.6 What is an “online self-service booking tool?” An online self-service booking tool is an Internet based system that permits...

41 CFR 301-50.6 - What is an “online self-service booking tool?”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... EXPENSES, AND CLAIMING REIMBURSEMENT 50-ARRANGING FOR TRAVEL SERVICES § 301-50.6 What is an “online self-service booking tool?” An online self-service booking tool is an Internet based system that permits...

41 CFR 301-50.6 - What is an “online self-service booking tool?”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... EXPENSES, AND CLAIMING REIMBURSEMENT 50-ARRANGING FOR TRAVEL SERVICES § 301-50.6 What is an “online self-service booking tool?” An online self-service booking tool is an Internet based system that permits...

41 CFR 301-50.6 - What is an “online self-service booking tool?”

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... EXPENSES, AND CLAIMING REIMBURSEMENT 50-ARRANGING FOR TRAVEL SERVICES § 301-50.6 What is an “online self-service booking tool?” An online self-service booking tool is an Internet based system that permits...

On-line multiple component analysis for efficient quantitative bioprocess development.

PubMed

Dietzsch, Christian; Spadiut, Oliver; Herwig, Christoph

2013-02-20

On-line monitoring devices for the precise determination of a multitude of components are a prerequisite for fast bioprocess quantification. On-line measured values have to be checked for quality and consistency, in order to extract quantitative information from these data. In the present study we characterized a novel on-line sampling and analysis device comprising an automatic photometric robot. We connected this on-line device to a bioreactor and concomitantly measured six components (i.e. glucose, glycerol, ethanol, acetate, phosphate and ammonium) during different batch cultivations of Pichia pastoris. The on-line measured data did not show significant deviations from off-line taken samples and were consequently used for incremental rate and yield calculations. In this respect we highlighted the importance of data quality and discussed the phenomenon of error propagation. On-line calculated rates and yields depicted the physiological responses of the P. pastoris cells in unlimited and limited cultures. A more detailed analysis of the physiological state was possible by considering the off-line determined biomass dry weight and the calculation of specific rates. Here we present a novel device for on-line monitoring of bioprocesses, which ensures high data quality in real-time and therefore refers to a valuable tool for Process Analytical Technology (PAT). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visual analysis of online social media to open up the investigation of stance phenomena

PubMed Central

Kucher, Kostiantyn; Schamp-Bjerede, Teri; Kerren, Andreas; Paradis, Carita; Sahlgren, Magnus

2015-01-01

Online social media are a perfect text source for stance analysis. Stance in human communication is concerned with speaker attitudes, beliefs, feelings and opinions. Expressions of stance are associated with the speakers' view of what they are talking about and what is up for discussion and negotiation in the intersubjective exchange. Taking stance is thus crucial for the social construction of meaning. Increased knowledge of stance can be useful for many application fields such as business intelligence, security analytics, or social media monitoring. In order to process large amounts of text data for stance analyses, linguists need interactive tools to explore the textual sources as well as the processed data based on computational linguistics techniques. Both original texts and derived data are important for refining the analyses iteratively. In this work, we present a visual analytics tool for online social media text data that can be used to open up the investigation of stance phenomena. Our approach complements traditional linguistic analysis techniques and is based on the analysis of utterances associated with two stance categories: sentiment and certainty. Our contributions include (1) the description of a novel web-based solution for analyzing the use and patterns of stance meanings and expressions in human communication over time; and (2) specialized techniques used for visualizing analysis provenance and corpus overview/navigation. We demonstrate our approach by means of text media on a highly controversial scandal with regard to expressions of anger and provide an expert review from linguists who have been using our tool. PMID:29249903

Visual analysis of online social media to open up the investigation of stance phenomena.

PubMed

Kucher, Kostiantyn; Schamp-Bjerede, Teri; Kerren, Andreas; Paradis, Carita; Sahlgren, Magnus

2016-04-01

Online social media are a perfect text source for stance analysis. Stance in human communication is concerned with speaker attitudes, beliefs, feelings and opinions. Expressions of stance are associated with the speakers' view of what they are talking about and what is up for discussion and negotiation in the intersubjective exchange. Taking stance is thus crucial for the social construction of meaning. Increased knowledge of stance can be useful for many application fields such as business intelligence, security analytics, or social media monitoring. In order to process large amounts of text data for stance analyses, linguists need interactive tools to explore the textual sources as well as the processed data based on computational linguistics techniques. Both original texts and derived data are important for refining the analyses iteratively. In this work, we present a visual analytics tool for online social media text data that can be used to open up the investigation of stance phenomena. Our approach complements traditional linguistic analysis techniques and is based on the analysis of utterances associated with two stance categories: sentiment and certainty. Our contributions include (1) the description of a novel web-based solution for analyzing the use and patterns of stance meanings and expressions in human communication over time; and (2) specialized techniques used for visualizing analysis provenance and corpus overview/navigation. We demonstrate our approach by means of text media on a highly controversial scandal with regard to expressions of anger and provide an expert review from linguists who have been using our tool.

Novel features and enhancements in BioBin, a tool for the biologically inspired binning and association analysis of rare variants

PubMed Central

Byrska-Bishop, Marta; Wallace, John; Frase, Alexander T; Ritchie, Marylyn D

2018-01-01

Abstract Motivation BioBin is an automated bioinformatics tool for the multi-level biological binning of sequence variants. Herein, we present a significant update to BioBin which expands the software to facilitate a comprehensive rare variant analysis and incorporates novel features and analysis enhancements. Results In BioBin 2.3, we extend our software tool by implementing statistical association testing, updating the binning algorithm, as well as incorporating novel analysis features providing for a robust, highly customizable, and unified rare variant analysis tool. Availability and implementation The BioBin software package is open source and freely available to users at http://www.ritchielab.com/software/biobin-download Contact mdritchie@geisinger.edu Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:28968757

The Diverse Data, User Driven Services and the Power of Giovanni at NASA GES DISC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Suhung

2017-01-01

This presentation provides an overview of remote sensing and model data at GES (Goddard Earth Sciences) DISC (Data and Information Services Center); Overview of data services at GES DISC (Registration with NASA data system; Searching and downloading data); Giovanni (Geospatial Interactive Online VisualizationANd aNalysis Infrastructure): online data exploration tool; and NASA Earth Data and Information System.

Consequences of data reduction in the FIA database: a case study with southern yellow pine

Treesearch

Anita K. Rose; James F. Rosson Jr.; Helen Beresford

2015-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program strives to make its data publicly available in a format that is easy to use and understand most commonly accessed through online tools such as EVALIDator and Forest Inventory Data Online. This requires a certain amount of data reduction. Using a common data request concerning the resource of southern yellow pine (SYP), we...

Facebook as a Tool for Learning Purposes: Analysis of the Determinants Leading to Improved Students' Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nkhoma, Mathews; Cong, Hiep Pham; Au, Bill; Lam, Tri; Richardson, Joan; Smith, Ross; El-Den, Jamal

2015-01-01

The study described in this article aims to investigate the use of out-of-class communication between students and instructors using Facebook as a means of interaction for learning. How often/how much students use such an online social network and the clarification as to the reasons for online communication are the two exogenous variables used to…

Effectiveness of interactive, online games in learning neuroscience and students' perception of the games as learning tools. A pre-experimental study.

PubMed

Thompson, Marilyn E; Ford, Ruth; Webster, Andrew

2011-01-01

Neurological concepts applicable to a doctorate in occupational therapy are often challenging to comprehend, and students are required to demonstrate critical reasoning skills beyond simply recalling the information. To achieve this, various learning and teaching strategies are used, including the use of technology in the classroom. The availability of technology in academic settings has allowed for diverse and active teaching approaches. This includes videos, web-based instruction, and interactive online games. In this quantitative pre-experimental analysis, the learning and retention of neuroscience concepts by 30 occupational therapy doctoral students, who participated in an interactive online learning experience, were assessed. The results suggest that student use of these tools may enhance their learning of neuroscience. Furthermore, the students felt that the sites were appropriate, beneficial to them, and easy to use. Thus, the use of online, interactive neuroscience games may be effective in reinforcing lecture materials. This needs to be further assessed in a larger sample size.

Open source tools for management and archiving of digital microscopy data to allow integration with patient pathology and treatment information

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Virtual microscopy includes digitisation of histology slides and the use of computer technologies for complex investigation of diseases such as cancer. However, automated image analysis, or website publishing of such digital images, is hampered by their large file sizes. Results We have developed two Java based open source tools: Snapshot Creator and NDPI-Splitter. Snapshot Creator converts a portion of a large digital slide into a desired quality JPEG image. The image is linked to the patient’s clinical and treatment information in a customised open source cancer data management software (Caisis) in use at the Australian Breast Cancer Tissue Bank (ABCTB) and then published on the ABCTB website (http://www.abctb.org.au) using Deep Zoom open source technology. Using the ABCTB online search engine, digital images can be searched by defining various criteria such as cancer type, or biomarkers expressed. NDPI-Splitter splits a large image file into smaller sections of TIFF images so that they can be easily analysed by image analysis software such as Metamorph or Matlab. NDPI-Splitter also has the capacity to filter out empty images. Conclusions Snapshot Creator and NDPI-Splitter are novel open source Java tools. They convert digital slides into files of smaller size for further processing. In conjunction with other open source tools such as Deep Zoom and Caisis, this suite of tools is used for the management and archiving of digital microscopy images, enabling digitised images to be explored and zoomed online. Our online image repository also has the capacity to be used as a teaching resource. These tools also enable large files to be sectioned for image analysis. Virtual Slides The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/5330903258483934 PMID:23402499

A Photofission Delayed γ-ray Spectra Calculation Tool for the Conception of a Nuclear Material Characterization Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernard, D.; Serot, O.; Simon, E.; Boucher, L.; Plumeri, S.

2018-01-01

The photon interrogation analysis is a nondestructive technique allowing to identify and quantify fissile materials in nuclear waste packages. This paper details an automatic procedure which has been developed to simulate the delayed γ-ray spectra for several actinide photofissions. This calculation tool will be helpful for the fine conception (collimation, shielding, noise background optimizations, etc.) and for the on-line analysis of such a facility.

Database resources for the Tuberculosis community

PubMed Central

Lew, Jocelyne M.; Mao, Chunhong; Shukla, Maulik; Warren, Andrew; Will, Rebecca; Kuznetsov, Dmitry; Xenarios, Ioannis; Robertson, Brian D.; Gordon, Stephen V.; Schnappinger, Dirk; Cole, Stewart T.; Sobral, Bruno

2013-01-01

Summary Access to online repositories for genomic and associated “-omics” datasets is now an essential part of everyday research activity. It is important therefore that the Tuberculosis community is aware of the databases and tools available to them online, as well as for the database hosts to know what the needs of the research community are. One of the goals of the Tuberculosis Annotation Jamboree, held in Washington DC on March 7th–8th 2012, was therefore to provide an overview of the current status of three key Tuberculosis resources, TubercuList (tuberculist.epfl.ch), TB Database (www.tbdb.org), and Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC, www.patricbrc.org). Here we summarize some key updates and upcoming features in TubercuList, and provide an overview of the PATRIC site and its online tools for pathogen RNA-Seq analysis. PMID:23332401

On-Line Tool for the Assessment of Radiation in Space - Deep Space Mission Enhancements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandridge, Chris a.; Blattnig, Steve R.; Norman, Ryan B.; Slaba, Tony C.; Walker, Steve A.; Spangler, Jan L.

2011-01-01

The On-Line Tool for the Assessment of Radiation in Space (OLTARIS, https://oltaris.nasa.gov) is a web-based set of tools and models that allows engineers and scientists to assess the effects of space radiation on spacecraft, habitats, rovers, and spacesuits. The site is intended to be a design tool for those studying the effects of space radiation for current and future missions as well as a research tool for those developing advanced material and shielding concepts. The tools and models are built around the HZETRN radiation transport code and are primarily focused on human- and electronic-related responses. The focus of this paper is to highlight new capabilities that have been added to support deep space (outside Low Earth Orbit) missions. Specifically, the electron, proton, and heavy ion design environments for the Europa mission have been incorporated along with an efficient coupled electron-photon transport capability to enable the analysis of complicated geometries and slabs exposed to these environments. In addition, a neutron albedo lunar surface environment was also added, that will be of value for the analysis of surface habitats. These updates will be discussed in terms of their implementation and on how OLTARIS can be used by instrument vendors, mission designers, and researchers to analyze their specific requirements.12

Latest Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) services and innovative tools supporting the space weather research and operational communities.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendoza, A. M. M.; Rastaetter, L.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Mays, M. L.; Chulaki, A.; Shim, J. S.; MacNeice, P. J.; Taktakishvili, A.; Collado-Vega, Y. M.; Weigand, C.; Zheng, Y.; Mullinix, R.; Patel, K.; Pembroke, A. D.; Pulkkinen, A. A.; Boblitt, J. M.; Bakshi, S. S.; Tsui, T.

2017-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), with the fundamental goal of aiding the transition of modern space science models into space weather forecasting while supporting space science research, has been serving as an integral hub for over 15 years, providing invaluable resources to both space weather scientific and operational communities. CCMC has developed and provided innovative web-based point of access tools varying from: Runs-On-Request System - providing unprecedented global access to the largest collection of state-of-the-art solar and space physics models, Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) - a powerful dissemination system for space weather information, Advanced Online Visualization and Analysis tools for more accurate interpretation of model results, Standard Data formats for Simulation Data downloads, and Mobile apps to view space weather data anywhere to the scientific community. In addition to supporting research and performing model evaluations, CCMC also supports space science education by hosting summer students through local universities. In this poster, we will showcase CCMC's latest innovative tools and services, and CCMC's tools that revolutionized the way we do research and improve our operational space weather capabilities. CCMC's free tools and resources are all publicly available online (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov).

MODIS Interactive Subsetting Tool (MIST)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McAllister, M.; Duerr, R.; Haran, T.; Khalsa, S. S.; Miller, D.

2008-12-01

In response to requests from the user community, NSIDC has teamed with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributive Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) and the Moderate Resolution Data Center (MrDC) to provide time series subsets of satellite data covering stations in the Greenland Climate Network (GC-NET) and the International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) network. To serve these data NSIDC created the MODIS Interactive Subsetting Tool (MIST). MIST works with 7 km by 7 km subset time series of certain Version 5 (V005) MODIS products over GC-Net and IASOA stations. User- selected data are delivered in a text Comma Separated Value (CSV) file format. MIST also provides online analysis capabilities that include generating time series and scatter plots. Currently, MIST is a Beta prototype and NSIDC intends that user requests will drive future development of the tool. The intent of this poster is to introduce MIST to the MODIS data user audience and illustrate some of the online analysis capabilities.

41 CFR 301-50.7 - Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Should I use the online... SERVICES § 301-50.7 Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency? Yes, you should use the online self-service booking tool offered by ETS or your agency's TMS...

41 CFR 301-50.7 - Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Should I use the online... SERVICES § 301-50.7 Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency? Yes, you should use the online self-service booking tool offered by ETS or your agency's TMS...

41 CFR 301-50.7 - Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2013-07-01 2012-07-01 true Should I use the online... SERVICES § 301-50.7 Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency? Yes, you should use the online self-service booking tool offered by ETS or your agency's TMS...

41 CFR 301-50.7 - Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Should I use the online... SERVICES § 301-50.7 Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency? Yes, you should use the online self-service booking tool offered by ETS or your agency's TMS...

41 CFR 301-50.7 - Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Should I use the online... SERVICES § 301-50.7 Should I use the online self-service booking tool once ETS is available within my agency? Yes, you should use the online self-service booking tool offered by ETS or your agency's TMS...

Blended Teaching & Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pape, Liz

2010-01-01

Blended learning is using online tools to communicate, collaborate and publish, to extend the school day or year and to develop the 21st-century skills students need. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their daily classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are…

Online machining error estimation method of numerical control gear grinding machine tool based on data analysis of internal sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Fei; Zhang, Chi; Yang, Guilin; Chen, Chinyin

2016-12-01

This paper presents an online estimation method of cutting error by analyzing of internal sensor readings. The internal sensors of numerical control (NC) machine tool are selected to avoid installation problem. The estimation mathematic model of cutting error was proposed to compute the relative position of cutting point and tool center point (TCP) from internal sensor readings based on cutting theory of gear. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model, it was simulated and experimented in gear generating grinding process. The cutting error of gear was estimated and the factors which induce cutting error were analyzed. The simulation and experiments verify that the proposed approach is an efficient way to estimate the cutting error of work-piece during machining process.

ELATE: an open-source online application for analysis and visualization of elastic tensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaillac, Romain; Pullumbi, Pluton; Coudert, François-Xavier

2016-07-01

We report on the implementation of a tool for the analysis of second-order elastic stiffness tensors, provided with both an open-source Python module and a standalone online application allowing the visualization of anisotropic mechanical properties. After describing the software features, how we compute the conventional elastic constants and how we represent them graphically, we explain our technical choices for the implementation. In particular, we focus on why a Python module is used to generate the HTML web page with embedded Javascript for dynamical plots.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour Applied to Search Engines as a Learning Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liaw, Shu-Sheng

2004-01-01

Search engines have been developed for helping learners to seek online information. Based on theory of planned behaviour approach, this research intends to investigate the behaviour of using search engines as a learning tool. After factor analysis, the results suggest that perceived satisfaction of search engine, search engines as an information…

Translating statistical species-habitat models to interactive decision support tools

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wszola, Lyndsie S.; Simonsen, Victoria L.; Stuber, Erica F.; Gillespie, Caitlyn R.; Messinger, Lindsey N.; Decker, Karie L.; Lusk, Jeffrey J.; Jorgensen, Christopher F.; Bishop, Andrew A.; Fontaine, Joseph J.

2017-01-01

Understanding species-habitat relationships is vital to successful conservation, but the tools used to communicate species-habitat relationships are often poorly suited to the information needs of conservation practitioners. Here we present a novel method for translating a statistical species-habitat model, a regression analysis relating ring-necked pheasant abundance to landcover, into an interactive online tool. The Pheasant Habitat Simulator combines the analytical power of the R programming environment with the user-friendly Shiny web interface to create an online platform in which wildlife professionals can explore the effects of variation in local landcover on relative pheasant habitat suitability within spatial scales relevant to individual wildlife managers. Our tool allows users to virtually manipulate the landcover composition of a simulated space to explore how changes in landcover may affect pheasant relative habitat suitability, and guides users through the economic tradeoffs of landscape changes. We offer suggestions for development of similar interactive applications and demonstrate their potential as innovative science delivery tools for diverse professional and public audiences.

On-line Tool Wear Detection on DCMT070204 Carbide Tool Tip Based on Noise Cutting Audio Signal using Artificial Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasetyo, T.; Amar, S.; Arendra, A.; Zam Zami, M. K.

2018-01-01

This study develops an on-line detection system to predict the wear of DCMT070204 tool tip during the cutting process of the workpiece. The machine used in this research is CNC ProTurn 9000 to cut ST42 steel cylinder. The audio signal has been captured using the microphone placed in the tool post and recorded in Matlab. The signal is recorded at the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, and the sampling size of 1024. The recorded signal is 110 data derived from the audio signal while cutting using a normal chisel and a worn chisel. And then perform signal feature extraction in the frequency domain using Fast Fourier Transform. Feature selection is done based on correlation analysis. And tool wear classification was performed using artificial neural networks with 33 input features selected. This artificial neural network is trained with back propagation method. Classification performance testing yields an accuracy of 74%.

Translating statistical species-habitat models to interactive decision support tools.

PubMed

Wszola, Lyndsie S; Simonsen, Victoria L; Stuber, Erica F; Gillespie, Caitlyn R; Messinger, Lindsey N; Decker, Karie L; Lusk, Jeffrey J; Jorgensen, Christopher F; Bishop, Andrew A; Fontaine, Joseph J

2017-01-01

Understanding species-habitat relationships is vital to successful conservation, but the tools used to communicate species-habitat relationships are often poorly suited to the information needs of conservation practitioners. Here we present a novel method for translating a statistical species-habitat model, a regression analysis relating ring-necked pheasant abundance to landcover, into an interactive online tool. The Pheasant Habitat Simulator combines the analytical power of the R programming environment with the user-friendly Shiny web interface to create an online platform in which wildlife professionals can explore the effects of variation in local landcover on relative pheasant habitat suitability within spatial scales relevant to individual wildlife managers. Our tool allows users to virtually manipulate the landcover composition of a simulated space to explore how changes in landcover may affect pheasant relative habitat suitability, and guides users through the economic tradeoffs of landscape changes. We offer suggestions for development of similar interactive applications and demonstrate their potential as innovative science delivery tools for diverse professional and public audiences.

Translating statistical species-habitat models to interactive decision support tools

PubMed Central

Simonsen, Victoria L.; Stuber, Erica F.; Gillespie, Caitlyn R.; Messinger, Lindsey N.; Decker, Karie L.; Lusk, Jeffrey J.; Jorgensen, Christopher F.; Bishop, Andrew A.; Fontaine, Joseph J.

2017-01-01

Understanding species-habitat relationships is vital to successful conservation, but the tools used to communicate species-habitat relationships are often poorly suited to the information needs of conservation practitioners. Here we present a novel method for translating a statistical species-habitat model, a regression analysis relating ring-necked pheasant abundance to landcover, into an interactive online tool. The Pheasant Habitat Simulator combines the analytical power of the R programming environment with the user-friendly Shiny web interface to create an online platform in which wildlife professionals can explore the effects of variation in local landcover on relative pheasant habitat suitability within spatial scales relevant to individual wildlife managers. Our tool allows users to virtually manipulate the landcover composition of a simulated space to explore how changes in landcover may affect pheasant relative habitat suitability, and guides users through the economic tradeoffs of landscape changes. We offer suggestions for development of similar interactive applications and demonstrate their potential as innovative science delivery tools for diverse professional and public audiences. PMID:29236707

Adaptive Data Processing Technique for Lidar-Assisted Control to Bridge the Gap between Lidar Systems and Wind Turbines: Preprint

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

Schlipf, David; Raach, Steffen; Haizmann, Florian

2015-12-14

This paper presents first steps toward an adaptive lidar data processing technique crucial for lidar-assisted control in wind turbines. The prediction time and the quality of the wind preview from lidar measurements depend on several factors and are not constant. If the data processing is not continually adjusted, the benefit of lidar-assisted control cannot be fully exploited, or can even result in harmful control action. An online analysis of the lidar and turbine data are necessary to continually reassess the prediction time and lidar data quality. In this work, a structured process to develop an analysis tool for the predictionmore » time and a new hardware setup for lidar-assisted control are presented. The tool consists of an online estimation of the rotor effective wind speed from lidar and turbine data and the implementation of an online cross correlation to determine the time shift between both signals. Further, initial results from an ongoing campaign in which this system was employed for providing lidar preview for feed-forward pitch control are presented.« less

How do I obtain CERES data?

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2017-10-12

Order online ASDC Web Ordering Tool data available for ftp download. Order online CERES Subsetter Ordering Page data available for ftp download. Order online Earthdata Search Tool data available for download. Download the ...

Blended Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pape, Liz

2010-01-01

"Blended learning" is using online tools to communicate, collaborate, and publish, to extend the school day or year and to develop the 21st-century skills students need. With blended learning, teachers can use online tools and resources as part of their daily classroom instruction. Using many of the online tools and resources students already are…

Evaluation of Knowla: An Online Assessment and Learning Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Meredith Myra; Braude, Eric John

2016-01-01

The assessment of learning in large online courses requires tools that are valid, reliable, easy to administer, and can be automatically scored. We have evaluated an online assessment and learning tool called Knowledge Assembly, or Knowla. Knowla measures a student's knowledge in a particular subject by having the student assemble a set of…

Technology Transience and Learner Data: Shifting Notions of Privacy in Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dennen, Vanessa P.

2015-01-01

The technologies that support online learning are continuously evolving, providing instructors and students with a continuous stream of new tools, features, and functionalities for existing tools. During an online course, instructors and students generate and share a tremendous amount of data using these tools. These data are often created in…

Application of Linear Mixed-Effect Models for the Analysis of Exam Scores: Online Video Associated with Higher Scores for Undergraduate Students with Lower Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dupuis, Josee; Coutu, Josee; Laneuville, Odette

2013-01-01

In higher education, many of the new teaching interventions are introduced in the format of audio-visual files distributed through the Internet. A pedagogical tool consisting of questions listed as learning objectives and answers presented using online videos was designed as a supplement for a molecular biology course and made available to a large…

PipelineDog: a simple and flexible graphic pipeline construction and maintenance tool.

PubMed

Zhou, Anbo; Zhang, Yeting; Sun, Yazhou; Xing, Jinchuan

2018-05-01

Analysis pipelines are an essential part of bioinformatics research, and ad hoc pipelines are frequently created by researchers for prototyping and proof-of-concept purposes. However, most existing pipeline management system or workflow engines are too complex for rapid prototyping or learning the pipeline concept. A lightweight, user-friendly and flexible solution is thus desirable. In this study, we developed a new pipeline construction and maintenance tool, PipelineDog. This is a web-based integrated development environment with a modern web graphical user interface. It offers cross-platform compatibility, project management capabilities, code formatting and error checking functions and an online repository. It uses an easy-to-read/write script system that encourages code reuse. With the online repository, it also encourages sharing of pipelines, which enhances analysis reproducibility and accountability. For most users, PipelineDog requires no software installation. Overall, this web application provides a way to rapidly create and easily manage pipelines. PipelineDog web app is freely available at http://web.pipeline.dog. The command line version is available at http://www.npmjs.com/package/pipelinedog and online repository at http://repo.pipeline.dog. ysun@kean.edu or xing@biology.rutgers.edu or ysun@diagnoa.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Psychological Assessment via the Internet: A Reliability and Validity Study of Online (vs Paper-and-Pencil) Versions of the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the Symptoms Check-List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R)

PubMed Central

Jordán, Carlos M; Díaz, Marta I; Comeche, María I; Ortega, José

2007-01-01

Background Internet psychology services are rapidly increasing and that implies online assessment. To guarantee the results of these new online evaluation procedures, it is necessary to have reliable and valid assessment tools. Objective In this work we analyzed the online versions of two popular psychopathology screening questionnaires: the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the Symptoms Check-List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Methods A total of 185 psychology students were recruited from two universities in Madrid, Spain. All of them had Internet access at home. A test-retest situation and factorial analysis were used to generate reliability and validity data. Both paper-and-pencil questionnaires (test) and their online versions (retest) were completed by 100 participants (median gap = 17 days). Results Results suggest that both online questionnaires were fairly equivalent to their paper-and-pencil versions, with higher reliability values for the SCL-90-R. Factorial analysis tended to reproduce the structure shown in former investigations of both questionnaires, replicating the four-factor structure of the GHQ-28 but failing to do so with the nine-factor structure of the SCL-90-R. Instead, a large unrotated factor appeared. Conclusions Further research should be carried out to confirm these data, but our work supports the online use of both assessment tools. The psychometric properties of the online version of GHQ-28 is similar to the paper-and-pencil and we can recommend its utilization in a Web environment. In contrast, SCL-90-R can only be recommended as a global index for psychological distress, using the Global Severity Index (GSI), not necessarily its subscales; and it should be considered that the online scores were lower than the ones with the paper-and-pencil version. PMID:17478411

Psychological assessment via the internet: a reliability and validity study of online (vs paper-and-pencil) versions of the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the Symptoms Check-List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R).

PubMed

Vallejo, Miguel A; Jordán, Carlos M; Díaz, Marta I; Comeche, María I; Ortega, José

2007-01-31

Internet psychology services are rapidly increasing and that implies online assessment. To guarantee the results of these new online evaluation procedures, it is necessary to have reliable and valid assessment tools. In this work we analyzed the online versions of two popular psychopathology screening questionnaires: the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the Symptoms Check-List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). A total of 185 psychology students were recruited from two universities in Madrid, Spain. All of them had Internet access at home. A test-retest situation and factorial analysis were used to generate reliability and validity data. Both paper-and-pencil questionnaires (test) and their online versions (retest) were completed by 100 participants (median gap = 17 days). Results suggest that both online questionnaires were fairly equivalent to their paper-and-pencil versions, with higher reliability values for the SCL-90-R. Factorial analysis tended to reproduce the structure shown in former investigations of both questionnaires, replicating the four-factor structure of the GHQ-28 but failing to do so with the nine-factor structure of the SCL-90-R. Instead, a large unrotated factor appeared. Further research should be carried out to confirm these data, but our work supports the online use of both assessment tools. The psychometric properties of the online version of GHQ-28 is similar to the paper-and-pencil and we can recommend its utilization in a Web environment. In contrast, SCL-90-R can only be recommended as a global index for psychological distress, using the Global Severity Index (GSI), not necessarily its subscales; and it should be considered that the online scores were lower than the ones with the paper-and-pencil version.

SACA: Software Assisted Call Analysis--an interactive tool supporting content exploration, online guidance and quality improvement of counseling dialogues.

PubMed

Trinkaus, Hans L; Gaisser, Andrea E

2010-09-01

Nearly 30,000 individual inquiries are answered annually by the telephone cancer information service (CIS, KID) of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The aim was to develop a tool for evaluating these calls, and to support the complete counseling process interactively. A novel software tool is introduced, based on a structure similar to a music score. Treating the interaction as a "duet", guided by the CIS counselor, the essential contents of the dialogue are extracted automatically. For this, "trained speech recognition" is applied to the (known) counselor's part, and "keyword spotting" is used on the (unknown) client's part to pick out specific items from the "word streams". The outcomes fill an abstract score representing the dialogue. Pilot tests performed on a prototype of SACA (Software Assisted Call Analysis) resulted in a basic proof of concept: Demographic data as well as information regarding the situation of the caller could be identified. The study encourages following up on the vision of an integrated SACA tool for supporting calls online and performing statistics on its knowledge database offline. Further research perspectives are to check SACA's potential in comparison with established interaction analysis systems like RIAS. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

From Presentation to Interaction: New Goals for Online Learning Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tu, Chih-Hsiung

2005-01-01

Educators have used online technology in the past as information presentation tools and information storage tools to support learning. Researchers identify online technologies with large capacities and capabilities to enhance human learning in an interactive fashion. Online learning technology should move away from the use of computer technology…

Database resources for the tuberculosis community.

PubMed

Lew, Jocelyne M; Mao, Chunhong; Shukla, Maulik; Warren, Andrew; Will, Rebecca; Kuznetsov, Dmitry; Xenarios, Ioannis; Robertson, Brian D; Gordon, Stephen V; Schnappinger, Dirk; Cole, Stewart T; Sobral, Bruno

2013-01-01

Access to online repositories for genomic and associated "-omics" datasets is now an essential part of everyday research activity. It is important therefore that the Tuberculosis community is aware of the databases and tools available to them online, as well as for the database hosts to know what the needs of the research community are. One of the goals of the Tuberculosis Annotation Jamboree, held in Washington DC on March 7th-8th 2012, was therefore to provide an overview of the current status of three key Tuberculosis resources, TubercuList (tuberculist.epfl.ch), TB Database (www.tbdb.org), and Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC, www.patricbrc.org). Here we summarize some key updates and upcoming features in TubercuList, and provide an overview of the PATRIC site and its online tools for pathogen RNA-Seq analysis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determinants of College Students' Use of Online Collaborative Help-Seeking Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ding, Lu; Er, Erkan

2018-01-01

Research has noted the effectiveness of online tools (e.g., discussion boards) for supporting help seeking among class members. However, help seeking is not necessarily warranted via online learning tools because some factors (e.g., low Internet self-efficacy) may influence students' intention to use them. This study aims to identify the…

Engaging Boys through Self-Reflection Using an Online Journaling Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Chris; Deed, Craig

2009-01-01

The study reported here investigated whether Year 6 boys were engaged through the use of an online journaling tool. This journaling tool allowed the students to self reflect on their behaviour and affective reaction in an online environment. Case study methodology was used with twelve boys from a regional primary school in Victoria, during the one…

The Gamma-Ray Burst ToolSHED is Open for Business

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giblin, Timothy W.; Hakkila, Jon; Haglin, David J.; Roiger, Richard J.

2004-09-01

The GRB ToolSHED, a Gamma-Ray Burst SHell for Expeditions in Data-Mining, is now online and available via a web browser to all in the scientific community. The ToolSHED is an online web utility that contains pre-processed burst attributes of the BATSE catalog and a suite of induction-based machine learning and statistical tools for classification and cluster analysis. Users create their own login account and study burst properties within user-defined multi-dimensional parameter spaces. Although new GRB attributes are periodically added to the database for user selection, the ToolSHED has a feature that allows users to upload their own burst attributes (e.g. spectral parameters, etc.) so that additional parameter spaces can be explored. A data visualization feature using GNUplot and web-based IDL has also been implemented to provide interactive plotting of user-selected session output. In an era in which GRB observations and attributes are becoming increasingly more complex, a utility such as the GRB ToolSHED may play an important role in deciphering GRB classes and understanding intrinsic burst properties.

[eLearning-radiology.com--sustainability for quality assurance].

PubMed

Ketelsen, D; Talanow, R; Uder, M; Grunewald, M

2009-04-01

The aim of the study was to analyze the availability of published radiological e-learning tools and to establish a solution for quality assurance. Substantial pubmed research was performed to identify radiological e-learning tools. 181 e-learning programs were selected. As examples two databases expanding their programs with external links, Compare (n = 435 external links) and TNT-Radiology (n = 1078 external links), were evaluated. A concept for quality assurance was developed by an international taskforce. At the time of assessment, 56.4 % (102 / 181) of the investigated e-learning tools were accessible at their original URL. A subgroup analysis of programs published 5 to 8 years ago showed significantly inferior availability to programs published 3 to 5 years ago (p < 0.01). The analysis of external links showed 49.2 % and 61.0 % accessible links for the programs Compare (published 2003) and TNT-Radiology (published 2006), respectively. As a consequence, the domain www.eLearning-radiology.com was developed by the taskforce and published online. This tool allows authors to present their programs and users to evaluate the e-learning tools depending on several criteria in order to remove inoperable links and to obtain information about the complexity and quality of the e-learning tools. More than 50 % of investigated radiological e-learning tools on the Internet were not accessible after a period of 5 to 8 years. As a consequence, an independent, international tool for quality assurance was designed and published online under www.eLearning-radiology.com .

The online social self: an open vocabulary approach to personality.

PubMed

Kern, Margaret L; Eichstaedt, Johannes C; Schwartz, H Andrew; Dziurzynski, Lukasz; Ungar, Lyle H; Stillwell, David J; Kosinski, Michal; Ramones, Stephanie M; Seligman, Martin E P

2014-04-01

We present a new open language analysis approach that identifies and visually summarizes the dominant naturally occurring words and phrases that most distinguished each Big Five personality trait. Using millions of posts from 69,792 Facebook users, we examined the correlation of personality traits with online word usage. Our analysis method consists of feature extraction, correlational analysis, and visualization. The distinguishing words and phrases were face valid and provide insight into processes that underlie the Big Five traits. Open-ended data driven exploration of large datasets combined with established psychological theory and measures offers new tools to further understand the human psyche. © The Author(s) 2013.

GES DAAC HDF Data Processing and Visualization Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouzounov, D.; Cho, S.; Johnson, J.; Li, J.; Liu, Z.; Lu, L.; Pollack, N.; Qin, J.; Savtchenko, A.; Teng, B.

2002-12-01

The Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) plays a major role in enabling basic scientific research and providing access to scientific data to the general user community. Several GES DAAC Data Support Teams provide expert assistance to users in accessing data, including information on visualization tools and documentation for data products. To provide easy access to the science data, the data support teams have additionally developed many online and desktop tools for data processing and visualization. This presentation is an overview of major HDF tools implemented at the GES DAAC and aimed at optimizing access to EOS data for the Earth Sciences community. GES DAAC ONLINE TOOLS: MODIS and AIRS on-demand Channel/Variable Subsetter are web-based, on-the-fly/on-demand subsetters that perform channel/variable subsetting and restructuring for Level1B and Level 2 data products. Users can specify criteria to subset data files with desired channels and variables and then download the subsetted file. AIRS QuickLook is a CGI/IDL combo package that allows users to view AIRS/HSB/AMSU Level-1B data online by specifying a channel prior to obtaining data. A global map is also provided along with the image to show geographic coverage of the granule and flight direction of the spacecraft. OASIS (Online data AnalySIS) is an IDL-based HTML/CGI interface for search, selection, and simple analysis of earth science data. It supports binary and GRIB formatted data, such as TOVS, Data Assimilation products, and some NCEP operational products. TRMM Online Analysis System is designed for quick exploration, analyses, and visualization of TRMM Level-3 and other precipitation products. The products consist of the daily (3B42), monthly(3B43), near-real-time (3B42RT), and Willmott's climate data. The system is also designed to be simple and easy to use - users can plot the average or accumulated rainfall over their region of interest for a given time period, or plot the time series of regional rainfall average. WebGIS is an online web software that implements the Open GIS Consortium (OGC) standards for mapping requests and rendering. It allows users access to TRMM, MODIS, SeaWiFS, and AVHRR data from several DAAC map servers, as well as externally served data such as political boundaries, population centers, lakes, rivers, and elevation. GES DAAC DESKTOP TOOLS: HDFLook-MODIS is a new, multifunctional, data processing and visualization tool for Radiometric and Geolocation, Atmosphere, Ocean, and Land MODIS HDF-EOS data. Features include (1) accessing and visualization of all swath (Levels l and 2) MODIS and AIRS products, and gridded (Levels 3 and 4) MODIS products; (2) re-mapping of swath data to world map; (3) geo-projection conversion; (4) interactive and batch mode capabilities; (5) subsetting and multi-granule processing; and (6) data conversion. SIMAP is an IDL-based script that is designed to read and map MODIS Level 1B (L1B) and Level 2 (L2) Ocean and Atmosphere products. It is a non-interactive, command line executed tool. The resulting maps are scaled to physical units (e.g., radiances, concentrations, brightness temperatures) and saved in binary files. TRMM HDF (in C and Fortran), reads in TRMM HDF data files and writes out user-selected SDS arrays and Vdata tables as separate flat binary files.

Are Online Zenker's Diverticulum Materials Readable and Understandable?

PubMed

Balakrishnan, Vini; Chandy, Zachariah; Verma, Sunil P

2016-11-01

Patients use a multitude of resources to learn about Zenker's diverticulum (ZD). The objectives of this study were to assess the readability and understandability of online materials on ZD, evaluate them against the existing criteria, and investigate the relationship between readability and understandability. The first 50 webpages from an online search for ZD were analyzed. Twenty-one webpages had materials intended for patients and were included in the study. The patient education materials (PEMs) were analyzed using 6 readability tools. Four individuals used the Patient Education Materials Evaluation Tool (PEMAT) to assess the understandability. Fleiss κ interrater reliability analysis determined consistency among the raters. Finally, Pearson correlation coefficient analyzed the relationship between readability and understandability. The reading grade level of the materials reviewed ranged from 10th to 16th grade while the understandability ranged from 31% to 74%. Correlation analysis demonstrated a strong negative correlation between readability and understandability (r = -0.62, P < .05). Fleiss' κ interrater reliability for the raters demonstrated substantial agreement between the 4 raters (κ = 0.64). Online PEMs pertaining to ZD are written well above the recommended reading level. Materials written at a lower reading level are more understandable. A wide range of understandability exists among materials with identical reading grade levels. Health care providers need to create new PEMs for ZD that are available online that are both readable and understandable. The PEMAT and readability formulas can provide a framework for authors to create these materials. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2016.

The Gene Set Builder: collation, curation, and distribution of sets of genes

PubMed Central

Yusuf, Dimas; Lim, Jonathan S; Wasserman, Wyeth W

2005-01-01

Background In bioinformatics and genomics, there are many applications designed to investigate the common properties for a set of genes. Often, these multi-gene analysis tools attempt to reveal sequential, functional, and expressional ties. However, while tremendous effort has been invested in developing tools that can analyze a set of genes, minimal effort has been invested in developing tools that can help researchers compile, store, and annotate gene sets in the first place. As a result, the process of making or accessing a set often involves tedious and time consuming steps such as finding identifiers for each individual gene. These steps are often repeated extensively to shift from one identifier type to another; or to recreate a published set. In this paper, we present a simple online tool which – with the help of the gene catalogs Ensembl and GeneLynx – can help researchers build and annotate sets of genes quickly and easily. Description The Gene Set Builder is a database-driven, web-based tool designed to help researchers compile, store, export, and share sets of genes. This application supports the 17 eukaryotic genomes found in version 32 of the Ensembl database, which includes species from yeast to human. User-created information such as sets and customized annotations are stored to facilitate easy access. Gene sets stored in the system can be "exported" in a variety of output formats – as lists of identifiers, in tables, or as sequences. In addition, gene sets can be "shared" with specific users to facilitate collaborations or fully released to provide access to published results. The application also features a Perl API (Application Programming Interface) for direct connectivity to custom analysis tools. A downloadable Quick Reference guide and an online tutorial are available to help new users learn its functionalities. Conclusion The Gene Set Builder is an Ensembl-facilitated online tool designed to help researchers compile and manage sets of genes in a user-friendly environment. The application can be accessed via . PMID:16371163

miTRATA: a web-based tool for microRNA Truncation and Tailing Analysis.

PubMed

Patel, Parth; Ramachandruni, S Deepthi; Kakrana, Atul; Nakano, Mayumi; Meyers, Blake C

2016-02-01

We describe miTRATA, the first web-based tool for microRNA Truncation and Tailing Analysis--the analysis of 3' modifications of microRNAs including the loss or gain of nucleotides relative to the canonical sequence. miTRATA is implemented in Python (version 3) and employs parallel processing modules to enhance its scalability when analyzing multiple small RNA (sRNA) sequencing datasets. It utilizes miRBase, currently version 21, as a source of known microRNAs for analysis. miTRATA notifies user(s) via email to download as well as visualize the results online. miTRATA's strengths lie in (i) its biologist-focused web interface, (ii) improved scalability via parallel processing and (iii) its uniqueness as a webtool to perform microRNA truncation and tailing analysis. miTRATA is developed in Python and PHP. It is available as a web-based application from https://wasabi.dbi.udel.edu/∼apps/ta/. meyers@dbi.udel.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The value of online learning and MRI: finding a niche for expensive technologies.

PubMed

Cook, David A

2014-11-01

The benefits of online learning come at a price. How can we optimize the overall value? Critically appraise the value of online learning. Narrative review. Several prevalent myths overinflate the value of online learning. These include that online learning is cheap and easy (it is usually more expensive), that it is more efficient (efficiency depends on the instructional design, not the modality), that it will transform education (fundamental learning principles have not changed), and that the Net Generation expects it (there is no evidence of pent-up demand). However, online learning does add real value by enhancing flexibility, control and analytics. Costs may also go down if disruptive innovations (e.g. low-cost, low-tech, but instructionally sound "good enough" online learning) supplant technically superior but more expensive online learning products. Cost-lowering strategies include focusing on core principles of learning rather than technologies, using easy-to-learn authoring tools, repurposing content (organizing and sequencing existing resources rather than creating new content) and using course templates. Online learning represents just one tool in an educator's toolbox, as does the MRI for clinicians. We need to use the right tool(s) for the right learner at the right dose, time and route.

TNK2 Tyrosine Kinase as a Novel Therapeutic Target in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-01

Acknowledgement of federal support: Yes Books or other non-periodical, one-time publications. Nothing to Report. Other publications, conference papers...Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) of Government of Malaysia for the research fellowship to M.S.Z. We thank the Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility...Gyorffy B, Benke Z, Lanczky A, Balazs B, Szallasi Z, Timar J and Schafer R. RecurrenceOnline: an online analysis tool to determine breast cancer

Wind Energy Finance (WEF): An Online Calculator for Economic Analysis of Wind Projects

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

Not Available

2004-02-01

This brochure provides an overview of Wind Energy Finance (WEF), a free online cost of energy calculator developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that provides quick, detailed economic evaluation of potential utility-scale wind energy projects. The brochure lists the features of the tool, the inputs and outputs that a user can expect, visuals of the screens and a Cash Flow Results table, and contact information.

Development and pilot testing of an online monitoring tool of depression symptoms and side effects for young people being treated for depression.

PubMed

Hetrick, Sarah E; Dellosa, Maria Kristina; Simmons, Magenta B; Phillips, Lisa

2015-02-01

To develop and examine the feasibility of an online monitoring tool of depressive symptoms, suicidality and side effects. The online tool was developed based on guideline recommendations, and employed already validated and widely used measures. Quantitative data about its use, and qualitative information on its functionality and usefulness were collected from surveys, a focus group and individual interviews. Fifteen young people completed the tool between 1 and 12 times, and reported it was easy to use. Clinicians suggested it was too long and could be completed in the waiting room to lessen impact on session time. Overall, clients and clinicians who used the tool found it useful. Results show that an online monitoring tool is potentially useful as a systematic means for monitoring symptoms, but further research is needed including how to embed the tool within clinical practice. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Opportunities for adaptive online collaboration to enhance rural land management.

PubMed

Baumber, Alex; Metternicht, Graciela; Ampt, Peter; Cross, Rebecca; Berry, Emily

2018-08-01

Cross-property cooperation has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of environmental management actions that cut across property boundaries. Online tools can facilitate this and overcome barriers to landholder engagement in collaborative management. However, collaborative online tools need to be designed and tailored to users' needs and values, and landholder participation in the development process is critical to ensuring uptake and long-term use. This article presents a case study from the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia, where landholders have been involved in participatory development of a new online collaboration tool. The case study results highlight the significance of issues such as internet access, privacy, technical proficiency and differing stakeholder objectives. A landholder survey identified mapping and the uploading of monitoring data as important functions for the online tool, but these were not rated as highly as functions relating to data security, sharing settings and key term searches. Consequently, we recommend that a future online collaboration tool for the region is not framed specifically as a mapping or citizen science tool, but rather as an adaptive collaboration and communication tool that can incorporate a variety of data types and formats and be modified over time in line with changing landholder needs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teaching NMR spectra analysis with nmr.cheminfo.org.

PubMed

Patiny, Luc; Bolaños, Alejandro; Castillo, Andrés M; Bernal, Andrés; Wist, Julien

2018-06-01

Teaching spectra analysis and structure elucidation requires students to get trained on real problems. This involves solving exercises of increasing complexity and when necessary using computational tools. Although desktop software packages exist for this purpose, nmr.cheminfo.org platform offers students an online alternative. It provides a set of exercises and tools to help solving them. Only a small number of exercises are currently available, but contributors are invited to submit new ones and suggest new types of problems. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Talking Online: Reflecting on Online Communication Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greener, Susan

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the value and constraints of varied online communication tools from web 2.0 to e-mail in a higher education (HE) teaching and learning context, where these tools are used to support or be the main focus of learning. Design/methodology/approach: A structured reflection is produced with the aid of…

DaGO-Fun: tool for Gene Ontology-based functional analysis using term information content measures.

PubMed

Mazandu, Gaston K; Mulder, Nicola J

2013-09-25

The use of Gene Ontology (GO) data in protein analyses have largely contributed to the improved outcomes of these analyses. Several GO semantic similarity measures have been proposed in recent years and provide tools that allow the integration of biological knowledge embedded in the GO structure into different biological analyses. There is a need for a unified tool that provides the scientific community with the opportunity to explore these different GO similarity measure approaches and their biological applications. We have developed DaGO-Fun, an online tool available at http://web.cbio.uct.ac.za/ITGOM, which incorporates many different GO similarity measures for exploring, analyzing and comparing GO terms and proteins within the context of GO. It uses GO data and UniProt proteins with their GO annotations as provided by the Gene Ontology Annotation (GOA) project to precompute GO term information content (IC), enabling rapid response to user queries. The DaGO-Fun online tool presents the advantage of integrating all the relevant IC-based GO similarity measures, including topology- and annotation-based approaches to facilitate effective exploration of these measures, thus enabling users to choose the most relevant approach for their application. Furthermore, this tool includes several biological applications related to GO semantic similarity scores, including the retrieval of genes based on their GO annotations, the clustering of functionally related genes within a set, and term enrichment analysis.

Web-TCGA: an online platform for integrated analysis of molecular cancer data sets.

PubMed

Deng, Mario; Brägelmann, Johannes; Schultze, Joachim L; Perner, Sven

2016-02-06

The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a pool of molecular data sets publicly accessible and freely available to cancer researchers anywhere around the world. However, wide spread use is limited since an advanced knowledge of statistics and statistical software is required. In order to improve accessibility we created Web-TCGA, a web based, freely accessible online tool, which can also be run in a private instance, for integrated analysis of molecular cancer data sets provided by TCGA. In contrast to already available tools, Web-TCGA utilizes different methods for analysis and visualization of TCGA data, allowing users to generate global molecular profiles across different cancer entities simultaneously. In addition to global molecular profiles, Web-TCGA offers highly detailed gene and tumor entity centric analysis by providing interactive tables and views. As a supplement to other already available tools, such as cBioPortal (Sci Signal 6:pl1, 2013, Cancer Discov 2:401-4, 2012), Web-TCGA is offering an analysis service, which does not require any installation or configuration, for molecular data sets available at the TCGA. Individual processing requests (queries) are generated by the user for mutation, methylation, expression and copy number variation (CNV) analyses. The user can focus analyses on results from single genes and cancer entities or perform a global analysis (multiple cancer entities and genes simultaneously).

High-Speed Edge Trimming of CFRP and Online Monitoring of Performance of Router Tools Using Acoustic Emission

PubMed Central

Prakash, Rangasamy; Krishnaraj, Vijayan; Zitoune, Redouane; Sheikh-Ahmad, Jamal

2016-01-01

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have found wide-ranging applications in numerous industrial fields such as aerospace, automotive, and shipping industries due to their excellent mechanical properties that lead to enhanced functional performance. In this paper, an experimental study on edge trimming of CFRP was done with various cutting conditions and different geometry of tools such as helical-, fluted-, and burr-type tools. The investigation involves the measurement of cutting forces for the different machining conditions and its effect on the surface quality of the trimmed edges. The modern cutting tools (router tools or burr tools) selected for machining CFRPs, have complex geometries in cutting edges and surfaces, and therefore a traditional method of direct tool wear evaluation is not applicable. An acoustic emission (AE) sensing was employed for on-line monitoring of the performance of router tools to determine the relationship between AE signal and length of machining for different kinds of geometry of tools. The investigation showed that the router tool with a flat cutting edge has better performance by generating lower cutting force and better surface finish with no delamination on trimmed edges. The mathematical modeling for the prediction of cutting forces was also done using Artificial Neural Network and Regression Analysis. PMID:28773919

Detection of Collapse and Crystallization of Saccharide, Protein, and Mannitol Formulations by Optical Fibers in Lyophilization

PubMed Central

Horn, Jacqueline; Friess, Wolfgang

2018-01-01

The collapse temperature (Tc) and the glass transition temperature of freeze-concentrated solutions (Tg') as well as the crystallization behavior of excipients are important physicochemical characteristics which guide the cycle development in freeze-drying. The most frequently used methods to determine these values are differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and freeze-drying microscopy (FDM). The objective of this study was to evaluate the optical fiber system (OFS) unit as alternative tool for the analysis of Tc, Tg' and crystallization events. The OFS unit was also tested as a potential online monitoring tool during freeze-drying. Freeze/thawing and freeze-drying experiments of sucrose, trehalose, stachyose, mannitol, and highly concentrated IgG1 and lysozyme solutions were carried out and monitored by the OFS. Comparative analyses were performed by DSC and FDM. OFS and FDM results correlated well. The crystallization behavior of mannitol could be monitored by the OFS during freeze/thawing as it can be done by DSC. Online monitoring of freeze-drying runs detected collapse of amorphous saccharide matrices. The OFS unit enabled the analysis of both Tc and crystallization processes, which is usually carried out by FDM and DSC. The OFS can hence be used as novel measuring device. Additionally, detection of these events during lyophilization facilitates online-monitoring. Thus the OFS is a new beneficial tool for the development and monitoring of freeze-drying processes. PMID:29435445

Detection of Collapse and Crystallization of Saccharide, Protein and Mannitol Formulations by Optical Fibers in Lyophilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horn, Jacqueline; Friess, Wolfgang

2018-01-01

The collapse temperature (Tc) and the glass transition temperature of freeze-concentrated solutions (Tg’) as well as the crystallization behavior of excipients are important physicochemical characteristics which guide the cycle development in freeze-drying. The most frequently used methods to determine these values are differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and freeze-drying microscopy (FDM). The objective of this study was to evaluate the optical fiber system (OFS) unit as alternative tool for the analysis of Tc, Tg’ and crystallization events. The OFS unit was also tested as a potential online monitoring tool during freeze-drying. Freeze/thawing and freeze-drying experiments of sucrose, trehalose, stachyose, mannitol and highly concentrated IgG1 and lysozyme solutions were carried out and monitored by the OFS. Comparative analyses were performed by DSC and FDM. OFS and FDM results correlated well. The crystallization behavior of mannitol could be monitored by the OFS during freeze/thawing as it can be done by DSC. Online monitoring of freeze-drying runs detected collapse of amorphous saccharide matrices. The OFS unit enabled the analysis of both Tc and crystallization processes, which is usually carried out by FDM and DSC. The OFS can hence be used as novel measuring device. Additionally, detection of these events during lyophilization facilitate online-monitoring. Thus the OFS is a new beneficial tool for the development and monitoring of freeze-drying processes.

PANDA-view: An easy-to-use tool for statistical analysis and visualization of quantitative proteomics data.

PubMed

Chang, Cheng; Xu, Kaikun; Guo, Chaoping; Wang, Jinxia; Yan, Qi; Zhang, Jian; He, Fuchu; Zhu, Yunping

2018-05-22

Compared with the numerous software tools developed for identification and quantification of -omics data, there remains a lack of suitable tools for both downstream analysis and data visualization. To help researchers better understand the biological meanings in their -omics data, we present an easy-to-use tool, named PANDA-view, for both statistical analysis and visualization of quantitative proteomics data and other -omics data. PANDA-view contains various kinds of analysis methods such as normalization, missing value imputation, statistical tests, clustering and principal component analysis, as well as the most commonly-used data visualization methods including an interactive volcano plot. Additionally, it provides user-friendly interfaces for protein-peptide-spectrum representation of the quantitative proteomics data. PANDA-view is freely available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/panda-view/. 1987ccpacer@163.com and zhuyunping@gmail.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP): A Fast and Effective Data Mining Tool for Gene Expression Databases

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

Gene expression databases contain a wealth of information, but current data mining tools are limited in their speed and effectiveness in extracting meaningful biological knowledge from them. Online analytical processing (OLAP) can be used as a supplement to cluster analysis for fast and effective data mining of gene expression databases. We used Analysis Services 2000, a product that ships with SQLServer2000, to construct an OLAP cube that was used to mine a time series experiment designed to identify genes associated with resistance of soybean to the soybean cyst nematode, a devastating pest of soybean. The data for these experiments is stored in the soybean genomics and microarray database (SGMD). A number of candidate resistance genes and pathways were found. Compared to traditional cluster analysis of gene expression data, OLAP was more effective and faster in finding biologically meaningful information. OLAP is available from a number of vendors and can work with any relational database management system through OLE DB. PMID:16046824

A Novel Approach to Practice-Based Learning and Improvement Using a Web-Based Audit and Feedback Module.

PubMed

Boggan, Joel C; Cheely, George; Shah, Bimal R; Heffelfinger, Randy; Springall, Deanna; Thomas, Samantha M; Zaas, Aimee; Bae, Jonathan

2014-09-01

Systematically engaging residents in large programs in quality improvement (QI) is challenging. To coordinate a shared QI project in a large residency program using an online tool. A web-based QI tool guided residents through a 2-phase evaluation of performance of foot examinations in patients with diabetes. In phase 1, residents completed reviews of health records with online data entry. Residents were then presented with personal performance data relative to peers and were prompted to develop improvement plans. In phase 2, residents again reviewed personal performance. Rates of performance were compared at the program and clinic levels for each phase, with data presented for residents. Acceptability was measured by the number of residents completing each phase. Feasibility was measured by estimated faculty, programmer, and administrator time and costs. Seventy-nine of 86 eligible residents (92%) completed improvement plans and reviewed 1471 patients in phase 1, whereas 68 residents (79%) reviewed 1054 patient charts in phase 2. Rates of performance of examination increased significantly between phases (from 52% to 73% for complete examination, P < .001). Development of the tool required 130 hours of programmer time. Project analysis and management required 6 hours of administrator and faculty time monthly. An online tool developed and implemented for program-wide QI initiatives successfully engaged residents to participate in QI activities. Residents using this tool demonstrated improvement in a selected quality target. This tool could be adapted by other graduate medical education programs or for faculty development.

The Habitable Zone Gallery 2.0: The Online Exoplanet System Visualization Suite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandler, C. O.; Kane, S. R.; Gelino, D. M.

2017-11-01

The Habitable Zone Gallery 2.0 provides new and improved visualization and data analysis tools to the exoplanet habitability community and beyond. Modules include interactive habitable zone plotting and downloadable 3D animations.

Using incident response trees as a tool for risk management of online financial services.

PubMed

Gorton, Dan

2014-09-01

The article introduces the use of probabilistic risk assessment for modeling the incident response process of online financial services. The main contribution is the creation of incident response trees, using event tree analysis, which provides us with a visual tool and a systematic way to estimate the probability of a successful incident response process against the currently known risk landscape, making it possible to measure the balance between front-end and back-end security measures. The model is presented using an illustrative example, and is then applied to the incident response process of a Swedish bank. Access to relevant data is verified and the applicability and usability of the proposed model is verified using one year of historical data. Potential advantages and possible shortcomings are discussed, referring to both the design phase and the operational phase, and future work is presented. © 2014 Society for Risk Analysis.

Discovery of Information Diffusion Process in Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Kwanho; Jung, Jae-Yoon; Park, Jonghun

Information diffusion analysis in social networks is of significance since it enables us to deeply understand dynamic social interactions among users. In this paper, we introduce approaches to discovering information diffusion process in social networks based on process mining. Process mining techniques are applied from three perspectives: social network analysis, process discovery and community recognition. We then present experimental results by using a real-life social network data. The proposed techniques are expected to employ as new analytical tools in online social networks such as blog and wikis for company marketers, politicians, news reporters and online writers.

Online Analysis of Wind and Solar Part I: Ramping Tool

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

Etingov, Pavel V.; Ma, Jian; Makarov, Yuri V.

2012-01-31

To facilitate wider penetration of renewable resources without compromising system reliability concerns arising from the lack of predictability of intermittent renewable resources, a tool for use by California Independent System Operator (CAISO) power grid operators was developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in conjunction with CAISO with funding from California Energy Commission. This tool predicts and displays additional capacity and ramping requirements caused by uncertainties in forecasts of loads and renewable generation. The tool is currently operational in the CAISO operations center. This is one of two final reports on the project.

Validation of a Novel Digital Tool in Automatic Scoring of an Online ECG Examination at an International Cardiology Meeting.

PubMed

Quinn, Kieran L; Crystal, Eugene; Lashevsky, Ilan; Arouny, Banafsheh; Baranchuk, Adrian

2016-07-01

We have previously developed a novel digital tool capable of automatically recognizing correct electrocardiography (ECG) diagnoses in an online exam and demonstrated a significant improvement in diagnostic accuracy when utilizing an inductive-deductive reasoning strategy over a pattern recognition strategy. In this study, we sought to validate these findings from participants at the International Winter Arrhythmia School meeting, one of the foremost electrophysiology events in Canada. Preregistration to the event was sent by e-mail. The exam was administered on day 1 of the conference. Results and analysis were presented the following morning to participants. Twenty-five attendees completed the exam, providing a total of 500 responses to be marked. The online tool accurately identified 195 of a total of 395 (49%) correct responses (49%). In total, 305 responses required secondary manual review, of which 200 were added to the correct responses pool. The overall accuracy of correct ECG diagnosis for all participants was 69% and 84% when using pattern recognition or inductive-deductive strategies, respectively. Utilization of a novel digital tool to evaluate ECG competency can be set up as a workshop at international meetings or educational events. Results can be presented during the sessions to ensure immediate feedback. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In Silico PCR Tools for a Fast Primer, Probe, and Advanced Searching.

PubMed

Kalendar, Ruslan; Muterko, Alexandr; Shamekova, Malika; Zhambakin, Kabyl

2017-01-01

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is fundamental to molecular biology and is the most important practical molecular technique for the research laboratory. The principle of this technique has been further used and applied in plenty of other simple or complex nucleic acid amplification technologies (NAAT). In parallel to laboratory "wet bench" experiments for nucleic acid amplification technologies, in silico or virtual (bioinformatics) approaches have been developed, among which in silico PCR analysis. In silico NAAT analysis is a useful and efficient complementary method to ensure the specificity of primers or probes for an extensive range of PCR applications from homology gene discovery, molecular diagnosis, DNA fingerprinting, and repeat searching. Predicting sensitivity and specificity of primers and probes requires a search to determine whether they match a database with an optimal number of mismatches, similarity, and stability. In the development of in silico bioinformatics tools for nucleic acid amplification technologies, the prospects for the development of new NAAT or similar approaches should be taken into account, including forward-looking and comprehensive analysis that is not limited to only one PCR technique variant. The software FastPCR and the online Java web tool are integrated tools for in silico PCR of linear and circular DNA, multiple primer or probe searches in large or small databases and for advanced search. These tools are suitable for processing of batch files that are essential for automation when working with large amounts of data. The FastPCR software is available for download at http://primerdigital.com/fastpcr.html and the online Java version at http://primerdigital.com/tools/pcr.html .

The Implementation of a Course Design Using Online Curricular Tools for Assurance of Learning at a Small Private AACSB School of Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fratto, Victoria A.

2010-01-01

This study was designed to determine if the use of online curricular tools as a pedagogical supplement to an introductory accounting course would improve student accounting knowledge as compared to traditional teaching methodology. The curricular model employed course-embedded online assessments and tools that were designed to assist an accounting…

Fair Use Education for the Twenty-First Century: A Comparative Study of Students' Use of an Interactive Tool to Guide Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenhow, Christine; Walker, J. D.; Donnelly, Dan; Cohen, Brad

2008-01-01

Christine Greenhow, J. D. Walker, Dan Donnelly, and Brad Cohen describe the implementation and evaluation of the University of Minnesota's Fair Use Analysis (FUA) tool, an interactive online application intended to educate users and foster defensible fair use practice in accordance with copyright law by guiding users through a robust,…

Commentary on "Theory-Led Design of Instruments and Representations in Learning Analytics: Developing a Novel Tool for Orchestration of Online Collaborative Learning"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teplovs, Chris

2015-01-01

This commentary reflects on the contributions to learning analytics and theory by a paper that describes how multiple theoretical frameworks were woven together to inform the creation of a new, automated discourse analysis tool. The commentary highlights the contributions of the original paper, provides some alternative approaches, and touches on…

Utilization of smoking cessation informational, interactive, and online community resources as predictors of abstinence: cohort study.

PubMed

An, Lawrence C; Schillo, Barbara A; Saul, Jessie E; Wendling, Ann H; Klatt, Colleen M; Berg, Carla J; Ahulwalia, Jasjit S; Kavanaugh, Annette M; Christenson, Matthew; Luxenberg, Michael G

2008-12-20

The association between greater utilization of Web-assisted tobacco interventions and increased abstinence rates is well recognized. However, there is little information on how utilization of specific website features influences quitting. To determine the association between utilization of informational, interactive, and online community resources (eg. bulletin boards) and abstinence rates, with the broader objective to identify potential strategies for improving outcomes for Web-assisted tobacco interventions. In Spring 2004, a cohort of 607 quitplan.com users consented to participate in an evaluation of quitplan.com, a Minnesota branded version of QuitNet.com. We developed utilization measures for different site features: general information, interactive diagnostic tools and quit planning tools, online expert counseling, passive (ie, reading of bulletin boards) and active (ie, public posting) online community engagement, and one-to-one messaging with other virtual community members. Using bivariate, multivariate, and path analyses, we examined the relationship between utilization of specific site features and 30-day abstinence at 6 months. The most commonly used resources were the interactive quit planning tools (used by 77% of site users). Other informational resources (ie, quitting guides) were used more commonly (60% of users) than passive (38%) or active (24%) community features. Online community engagement through one-to-one messaging was low (11%) as was use of online counseling (5%). The 30-day abstinence rate among study participants at 6 months was 9.7% (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 7.3% - 12.1%). In the logistic regression model, neither the demographic data (eg, age, gender, education level, employment, or insurance status) nor the smoking-related data (eg, cigarettes per day, time to first morning cigarette, baseline readiness to quit) nor use of smoking cessation medications entered the model as significant predictors of abstinence. Individuals who used the interactive quit planning tools once, two to three times, or four or more times had an odds of abstinence of 0.65 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.22 - 1.94), 1.87 (95% CI 0.77 - 4.56), and 2.35 (95% CI 1.0 - 5.58), respectively. The use of one-to-one messages (reference = none vs 1 or more) entered the final model as potential predictor for abstinence, though the significance of this measure was marginal (OR = 1.91, 95% CI 0.92 - 3.97, P = .083). In the path analysis, an apparent association between active online community engagement and abstinence was accounted for in large part by increased use of interactive quitting tools and one-to-one messaging. Use of interactive quitting tools, and perhaps one-to-one messaging with other members of the online community, was associated with increased abstinence rates among quitplan.com users. Designs that facilitate use of these features should be considered.

Psychometric properties of the problematic online gaming questionnaire short-form and prevalence of problematic online gaming in a national sample of adolescents.

PubMed

Pápay, Orsolya; Urbán, Róbert; Griffiths, Mark D; Nagygyörgy, Katalin; Farkas, Judit; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi; Felvinczi, Katalin; Oláh, Attila; Elekes, Zsuzsanna; Demetrovics, Zsolt

2013-05-01

The rise and growing popularity of online games has led to the appearance of excessive gaming that in some cases can lead to physical and psychological problems. Several measures have been developed to explore the nature and the scale of the phenomenon. However, few measures have been validated psychometrically. The aim of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the 12-item Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire Short-Form (POGQ-SF) and to assess the prevalence of problematic online gaming. Data collection was carried out to assess the prevalence of problematic online gaming in a national representative adolescent sample by using an offline (pen and pencil) method. A total of 5,045 secondary school students were assessed (51% male, mean age 16.4 years, SD=0.9 years) of which 2,804 were gamers (65.4% male, mean age 16.4 years, SD=0.9 years). Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the measurement model of problematic online gaming, and latent profile analysis was used to identify the proportion of gamers whose online game use can be considered problematic. Results showed that the original six-factor model yielded appropriate fit to the data, and thus the POGQ-SF has appropriate psychometric properties. Latent profile analysis revealed that 4.6% of the adolescents belong to a high risk group and an additional 13.3% to a low risk group. Due to its satisfactory psychometric characteristics, the 12-item POGQ-SF appears to be an adequate tool for the assessment of problematic online gaming.

Coastal On-line Assessment and Synthesis Tool 2.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Richard; Navard, Andrew; Nguyen, Beth

2011-01-01

COAST (Coastal On-line Assessment and Synthesis Tool) is a 3D, open-source Earth data browser developed by leveraging and enhancing previous NASA open-source tools. These tools use satellite imagery and elevation data in a way that allows any user to zoom from orbit view down into any place on Earth, and enables the user to experience Earth terrain in a visually rich 3D view. The benefits associated with taking advantage of an open-source geo-browser are that it is free, extensible, and offers a worldwide developer community that is available to provide additional development and improvement potential. What makes COAST unique is that it simplifies the process of locating and accessing data sources, and allows a user to combine them into a multi-layered and/or multi-temporal visual analytical look into possible data interrelationships and coeffectors for coastal environment phenomenology. COAST provides users with new data visual analytic capabilities. COAST has been upgraded to maximize use of open-source data access, viewing, and data manipulation software tools. The COAST 2.0 toolset has been developed to increase access to a larger realm of the most commonly implemented data formats used by the coastal science community. New and enhanced functionalities that upgrade COAST to COAST 2.0 include the development of the Temporal Visualization Tool (TVT) plug-in, the Recursive Online Remote Data-Data Mapper (RECORD-DM) utility, the Import Data Tool (IDT), and the Add Points Tool (APT). With these improvements, users can integrate their own data with other data sources, and visualize the resulting layers of different data types (such as spatial and spectral, for simultaneous visual analysis), and visualize temporal changes in areas of interest.

Advanced Online Survival Analysis Tool for Predictive Modelling in Clinical Data Science.

PubMed

Montes-Torres, Julio; Subirats, José Luis; Ribelles, Nuria; Urda, Daniel; Franco, Leonardo; Alba, Emilio; Jerez, José Manuel

2016-01-01

One of the prevailing applications of machine learning is the use of predictive modelling in clinical survival analysis. In this work, we present our view of the current situation of computer tools for survival analysis, stressing the need of transferring the latest results in the field of machine learning to biomedical researchers. We propose a web based software for survival analysis called OSA (Online Survival Analysis), which has been developed as an open access and user friendly option to obtain discrete time, predictive survival models at individual level using machine learning techniques, and to perform standard survival analysis. OSA employs an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based method to produce the predictive survival models. Additionally, the software can easily generate survival and hazard curves with multiple options to personalise the plots, obtain contingency tables from the uploaded data to perform different tests, and fit a Cox regression model from a number of predictor variables. In the Materials and Methods section, we depict the general architecture of the application and introduce the mathematical background of each of the implemented methods. The study concludes with examples of use showing the results obtained with public datasets.

Advanced Online Survival Analysis Tool for Predictive Modelling in Clinical Data Science

PubMed Central

Montes-Torres, Julio; Subirats, José Luis; Ribelles, Nuria; Urda, Daniel; Franco, Leonardo; Alba, Emilio; Jerez, José Manuel

2016-01-01

One of the prevailing applications of machine learning is the use of predictive modelling in clinical survival analysis. In this work, we present our view of the current situation of computer tools for survival analysis, stressing the need of transferring the latest results in the field of machine learning to biomedical researchers. We propose a web based software for survival analysis called OSA (Online Survival Analysis), which has been developed as an open access and user friendly option to obtain discrete time, predictive survival models at individual level using machine learning techniques, and to perform standard survival analysis. OSA employs an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based method to produce the predictive survival models. Additionally, the software can easily generate survival and hazard curves with multiple options to personalise the plots, obtain contingency tables from the uploaded data to perform different tests, and fit a Cox regression model from a number of predictor variables. In the Materials and Methods section, we depict the general architecture of the application and introduce the mathematical background of each of the implemented methods. The study concludes with examples of use showing the results obtained with public datasets. PMID:27532883

"I'm Not Here to Learn How to Mark Someone Else's Stuff": An Investigation of an Online Peer-to-Peer Review Workshop Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Michael John; Diao, Ming Ming; Huang, Leon

2015-01-01

In this article, we explore the intersecting concepts of fairness, trust and temporality in relation to the implementation of an online peer-to-peer review Moodle Workshop tool at a Sydney metropolitan university. Drawing on qualitative interviews with unit convenors and online surveys of students using the Workshop tool, we seek to highlight a…

Development of an automated on-line pepsin digestion-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry configuration for the rapid analysis of protein adducts of chemical warfare agents.

PubMed

Carol-Visser, Jeroen; van der Schans, Marcel; Fidder, Alex; Hulst, Albert G; van Baar, Ben L M; Irth, Hubertus; Noort, Daan

2008-07-01

Rapid monitoring and retrospective verification are key issues in protection against and non-proliferation of chemical warfare agents (CWA). Such monitoring and verification are adequately accomplished by the analysis of persistent protein adducts of these agents. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is the tool of choice in the analysis of such protein adducts, but the overall experimental procedure is quite elaborate. Therefore, an automated on-line pepsin digestion-LC-MS configuration has been developed for the rapid determination of CWA protein adducts. The utility of this configuration is demonstrated by the analysis of specific adducts of sarin and sulfur mustard to human butyryl cholinesterase and human serum albumin, respectively.

Advanced mathematical on-line analysis in nuclear experiments. Usage of parallel computing CUDA routines in standard root analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grzeszczuk, A.; Kowalski, S.

2015-04-01

Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) is a parallel computing platform developed by Nvidia for increase speed of graphics by usage of parallel mode for processes calculation. The success of this solution has opened technology General-Purpose Graphic Processor Units (GPGPUs) for applications not coupled with graphics. The GPGPUs system can be applying as effective tool for reducing huge number of data for pulse shape analysis measures, by on-line recalculation or by very quick system of compression. The simplified structure of CUDA system and model of programming based on example Nvidia GForce GTX580 card are presented by our poster contribution in stand-alone version and as ROOT application.

Teachers Connect "with" Technology: Online Tools Build New Pathways to Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Vicki L.; Olson, Lynn

2013-01-01

Teachers, curriculum experts, and other educators work together using online tools developed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create high-quality, useful lessons and research-based instructional tools incorporating the Common Core State Standards.

Virtual collaboration in the online educational setting: a concept analysis.

PubMed

Breen, Henny

2013-01-01

This study was designed to explore the concept of virtual collaboration within the context of an online learning environment in an academic setting. Rodgers' method of evolutionary concept analysis was used to provide a contextual view of the concept to identify attributes, antecedents, and consequences of virtual collaboration. Commonly used terms to describe virtual collaboration are collaborative and cooperative learning, group work, group interaction, group learning, and teamwork. A constructivist pedagogy, group-based process with a shared purpose, support, and web-based technology is required for virtual collaboration to take place. Consequences of virtual collaboration are higher order thinking and learning to work with others. A comprehensive definition of virtual collaboration is offered as an outcome of this analysis. Clarification of virtual collaboration prior to using it as a pedagogical tool in the online learning environment will enhance nursing education with the changes in nursing curriculum being implemented today. Further research is recommended to describe the developmental stages of the collaborative process among nursing students in online education and how virtual collaboration facilitates collaboration in practice. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Different left brain regions are essential for grasping a tool compared with its subsequent use.

PubMed

Randerath, Jennifer; Goldenberg, Georg; Spijkers, Will; Li, Yong; Hermsdörfer, Joachim

2010-10-15

Tool use engages a left hemispheric network including frontal, temporal and parietal regions. Patients with left brain lesions (LBD patients) exhibit deficits when demonstrating use of a single tool (apraxia). When attempting to use a tool, some apraxic patients show errors in the preceding grasping movement. Forty-two LBD patients and 18 healthy controls grasped individual tools and demonstrated their typical use. For patients with a tool use impairment (22), lesion analysis revealed a large area of overlap in the left hemisphere, mainly in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG). For patients with erroneous grasping (12), the lesion overlay showed overlaps in the left frontal and parietal cortices, especially in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the angular gyrus (ANG). However, contrasting lesions associated with impaired grasping versus tool use impairments reveal little overlap, limited to the inferior parietal cortex. Presumably the left IFG is involved in selection processes in the context of tool use, such as choosing a functional or non-functional grasping movement depending on the task and the online information about the tool's structure and orientation. The ANG might provide this grasp related information, which is relevant for the specific action. The contribution of the SMG to tool use involves more general principals, such as integrating online and learned tool use information into the action plan for the use movement. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the Utility of Web-Based Consumer Support Tools Using Rough Sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maciag, Timothy; Hepting, Daryl H.; Slezak, Dominik; Hilderman, Robert J.

On the Web, many popular e-commerce sites provide consumers with decision support tools to assist them in their commerce-related decision-making. Many consumers will rank the utility of these tools quite highly. Data obtained from web usage mining analyses, which may provide knowledge about a user's online experiences, could help indicate the utility of these tools. This type of analysis could provide insight into whether provided tools are adequately assisting consumers in conducting their online shopping activities or if new or additional enhancements need consideration. Although some research in this regard has been described in previous literature, there is still much that can be done. The authors of this paper hypothesize that a measurement of consumer decision accuracy, i.e. a measurement preferences, could help indicate the utility of these tools. This paper describes a procedure developed towards this goal using elements of rough set theory. The authors evaluated the procedure using two support tools, one based on a tool developed by the US-EPA and the other developed by one of the authors called cogito. Results from the evaluation did provide interesting insights on the utility of both support tools. Although it was shown that the cogito tool obtained slightly higher decision accuracy, both tools could be improved from additional enhancements. Details of the procedure developed and results obtained from the evaluation will be provided. Opportunities for future work are also discussed.

Online Collaboration--How to Start

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindsay, Julie

2016-01-01

Thanks to the development of faster Internet and better technology tools, students and teachers can network, collaborate, co-create products, build knowledge together, and share that knowledge with whomever they want around the world. Julie Lindsay describes online resources, tools, and projects that teachers can use for online global…

Web vulnerability study of online pharmacy sites.

PubMed

Kuzma, Joanne

2011-01-01

Consumers are increasingly using online pharmacies, but these sites may not provide an adequate level of security with the consumers' personal data. There is a gap in this research addressing the problems of security vulnerabilities in this industry. The objective is to identify the level of web application security vulnerabilities in online pharmacies and the common types of flaws, thus expanding on prior studies. Technical, managerial and legal recommendations on how to mitigate security issues are presented. The proposed four-step method first consists of choosing an online testing tool. The next steps involve choosing a list of 60 online pharmacy sites to test, and then running the software analysis to compile a list of flaws. Finally, an in-depth analysis is performed on the types of web application vulnerabilities. The majority of sites had serious vulnerabilities, with the majority of flaws being cross-site scripting or old versions of software that have not been updated. A method is proposed for the securing of web pharmacy sites, using a multi-phased approach of technical and managerial techniques together with a thorough understanding of national legal requirements for securing systems.

Online reporting of adverse drug reactions: a study from a French regional pharmacovigilance center.

PubMed

Abadie, Delphine; Chebane, Leyla; Bert, Max; Durrieu, Geneviève; Montastruc, Jean-Louis

2014-01-01

In France, online reporting via a website is a new method for notifying adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The French Midi-Pyrénées Regional Pharmacovigilance Center (RPVC) set up in July, 2010 a Web-based ADR reporting tool in order to improve ADR reporting rate. To assess feasibility, use and performances of this new ADR reporting system. To evaluate the main characteristics of these online reports. In a retrospective study, we evaluated characteristics (numbers, ADR reporting and file processing times, type of reporters, suspected drugs, "seriousness" and nature of ADRs) of online notifications reported to the RPVC between July 7(th), 2010 (first online notification) and December 31(th), 2011. We performed comparisons to a random sample of "conventional" notifications, i.e. spontaneously reported to the RPVC via traditional tools (post, fax, e-mail or telephone) during the same period. The total number of online reports was 312 over the 18-month period. There was a 45% increase in numbers of reports from ambulatory healthcare professionals after the implementation of the new reporting tool. Online reports were transmitted to the French Medicine Agency on average almost one month (26 days) earlier than "conventional" ones. This difference was mainly due to a faster ADR notification process via the online form (on average, the reporting period was decreased by 19 days with the new tool). In comparison to "conventional" notifications, online reports came more often from ambulatory healthcare professionals, and involved more frequently neuropsychiatric drugs and neuropsychiatric ADRs. None difference was observed for "seriousness" of ADRs. It is feasible to deploy an online ADR reporting system used by health professionals in current practice. We underline the efficiency of this new online reporting tool for increasing ADRs reporting. Moreover, this is the first published study demonstrating that an online reporting tool can help to save time on the ADR reporting period and file processing, which is essential to generate early safety signals. © 2014 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.

PlanetServer: Innovative approaches for the online analysis of hyperspectral satellite data from Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oosthoek, J. H. P.; Flahaut, J.; Rossi, A. P.; Baumann, P.; Misev, D.; Campalani, P.; Unnithan, V.

2014-06-01

PlanetServer is a WebGIS system, currently under development, enabling the online analysis of Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) hyperspectral data from Mars. It is part of the EarthServer project which builds infrastructure for online access and analysis of huge Earth Science datasets. Core functionality consists of the rasdaman Array Database Management System (DBMS) for storage, and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) for data querying. Various WCPS queries have been designed to access spatial and spectral subsets of the CRISM data. The client WebGIS, consisting mainly of the OpenLayers javascript library, uses these queries to enable online spatial and spectral analysis. Currently the PlanetServer demonstration consists of two CRISM Full Resolution Target (FRT) observations, surrounding the NASA Curiosity rover landing site. A detailed analysis of one of these observations is performed in the Case Study section. The current PlanetServer functionality is described step by step, and is tested by focusing on detecting mineralogical evidence described in earlier Gale crater studies. Both the PlanetServer methodology and its possible use for mineralogical studies will be further discussed. Future work includes batch ingestion of CRISM data and further development of the WebGIS and analysis tools.

Google classroom as a tool for active learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaharanee, Izwan Nizal Mohd; Jamil, Jastini Mohd; Rodzi, Sarah Syamimi Mohamad

2016-08-01

As the world is being developed with the new technologies, discovering and manipulating new ideas and concepts of online education are changing rapidly. In response to these changes, many states, institutions, and organizations have been working on strategic plans to implement online education. At the same time, misconceptions and myths related to the difficulty of teaching and learning online, technologies available to support online instruction, the support and compensation needed for high-quality instructors, and the needs of online students create challenges for such vision statements and planning documents. This paper provides analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of Google Classroom's active learning activities for data mining subject under the Decision Sciences program. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been employed to measure the effectiveness of the learning activities. A total of 100 valid unduplicated responses from students who enrolled data mining subject were used in this study. The results indicated that majority of the students satisfy with the Google Classroom's tool that were introduced in the class. Results of data analyzed showed that all ratios are above averages. In particular, comparative performance is good in the areas of ease of access, perceived usefulness, communication and interaction, instruction delivery and students' satisfaction towards the Google Classroom's active learning activities.

Use of Feedback-Oriented Online Exercises to Help Physiology Students Construct Well-Organized Answers to Short-Answer Questions

PubMed Central

Carnegie, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

Postsecondary education often requires students to use higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as analysis, evaluation, and creation as they assess situations and apply what they have learned during lecture to the formulation of solutions. Summative assessment of these abilities is often accomplished using short-answer questions (SAQs). Quandary was used to create feedback-oriented interactive online exercises to help students strengthen certain HOCS as they actively constructed answers to questions concerning the regulation of 1) metabolic rate, 2) blood sugar, 3) erythropoiesis, and 4) stroke volume. Each exercise began with a SAQ presenting an endocrine dysfunction or a physiological challenge; students were prompted to answer between six and eight multiple-choice questions while building their answer to the SAQ. Student outcomes on the SAQ sections of summative exams were compared before and after the introduction of the online tool and also between subgroups of students within the posttool-introduction population who demonstrated different levels of participation in the online exercises. While overall SAQ outcomes were not different before and after the introduction of the online exercises, once the SAQ tool had become available, those students who chose to use it had improved SAQ outcomes compared with those who did not. PMID:26113627

Developing Students' Critical Reasoning About Online Health Information: A Capabilities Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiblom, Jonna; Rundgren, Carl-Johan; Andrée, Maria

2017-11-01

The internet has become a main source for health-related information retrieval. In addition to information published by medical experts, individuals share their personal experiences and narratives on blogs and social media platforms. Our increasing need to confront and make meaning of various sources and conflicting health information has challenged the way critical reasoning has become relevant in science education. This study addresses how the opportunities for students to develop and practice their capabilities to critically approach online health information can be created in science education. Together with two upper secondary biology teachers, we carried out a design-based study. The participating students were given an online retrieval task that included a search and evaluation of health-related online sources. After a few lessons, the students were introduced to an evaluation tool designed to support critical evaluation of health information online. Using qualitative content analysis, four themes could be discerned in the audio and video recordings of student interactions when engaging with the task. Each theme illustrates the different ways in which critical reasoning became practiced in the student groups. Without using the evaluation tool, the students struggled to overview the vast amount of information and negotiate trustworthiness. Guided by the evaluation tool, critical reasoning was practiced to handle source subjectivity and to sift out scientific information only. Rather than a generic skill and transferable across contexts, students' critical reasoning became conditioned by the multi-dimensional nature of health issues, the blend of various contexts and the shift of purpose constituted by the students.

Web-based tools for modelling and analysis of multivariate data: California ozone pollution activity

PubMed Central

Dinov, Ivo D.; Christou, Nicolas

2014-01-01

This article presents a hands-on web-based activity motivated by the relation between human health and ozone pollution in California. This case study is based on multivariate data collected monthly at 20 locations in California between 1980 and 2006. Several strategies and tools for data interrogation and exploratory data analysis, model fitting and statistical inference on these data are presented. All components of this case study (data, tools, activity) are freely available online at: http://wiki.stat.ucla.edu/socr/index.php/SOCR_MotionCharts_CAOzoneData. Several types of exploratory (motion charts, box-and-whisker plots, spider charts) and quantitative (inference, regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA)) data analyses tools are demonstrated. Two specific human health related questions (temporal and geographic effects of ozone pollution) are discussed as motivational challenges. PMID:24465054

Web-based tools for modelling and analysis of multivariate data: California ozone pollution activity.

PubMed

Dinov, Ivo D; Christou, Nicolas

2011-09-01

This article presents a hands-on web-based activity motivated by the relation between human health and ozone pollution in California. This case study is based on multivariate data collected monthly at 20 locations in California between 1980 and 2006. Several strategies and tools for data interrogation and exploratory data analysis, model fitting and statistical inference on these data are presented. All components of this case study (data, tools, activity) are freely available online at: http://wiki.stat.ucla.edu/socr/index.php/SOCR_MotionCharts_CAOzoneData. Several types of exploratory (motion charts, box-and-whisker plots, spider charts) and quantitative (inference, regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA)) data analyses tools are demonstrated. Two specific human health related questions (temporal and geographic effects of ozone pollution) are discussed as motivational challenges.

Addressing multi-label imbalance problem of surgical tool detection using CNN.

PubMed

Sahu, Manish; Mukhopadhyay, Anirban; Szengel, Angelika; Zachow, Stefan

2017-06-01

A fully automated surgical tool detection framework is proposed for endoscopic video streams. State-of-the-art surgical tool detection methods rely on supervised one-vs-all or multi-class classification techniques, completely ignoring the co-occurrence relationship of the tools and the associated class imbalance. In this paper, we formulate tool detection as a multi-label classification task where tool co-occurrences are treated as separate classes. In addition, imbalance on tool co-occurrences is analyzed and stratification techniques are employed to address the imbalance during convolutional neural network (CNN) training. Moreover, temporal smoothing is introduced as an online post-processing step to enhance runtime prediction. Quantitative analysis is performed on the M2CAI16 tool detection dataset to highlight the importance of stratification, temporal smoothing and the overall framework for tool detection. The analysis on tool imbalance, backed by the empirical results, indicates the need and superiority of the proposed framework over state-of-the-art techniques.

An Observation Analysis Tool for time-series analysis and sensor management in the FREEWAT GIS environment for water resources management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cannata, Massimiliano; Neumann, Jakob; Cardoso, Mirko; Rossetto, Rudy; Foglia, Laura; Borsi, Iacopo

2017-04-01

In situ time-series are an important aspect of environmental modelling, especially with the advancement of numerical simulation techniques and increased model complexity. In order to make use of the increasing data available through the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, the FREEWAT GIS environment incorporates the newly developed Observation Analysis Tool for time-series analysis. The tool is used to import time-series data into QGIS from local CSV files, online sensors using the istSOS service, or MODFLOW model result files and enables visualisation, pre-processing of data for model development, and post-processing of model results. OAT can be used as a pre-processor for calibration observations, integrating the creation of observations for calibration directly from sensor time-series. The tool consists in an expandable Python library of processing methods and an interface integrated in the QGIS FREEWAT plug-in which includes a large number of modelling capabilities, data management tools and calibration capacity.

Increasing Psychotherapists’ Adoption and Implementation of the Evidence-based Practice of Progress Monitoring

PubMed Central

Persons, Jacqueline B.; Koerner, Kelly; Eidelman, Polina; Thomas, Cannon; Liu, Howard

2015-01-01

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) reach consumers slowly because practitioners are slow to adopt and implement them. We hypothesized that giving psychotherapists a tool + training intervention that was designed to help the therapist integrate the EBP of progress monitoring into his or her usual way of working would be associated with adoption and sustained implementation of the particular progress monitoring tool we trained them to use (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales on our Online Progress Tracking tool) and would generalize to all types of progress monitoring measures. To test these hypotheses, we developed an online progress monitoring tool and a course that trained psychotherapists to use it, and we assessed progress monitoring behavior in 26 psychotherapists before, during, immediately after, and 12 months after they received the tool and training. Immediately after receiving the tool + training intervention, participants showed statistically significant increases in use of the online tool and of all types of progress monitoring measures. Twelve months later, participants showed sustained use of any type of progress monitoring measure but not the online tool. PMID:26618237

Increasing psychotherapists' adoption and implementation of the evidence-based practice of progress monitoring.

PubMed

Persons, Jacqueline B; Koerner, Kelly; Eidelman, Polina; Thomas, Cannon; Liu, Howard

2016-01-01

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) reach consumers slowly because practitioners are slow to adopt and implement them. We hypothesized that giving psychotherapists a tool + training intervention that was designed to help the therapist integrate the EBP of progress monitoring into his or her usual way of working would be associated with adoption and sustained implementation of the particular progress monitoring tool we trained them to use (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales on our Online Progress Tracking tool) and would generalize to all types of progress monitoring measures. To test these hypotheses, we developed an online progress monitoring tool and a course that trained psychotherapists to use it, and we assessed progress monitoring behavior in 26 psychotherapists before, during, immediately after, and 12 months after they received the tool and training. Immediately after receiving the tool + training intervention, participants showed statistically significant increases in use of the online tool and of all types of progress monitoring measures. Twelve months later, participants showed sustained use of any type of progress monitoring measure but not the online tool. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applications of Online Instruction: An Overview for Teachers, Students with Mild Disabilities, and Their Parents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Sean J.; Meyen, Edward L.

2003-01-01

This article describes online instruction in the context of online technologies, instructional environment, and home environment of students with disabilities. Topics covered include advantages, cost effectiveness, Web accessibility, universal design for learning, tools for accessing and organizing resources, tools for communication, learning…

Assessing the Use of Instant Messaging in Online Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Contreras-Castillo, Juan; Perez-Fragoso, Carmen; Favela, Jesus

2006-01-01

There is a body of evidence supporting the claim that informal interactions in educational environments have positive effects on learning. In order to increase the opportunities of informal interaction in online courses, an instant messaging tool, called CENTERS, was developed and integrated into online learning environments. This tool provides…

Predicting cancer prognosis using interactive online tools: A systematic review and implications for cancer care providers

PubMed Central

Rabin, Borsika A.; Gaglio, Bridget; Sanders, Tristan; Nekhlyudov, Larissa; Dearing, James W.; Bull, Sheana; Glasgow, Russell E.; Marcus, Alfred

2013-01-01

Cancer prognosis is of keen interest for cancer patients, their caregivers and providers. Prognostic tools have been developed to guide patient-physician communication and decision-making. Given the proliferation of prognostic tools, it is timely to review existing online cancer prognostic tools and discuss implications for their use in clinical settings. Using a systematic approach, we searched the Internet, Medline, and consulted with experts to identify existing online prognostic tools. Each was reviewed for content and format. Twenty-two prognostic tools addressing 89 different cancers were identified. Tools primarily focused on prostate (n=11), colorectal (n=10), breast (n=8), and melanoma (n=6), though at least one tool was identified for most malignancies. The input variables for the tools included cancer characteristics (n=22), patient characteristics (n=18), and comorbidities (n=9). Effect of therapy on prognosis was included in 15 tools. The most common predicted outcome was cancer specific survival/mortality (n=17). Only a few tools (n=4) suggested patients as potential target users. A comprehensive repository of online prognostic tools was created to understand the state-of-the-art in prognostic tool availability and characteristics. Use of these tools may support communication and understanding about cancer prognosis. Dissemination, testing, refinement of existing, and development of new tools under different conditions are needed. PMID:23956026

Building a Community Infrastructure for Scalable On-Line Performance Analysis Tools around Open|Speedshop

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

Miller, Barton

2014-06-30

Peta-scale computing environments pose significant challenges for both system and application developers and addressing them required more than simply scaling up existing tera-scale solutions. Performance analysis tools play an important role in gaining this understanding, but previous monolithic tools with fixed feature sets have not sufficed. Instead, this project worked on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a general, flexible tool infrastructure supporting the construction of performance tools as “pipelines” of high-quality tool building blocks. These tool building blocks provide common performance tool functionality, and are designed for scalability, lightweight data acquisition and analysis, and interoperability. For this project, wemore » built on Open|SpeedShop, a modular and extensible open source performance analysis tool set. The design and implementation of such a general and reusable infrastructure targeted for petascale systems required us to address several challenging research issues. All components needed to be designed for scale, a task made more difficult by the need to provide general modules. The infrastructure needed to support online data aggregation to cope with the large amounts of performance and debugging data. We needed to be able to map any combination of tool components to each target architecture. And we needed to design interoperable tool APIs and workflows that were concrete enough to support the required functionality, yet provide the necessary flexibility to address a wide range of tools. A major result of this project is the ability to use this scalable infrastructure to quickly create tools that match with a machine architecture and a performance problem that needs to be understood. Another benefit is the ability for application engineers to use the highly scalable, interoperable version of Open|SpeedShop, which are reassembled from the tool building blocks into a flexible, multi-user interface set of tools. This set of tools targeted at Office of Science Leadership Class computer systems and selected Office of Science application codes. We describe the contributions made by the team at the University of Wisconsin. The project built on the efforts in Open|SpeedShop funded by DOE/NNSA and the DOE/NNSA Tri-Lab community, extended Open|Speedshop to the Office of Science Leadership Class Computing Facilities, and addressed new challenges found on these cutting edge systems. Work done under this project at Wisconsin can be divided into two categories, new algorithms and techniques for debugging, and foundation infrastructure work on our Dyninst binary analysis and instrumentation toolkits and MRNet scalability infrastructure.« less

DaGO-Fun: tool for Gene Ontology-based functional analysis using term information content measures

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The use of Gene Ontology (GO) data in protein analyses have largely contributed to the improved outcomes of these analyses. Several GO semantic similarity measures have been proposed in recent years and provide tools that allow the integration of biological knowledge embedded in the GO structure into different biological analyses. There is a need for a unified tool that provides the scientific community with the opportunity to explore these different GO similarity measure approaches and their biological applications. Results We have developed DaGO-Fun, an online tool available at http://web.cbio.uct.ac.za/ITGOM, which incorporates many different GO similarity measures for exploring, analyzing and comparing GO terms and proteins within the context of GO. It uses GO data and UniProt proteins with their GO annotations as provided by the Gene Ontology Annotation (GOA) project to precompute GO term information content (IC), enabling rapid response to user queries. Conclusions The DaGO-Fun online tool presents the advantage of integrating all the relevant IC-based GO similarity measures, including topology- and annotation-based approaches to facilitate effective exploration of these measures, thus enabling users to choose the most relevant approach for their application. Furthermore, this tool includes several biological applications related to GO semantic similarity scores, including the retrieval of genes based on their GO annotations, the clustering of functionally related genes within a set, and term enrichment analysis. PMID:24067102

Online UV-visible spectroscopy and multivariate curve resolution as powerful tool for model-free investigation of laccase-catalysed oxidation.

PubMed

Kandelbauer, A; Kessler, W; Kessler, R W

2008-03-01

The laccase-catalysed transformation of indigo carmine (IC) with and without a redox active mediator was studied using online UV-visible spectroscopy. Deconvolution of the mixture spectra obtained during the reaction was performed on a model-free basis using multivariate curve resolution (MCR). Thereby, the time courses of educts, products, and reaction intermediates involved in the transformation were reconstructed without prior mechanistic assumptions. Furthermore, the spectral signature of a reactive intermediate which could not have been detected by a classical hard-modelling approach was extracted from the chemometric analysis. The findings suggest that the combined use of UV-visible spectroscopy and MCR may lead to unexpectedly deep mechanistic evidence otherwise buried in the experimental data. Thus, although rather an unspecific method, UV-visible spectroscopy can prove useful in the monitoring of chemical reactions when combined with MCR. This offers a wide range of chemists a cheap and readily available, highly sensitive tool for chemical reaction online monitoring.

Community Structure in Online Collegiate Social Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Traud, Amanda; Kelsic, Eric; Mucha, Peter; Porter, Mason

2009-03-01

Online social networking sites have become increasingly popular with college students. The networks we studied are defined through ``friendships'' indicated by Facebook users from UNC, Oklahoma, Caltech, Georgetown, and Princeton. We apply the tools of network science to study the Facebook networks from these five different universities at a single point in time. We investigate each single-institution network's community structure, which we obtain through partitioning the graph using an eigenvector method. We use both graphical and quantitative tools, including pair-counting methods, which we interpret through statistical analysis and permutation tests to measure the correlations between the network communities and a set of characteristics given by each user (residence, class year, major, and high school). We also analyze the single gender subsets of these networks, and the impact of missing demographical data. Our study allows us to compare the online social networks for the five schools as well as infer differences in offline social interactions. At the schools studied, we were able to define which characteristics of the Facebook users correlate best with friendships.

Internationalising the nursing curriculum using a Community of Inquiry Framework and blended learning.

PubMed

Stephens, Melanie; Hennefer, Dawn

2013-05-01

The study examined how computer mediated tools, blended with traditional forms of teaching activity supported undergraduate pre-registration nursing students on international placement and for those students unable to go out into the world, how could this world be brought to their home campus? The researchers sought to examine whether synchronous online face to face contact using Skype, improved support and communication for students nursing overseas and if cultural awareness was developed for those nursing students who stayed on native soil. Data was collected using focus groups and online questionnaires. Themes arising from the thematic analysis of the narratives included operational issues, pastoral care, academic and peer support and cultural awareness and development. The use of Blended Learning tools such as Skype and weblogs were found to be extremely beneficial as a form of online communication and support for students undertaking an international placement. In relation to cultural awareness further work is required. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Novel Approach to Practice-Based Learning and Improvement Using a Web-Based Audit and Feedback Module

PubMed Central

Boggan, Joel C.; Cheely, George; Shah, Bimal R.; Heffelfinger, Randy; Springall, Deanna; Thomas, Samantha M.; Zaas, Aimee; Bae, Jonathan

2014-01-01

Background Systematically engaging residents in large programs in quality improvement (QI) is challenging. Objective To coordinate a shared QI project in a large residency program using an online tool. Methods A web-based QI tool guided residents through a 2-phase evaluation of performance of foot examinations in patients with diabetes. In phase 1, residents completed reviews of health records with online data entry. Residents were then presented with personal performance data relative to peers and were prompted to develop improvement plans. In phase 2, residents again reviewed personal performance. Rates of performance were compared at the program and clinic levels for each phase, with data presented for residents. Acceptability was measured by the number of residents completing each phase. Feasibility was measured by estimated faculty, programmer, and administrator time and costs. Results Seventy-nine of 86 eligible residents (92%) completed improvement plans and reviewed 1471 patients in phase 1, whereas 68 residents (79%) reviewed 1054 patient charts in phase 2. Rates of performance of examination increased significantly between phases (from 52% to 73% for complete examination, P < .001). Development of the tool required 130 hours of programmer time. Project analysis and management required 6 hours of administrator and faculty time monthly. Conclusions An online tool developed and implemented for program-wide QI initiatives successfully engaged residents to participate in QI activities. Residents using this tool demonstrated improvement in a selected quality target. This tool could be adapted by other graduate medical education programs or for faculty development. PMID:26279782

Simple Example of Backtest Overfitting (SEBO)

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

In the field of mathematical finance, a "backtest" is the usage of historical market data to assess the performance of a proposed trading strategy. It is a relatively simple matter for a present-day computer system to explore thousands, millions or even billions of variations of a proposed strategy, and pick the best performing variant as the "optimal" strategy "in sample" (i.e., on the input dataset). Unfortunately, such an "optimal" strategy often performs very poorly "out of sample" (i.e. on another dataset), because the parameters of the invest strategy have been oversit to the in-sample data, a situation known as "backtestmore » overfitting". While the mathematics of backtest overfitting has been examined in several recent theoretical studies, here we pursue a more tangible analysis of this problem, in the form of an online simulator tool. Given a input random walk time series, the tool develops an "optimal" variant of a simple strategy by exhaustively exploring all integer parameter values among a handful of parameters. That "optimal" strategy is overfit, since by definition a random walk is unpredictable. Then the tool tests the resulting "optimal" strategy on a second random walk time series. In most runs using our online tool, the "optimal" strategy derived from the first time series performs poorly on the second time series, demonstrating how hard it is not to overfit a backtest. We offer this online tool, "Simple Example of Backtest Overfitting (SEBO)", to facilitate further research in this area.« less

Online course delivery modes and design methods in the radiologic sciences.

PubMed

Kowalczyk, Nina; Copley, Stacey

2013-01-01

To determine the current status of online education in the radiologic sciences and to explore learning management systems, course design methods, and online educational tools used in the radiologic sciences. A random sample of 373 educators from Joint Review Committee-accredited radiography, radiation therapy, and nuclear medicine technology educational programs was invited to participate in this study with an online survey. The majority of the programs responding to the survey do not offer online core courses. However, the institutions that do provide online core radiologic courses reported limited use of online tools for course delivery. BlackBoard was reported as the most commonly used learning management system. No significant relationships were identified in reference to self-reported instructor information technology self-efficacy and the instructors' age, years of teaching in higher education, years of teaching online, or use of asynchronous and synchronous technologies. Survey results did demonstrate a significant relationship between the type of institution and the use of synchronous technologies, suggesting that university-based programs were more likely to use this technology. Although the results suggest that online distance education is still not prevalent in radiologic science education, the past 3 years have seen a substantial increase in online course activity. This increase emphasizes the importance of adequate educator instruction and continuing education in the use of interactive technologies for online content delivery. Most educators report receiving 1 to 4 hours of training prior to online course implementation, but additional postimplementation training is necessary to improve the success of online delivery and further integrate interactive learning activities into an online format. The traditional classroom setting is still the primary course offering for radiologic science programs. PowerPoint remains the primary content delivery tool, suggesting a need for educators to incorporate tools that promote student interactions and interactive learning. Although the results did not reveal a significant relationship between assessed factors, the small correlations identified suggest that the younger instructors have a higher information technology self-efficacy. In addition, survey results suggest that instructors responding to this survey received limited training in reference to online course methods and design both before and after implementing an online course. Although educators may not have a choice regarding the system adopted by their university or college, they should seek additional training regarding the best tools available for online course delivery methods.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Seng-Chee; Seah, Lay-Hoon

2011-01-01

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

Developing On-line Exams.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartsell, Taralynn S.; Yuen, Steve Chi-Yin

2003-01-01

Discusses advantages and limitations of online exams, describes available software tools for creating computer-based tests (CGI, JavaScript, commercial programs, course authoring tools), and offers suggestions for implementation. (JOW)

Veterans' experience in using the online Surgeon General's family health history tool.

PubMed

Arar, Nedal; Seo, Joann; Abboud, Hanna E; Parchman, Michael; Noel, Polly

2011-09-01

AIM: To assess veterans' experience and satisfaction in using the Surgeon General's (SG) online family health history (FHH) tool, and determine the perceived facilitators and barriers to using the online SG-FHH tool. MATERIALS #ENTITYSTARTX00026; METHODS: A mixed-method using both qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed in this study. A total of 35 veterans at the VA Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, USA were invited to enter their FHH information using the online SG-FHH tool, complete the study's satisfaction survey and participate in a short semi-structured interview. The goal of the semi-structured interviews was to assess participants perceived facilitators and barriers to using the online SG-FHH tool. All participants were also provided with a printed copy of their pedigree, which was generated by the SG-FHH tool and were encouraged to share it with their relatives and providers. RESULTS: The majority of participants (91%) said that they had access to a computer with internet capability and 77% reported that they knew how to use a computer. More than two-thirds of the participants felt that items on the SG-FHH tool were easy to read and felt that FHH categories were relevant to their family's health. Approximately 94% of participants viewed the SG-FHH tool as useful, and the majority of participants (97%) indicated that they were likely to recommend the tool to others. Content analysis of the semi-structured interviews highlighted several barriers to veterans' use of the SG-FHH tool and their FHH information. These included: lack of patients' knowledge regarding their relatives' FHH, and privacy and confidentiality concerns. CONCLUSION: This study provides information on the performance and functionality of an inexpensive and widely accessible method for FHH collection. Furthermore, our findings highlight several opportunities and challenges facing the utilization of FHH information as a clinical and genomic tool at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The results suggest that strategies that improve veterans' knowledge regarding the importance of their FHH information and that address their concerns about privacy and confidentiality may enhance the successful implementation of FHH information into VHA clinical practice. IMPLICATIONS: identifying a locally accepted method for FHH collection and documentation which can be conducted outside of the patient visit will reduce time burdens for providers and patients and allow for a focus on other important topics during clinic visits. Improvement in familial risk screening and assessment will enable the VHA to be prepared for personalized medicine and focus their resources on promoting critically important health behaviors for populations with the highest risk of developing chronic diseases and their complications.

Exploring Engineering instructors' views about writing and online tools to support communication in Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, Sarah K.; Khosronejad, Maryam; Calvo, Rafael A.

2017-11-01

To be fully prepared for the professional workplace, Engineering students need to be able to effectively communicate. However, there has been a growing concern in the field about students' preparedness for this aspect of their future work. It is argued that online writing tools, to engage numbers of students in the writing process, can support feedback on and development of writing in engineering on a larger scale. Through interviews and questionnaires, this study explores engineering academics' perceptions of writing to better understand how online writing tools may be integrated into their teaching. Results suggest that writing is viewed positively in the discipline, but it is not believed to be essential to success in engineering. Online writing tools were believed to support a larger number of students, but low knowledge of the tools limited academics' understanding of their usefulness in teaching and learning. Implications for innovation in undergraduate teaching are discussed.

Facebook as an Online Teaching Tool: Effects on Student Participation, Learning, and Overall Course Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camus, Melinda; Hurt, Nicole E.; Larson, Lincoln R.; Prevost, Luanna

2016-01-01

Online discussions are widely viewed as a valuable tool for encouraging student engagement and promoting interaction with course material outside of the traditional classroom. Strategies for conducting online discussions vary and are not confined to traditional, university-sponsored learning management systems (LMS). Social media platforms such as…

Language at a Distance: Sharpening a Communication Tool in the Online Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hannan, Annika

2009-01-01

Both immensely powerful and entirely fickle, language in online instruction is a double-edged sword. A potent intermediary between instructor and students, and among students themselves, language is a key tool in online learning. It carries and cultivates information. It builds knowledge and self-awareness. It brings learners together in a…

VideoANT: Extending Online Video Annotation beyond Content Delivery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosack, Bradford

2010-01-01

This paper expands the boundaries of video annotation in education by outlining the need for extended interaction in online video use, identifying the challenges faced by existing video annotation tools, and introducing Video-ANT, a tool designed to create text-based annotations integrated within the time line of a video hosted online. Several…

Psychometric Properties of the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire Short-Form and Prevalence of Problematic Online Gaming in a National Sample of Adolescents

PubMed Central

Pápay, Orsolya; Urbán, Róbert; Griffiths, Mark D.; Nagygyörgy, Katalin; Farkas, Judit; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi; Felvinczi, Katalin; Oláh, Attila; Elekes, Zsuzsanna

2013-01-01

Abstract The rise and growing popularity of online games has led to the appearance of excessive gaming that in some cases can lead to physical and psychological problems. Several measures have been developed to explore the nature and the scale of the phenomenon. However, few measures have been validated psychometrically. The aim of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the 12-item Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire Short-Form (POGQ-SF) and to assess the prevalence of problematic online gaming. Data collection was carried out to assess the prevalence of problematic online gaming in a national representative adolescent sample by using an offline (pen and pencil) method. A total of 5,045 secondary school students were assessed (51% male, mean age 16.4 years, SD=0.9 years) of which 2,804 were gamers (65.4% male, mean age 16.4 years, SD=0.9 years). Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the measurement model of problematic online gaming, and latent profile analysis was used to identify the proportion of gamers whose online game use can be considered problematic. Results showed that the original six-factor model yielded appropriate fit to the data, and thus the POGQ-SF has appropriate psychometric properties. Latent profile analysis revealed that 4.6% of the adolescents belong to a high risk group and an additional 13.3% to a low risk group. Due to its satisfactory psychometric characteristics, the 12-item POGQ-SF appears to be an adequate tool for the assessment of problematic online gaming. PMID:23621688

Performance Monitoring Of A Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) Lathe Using Pattern Recognition Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daneshmend, L. K.; Pak, H. A.

1984-02-01

On-line monitoring of the cutting process in CNC lathe is desirable to ensure unattended fault-free operation in an automated environment. The state of the cutting tool is one of the most important parameters which characterises the cutting process. Direct monitoring of the cutting tool or workpiece is not feasible during machining. However several variables related to the state of the tool can be measured on-line. A novel monitoring technique is presented which uses cutting torque as the variable for on-line monitoring. A classifier is designed on the basis of the empirical relationship between cutting torque and flank wear. The empirical model required by the on-line classifier is established during an automated training cycle using machine vision for off-line direct inspection of the tool.

Information-seeking behavior and the use of online resources: a snapshot of current health sciences faculty.

PubMed

De Groote, Sandra L; Shultz, Mary; Blecic, Deborah D

2014-07-01

The research assesses the information-seeking behaviors of health sciences faculty, including their use of online databases, journals, and social media. A survey was designed and distributed via email to 754 health sciences faculty at a large urban research university with 6 health sciences colleges. Twenty-six percent (198) of faculty responded. MEDLINE was the primary database utilized, with 78.5% respondents indicating they use the database at least once a week. Compared to MEDLINE, Google was utilized more often on a daily basis. Other databases showed much lower usage. Low use of online databases other than MEDLINE, link-out tools to online journals, and online social media and collaboration tools demonstrates a need for meaningful promotion of online resources and informatics literacy instruction for faculty. Library resources are plentiful and perhaps somewhat overwhelming. Librarians need to help faculty discover and utilize the resources and tools that libraries have to offer.

Why do you play? The development of the motives for online gaming questionnaire (MOGQ).

PubMed

Demetrovics, Zsolt; Urbán, Róbert; Nagygyörgy, Katalin; Farkas, Judit; Zilahy, Dalma; Mervó, Barbara; Reindl, Antónia; Ágoston, Csilla; Kertész, Andrea; Harmath, Eszter

2011-09-01

Although the majority of research focuses on the risks and disadvantages of online gaming, the present authors suggest that online games also represent new ways of satisfying basic human needs within the conditions of modern society. The aim of our present study was to reveal and operationalize the components of the motivational basis of online gaming. A total 3,818 persons (90.6% males; mean age 20.9 years, SD = 5.81) were recruited through websites providing online games. A combined method of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was applied. The results confirmed our preliminary model as we identified seven motivational factors (social, escape, competition, coping, skill development, fantasy, and recreation), which were used to develop the 27-item Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ). The seven dimensions identified seem to cover the full range of possible motives for gaming, and the MOGQ proved to be an adequate measurement tool to assess these motives.

Utilizing Online Connectivity to Combat Reduced Federal Spending

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayall, T.

2013-12-01

With a diminishing grant pool and increasing competition for federal funding, utilizing free online resources to collaborate with other scientists, share information and insights, and promote your research is critical to success. As budgets tighten, efficient use of both time and money is becoming more and more important. Tools such as Mendeley, ResearchGate, and Science Exchange enable scientists to promote their own work while gaining valuable connections and collaborations. Additionally, scientists can build their online presence to increase visibility for potential funding. Through intelligent use of these online tools, scientists can increase their chances of funding and minimize wasted time and resources. For this session, I will examine how to adapt to the changing landscape of federal funding through the effective use of social media and online tools.

PySCeSToolbox: a collection of metabolic pathway analysis tools.

PubMed

Christensen, Carl D; Hofmeyr, Jan-Hendrik S; Rohwer, Johann M

2018-01-01

PySCeSToolbox is an extension to the Python Simulator for Cellular Systems (PySCeS) that includes tools for performing generalized supply-demand analysis, symbolic metabolic control analysis, and a framework for investigating the kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Each tool addresses a different aspect of metabolic behaviour, control, and regulation; the tools complement each other and can be used in conjunction to better understand higher level system behaviour. PySCeSToolbox is available on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It is licensed under the BSD 3-clause licence. Code, setup instructions and a link to documentation can be found at https://github.com/PySCeS/PyscesToolbox. jr@sun.ac.za. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Developing an Ecosystem Services Online Decision Support Tool to Assess the Impacts of Climate Change and Urban Growth in the Santa Cruz Watershed: Where We Live, Work, and Play

USGS Publications Warehouse

Norman, Laura; Tallent-Halsell, Nita; Labiosa, William; Weber, Matt; McCoy, Amy; Hirschboeck, Katie; Callegary, James; van Riper, Charles; Gray, Floyd

2010-01-01

Using respective strengths of the biological, physical, and social sciences, we are developing an online decision support tool, the Santa Cruz Watershed Ecosystem Portfolio Model (SCWEPM), to help promote the use of information relevant to water allocation and land management in a binational watershed along the U.S.-Mexico border. The SCWEPM will include an ES valuation system within a suite of linked regional driver-response models and will use a multicriteria scenario-evaluation framework that builds on GIS analysis and spatially-explicit models that characterize important ecological, economic, and societal endpoints and consequences that are sensitive to climate patterns, regional water budgets, and regional LULC change in the SCW.

Staying connected: online education engagement and retention using educational technology tools.

PubMed

Salazar, Jose

2010-01-01

The objective of this article is to inform educators about the use of currently available educational technology tools to promote student retention, engagement and interaction in online courses. Educational technology tools include content management systems, podcasts, video lecture capture technology and electronic discussion boards. Successful use of educational technology tools requires planning, organization and use of effective learning strategies.

How Much Professional Development Is Enough? Meeting the Needs of Independent Music Teachers Learning to Use a Digital Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Upitis, Rena; Brook, Julia

2017-01-01

Even though there are demonstrated benefits of using online tools to support student musicians, there is a persistent challenge of providing sufficient and effective professional development for independent music teachers to use such tools successfully. This paper describes several methods for helping teachers use an online tool called iSCORE,…

R-based Tool for a Pairwise Structure-activity Relationship Analysis.

PubMed

Klimenko, Kyrylo

2018-04-01

The Structure-Activity Relationship analysis is a complex process that can be enhanced by computational techniques. This article describes a simple tool for SAR analysis that has a graphic user interface and a flexible approach towards the input of molecular data. The application allows calculating molecular similarity represented by Tanimoto index & Euclid distance, as well as, determining activity cliffs by means of Structure-Activity Landscape Index. The calculation is performed in a pairwise manner either for the reference compound and other compounds or for all possible pairs in the data set. The results of SAR analysis are visualized using two types of plot. The application capability is demonstrated by the analysis of a set of COX2 inhibitors with respect to Isoxicam. This tool is available online: it includes manual and input file examples. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

2008 Homeland Security S and T Stakeholders Conference West-Volume 3 Tuesday

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-16

Architecture ( PNNL SRS) • Online data collection / entry • Data Warehouse • On Demand Analysis and Reporting Tools • Reports, Charts & Graphs • Visual / Data...Sustainability 2007– 2016 Our region wide investment include all PANYNJ business areas Computer Statistical Analysis COMPSTAT •NYPD 1990’s •Personnel Management...Coast Guard, and public health Expertise, Depth, Agility Staff Degrees 6 Our Value Added Capabilities • Risk Analysis • Operations Analysis

DiscoverySpace: an interactive data analysis application

PubMed Central

Robertson, Neil; Oveisi-Fordorei, Mehrdad; Zuyderduyn, Scott D; Varhol, Richard J; Fjell, Christopher; Marra, Marco; Jones, Steven; Siddiqui, Asim

2007-01-01

DiscoverySpace is a graphical application for bioinformatics data analysis. Users can seamlessly traverse references between biological databases and draw together annotations in an intuitive tabular interface. Datasets can be compared using a suite of novel tools to aid in the identification of significant patterns. DiscoverySpace is of broad utility and its particular strength is in the analysis of serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) data. The application is freely available online. PMID:17210078

Affordances of Telecollaboration Tools for English for Specific Purposes Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sevilla-Pavón, Ana

2016-01-01

This paper explores students' perceptions of the affordances of different telecollaboration tools used in an innovation project for English for Specific Purposes online learning carried out between the University of Valencia (Spain) and Wofford College (South Carolina, United States) during the school year 2015-2016. Different tools for…

Bolstering Teaching through Online Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Anil; Mangalaraj, George; Taneja, Aakash

2010-01-01

This paper offers a compilation of technologies that provides either free or low-cost solutions to the challenges of teaching online courses. It presents various teaching methods the outlined tools and technologies can support, with emphasis on fit between these tools and the tasks they are meant to serve. In addition, it highlights various…

Sequence Search and Comparative Genomic Analysis of SUMO-Activating Enzymes Using CoGe.

PubMed

Carretero-Paulet, Lorenzo; Albert, Victor A

2016-01-01

The growing number of genome sequences completed during the last few years has made necessary the development of bioinformatics tools for the easy access and retrieval of sequence data, as well as for downstream comparative genomic analyses. Some of these are implemented as online platforms that integrate genomic data produced by different genome sequencing initiatives with data mining tools as well as various comparative genomic and evolutionary analysis possibilities.Here, we use the online comparative genomics platform CoGe ( http://www.genomevolution.org/coge/ ) (Lyons and Freeling. Plant J 53:661-673, 2008; Tang and Lyons. Front Plant Sci 3:172, 2012) (1) to retrieve the entire complement of orthologous and paralogous genes belonging to the SUMO-Activating Enzymes 1 (SAE1) gene family from a set of species representative of the Brassicaceae plant eudicot family with genomes fully sequenced, and (2) to investigate the history, timing, and molecular mechanisms of the gene duplications driving the evolutionary expansion and functional diversification of the SAE1 family in Brassicaceae.

Using the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model with a Chat Tool to Enhance Online Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodríguez-Bonces, Mónica; Ortiz, Kris

2016-01-01

In Colombia, many institutions are in the firm quest of virtual learning environments to improve instruction, and making the most of online tools is clearly linked to offering quality learning. Thus, the purpose of this action research was to identify how the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model enhances online collaborative learning by using a chat…

Teaching Dance with Online Course Management Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colombi, Erika; Knosp, Suzanne

2017-01-01

As a result of easier access to and functionality of the Internet, online course management systems (CMSs) began to be developed in the mid-1990s. These technological tools were created to fill a need in the growing field of teaching through online courses.Most notable of these course tools are Blackboard (2015) and Desire2Learn (1999). Both of…

What Factors Affect the Way Teams Interact in an On-Line Graduate Course?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingram, K. W.; Conley, C.; McDonald, S.; Parker, V.; Rivers, J.

This study examined how adult graduate students made use of technology to mediate group interactions and processes in an online learning environment, also noting why individual groups of students chose particular tools and methods. The online course was delivered using a third-party course management tool. The structure of the course and the use…

The Effectiveness of Web-Based Learning Environment: A Case Study of Public Universities in Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirui, Paul A.; Mutai, Sheila J.

2010-01-01

Web mining is emerging in many aspects of e-learning, aiming at improving online learning and teaching processes and making them more transparent and effective. Researchers using Web mining tools and techniques are challenged to learn more about the online students' reshaping online courses and educational websites, and create tools for…

Effects of Online Interaction via Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Tools on an E-Mathematics Learning Outcome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okonta, Olomeruom

2010-01-01

Recent research studies in open and distance learning have focused on the differences between traditional learning versus online learning, the benefits of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools in an e-learning environment, and the relationship between online discussion posts and students' achievement. In fact, there is an extant…

Reading Actively Online: An Exploratory Investigation of Online Annotation Tools for Inquiry Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Jingyan; Deng, Liping

2012-01-01

This study seeks to design and facilitate active reading among secondary school students with an online annotation tool--Diigo. Two classes of different academic performance levels were recruited to examine their annotation behavior and perceptions of Diigo. We wanted to determine whether the two classes differed in how they used Diigo; how they…

Learner Interaction Patterns and Student Perceptions toward Using Selected Tools in an Online Course Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuna, Aruna Sai

2012-01-01

The study identified the association between student interaction patterns and academic performance in online graduate courses delivered by the Department of Agricultural Education and Studies at Iowa State University. In addition, the study investigated which online course tools were perceived by students to be most useful in learning. The study…

Geospatial Service Platform for Education and Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, J.; Wu, H.; Jiang, W.; Guo, W.; Zhai, X.; Yue, P.

2014-04-01

We propose to advance the scientific understanding through applications of geospatial service platforms, which can help students and researchers investigate various scientific problems in a Web-based environment with online tools and services. The platform also offers capabilities for sharing data, algorithm, and problem-solving knowledge. To fulfil this goal, the paper introduces a new course, named "Geospatial Service Platform for Education and Research", to be held in the ISPRS summer school in May 2014 at Wuhan University, China. The course will share cutting-edge achievements of a geospatial service platform with students from different countries, and train them with online tools from the platform for geospatial data processing and scientific research. The content of the course includes the basic concepts of geospatial Web services, service-oriented architecture, geoprocessing modelling and chaining, and problem-solving using geospatial services. In particular, the course will offer a geospatial service platform for handson practice. There will be three kinds of exercises in the course: geoprocessing algorithm sharing through service development, geoprocessing modelling through service chaining, and online geospatial analysis using geospatial services. Students can choose one of them, depending on their interests and background. Existing geoprocessing services from OpenRS and GeoPW will be introduced. The summer course offers two service chaining tools, GeoChaining and GeoJModelBuilder, as instances to explain specifically the method for building service chains in view of different demands. After this course, students can learn how to use online service platforms for geospatial resource sharing and problem-solving.

Online chemical modeling environment (OCHEM): web platform for data storage, model development and publishing of chemical information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sushko, Iurii; Novotarskyi, Sergii; Körner, Robert; Pandey, Anil Kumar; Rupp, Matthias; Teetz, Wolfram; Brandmaier, Stefan; Abdelaziz, Ahmed; Prokopenko, Volodymyr V.; Tanchuk, Vsevolod Y.; Todeschini, Roberto; Varnek, Alexandre; Marcou, Gilles; Ertl, Peter; Potemkin, Vladimir; Grishina, Maria; Gasteiger, Johann; Schwab, Christof; Baskin, Igor I.; Palyulin, Vladimir A.; Radchenko, Eugene V.; Welsh, William J.; Kholodovych, Vladyslav; Chekmarev, Dmitriy; Cherkasov, Artem; Aires-de-Sousa, Joao; Zhang, Qing-You; Bender, Andreas; Nigsch, Florian; Patiny, Luc; Williams, Antony; Tkachenko, Valery; Tetko, Igor V.

2011-06-01

The Online Chemical Modeling Environment is a web-based platform that aims to automate and simplify the typical steps required for QSAR modeling. The platform consists of two major subsystems: the database of experimental measurements and the modeling framework. A user-contributed database contains a set of tools for easy input, search and modification of thousands of records. The OCHEM database is based on the wiki principle and focuses primarily on the quality and verifiability of the data. The database is tightly integrated with the modeling framework, which supports all the steps required to create a predictive model: data search, calculation and selection of a vast variety of molecular descriptors, application of machine learning methods, validation, analysis of the model and assessment of the applicability domain. As compared to other similar systems, OCHEM is not intended to re-implement the existing tools or models but rather to invite the original authors to contribute their results, make them publicly available, share them with other users and to become members of the growing research community. Our intention is to make OCHEM a widely used platform to perform the QSPR/QSAR studies online and share it with other users on the Web. The ultimate goal of OCHEM is collecting all possible chemoinformatics tools within one simple, reliable and user-friendly resource. The OCHEM is free for web users and it is available online at http://www.ochem.eu.

Computer-Aided Systems Engineering for Flight Research Projects Using a Workgroup Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mizukami, Masahi

2004-01-01

An online systems engineering tool for flight research projects has been developed through the use of a workgroup database. Capabilities are implemented for typical flight research systems engineering needs in document library, configuration control, hazard analysis, hardware database, requirements management, action item tracking, project team information, and technical performance metrics. Repetitive tasks are automated to reduce workload and errors. Current data and documents are instantly available online and can be worked on collaboratively. Existing forms and conventional processes are used, rather than inventing or changing processes to fit the tool. An integrated tool set offers advantages by automatically cross-referencing data, minimizing redundant data entry, and reducing the number of programs that must be learned. With a simplified approach, significant improvements are attained over existing capabilities for minimal cost. By using a workgroup-level database platform, personnel most directly involved in the project can develop, modify, and maintain the system, thereby saving time and money. As a pilot project, the system has been used to support an in-house flight experiment. Options are proposed for developing and deploying this type of tool on a more extensive basis.

OralCard: a bioinformatic tool for the study of oral proteome.

PubMed

Arrais, Joel P; Rosa, Nuno; Melo, José; Coelho, Edgar D; Amaral, Diana; Correia, Maria José; Barros, Marlene; Oliveira, José Luís

2013-07-01

The molecular complexity of the human oral cavity can only be clarified through identification of components that participate within it. However current proteomic techniques produce high volumes of information that are dispersed over several online databases. Collecting all of this data and using an integrative approach capable of identifying unknown associations is still an unsolved problem. This is the main motivation for this work. We present the online bioinformatic tool OralCard, which comprises results from 55 manually curated articles reflecting the oral molecular ecosystem (OralPhysiOme). It comprises experimental information available from the oral proteome both of human (OralOme) and microbial origin (MicroOralOme) structured in protein, disease and organism. This tool is a key resource for researchers to understand the molecular foundations implicated in biology and disease mechanisms of the oral cavity. The usefulness of this tool is illustrated with the analysis of the oral proteome associated with diabetes melitus type 2. OralCard is available at http://bioinformatics.ua.pt/oralcard. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The I4 Online Query Tool for Earth Observations Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stefanov, William L.; Vanderbloemen, Lisa A.; Lawrence, Samuel J.

2015-01-01

The NASA Earth Observation System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) delivers an average of 22 terabytes per day of data collected by orbital and airborne sensor systems to end users through an integrated online search environment (the Reverb/ECHO system). Earth observations data collected by sensors on the International Space Station (ISS) are not currently included in the EOSDIS system, and are only accessible through various individual online locations. This increases the effort required by end users to query multiple datasets, and limits the opportunity for data discovery and innovations in analysis. The Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate at NASA Johnson Space Center has collaborated with the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University (ASU) to develop the ISS Instrument Integration Implementation (I4) data query tool to provide end users a clean, simple online interface for querying both current and historical ISS Earth Observations data. The I4 interface is based on the Lunaserv and Lunaserv Global Explorer (LGE) open-source software packages developed at ASU for query of lunar datasets. In order to avoid mirroring existing databases - and the need to continually sync/update those mirrors - our design philosophy is for the I4 tool to be a pure query engine only. Once an end user identifies a specific scene or scenes of interest, I4 transparently takes the user to the appropriate online location to download the data. The tool consists of two public-facing web interfaces. The Map Tool provides a graphic geobrowser environment where the end user can navigate to an area of interest and select single or multiple datasets to query. The Map Tool displays active image footprints for the selected datasets (Figure 1). Selecting a footprint will open a pop-up window that includes a browse image and a link to available image metadata, along with a link to the online location to order or download the actual data. Search results are either delivered in the form of browse images linked to the appropriate online database, similar to the Map Tool, or they may be transferred within the I4 environment for display as footprints in the Map Tool. Datasets searchable through I4 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/I4_tool) currently include: Crew Earth Observations (CEO) cataloged and uncataloged handheld astronaut photography; Sally Ride EarthKAM; Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO); and the ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV). The ISS is a unique platform in that it will have multiple users over its lifetime, and that no single remote sensing system has a permanent internal or external berth. The open source I4 tool is designed to enable straightforward addition of new datasets as they become available such as ISS-RapidSCAT, Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS), and the High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) system. Data from other sensor systems, such as those operated by the ISS International Partners or under the auspices of the US National Laboratory program, can also be added to I4 provided sufficient access to enable searching of data or metadata is available. Commercial providers of remotely sensed data from the ISS may be particularly interested in I4 as an additional means of directing potential customers and clients to their products.

Translating the Science of Measuring Ecosystems at a National Scale: NEON's Online Learning Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wasser, L. A.

2015-12-01

"Big Data" are becoming increasingly common in many fields. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will collect data over the 30 years, using consistent, standardized methods across the United States. These freely available new data provide an opportunity for increased understanding of continental- and global scale processes such as changes in vegetation structure and condition, biodiversity and landuse. However, while "big data" are becoming more accessible and available, working with big data is challenging. New and potentially unfamiliar data types and associated processing methods, required to work with a growing diversity of available data take time and resources to learn. Analysis of these big datasets may further present a challenge given large file sizes, and uncertainty regarding best methods to properly statistically summarize and analyze results. Finally, resources that support learning these concepts and approaches, are distributed widely across multiple online spaces and may take time to find. This presentation will overview the development of NEON's collaborative University-focused online education portal. It will also cover content testing, community feedback and results from workshops using online content. Portal content is hosted in github to facilitate community input, accessibility version control. Content includes 1) videos and supporting graphics that explain key concepts related to NEON and related big spatio-temporal and 2) data tutorials that include subsets of spatio-temporal data that can be used to learn key big data skills in a self-paced approach, or that can be used as a teaching tool in the classroom or in a workshop. All resources utilize free and open data processing, visualization and analysis tools, techniques and scripts. All NEON materials are being developed in collaboration with the scientific community and are being tested via in-person workshops. Visit the portal online: www.neondataskills.org.

Statistics, Structures & Satisfied Customers: Using Web Log Data to Improve Site Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peacock, Darren

This paper explores some of the ways in which the National Museum of Australia is using Web analysis tools to shape its future directions in the delivery of online services. In particular, it explores the potential of quantitative analysis, based on Web server log data, to convert these ephemeral traces of user experience into a strategic…

Value-added Data Services at the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, Gregory G.; Alcott, Gary T.; Kempler, Steven J.; Lynnes, Christopher S.; Vollmer, Bruce E.

2004-01-01

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), in addition to serving the Earth Science community as one of the major Distributed Active Archives Centers (DAACs), provides much more than just data. Among the value-added services available to general users are subsetting data spatially and/or by parameter, online analysis (to avoid downloading unnecessarily all the data), and assistance in obtaining data from other centers. Services available to data producers and high-volume users include consulting on building new products with standard formats and metadata and construction of data management systems. A particularly useful service is data processing at the DISC (i.e., close to the input data) with the users algorithm. This can take a number of different forms: as a configuration-managed algorithm within the main processing stream; as a stand-alone program next to the on-line data storage; as build-it-yourself code within the Near-Archive Data Mining (NADM) system; or as an on-the-fly analysis with simple algorithms embedded into the web-based tools. Partnerships between the GES DISC and scientists, both producers and users, allow the scientists to concentrate on science, while the GES DISC handles the data management, e.g., formats, integration, and data processing. The existing data management infrastructure at the GES DISC supports a wide spectrum of options: from simple data support to sophisticated on-line analysis tools, producing economies of scale and rapid time-to-deploy. At the same time, such partnerships allow the GES DISC to serve the user community more efficiently and to better prioritize on-line holdings. Several examples of successful partnerships are described in the presentation.

ChooseMyPlate.gov

MedlinePlus

... Resources for Students Resources for Adults Resources for Professionals Multi-Language Check Out Our Online Tools EATING ON A BUDGET MYPLATE TIP SHEETS MYPLATE QUIZZES SUPERTRACKER WHAT'S COOKING Check Out Our Online Tools Eating on a ...

Developing young person’s Face IT: Online psychosocial support for adolescents struggling with conditions or injuries affecting their appearance

PubMed Central

Williamson, Heidi; Griffiths, Catrin; Harcourt, Diana

2015-01-01

A participatory action approach with potential users and clinical experts was employed to design and evaluate the acceptability of young person’s Face IT (YP Face IT), an online intervention incorporating cognitive behavioural therapy and social skills training for adolescents with appearance-related anxiety as a result of a visible difference. Workshops with adolescents and clinicians informed a prototype YP Face IT which underwent a usability analysis by 28 multidisciplinary health professionals and 18 adolescents, before 10 adolescents completed it at home. Acceptability data obtained online and via interview were analysed using content analysis. Participants found YP Face IT acceptable and believed it would provide much needed and easy access to psychosocial support. They requested that it should be made widely available either as a self-management tool requiring minimal supervision from a health professional or to compliment therapist-led care. PMID:28070380

Developing an online professional network for veterinary education: the NOVICE project.

PubMed

Baillie, Sarah; Kinnison, Tierney; Forrest, Neil; Dale, Vicki H M; Ehlers, Jan P; Koch, Michael; Mándoki, Mira; Ciobotaru, Emilia; de Groot, Esther; Boerboom, Tobias B B; van Beukelen, Peter

2011-01-01

An online professional network for veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary educationalists, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) educationalists is being developed under the EU (European Union) Lifelong Learning Programme. The network uses Web 2.0, a term used to describe the new, more interactive version of the Internet, and includes tools such as wikis, blogs, and discussion boards. Focus groups conducted with qualified and student veterinarians within the project's five founding countries (The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania) demonstrated that online professional communities can be valuable for accessing information and establishing contacts. Online networks have the potential to overcome common challenges to face-to-face communities-such as distance, cost, and timing-but they have their own drawbacks, such as security and professionalism issues. The Network Of Veterinary ICt in Education (NOVICE) was developed using Elgg, an open-source, free social networking platform, after several software options had been considered. NOVICE aims to promote the understanding of Web 2.0, confidence to use social software tools, and participation in an online community. Therefore, the Web site contains help sections, Frequently Asked Questions, and access to support from ICT experts. Five months after the network's launch (and just over one year into the project) 515 members from 28 countries had registered. Further research will include analysis of a core group's activities, which will inform ongoing support for and development of informal, lifelong learning in a veterinary context.

Online characterization of planetary surfaces: PlanetServer, an open-source analysis and visualization tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marco Figuera, R.; Pham Huu, B.; Rossi, A. P.; Minin, M.; Flahaut, J.; Halder, A.

2018-01-01

The lack of open-source tools for hyperspectral data visualization and analysis creates a demand for new tools. In this paper we present the new PlanetServer, a set of tools comprising a web Geographic Information System (GIS) and a recently developed Python Application Programming Interface (API) capable of visualizing and analyzing a wide variety of hyperspectral data from different planetary bodies. Current WebGIS open-source tools are evaluated in order to give an overview and contextualize how PlanetServer can help in this matters. The web client is thoroughly described as well as the datasets available in PlanetServer. Also, the Python API is described and exposed the reason of its development. Two different examples of mineral characterization of different hydrosilicates such as chlorites, prehnites and kaolinites in the Nili Fossae area on Mars are presented. As the obtained results show positive outcome in hyperspectral analysis and visualization compared to previous literature, we suggest using the PlanetServer approach for such investigations.

Sobol Sensitivity Analysis: A Tool to Guide the Development and Evaluation of Systems Pharmacology Models

PubMed Central

Trame, MN; Lesko, LJ

2015-01-01

A systems pharmacology model typically integrates pharmacokinetic, biochemical network, and systems biology concepts into a unifying approach. It typically consists of a large number of parameters and reaction species that are interlinked based upon the underlying (patho)physiology and the mechanism of drug action. The more complex these models are, the greater the challenge of reliably identifying and estimating respective model parameters. Global sensitivity analysis provides an innovative tool that can meet this challenge. CPT Pharmacometrics Syst. Pharmacol. (2015) 4, 69–79; doi:10.1002/psp4.6; published online 25 February 2015 PMID:27548289

TACIT: An open-source text analysis, crawling, and interpretation tool.

PubMed

Dehghani, Morteza; Johnson, Kate M; Garten, Justin; Boghrati, Reihane; Hoover, Joe; Balasubramanian, Vijayan; Singh, Anurag; Shankar, Yuvarani; Pulickal, Linda; Rajkumar, Aswin; Parmar, Niki Jitendra

2017-04-01

As human activity and interaction increasingly take place online, the digital residues of these activities provide a valuable window into a range of psychological and social processes. A great deal of progress has been made toward utilizing these opportunities; however, the complexity of managing and analyzing the quantities of data currently available has limited both the types of analysis used and the number of researchers able to make use of these data. Although fields such as computer science have developed a range of techniques and methods for handling these difficulties, making use of those tools has often required specialized knowledge and programming experience. The Text Analysis, Crawling, and Interpretation Tool (TACIT) is designed to bridge this gap by providing an intuitive tool and interface for making use of state-of-the-art methods in text analysis and large-scale data management. Furthermore, TACIT is implemented as an open, extensible, plugin-driven architecture, which will allow other researchers to extend and expand these capabilities as new methods become available.

Standardised Library Instruction Assessment: An Institution-Specific Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staley, Shannon M.; Branch, Nicole A.; Hewitt, Tom L.

2010-01-01

Introduction: We explore the use of a psychometric model for locally-relevant, information literacy assessment, using an online tool for standardised assessment of student learning during discipline-based library instruction sessions. Method: A quantitative approach to data collection and analysis was used, employing standardised multiple-choice…

Discovering the Motivations of Students When Using an Online Learning Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saadé, Raafat George; Al Sharhan, Jamal

2015-01-01

In an educational setting, the use of online learning tools impacts student performance. Motivation and beliefs play an important role in predicting student decisions to use these learning tools. However, IT-personality entailing playfulness on the web, perceived personal innovativeness, and enjoyment may have an impact on motivations. In this…

Coping While Connected: The Association among Cybervictimization, Privacy Settings, and Reporting Tools in Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, Chloe C.; Lambe, Laura; Pepler, Debra J.; Craig, Wendy M.

2016-01-01

The current study explored online preventive coping (privacy settings) and reactive coping (reporting tools) among youth and how the use of these online safety tools related to the frequency of cybervictimization. Surveys were administered to youth in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary school. Results indicated that the prevalence of…

SWDYT: So What Do You Think? Canadian Students' Attitudes about "peerScholar," an Online Peer-Assessment Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collimore, Lisa-Marie; Paré, Dwayne E.; Joordens, Steve

2015-01-01

Middle- and high-school students' attitudes towards online peer-assessment were described and examined in this study. One hundred and eighty-four (184) students answered a 16-item questionnaire about their experiences with an online peer-assessment tool called peerScholar. Overall, students in Canada converged with those in other countries with…

He Asked Me What!?--Using Shared Online Accounts as Training Tools for Distance Learning Librarians

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Kelly; Casey, Anne Marie; Citro, Kathleen

2017-01-01

This study explores the idea of creating a knowledge base from shared online accounts to use in training librarians who perform distance reference services. Through a survey, follow-up interviews and a case study, the investigators explored current and potential use of shared online accounts as training tools. This study revealed that the…

Student Perceptions of Online Homework Use for Formative Assessment of Learning in Organic Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards-Babb, Michelle; Curtis, Reagan; Georgieva, Zornitsa; Penn, John H.

2015-01-01

Use of online homework as a formative assessment tool for organic chemistry coursework was examined. Student perceptions of online homework in terms of (i) its ranking relative to other course aspects, (ii) their learning of organic chemistry, and (iii) whether it improved their study habits and how students used it as a learning tool were…

Thomson Parabola Spectrometer: a powerful tool for on-line plasma analysis

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

Altana, C.; Muoio, A.; Schillaci, F.

2015-07-01

In this paper we report on a new powerful and self-consistent analysis technique aimed in order to get information online on laser generated plasmas. Performance of the method has been carried out during two set of measurement by using two different lasers. The first set of data has been collected at LENS Laboratory of INFN-LNS in Catania by using a laser which produces pulses having energies of 2 J and temporal duration of 6 ns, while the second set of data has been collected at ILIL of INO-CNR in Pisa with a laser system capable of delivering pulses of upmore » to 10 mJ in 40 fs. (authors)« less

A Practice-Based Analysis of an Online Strategy Game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milolidakis, Giannis; Kimble, Chris; Akoumianakis, Demosthenes

In this paper, we will analyze a massively multiplayer online game in an attempt to identify the elements of practice that enable social interaction and cooperation within the game’s virtual world. Communities of Practice and Activity Theory offer the theoretical lens for identifying and understanding what constitutes practice within the community and how such practice is manifest and transmitted during game play. Our analysis suggests that in contrast to prevalent perceptions of practice as being textually mediated, in virtual settings it is framed as much in social interactions as in processes, artifacts and the tools constituting the ‘linguistic’ domain of the game or the practice the gaming community is about.

Comparing the quality of pro- and anti-vaccination online information: a content analysis of vaccination-related webpages.

PubMed

Sak, Gabriele; Diviani, Nicola; Allam, Ahmed; Schulz, Peter J

2016-01-15

The exponential increase in health-related online platforms has made the Internet one of the main sources of health information globally. The quality of health contents disseminated on the Internet has been a central focus for many researchers. To date, however, few comparative content analyses of pro- and anti-vaccination websites have been conducted, and none of them compared the quality of information. The main objective of this study was therefore to bring new evidence on this aspect by comparing the quality of pro- and anti-vaccination online sources. Based on past literature and health information quality evaluation initiatives, a 40-categories assessment tool (Online Vaccination Information Quality Codebook) was developed and used to code a sample of 1093 webpages retrieved via Google and two filtered versions of the same search engine. The categories investigated were grouped into four main quality dimensions: web-related design quality criteria (10 categories), health-specific design quality criteria (3 categories), health related content attributes (12 categories) and vaccination-specific content attributes (15 categories). Data analysis comprised frequency counts, cross tabulations, Pearson's chi-square, and other inferential indicators. The final sample included 514 webpages in favor of vaccination, 471 against, and 108 neutral. Generally, webpages holding a favorable view toward vaccination presented more quality indicators compared to both neutral and anti-vaccination pages. However, some notable exceptions to this rule were observed. In particular, no differences were found between pro- and anti-vaccination webpages as regards vaccination-specific content attributes. Our analyses showed that the overall quality of pro-vaccination webpages is superior to anti-vaccination online sources. The developed coding scheme was proven to be a helpful and reliable tool to judge the quality of vaccination-related webpages. Based on the results, we advance recommendations for online health information providers as well as directions for future research in this field.

GREAT: a web portal for Genome Regulatory Architecture Tools

PubMed Central

Bouyioukos, Costas; Bucchini, François; Elati, Mohamed; Képès, François

2016-01-01

GREAT (Genome REgulatory Architecture Tools) is a novel web portal for tools designed to generate user-friendly and biologically useful analysis of genome architecture and regulation. The online tools of GREAT are freely accessible and compatible with essentially any operating system which runs a modern browser. GREAT is based on the analysis of genome layout -defined as the respective positioning of co-functional genes- and its relation with chromosome architecture and gene expression. GREAT tools allow users to systematically detect regular patterns along co-functional genomic features in an automatic way consisting of three individual steps and respective interactive visualizations. In addition to the complete analysis of regularities, GREAT tools enable the use of periodicity and position information for improving the prediction of transcription factor binding sites using a multi-view machine learning approach. The outcome of this integrative approach features a multivariate analysis of the interplay between the location of a gene and its regulatory sequence. GREAT results are plotted in web interactive graphs and are available for download either as individual plots, self-contained interactive pages or as machine readable tables for downstream analysis. The GREAT portal can be reached at the following URL https://absynth.issb.genopole.fr/GREAT and each individual GREAT tool is available for downloading. PMID:27151196

Medical students' online learning technology needs.

PubMed

Han, Heeyoung; Nelson, Erica; Wetter, Nathan

2014-02-01

This study investigated medical students' online learning technology needs at a medical school. The study aimed to provide evidence-based guidance for technology selection and online learning design in medical education. The authors developed a 120-item survey in collaboration with the New Technology in Medical Education (NTIME) committee at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIUSOM). Overall, 123 of 290 medical students (42%) at the medical school participated in the survey. The survey focused on five major areas: students' hardware and software use; perception of educational technology (ET) in general; online behaviours; perception of ET use at the school; and demographic information. Students perceived multimedia tools, scheduling tools, communication tools, collaborative authoring tools, learning management systems and electronic health records useful educational technologies for their learning. They did not consider social networking tools useful for their learning, despite their frequent use. Third-year students were less satisfied with current technology integration in the curriculum, information sharing and collaborative learning than other years. Students in clerkships perceived mobile devices as useful for their learning. Students using a mobile device (i.e. a smartphone) go online, text message, visit social networking sites and are online during classes more frequently than non-users. Medical students' ET needs differ between preclinical and clinical years. Technology supporting ubiquitous mobile learning and health information technology (HIT) systems at hospitals and out-patient clinics can be integrated into clerkship curricula. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

“Live” Formulations of International Association for the properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ochkov, V. F.; Orlov, K. A.; Gurke, S.

2017-11-01

Online publication of IAPWS formulations for calculation of the properties of water and steam is reviewed. The advantages of electronic delivery via Internet over traditional publication on paper are examined. Online calculation can be used with or without formulas or equations printed in traditional publications. Online calculations should preferably free of charge and compatible across multiple platforms (Windows, Android, Linux). Other requirements include availability of multilingual interface, traditional math operators and functions, 2D and 3D graphic capabilities, animation, numerical and symbolic math, tools for solving equation systems, local functions, etc. Using of online visualization tools for verification of functions for calculating thermophysical properties of substances is reviewed. Specific examples are provided of tools for the modeling of the properties of chemical substances, including desktop and online calculation software, downloadable online calculations, and calculations that use server technologies such as Mathcad Calculation Server (see the site of National Research University “Moscow Power Engineering Institute”) and SMath (see the site of Knovel, an Elsevier company).

Unified Access Architecture for Large-Scale Scientific Datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karna, Risav

2014-05-01

Data-intensive sciences have to deploy diverse large scale database technologies for data analytics as scientists have now been dealing with much larger volume than ever before. While array databases have bridged many gaps between the needs of data-intensive research fields and DBMS technologies (Zhang 2011), invocation of other big data tools accompanying these databases is still manual and separate the database management's interface. We identify this as an architectural challenge that will increasingly complicate the user's work flow owing to the growing number of useful but isolated and niche database tools. Such use of data analysis tools in effect leaves the burden on the user's end to synchronize the results from other data manipulation analysis tools with the database management system. To this end, we propose a unified access interface for using big data tools within large scale scientific array database using the database queries themselves to embed foreign routines belonging to the big data tools. Such an invocation of foreign data manipulation routines inside a query into a database can be made possible through a user-defined function (UDF). UDFs that allow such levels of freedom as to call modules from another language and interface back and forth between the query body and the side-loaded functions would be needed for this purpose. For the purpose of this research we attempt coupling of four widely used tools Hadoop (hadoop1), Matlab (matlab1), R (r1) and ScaLAPACK (scalapack1) with UDF feature of rasdaman (Baumann 98), an array-based data manager, for investigating this concept. The native array data model used by an array-based data manager provides compact data storage and high performance operations on ordered data such as spatial data, temporal data, and matrix-based data for linear algebra operations (scidbusr1). Performances issues arising due to coupling of tools with different paradigms, niche functionalities, separate processes and output data formats have been anticipated and considered during the design of the unified architecture. The research focuses on the feasibility of the designed coupling mechanism and the evaluation of the efficiency and benefits of our proposed unified access architecture. Zhang 2011: Zhang, Ying and Kersten, Martin and Ivanova, Milena and Nes, Niels, SciQL: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Relational DBMS, Proceedings of the 15th Symposium on International Database Engineering Applications, 2011. Baumann 98: Baumann, P., Dehmel, A., Furtado, P., Ritsch, R., Widmann, N., "The Multidimensional Database System RasDaMan", SIGMOD 1998, Proceedings ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, June 2-4, 1998, Seattle, Washington, 1998. hadoop1: hadoop.apache.org, "Hadoop", http://hadoop.apache.org/, [Online; accessed 12-Jan-2014]. scalapack1: netlib.org/scalapack, "ScaLAPACK", http://www.netlib.org/scalapack,[Online; accessed 12-Jan-2014]. r1: r-project.org, "R", http://www.r-project.org/,[Online; accessed 12-Jan-2014]. matlab1: mathworks.com, "Matlab Documentation", http://www.mathworks.de/de/help/matlab/,[Online; accessed 12-Jan-2014]. scidbusr1: scidb.org, "SciDB User's Guide", http://scidb.org/HTMLmanual/13.6/scidb_ug,[Online; accessed 01-Dec-2013].

Online Spectral Fit Tool for Analyzing Reflectance Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penttilä, A.; Kohout, T.

2015-11-01

The Online Spectral Fit Tool is developed for analyzing Vis-NIR spectral behavior of asteroids and meteorites. Implementation is done using JavaScript/HTML. Fitted spectra consist of spline continuum and gamma distributions for absorption bands.

Helping the Warfighter Become Green! (Briefing Charts)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

CHAIN LEADERSHIPARFIGHTER-FOCUSED, GLOBALLY RESPONSIVE, FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERSHIP DOD EMALL DOD’s Online Shopping Tool • Web self...LEADERSHIP DOD EMALL DOD’s Online Shopping Tool WARFIGHTER FOCUSED, GLOBALLY RESPONSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERSHIPARFIGHTER FOCUSED, GLOBALLY RESPONSIVE

78 FR 12137 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for the Renewal of an Information Collection

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-21

... provides an online reporting tool to support the annual HSIP reporting process. Additional information is.../ . Reporting into the online reporting tool meets all report requirements and USDOT Web site compatibility...

Tools4miRs – one place to gather all the tools for miRNA analysis

PubMed Central

Lukasik, Anna; Wójcikowski, Maciej; Zielenkiewicz, Piotr

2016-01-01

Summary: MiRNAs are short, non-coding molecules that negatively regulate gene expression and thereby play several important roles in living organisms. Dozens of computational methods for miRNA-related research have been developed, which greatly differ in various aspects. The substantial availability of difficult-to-compare approaches makes it challenging for the user to select a proper tool and prompts the need for a solution that will collect and categorize all the methods. Here, we present tools4miRs, the first platform that gathers currently more than 160 methods for broadly defined miRNA analysis. The collected tools are classified into several general and more detailed categories in which the users can additionally filter the available methods according to their specific research needs, capabilities and preferences. Tools4miRs is also a web-based target prediction meta-server that incorporates user-designated target prediction methods into the analysis of user-provided data. Availability and Implementation: Tools4miRs is implemented in Python using Django and is freely available at tools4mirs.org. Contact: piotr@ibb.waw.pl Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:27153626

Tools4miRs - one place to gather all the tools for miRNA analysis.

PubMed

Lukasik, Anna; Wójcikowski, Maciej; Zielenkiewicz, Piotr

2016-09-01

MiRNAs are short, non-coding molecules that negatively regulate gene expression and thereby play several important roles in living organisms. Dozens of computational methods for miRNA-related research have been developed, which greatly differ in various aspects. The substantial availability of difficult-to-compare approaches makes it challenging for the user to select a proper tool and prompts the need for a solution that will collect and categorize all the methods. Here, we present tools4miRs, the first platform that gathers currently more than 160 methods for broadly defined miRNA analysis. The collected tools are classified into several general and more detailed categories in which the users can additionally filter the available methods according to their specific research needs, capabilities and preferences. Tools4miRs is also a web-based target prediction meta-server that incorporates user-designated target prediction methods into the analysis of user-provided data. Tools4miRs is implemented in Python using Django and is freely available at tools4mirs.org. piotr@ibb.waw.pl Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

In response to 'Can sugars be produced from fatty acids? A test case for pathway analysis tools'.

PubMed

Faust, Karoline; Croes, Didier; van Helden, Jacques

2009-12-01

In their article entitled 'Can sugars be produced from fatty acids? A test case for pathway analysis tools' de Figueiredo and co-authors assess the performance of three pathway prediction tools (METATOOL, PathFinding and Pathway Hunter Tool) using the synthesis of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) from acetyl-CoA in humans as a test case. We think that this article is biased for three reasons: (i) the metabolic networks used as input for the respective tools were of very different sizes; (ii) the 'assessment' is restricted to two study cases; (iii) developers are inherently more skilled to use their own tools than those developed by other people. We extended the analyses led by de Figueiredo and clearly show that the apparent superior performance of their tool (METATOOL) is partly due to the differences in input network sizes. We also see a conceptual problem in the comparison of tools that serve different purposes. In our opinion, metabolic path finding and elementary mode analysis are answering different biological questions, and should be considered as complementary rather than competitive approaches. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Readability and Understandability of Online Vocal Cord Paralysis Materials.

PubMed

Balakrishnan, Vini; Chandy, Zachariah; Hseih, Amy; Bui, Thanh-Lan; Verma, Sunil P

2016-03-01

Patients use several online resources to learn about vocal cord paralysis (VCP). The objective of this study was to assess the readability and understandability of online VCP patient education materials (PEMs), with readability assessments and the Patient Education Materials Evaluation Tool (PEMAT), respectively. The relationship between readability and understandability was then analyzed. Descriptive and correlational design. Online PEMs were identified by performing a Google search with the term "vocal cord paralysis." After scientific webpages, news articles, and information for medical professionals were excluded, 29 articles from the first 50 search results were considered. Readability analysis was performed with 6 formulas. Four individuals with different educational backgrounds conducted understandability analysis with the PEMAT. Fleiss's Kappa interrater reliability analysis determined consistency among raters. Correlation between readability and understandability was determined with Pearson's correlation test. The reading level of the reviewed articles ranged from grades 9 to 17. Understandability ranged from 29% to 82%. Correlation analysis demonstrated a strong negative correlation between materials' readability and understandability (r = -0.462, P < .05). Online PEMs pertaining to VCP are written above the recommended reading levels. Overall, materials written at lower grade levels are more understandable. However, articles of identical grade levels had varying levels of understandability. The PEMAT may provide a more critical evaluation of the quality of a PEM when compared with readability formulas. Both readability and understandability should be used to evaluate PEMs. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2016.

Intensive mothering ideology in France: A pilot study.

PubMed

Loyal, D; Sutter Dallay, A-L; Rascle, N

2017-12-01

The aim of this pilot study was to adapt the intensive mothering ideology concept in a French sample and to get an assessment tool. First, the Intensive Parenting Attitudes Questionnaire (IPAQ), a U.S. scale comprising 25 items, was translated and submitted online to French mothers and mothers-to-be (n=250). Structural validity was tested through confirmatory factor analysis with poor results. Secondly, to increase the cultural validity of a new tool, new items were derived from French women speech. French mothers and mothers-to-be (n=22) were asked about their views regarding motherhood and childcare (semi-structured interviews). A thematic content analysis was performed with good inter-judge agreement (0.53-0.86) and 27 items were created. Finally, the total set of 52 items was submitted online to French mothers and mothers-to-be (n=474). The structure was tested through exploratory factor analysis. A new tool called the Measure of Intensive Mothering Ideology (MIMI) was obtained. This 21 items scale with 6 dimensions (Essentialism, Consuming Fulfillment, Child-centrism, Challenge, Sacrifice and Stimulation) explains 59.75% of variance. Internal consistencies were satisfactory (0.61-0.83) and most dimensions were positively and moderately correlated (0.17-0.38). The MIMI is the first French-language scale assessing IMI and offers interesting research avenues notably regarding perinatal parental adaptation. Copyright © 2017 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A Study on Predictive Analytics Application to Ship Machinery Maintenance

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

Looking at the nature of the time series forecasting method , it would be better applied to offline analysis . The application for real- time online...other system attributes in future. Two techniques of statistical analysis , mainly time series models and cumulative sum control charts, are discussed in...statistical tool employed for the two techniques of statistical analysis . Both time series forecasting as well as CUSUM control charts are shown to be

The Teaching of Undergraduate Health Psychology: A National Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Panjwani, Aliza A.; Gurung, Regan A. R.; Revenson, Tracey A.

2017-01-01

We conducted an online national survey to examine how undergraduate health psychology is taught, offer information about course design and content, and provide a needs analysis. Health psychology instructors (N = 126) answered questions about course format, teaching tools, importance of covering specific topics, and needed resources. A principal…

Researching Learner Self-Efficacy and Online Participation through Speech Functions: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sánchez-Castro, Olga; Strambi, Antonella

2017-01-01

This study explores the potential contribution of Eggins and Slade's (2004) Speech Functions as tools for describing learners' participation patterns in Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (SCMC). Our analysis focuses on the relationship between learners' self-efficacy (i.e. personal judgments of second language performance capabilities)…

A Productivity Analysis of Nonprocedural Languages.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

abstracts. The tools they work with are up-to- date, well documented, and f:om acceptable/reliable sources. With their Maket - 4- 1 a nd teeoo in enced...Eie invarsion are possible at any level. Additionally, any fisld carn be indexed at any level. b. Online operation with iateractive error- zorrec- c

"PULS." – a Blog-based Online-Magazine for Students of Medicine of the Goethe University Frankfurt

PubMed Central

Wurche, Bettina; Klauer, Gertrud; Nürnberger, Frank

2013-01-01

In the context of nationwide protests 2009 also students of the faculty of medicine/dentistry at Goethe-University in Frankfurt demanded more transparency and communication. To satisfy these demands, a web 2.0-tool offered an innovative solution: A blog-based online-magazine for students and other faculty-members. The online-magazine „PULS.“ is realized with the share-ware blog-software (wordpress version 3.1.3) and is conceived and written by an online-journalist. „PULS.“ is available from https://newsmagazin.puls.med.uni-frankfurt.de/wp/. The articles are generated from own investigations and from ideas of different groups of the faculty– deanship, students and lecturers. A user-analysis is conducted with the open-source software Piwik and considers the data security. Additionally, every year an anonymous online-user-survey (Survey Monkey) is conducted. “PULS.” is continuously online since 14.02.2010 and has published 806 articles (state: 27.11.2012) and has about 2400 readers monthly. The content focuses on the needs of Frankfurt medical students. The close cooperation with different groups of the faculty - deanship, students and lecturers - furthermore guarantees themes relevant to the academic faculty. “PULS.” flanks complex projects and decisions with background-information and communicates them understandable. The user-evaluation shows a growing number of readers and a high acceptance for the online-magazine, its themes and its style. The web 2.0-tool “Blog” and the web-specific language comply with media habits of the main target group, the students of the faculty medicine/dentistry. Thus, “PULS.” has proven as a suitable and strategic instrument. It pushes towards a higher transparency, more communication and a stronger identification of the students with their faculty. PMID:23467571

"PULS." - a blog-based online-magazine for students of medicine of the Goethe University Frankfurt.

PubMed

Wurche, Bettina; Klauer, Gertrud; Nürnberger, Frank

2013-01-01

In the context of nationwide protests 2009 also students of the faculty of medicine/dentistry at Goethe-University in Frankfurt demanded more transparency and communication. To satisfy these demands, a web 2.0-tool offered an innovative solution: A blog-based online-magazine for students and other faculty-members. The online-magazine "PULS." is realized with the share-ware blog-software (wordpress version 3.1.3) and is conceived and written by an online-journalist. "PULS." is available from https://newsmagazin.puls.med.uni-frankfurt.de/wp/. The articles are generated from own investigations and from ideas of different groups of the faculty- deanship, students and lecturers. A user-analysis is conducted with the open-source software Piwik and considers the data security. Additionally, every year an anonymous online-user-survey (Survey Monkey) is conducted. "PULS." is continuously online since 14.02.2010 and has published 806 articles (state: 27.11.2012) and has about 2400 readers monthly. The content focuses on the needs of Frankfurt medical students. The close cooperation with different groups of the faculty - deanship, students and lecturers - furthermore guarantees themes relevant to the academic faculty. "PULS." flanks complex projects and decisions with background-information and communicates them understandable. The user-evaluation shows a growing number of readers and a high acceptance for the online-magazine, its themes and its style. The web 2.0-tool "Blog" and the web-specific language comply with media habits of the main target group, the students of the faculty medicine/dentistry. Thus, "PULS." has proven as a suitable and strategic instrument. It pushes towards a higher transparency, more communication and a stronger identification of the students with their faculty.

How Green Are European Curricula? A Comparative Analysis of Primary School Syllabi in Five European Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanish, Anna; Rank, Astrid; Seeber, Gunther

2014-01-01

The authors conducted a cross-national curriculum analysis as part of a European Union Comenius project regarding the implementation of an online tool to foster environmental education (EE) in primary schools. The overall goal was to determine the extent and intensity that EE is embedded in the syllabi of five European countries. To this end, the…

MyAgRecord: An Online Career Portfolio Management Tool for High School Students Conducting Supervised Agricultural Experience Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emis, Larry; Dillingham, John

Texas's online career portfolio management tool for high school students participating in supervised agricultural experience programs (SAEPs) was developed in 1998 by a committee of Texas high school teachers of agriscience and Texas Education Agency personnel. The career portfolio management tool reflects General Accepted Accounting Principles…

Use of the Webinar Tool (Elluminate) to Support Training: The Effects of Webinar-Learning Implementation from Student-Trainers' Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Shiang-Kwei; Hsu, Hui-Yin

2008-01-01

Recently, webinar (web seminar) tools (e.g., Elluminate, Adobe Acrobat Connect, Live Meeting) have been attracting more and more attention with the advancement of online learning technologies because webinar tools facilitate real-time communication and enrich the interactivity in an online learning environment. Corporations have long adopted…

The DiaCog: A Prototype Tool for Visualizing Online Dialog Games' Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yengin, Ilker; Lazarevic, Bojan

2014-01-01

This paper proposes and explains the design of a prototype learning tool named the DiaCog. The DiaCog visualizes dialog interactions within an online dialog game by using dynamically created cognitive maps. As a purposefully designed tool for enhancing learning effectiveness the DiaCog might be applicable to dialogs at discussion boards within a…

Use of Multi-Modal Media and Tools in an Online Information Literacy Course: College Students' Attitudes and Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Hsin-Liang; Williams, James Patrick

2009-01-01

This project studies the use of multi-modal media objects in an online information literacy class. One hundred sixty-two undergraduate students answered seven surveys. Significant relationships are found among computer skills, teaching materials, communication tools and learning experience. Multi-modal media objects and communication tools are…

Use of Online Assessment Tools by Instructional Designers-by-Assignment: Necessary Features and Functionalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halloran, Jo-Ann

2013-01-01

Government entities set criteria for institutions that have teacher educator programs to use online assessment tools to show continuous ongoing evaluation, and use data from the tools to guide the improvement of courses. The purpose of this qualitative, multi-case study was to discover how Instructional Designers-by-Assignment (IDBA) are using…

A Tale of Two Doctoral Students: Social Media Tools and Hybridised Identities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Liz; Folley, Sue

2014-01-01

This paper explores the experiences of two doctoral students who embraced Web 2.0 tools in their digital scholarship practices. The paper gives an insider perspective of the challenges and potential of working with online tools, such as blogs, and participating in online communities, such as Twitter's #phdchat. We explore by drawing on our…

Distributed Research Center for Analysis of Regional Climatic Changes and Their Impacts on Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiklomanov, A. I.; Okladnikov, I.; Gordov, E. P.; Proussevitch, A. A.; Titov, A. G.

2016-12-01

Presented is a collaborative project carrying out by joint team of researchers from the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems, Russia and Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire, USA. Its main objective is development of a hardware and software prototype of Distributed Research Center (DRC) for monitoring and projecting of regional climatic and and their impacts on the environment over the Northern extratropical areas. In the framework of the project new approaches to "cloud" processing and analysis of large geospatial datasets (big geospatial data) are being developed. It will be deployed on technical platforms of both institutions and applied in research of climate change and its consequences. Datasets available at NCEI and IMCES include multidimensional arrays of climatic, environmental, demographic, and socio-economic characteristics. The project is aimed at solving several major research and engineering tasks: 1) structure analysis of huge heterogeneous climate and environmental geospatial datasets used in the project, their preprocessing and unification; 2) development of a new distributed storage and processing model based on a "shared nothing" paradigm; 3) development of a dedicated database of metadata describing geospatial datasets used in the project; 4) development of a dedicated geoportal and a high-end graphical frontend providing intuitive user interface, internet-accessible online tools for analysis of geospatial data and web services for interoperability with other geoprocessing software packages. DRC will operate as a single access point to distributed archives of spatial data and online tools for their processing. Flexible modular computational engine running verified data processing routines will provide solid results of geospatial data analysis. "Cloud" data analysis and visualization approach will guarantee access to the DRC online tools and data from all over the world. Additionally, exporting of data processing results through WMS and WFS services will be used to provide their interoperability. Financial support of this activity by the RF Ministry of Education and Science under Agreement 14.613.21.0037 (RFMEFI61315X0037) and by the Iola Hubbard Climate Change Endowment is acknowledged.

Investigating students' academic numeracy in 1st level university courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galligan, Linda; Hobohm, Carola

2015-06-01

This paper investigates how an online test (`Self-Test' developed at the University of Southern Queensland) can enrich students' understanding of their academic numeracy, through a purpose-built, self-assessment tool aligned with online modules. Since its creation and evaluation, the tool has been developed and tailored to suit other first year courses based around an academic numeracy framework of competence, confidence and critical awareness (Galligan 2013a). This paper will highlight how the new Self-Test is underpinned by this framework and how students' levels of numeracy can be better understood by the lecturer through Self-Test in a first year nursing for numeracy course and a maths for teachers course. It particularly addresses over- and under-confidence, error analysis and students' reflective comments, and how this understanding can better inform course development and teaching.

Exploring Gendered Notions: Gender, Job Hunting and Web Searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martey, R. M.

Based on analysis of a series of interviews, this chapter suggests that in looking for jobs online, women confront gendered notions of the Internet as well as gendered notions of the jobs themselves. It argues that the social and cultural contexts of both the search tools and the search tasks should be considered in exploring how Web-based technologies serve women in a job search. For these women, the opportunities and limitations of online job-search tools were intimately related to their personal and social needs, especially needs for part-time work, maternity benefits, and career advancement. Although job-seeking services such as Monster.com were used frequently by most of these women, search services did not completely fulfill all their informational needs, and became an — often frustrating — initial starting point for a job search rather than an end-point.

Social argumentation in online synchronous communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angiono, Ivan

In education, argumentation has an increasing importance because it can be used to foster learning in various fields including philosophy, history, sciences, and mathematics. Argumentation is also at the heart of scientific inquiry. Many educational technology researchers have been interested in finding out how technologies can be employed to improve students' learning of argumentation. Therefore, many computer-based tools or argumentation systems have been developed to assist students in their acquisition of argumentation skills. While the argumentation systems incorporating online debating tools present a good resource in formal settings, there is limited research revealing what argumentative skills students are portraying in informal online settings without the presence of a moderator. This dissertation investigates the nature of argumentative practices in a massively multiplayer online game where the system successfully incorporates the authentic use of online synchronous communication tools and the patterns that emerge from the interplay between a number of contextual variables including synchronicity, interest, authenticity, and topical knowledge.

Audio signal analysis for tool wear monitoring in sheet metal stamping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ubhayaratne, Indivarie; Pereira, Michael P.; Xiang, Yong; Rolfe, Bernard F.

2017-02-01

Stamping tool wear can significantly degrade product quality, and hence, online tool condition monitoring is a timely need in many manufacturing industries. Even though a large amount of research has been conducted employing different sensor signals, there is still an unmet demand for a low-cost easy to set up condition monitoring system. Audio signal analysis is a simple method that has the potential to meet this demand, but has not been previously used for stamping process monitoring. Hence, this paper studies the existence and the significance of the correlation between emitted sound signals and the wear state of sheet metal stamping tools. The corrupting sources generated by the tooling of the stamping press and surrounding machinery have higher amplitudes compared to that of the sound emitted by the stamping operation itself. Therefore, a newly developed semi-blind signal extraction technique was employed as a pre-processing technique to mitigate the contribution of these corrupting sources. The spectral analysis results of the raw and extracted signals demonstrate a significant qualitative relationship between wear progression and the emitted sound signature. This study lays the basis for employing low-cost audio signal analysis in the development of a real-time industrial tool condition monitoring system.

Cross-platform validation and analysis environment for particle physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chekanov, S. V.; Pogrebnyak, I.; Wilbern, D.

2017-11-01

A multi-platform validation and analysis framework for public Monte Carlo simulation for high-energy particle collisions is discussed. The front-end of this framework uses the Python programming language, while the back-end is written in Java, which provides a multi-platform environment that can be run from a web browser and can easily be deployed at the grid sites. The analysis package includes all major software tools used in high-energy physics, such as Lorentz vectors, jet algorithms, histogram packages, graphic canvases, and tools for providing data access. This multi-platform software suite, designed to minimize OS-specific maintenance and deployment time, is used for online validation of Monte Carlo event samples through a web interface.

Online learning tools in an M.Ed. in Earth Sciences program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richardson, E.

2011-12-01

Penn State's Master of Education in Earth Sciences program is a fully online 30-credit degree program serving mid-career secondary science teachers. Teachers in the program have a diverse background in science and math, are usually many years removed from their most recent degree, and are often deficient in the same geoscience skills as are beginning undergraduates. For example, they habitually assign incorrect causal relationships to concepts that are taught at the same time (such as sea-floor spreading and magnetic field reversals), and they have trouble with both object and spatial visualization. Program faculty also observe anecdotally that many teachers enter the program lacking the ability to describe their mental model of a given Earth science process, making it difficult to identify teachers' knowledge gaps. We have implemented many technical strategies to enhance program content delivery while trying to minimize the inherent barriers to completing quantitative assignments online and at a distance. These barriers include competence with and access to sophisticated data analysis and plotting programs commonly used by scientists. Here, I demonstrate two technical tools I use frequently to strengthen online content delivery and assessment. The first, Jing, is commercially-available, free, and platform-independent. Jing allows the user to make screencasts with narration and embed them into a web page as a flash movie or as an external link. The second is a set of simple sketching tools I have created using the programming language Processing, which is a free, open source, platform-independent language built on Java. The integration of easy-to-use drawing tools into problem sets and other assessments has enabled faculty to appraise a learner's grasp of the material without the steep technical learning curve and expense inherent in most computer graphics packages. A serendipitous benefit of teaching with these tools is that they are easy to learn and freely available and so the teachers in the program learn to use them, too. Qualitative assessment of feedback from the teachers in the program shows that they find the explanations, screencasts, animations, and discussions arising from these tools not only enhance their own learning but also inspire them to try them in their classrooms.

Pedagogical Utilization and Assessment of the Statistic Online Computational Resource in Introductory Probability and Statistics Courses.

PubMed

Dinov, Ivo D; Sanchez, Juana; Christou, Nicolas

2008-01-01

Technology-based instruction represents a new recent pedagogical paradigm that is rooted in the realization that new generations are much more comfortable with, and excited about, new technologies. The rapid technological advancement over the past decade has fueled an enormous demand for the integration of modern networking, informational and computational tools with classical pedagogical instruments. Consequently, teaching with technology typically involves utilizing a variety of IT and multimedia resources for online learning, course management, electronic course materials, and novel tools of communication, engagement, experimental, critical thinking and assessment.The NSF-funded Statistics Online Computational Resource (SOCR) provides a number of interactive tools for enhancing instruction in various undergraduate and graduate courses in probability and statistics. These resources include online instructional materials, statistical calculators, interactive graphical user interfaces, computational and simulation applets, tools for data analysis and visualization. The tools provided as part of SOCR include conceptual simulations and statistical computing interfaces, which are designed to bridge between the introductory and the more advanced computational and applied probability and statistics courses. In this manuscript, we describe our designs for utilizing SOCR technology in instruction in a recent study. In addition, present the results of the effectiveness of using SOCR tools at two different course intensity levels on three outcome measures: exam scores, student satisfaction and choice of technology to complete assignments. Learning styles assessment was completed at baseline. We have used three very different designs for three different undergraduate classes. Each course included a treatment group, using the SOCR resources, and a control group, using classical instruction techniques. Our findings include marginal effects of the SOCR treatment per individual classes; however, pooling the results across all courses and sections, SOCR effects on the treatment groups were exceptionally robust and significant. Coupling these findings with a clear decrease in the variance of the quantitative examination measures in the treatment groups indicates that employing technology, like SOCR, in a sound pedagogical and scientific manner enhances overall the students' understanding and suggests better long-term knowledge retention.

Pedagogical Utilization and Assessment of the Statistic Online Computational Resource in Introductory Probability and Statistics Courses

PubMed Central

Dinov, Ivo D.; Sanchez, Juana; Christou, Nicolas

2009-01-01

Technology-based instruction represents a new recent pedagogical paradigm that is rooted in the realization that new generations are much more comfortable with, and excited about, new technologies. The rapid technological advancement over the past decade has fueled an enormous demand for the integration of modern networking, informational and computational tools with classical pedagogical instruments. Consequently, teaching with technology typically involves utilizing a variety of IT and multimedia resources for online learning, course management, electronic course materials, and novel tools of communication, engagement, experimental, critical thinking and assessment. The NSF-funded Statistics Online Computational Resource (SOCR) provides a number of interactive tools for enhancing instruction in various undergraduate and graduate courses in probability and statistics. These resources include online instructional materials, statistical calculators, interactive graphical user interfaces, computational and simulation applets, tools for data analysis and visualization. The tools provided as part of SOCR include conceptual simulations and statistical computing interfaces, which are designed to bridge between the introductory and the more advanced computational and applied probability and statistics courses. In this manuscript, we describe our designs for utilizing SOCR technology in instruction in a recent study. In addition, present the results of the effectiveness of using SOCR tools at two different course intensity levels on three outcome measures: exam scores, student satisfaction and choice of technology to complete assignments. Learning styles assessment was completed at baseline. We have used three very different designs for three different undergraduate classes. Each course included a treatment group, using the SOCR resources, and a control group, using classical instruction techniques. Our findings include marginal effects of the SOCR treatment per individual classes; however, pooling the results across all courses and sections, SOCR effects on the treatment groups were exceptionally robust and significant. Coupling these findings with a clear decrease in the variance of the quantitative examination measures in the treatment groups indicates that employing technology, like SOCR, in a sound pedagogical and scientific manner enhances overall the students’ understanding and suggests better long-term knowledge retention. PMID:19750185

CscoreTool: fast Hi-C compartment analysis at high resolution.

PubMed

Zheng, Xiaobin; Zheng, Yixian

2018-05-01

The genome-wide chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) has revealed that the eukaryotic genome can be partitioned into A and B compartments that have distinctive chromatin and transcription features. Current Principle Component Analyses (PCA)-based method for the A/B compartment prediction based on Hi-C data requires substantial CPU time and memory. We report the development of a method, CscoreTool, which enables fast and memory-efficient determination of A/B compartments at high resolution even in datasets with low sequencing depth. https://github.com/scoutzxb/CscoreTool. xzheng@carnegiescience.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

TreeQ-VISTA: An Interactive Tree Visualization Tool withFunctional Annotation Query Capabilities

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

Gu, Shengyin; Anderson, Iain; Kunin, Victor

2007-05-07

Summary: We describe a general multiplatform exploratorytool called TreeQ-Vista, designed for presenting functional annotationsin a phylogenetic context. Traits, such as phenotypic and genomicproperties, are interactively queried from a relational database with auser-friendly interface which provides a set of tools for users with orwithout SQL knowledge. The query results are projected onto aphylogenetic tree and can be displayed in multiple color groups. A richset of browsing, grouping and query tools are provided to facilitatetrait exploration, comparison and analysis.Availability: The program,detailed tutorial and examples are available online athttp://genome-test.lbl.gov/vista/TreeQVista.

Computers and the internet: tools for youth empowerment.

PubMed

Valaitis, Ruta K

2005-10-04

Youth are often disenfranchised in their communities and may feel they have little voice. Since computers are an important aspect of youth culture, they may offer solutions to increasing youth participation in communities. This qualitative case study investigated the perceptions of 19 (predominantly female) inner-city school youth about their use of computers and the Internet in a school-based community development project. Youth working with public health nurses in a school-based community development project communicated with local community members using computer-mediated communication, surveyed peers online, built websites, searched for information online, and prepared project materials using computers and the Internet. Participant observation, semistructured interviews, analysis of online messages, and online- and paper-based surveys were used to gather data about youth's and adults' perceptions and use of the technologies. Constant comparison method and between-method triangulation were used in the analysis to satisfy the existence of themes. Not all youth were interested in working with computers. Some electronic messages from adults were perceived to be critical, and writing to adults was intimidating for some youth. In addition, technical problems were experienced. Despite these barriers, most youth perceived that using computers and the Internet reduced their anxiety concerning communication with adults, increased their control when dealing with adults, raised their perception of their social status, increased participation within the community, supported reflective thought, increased efficiency, and improved their access to resources. Overall, youth perceived computers and the Internet to be empowering tools, and they should be encouraged to use such technology to support them in community initiatives.

Computers and the Internet: Tools for Youth Empowerment

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

Background Youth are often disenfranchised in their communities and may feel they have little voice. Since computers are an important aspect of youth culture, they may offer solutions to increasing youth participation in communities. Objective This qualitative case study investigated the perceptions of 19 (predominantly female) inner-city school youth about their use of computers and the Internet in a school-based community development project. Methods Youth working with public health nurses in a school-based community development project communicated with local community members using computer-mediated communication, surveyed peers online, built websites, searched for information online, and prepared project materials using computers and the Internet. Participant observation, semistructured interviews, analysis of online messages, and online- and paper-based surveys were used to gather data about youth’s and adults’ perceptions and use of the technologies. Constant comparison method and between-method triangulation were used in the analysis to satisfy the existence of themes. Results Not all youth were interested in working with computers. Some electronic messages from adults were perceived to be critical, and writing to adults was intimidating for some youth. In addition, technical problems were experienced. Despite these barriers, most youth perceived that using computers and the Internet reduced their anxiety concerning communication with adults, increased their control when dealing with adults, raised their perception of their social status, increased participation within the community, supported reflective thought, increased efficiency, and improved their access to resources. Conclusions Overall, youth perceived computers and the Internet to be empowering tools, and they should be encouraged to use such technology to support them in community initiatives. PMID:16403715

Introducing an Avatar Acceptance Model: Student Intention to Use 3D Immersive Learning Tools in an Online Learning Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemp, Jeremy William

2011-01-01

This quantitative survey study examines the willingness of online students to adopt an immersive virtual environment as a classroom tool and compares this with their feelings about more traditional learning modes including our ANGEL learning management system and the Elluminate live Web conferencing tool. I surveyed 1,108 graduate students in…

User Perceptions and Reactions to an Online Cancer Risk Assessment Tool: a Process Evaluation of Cancer Risk Check.

PubMed

Hovick, Shelly R; Bevers, Therese B; Vidrine, Jennifer Irvin; Kim, Stephanie; Dailey, Phokeng M; Jones, Lovell A; Peterson, Susan K

2017-03-01

Online cancer risk assessment tools, which provide personalized cancer information and recommendations based on personal data input by users, are a promising cancer education approach; however, few tools have been evaluated. A randomized controlled study was conducted to compare user impressions of one tool, Cancer Risk Check (CRC), to non-personalized educational information delivered online as series of self-advancing slides (the control). CRC users (N = 1452) rated the tool to be as interesting as the control (p > .05), but users were more likely to report that the information was difficult to understand and not applicable to them (p < .05). Information seeking and sharing also were lower among CRC users; thus, although impressions of CRC were favorable, it was not shown to be superior to existing approaches. We hypothesized CRC was less effective because it contained few visual and graphical elements; therefore, CRC was compared to a text-based control (online PDF file) post hoc. CRC users rated the information to be more interesting, less difficult to understand, and better able to hold their attention (p < .05). Post hoc results suggest the visual presentation of risk is critical to tool success.

On-Line Loss of Control Detection Using Wavelets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brenner, Martin J. (Technical Monitor); Thompson, Peter M.; Klyde, David H.; Bachelder, Edward N.; Rosenthal, Theodore J.

2005-01-01

Wavelet transforms are used for on-line detection of aircraft loss of control. Wavelet transforms are compared with Fourier transform methods and shown to more rapidly detect changes in the vehicle dynamics. This faster response is due to a time window that decreases in length as the frequency increases. New wavelets are defined that further decrease the detection time by skewing the shape of the envelope. The wavelets are used for power spectrum and transfer function estimation. Smoothing is used to tradeoff the variance of the estimate with detection time. Wavelets are also used as front-end to the eigensystem reconstruction algorithm. Stability metrics are estimated from the frequency response and models, and it is these metrics that are used for loss of control detection. A Matlab toolbox was developed for post-processing simulation and flight data using the wavelet analysis methods. A subset of these methods was implemented in real time and named the Loss of Control Analysis Tool Set or LOCATS. A manual control experiment was conducted using a hardware-in-the-loop simulator for a large transport aircraft, in which the real time performance of LOCATS was demonstrated. The next step is to use these wavelet analysis tools for flight test support.

Reusable Social Networking Capabilities for an Earth Science Collaboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynnes, C.; Da Silva, D.; Leptoukh, G. G.; Ramachandran, R.

2011-12-01

A vast untapped resource of data, tools, information and knowledge lies within the Earth science community. This is due to the fact that it is difficult to share the full spectrum of these entities, particularly their full context. As a result, most knowledge exchange is through person-to-person contact at meetings, email and journal articles, each of which can support only a limited level of detail. We propose the creation of an Earth Science Collaboratory (ESC): a framework that would enable sharing of data, tools, workflows, results and the contextual knowledge about these information entities. The Drupal platform is well positioned to provide the key social networking capabilities to the ESC. As a proof of concept of a rich collaboration mechanism, we have developed a Drupal-based mechanism for graphically annotating and commenting on results images from analysis workflows in the online Giovanni analysis system for remote sensing data. The annotations can be tagged and shared with others in the community. These capabilities are further supplemented by a Research Notebook capability reused from another online analysis system named Talkoot. The goal is a reusable set of modules that can integrate with variety of other applications either within Drupal web frameworks or at a machine level.

REddyProc: Enabling researchers to process Eddy-Covariance data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wutzler, Thomas; Moffat, Antje; Migliavacca, Mirco; Knauer, Jürgen; Menzer, Olaf; Sickel, Kerstin; Reichstein, Markus

2017-04-01

Analysing Eddy-Covariance measurements involves extensive processing, which puts technical labour to researchers. There is a need to overcome difficulties in data processing associated with deploying, adapting and using existing software and online tools. We tackled that need by developing the REddyProc package in the open source cross-platform language R that provides standard processing routines for reading half-hourly files from different formats, including from the recently released FLUXNET 2015 dataset, uStar threshold estimation and associated uncertainty, gap-filling, flux partitioning (both night-time or daytime based), and visualization of results. Although different in some features, the package mimics the online tool that has been extensively used by many users and site Principal Investigators (PIs) in the last years, and available on the website of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry. Generally, REddyProc results are statistically equal to results based on the state-of the art tools. The provided routines can be easily installed, configured, used, and integrated with further analysis. Hence the eddy covariance community will benefit from using the provided package allowing easier integration of standard processing with extended analysis. This complements activities by AmeriFlux, ICOS, NEON, and other regional networks for developing codes for standardized data processing of multiple sites in FLUXNET.

Online maritime health information: an overview of the situation.

PubMed

Guitton, Matthieu J

2015-01-01

Due to their working conditions, seafarers often don't benefit from the same medical coverage than the onshore population. Therefore, seafarers and their relatives often need to locate health information by themselves. While the rise of the Internet has drastically transformed the way people can gather information, the availability of specific maritime health information online still need to be evaluated scientifically. We aim here to document of the characteristic of maritime health-related online information. A web survey was performed, articulated on two complementary analyses. First, an overall analysis of websites related to maritime health compared to websites related to two other health areas relevant for the general population (dental health and otorhinolaryngology) used as control. Second, an analysis of the understandability and actionability of a series of Wikipedia articles related to pathologies relevant for seafarers using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). Online resources associated with maritime health were sparse and difficult to locate. When compared to other medical fields, maritime health websites were extremely poor in displaying useful information for seafarers. Available online resources regarding specific diseases affecting seafarers were mainly not adapted for a general audience and scored poorly both in terms of understandability and of actionability. This study provides a general overview of the degree of adaption of online material related to maritime health to seafarers' potential needs. Considerably more efforts need to be made in order to provide controlled online materials to answer the health information needs of the seafarers and their relatives.

Giovanni - The Bridge Between Data and Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Acker, James

2017-01-01

This article describes new features in the Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni), a user-friendly online tool that enables visualization, analysis, and assessment of NASA Earth science data sets without downloading data and software. Since the satellite era began, data collected from Earth-observing satellites have been widely used in research and applications; however, using satellite-based data sets can still be a challenge to many. To facilitate data access and evaluation, as well as scientific exploration and discovery, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) has developed Giovanni for a wide range of users around the world. This article describes the latest capabilities of Giovanni with examples, and discusses future plans for this innovative system.

Using an evaluative tool to develop effective mathscasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galligan, Linda; Hobohm, Carola; Peake, Katherine

2017-09-01

This study is situated in a course designed for both on-campus and online pre-service and in-service teachers, where student-created mathscasts provide a way for university lecturers to assess students' quality of teaching, and understanding of mathematics. Teachers and pre-service teachers, in a university course with 90% online enrolment, were asked to create mathscasts to explain mathematics concepts at middle school level. This paper describes the process of developing and refining a tool for the creation and evaluation of quality student-produced mathscasts. The study then investigates the usefulness of the tool within the context of pedagogy and mathematical understanding. Despite an abundance of mathscasts already available on the web, there is merit in creating mathscasts, not only as a tool for teaching, but also as a means of learning by doing. The premise for creating student-produced mathscasts was to capture the creators' mathematical understanding and pedagogical approach to teaching a mathematical concept, which were then peer-assessed and graded. The analysis included surveys, practice mathscasts with peer- and self-reviews, and students' final assessed mathscasts. The results indicate that the use of the evaluative tool resulted in an improvement in quality of student-created mathscasts and critiques thereof. The paper concludes with a discussion on future directions of student-produced mathscasts.

Long-Term Pavement Performance Bind Online [Product Brief

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-23

This Product Brief introduces the reader to the Long-Term Pavement Performance Bind (LTPPBind) Online Web-based tool for selecting asphalt binder performance grades (PGs).(1) It explains what the tool is, who can benefit from its use, what its main f...

Milestones on a Shoestring: A Cost-Effective, Semi-automated Implementation of the New ACGME Requirements for Radiology.

PubMed

Schmitt, J Eric; Scanlon, Mary H; Servaes, Sabah; Levin, Dayna; Cook, Tessa S

2015-10-01

The advent of the ACGME's Next Accreditation System represents a significant new challenge for residencies and fellowships, owing to its requirements for more complex and detailed information. We developed a system of online assessment tools to provide comprehensive coverage of the twelve ACGME Milestones and digitized them using freely available cloud-based productivity tools. These tools include a combination of point-of-care procedural assessments, electronic quizzes, online modules, and other data entry forms. Using free statistical analytic tools, we also developed an automated system for management, processing, and data reporting. After one year of use, our Milestones project has resulted in the submission of over 20,000 individual data points. The use of automated statistical methods to generate resident-specific profiles has allowed for dynamic reports of individual residents' progress. These profiles both summarize data and also allow program directors access to more granular information as needed. Informatics-driven strategies for data assessment and processing represent feasible solutions to Milestones assessment and analysis, reducing the potential administrative burden for program directors, residents, and staff. Copyright © 2015 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Advancing User Supports with a Structured How-To Knowledge Base for Earth Science Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Suhung; Acker, James G.; Lynnes, Christopher S.; Beaty, Tammy; Lighty, Luther; Kempler, Steven J.

2016-01-01

It is a challenge to access and process fast growing Earth science data from satellites and numerical models, which may be archived in very different data format and structures. NASA data centers, managed by the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), have developed a rich and diverse set of data services and tools with features intended to simplify finding, downloading, and working with these data. Although most data services and tools have user guides, many users still experience difficulties with accessing or reading data due to varying levels of familiarity with data services, tools, and/or formats. A type of structured online document, data recipe, were created in beginning 2013 by Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). A data recipe is the How-To document created by using the fixed template, containing step-by-step instructions with screenshots and examples of accessing and working with real data. The recipes has been found to be very helpful, especially to first-time-users of particular data services, tools, or data products. Online traffic to the data recipe pages is significant to some recipes. In 2014, the NASA Earth Science Data System Working Group (ESDSWG) for data recipes was established, aimed to initiate an EOSDIS-wide campaign for leveraging the distributed knowledge within EOSDIS and its user communities regarding their respective services and tools. The ESDSWG data recipe group started with inventory and analysis of existing EOSDIS-wide online help documents, and provided recommendations and guidelines and for writing and grouping data recipes. This presentation will overview activities of creating How-To documents at GES DISC and ESDSWG. We encourage feedback and contribution from users for improving the data How-To knowledge base.

Advancing User Supports with Structured How-To Knowledge Base for Earth Science Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, S.; Acker, J. G.; Lynnes, C.; Lighty, L.; Beaty, T.; Kempler, S.

2016-12-01

It is a challenge to access and process fast growing Earth science data from satellites and numerical models, which may be archived in very different data format and structures. NASA data centers, managed by the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), have developed a rich and diverse set of data services and tools with features intended to simplify finding, downloading, and working with these data. Although most data services and tools have user guides, many users still experience difficulties with accessing or reading data due to varying levels of familiarity with data services, tools, and/or formats. A type of structured online document, "data recipe", were created in beginning 2013 by Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). A data recipe is the "How-To" document created by using the fixed template, containing step-by-step instructions with screenshots and examples of accessing and working with real data. The recipes has been found to be very helpful, especially to first-time-users of particular data services, tools, or data products. Online traffic to the data recipe pages is significant to some recipes. In 2014, the NASA Earth Science Data System Working Group (ESDSWG) for data recipes was established, aimed to initiate an EOSDIS-wide campaign for leveraging the distributed knowledge within EOSDIS and its user communities regarding their respective services and tools. The ESDSWG data recipe group started with inventory and analysis of existing EOSDIS-wide online help documents, and provided recommendations and guidelines and for writing and grouping data recipes. This presentation will overview activities of creating How-To documents at GES DISC and ESDSWG. We encourage feedback and contribution from users for improving the data How-To knowledge base.

Evaluating the feasibility of using online software to collect patient information in a chiropractic practice-based research network.

PubMed

Kania-Richmond, Ania; Weeks, Laura; Scholten, Jeffrey; Reney, Mikaël

2016-03-01

Practice based research networks (PBRNs) are increasingly used as a tool for evidence based practice. We developed and tested the feasibility of using software to enable online collection of patient data within a chiropractic PBRN to support clinical decision making and research in participating clinics. To assess the feasibility of using online software to collect quality patient information. The study consisted of two phases: 1) Assessment of the quality of information provided, using a standardized form; and 2) Exploration of patients' perspectives and experiences regarding online information provision through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was descriptive. Forty-five new patients were recruited. Thirty-six completed online forms, which were submitted by an appropriate person 100% of the time, with an error rate of less than 1%, and submitted in a timely manner 83% of the time. Twenty-one participants were interviewed. Overall, online forms were preferred given perceived security, ease of use, and enabling provision of more accurate information. Use of online software is feasible, provides high quality information, and is preferred by most participants. A pen-and-paper format should be available for patients with this preference and in case of technical difficulties.

Critical Discourse Analysis on Chinese Racial Pride Underlying the Malaysian National Identity in "Proud to Be Born a Chinese"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cyn, Khoo Wei; Ganapathy, Malini

2016-01-01

The ideology of Chinese racial pride in an online essay "Proud to be born a Chinese" by Dr. Chan-Lui Lee is described and analysed by using the sociocognitive approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA). The research design is based on the notion that Chinese racial pride is a tool to persuade Chinese Malaysians to prioritise their…

The Online Bioinformatics Resources Collection at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System--a one-stop gateway to online bioinformatics databases and software tools.

PubMed

Chen, Yi-Bu; Chattopadhyay, Ansuman; Bergen, Phillip; Gadd, Cynthia; Tannery, Nancy

2007-01-01

To bridge the gap between the rising information needs of biological and medical researchers and the rapidly growing number of online bioinformatics resources, we have created the Online Bioinformatics Resources Collection (OBRC) at the Health Sciences Library System (HSLS) at the University of Pittsburgh. The OBRC, containing 1542 major online bioinformatics databases and software tools, was constructed using the HSLS content management system built on the Zope Web application server. To enhance the output of search results, we further implemented the Vivísimo Clustering Engine, which automatically organizes the search results into categories created dynamically based on the textual information of the retrieved records. As the largest online collection of its kind and the only one with advanced search results clustering, OBRC is aimed at becoming a one-stop guided information gateway to the major bioinformatics databases and software tools on the Web. OBRC is available at the University of Pittsburgh's HSLS Web site (http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/guides/genetics/obrc).

SOCR: Statistics Online Computational Resource

PubMed Central

Dinov, Ivo D.

2011-01-01

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

Analysis of gene expression profile microarray data in complex regional pain syndrome.

PubMed

Tan, Wulin; Song, Yiyan; Mo, Chengqiang; Jiang, Shuangjian; Wang, Zhongxing

2017-09-01

The aim of the present study was to predict key genes and proteins associated with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) using bioinformatics analysis. The gene expression profiling microarray data, GSE47603, which included peripheral blood samples from 4 patients with CRPS and 5 healthy controls, was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in CRPS patients compared with healthy controls were identified using the GEO2R online tool. Functional enrichment analysis was then performed using The Database for Annotation Visualization and Integrated Discovery online tool. Protein‑protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was subsequently performed using Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interaction Genes database and analyzed with Cytoscape software. A total of 257 DEGs were identified, including 243 upregulated genes and 14 downregulated ones. Genes in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) family were most significantly differentially expressed. Enrichment analysis demonstrated that signaling pathways, including immune response, cell motion, adhesion and angiogenesis were associated with CRPS. PPI network analysis revealed that key genes, including early region 1A binding protein p300 (EP300), CREB‑binding protein (CREBBP), signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)3, STAT5A and integrin α M were associated with CRPS. The results suggest that the immune response may therefore serve an important role in CRPS development. In addition, genes in the HLA family, such as HLA‑DQB1 and HLA‑DRB1, may present potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of CRPS. Furthermore, EP300, its paralog CREBBP, and the STAT family genes, STAT3 and STAT5 may be important in the development of CRPS.

Flipped Classroom Research and Trends from Different Fields of Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zainuddin, Zamzami; Halili, Siti Hajar

2016-01-01

This paper aims to analyse the trends and contents of flipped classroom research based on 20 articles that report on flipped learning classroom initiatives from 2013-2015. The content analysis was used as a methodology to investigate methodologies, area of studies, technology tools or online platforms, the most frequently used keywords and works…

Acoustic measurements on trees and logs: a review and analysis

Treesearch

Xiping Wang

2013-01-01

Acoustic technologies have been well established as material evaluation tools in the past several decades, and their use has become widely accepted in the forest products industry for online quality control and products grading. Recent research developments on acoustic sensing technology offer further opportunities to evaluate standing trees and logs for general wood...

Mining and Modeling Real-World Networks: Patterns, Anomalies, and Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akoglu, Leman

2012-01-01

Large real-world graph (a.k.a network, relational) data are omnipresent, in online media, businesses, science, and the government. Analysis of these massive graphs is crucial, in order to extract descriptive and predictive knowledge with many commercial, medical, and environmental applications. In addition to its general structure, knowing what…

Seeking an Online Social Media Radar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ter Veen, James

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how the application of Systems Engineering tools and techniques can be applied to rapidly process and analyze the vast amounts of data present in social media in order to yield practical knowledge for Command and Control (C2) systems. Design/methodology/approach: Based upon comparative analysis of…

Sub aquatic 3D visualization and temporal analysis utilizing ArcGIS online and 3D applications

EPA Science Inventory

We used 3D Visualization tools to illustrate some complex water quality data we’ve been collecting in the Great Lakes. These data include continuous tow data collected from our research vessel the Lake Explorer II, and continuous water quality data collected from an autono...

A smarter way to search, share and utilize open-spatial online data for energy R&D - Custom machine learning and GIS tools in U.S. DOE's virtual data library & laboratory, EDX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rose, K.; Bauer, J.; Baker, D.; Barkhurst, A.; Bean, A.; DiGiulio, J.; Jones, K.; Jones, T.; Justman, D.; Miller, R., III; Romeo, L.; Sabbatino, M.; Tong, A.

2017-12-01

As spatial datasets are increasingly accessible through open, online systems, the opportunity to use these resources to address a range of Earth system questions grows. Simultaneously, there is a need for better infrastructure and tools to find and utilize these resources. We will present examples of advanced online computing capabilities, hosted in the U.S. DOE's Energy Data eXchange (EDX), that address these needs for earth-energy research and development. In one study the computing team developed a custom, machine learning, big data computing tool designed to parse the web and return priority datasets to appropriate servers to develop an open-source global oil and gas infrastructure database. The results of this spatial smart search approach were validated against expert-driven, manual search results which required a team of seven spatial scientists three months to produce. The custom machine learning tool parsed online, open systems, including zip files, ftp sites and other web-hosted resources, in a matter of days. The resulting resources were integrated into a geodatabase now hosted for open access via EDX. Beyond identifying and accessing authoritative, open spatial data resources, there is also a need for more efficient tools to ingest, perform, and visualize multi-variate, spatial data analyses. Within the EDX framework, there is a growing suite of processing, analytical and visualization capabilities that allow multi-user teams to work more efficiently in private, virtual workspaces. An example of these capabilities are a set of 5 custom spatio-temporal models and data tools that form NETL's Offshore Risk Modeling suite that can be used to quantify oil spill risks and impacts. Coupling the data and advanced functions from EDX with these advanced spatio-temporal models has culminated with an integrated web-based decision-support tool. This platform has capabilities to identify and combine data across scales and disciplines, evaluate potential environmental, social, and economic impacts, highlight knowledge or technology gaps, and reduce uncertainty for a range of `what if' scenarios relevant to oil spill prevention efforts. These examples illustrate EDX's growing capabilities for advanced spatial data search and analysis to support geo-data science needs.

NMRPro: an integrated web component for interactive processing and visualization of NMR spectra.

PubMed

Mohamed, Ahmed; Nguyen, Canh Hao; Mamitsuka, Hiroshi

2016-07-01

The popularity of using NMR spectroscopy in metabolomics and natural products has driven the development of an array of NMR spectral analysis tools and databases. Particularly, web applications are well used recently because they are platform-independent and easy to extend through reusable web components. Currently available web applications provide the analysis of NMR spectra. However, they still lack the necessary processing and interactive visualization functionalities. To overcome these limitations, we present NMRPro, a web component that can be easily incorporated into current web applications, enabling easy-to-use online interactive processing and visualization. NMRPro integrates server-side processing with client-side interactive visualization through three parts: a python package to efficiently process large NMR datasets on the server-side, a Django App managing server-client interaction, and SpecdrawJS for client-side interactive visualization. Demo and installation instructions are available at http://mamitsukalab.org/tools/nmrpro/ mohamed@kuicr.kyoto-u.ac.jp Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

ThunderSTORM: a comprehensive ImageJ plug-in for PALM and STORM data analysis and super-resolution imaging

PubMed Central

Ovesný, Martin; Křížek, Pavel; Borkovec, Josef; Švindrych, Zdeněk; Hagen, Guy M.

2014-01-01

Summary: ThunderSTORM is an open-source, interactive and modular plug-in for ImageJ designed for automated processing, analysis and visualization of data acquired by single-molecule localization microscopy methods such as photo-activated localization microscopy and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy. ThunderSTORM offers an extensive collection of processing and post-processing methods so that users can easily adapt the process of analysis to their data. ThunderSTORM also offers a set of tools for creation of simulated data and quantitative performance evaluation of localization algorithms using Monte Carlo simulations. Availability and implementation: ThunderSTORM and the online documentation are both freely accessible at https://code.google.com/p/thunder-storm/ Contact: guy.hagen@lf1.cuni.cz Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:24771516

GREAT: a web portal for Genome Regulatory Architecture Tools.

PubMed

Bouyioukos, Costas; Bucchini, François; Elati, Mohamed; Képès, François

2016-07-08

GREAT (Genome REgulatory Architecture Tools) is a novel web portal for tools designed to generate user-friendly and biologically useful analysis of genome architecture and regulation. The online tools of GREAT are freely accessible and compatible with essentially any operating system which runs a modern browser. GREAT is based on the analysis of genome layout -defined as the respective positioning of co-functional genes- and its relation with chromosome architecture and gene expression. GREAT tools allow users to systematically detect regular patterns along co-functional genomic features in an automatic way consisting of three individual steps and respective interactive visualizations. In addition to the complete analysis of regularities, GREAT tools enable the use of periodicity and position information for improving the prediction of transcription factor binding sites using a multi-view machine learning approach. The outcome of this integrative approach features a multivariate analysis of the interplay between the location of a gene and its regulatory sequence. GREAT results are plotted in web interactive graphs and are available for download either as individual plots, self-contained interactive pages or as machine readable tables for downstream analysis. The GREAT portal can be reached at the following URL https://absynth.issb.genopole.fr/GREAT and each individual GREAT tool is available for downloading. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Assessment Tools in Brief: Assessment of Personal Goals--An Online Tool for Personal Counseling, Coaching, and Business Consulting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Sheila J.

2009-01-01

The Assessment of Personal Goals (APG; M. E. Ford & C.W. Nichols, 1987, 1991) is reviewed along with case examples that demonstrate how the APG can be used in personal counseling, career coaching, and business consulting. The APG is an online tool for helping people identify the sources of their discontent and possible pathways for satisfying…

Instructor's Perceptions towards the Use of an Online Instructional Tool in an Academic English Setting in Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erguvan, Deniz

2014-01-01

This study sets out to explore the faculty members' perceptions of a specific web-based instruction tool (Achieve3000) in a private higher education institute in Kuwait. The online tool provides highly differentiated instruction, which is initiated with a level set at the beginning of the term. The program is used in two consecutive courses as…

SLIDE - a web-based tool for interactive visualization of large-scale -omics data.

PubMed

Ghosh, Soumita; Datta, Abhik; Tan, Kaisen; Choi, Hyungwon

2018-06-28

Data visualization is often regarded as a post hoc step for verifying statistically significant results in the analysis of high-throughput data sets. This common practice leaves a large amount of raw data behind, from which more information can be extracted. However, existing solutions do not provide capabilities to explore large-scale raw datasets using biologically sensible queries, nor do they allow user interaction based real-time customization of graphics. To address these drawbacks, we have designed an open-source, web-based tool called Systems-Level Interactive Data Exploration, or SLIDE to visualize large-scale -omics data interactively. SLIDE's interface makes it easier for scientists to explore quantitative expression data in multiple resolutions in a single screen. SLIDE is publicly available under BSD license both as an online version as well as a stand-alone version at https://github.com/soumitag/SLIDE. Supplementary Information are available at Bioinformatics online.

The Search Engine for Multi-Proteoform Complexes: An Online Tool for the Identification and Stoichiometry Determination of Protein Complexes.

PubMed

Skinner, Owen S; Schachner, Luis F; Kelleher, Neil L

2016-12-08

Recent advances in top-down mass spectrometry using native electrospray now enable the analysis of intact protein complexes with relatively small sample amounts in an untargeted mode. Here, we describe how to characterize both homo- and heteropolymeric complexes with high molecular specificity using input data produced by tandem mass spectrometry of whole protein assemblies. The tool described is a "search engine for multi-proteoform complexes," (SEMPC) and is available for free online. The output is a list of candidate multi-proteoform complexes and scoring metrics, which are used to define a distinct set of one or more unique protein subunits, their overall stoichiometry in the intact complex, and their pre- and post-translational modifications. Thus, we present an approach for the identification and characterization of intact protein complexes from native mass spectrometry data. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FlyRNAi.org—the database of the Drosophila RNAi screening center and transgenic RNAi project: 2017 update

PubMed Central

Hu, Yanhui; Comjean, Aram; Roesel, Charles; Vinayagam, Arunachalam; Flockhart, Ian; Zirin, Jonathan; Perkins, Lizabeth; Perrimon, Norbert; Mohr, Stephanie E.

2017-01-01

The FlyRNAi database of the Drosophila RNAi Screening Center (DRSC) and Transgenic RNAi Project (TRiP) at Harvard Medical School and associated DRSC/TRiP Functional Genomics Resources website (http://fgr.hms.harvard.edu) serve as a reagent production tracking system, screen data repository, and portal to the community. Through this portal, we make available protocols, online tools, and other resources useful to researchers at all stages of high-throughput functional genomics screening, from assay design and reagent identification to data analysis and interpretation. In this update, we describe recent changes and additions to our website, database and suite of online tools. Recent changes reflect a shift in our focus from a single technology (RNAi) and model species (Drosophila) to the application of additional technologies (e.g. CRISPR) and support of integrated, cross-species approaches to uncovering gene function using functional genomics and other approaches. PMID:27924039

Modular Analytical Multicomponent Analysis in Gas Sensor Aarrays

PubMed Central

Chaiyboun, Ali; Traute, Rüdiger; Kiesewetter, Olaf; Ahlers, Simon; Müller, Gerhard; Doll, Theodor

2006-01-01

A multi-sensor system is a chemical sensor system which quantitatively and qualitatively records gases with a combination of cross-sensitive gas sensor arrays and pattern recognition software. This paper addresses the issue of data analysis for identification of gases in a gas sensor array. We introduce a software tool for gas sensor array configuration and simulation. It concerns thereby about a modular software package for the acquisition of data of different sensors. A signal evaluation algorithm referred to as matrix method was used specifically for the software tool. This matrix method computes the gas concentrations from the signals of a sensor array. The software tool was used for the simulation of an array of five sensors to determine gas concentration of CH4, NH3, H2, CO and C2H5OH. The results of the present simulated sensor array indicate that the software tool is capable of the following: (a) identify a gas independently of its concentration; (b) estimate the concentration of the gas, even if the system was not previously exposed to this concentration; (c) tell when a gas concentration exceeds a certain value. A gas sensor data base was build for the configuration of the software. With the data base one can create, generate and manage scenarios and source files for the simulation. With the gas sensor data base and the simulation software an on-line Web-based version was developed, with which the user can configure and simulate sensor arrays on-line.

Perspectives for on-line analysis of bauxite by neutron irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beurton, Gabriel; Ledru, Bertrand; Letourneur, Philippe

1995-03-01

The interest in bauxite as a major source of alumina results in a strong demand for on-line instrumentation suitable for sorting, blending, and processing operations at the bauxite mine and for monitoring instrumentation in the Bayer process. The results of laboratory experiments based on neutron interactions with bauxite are described. The technique was chosen in order to overcome the problem of spatial heterogeneity in bulk mineral analysis. The evaluated elements contributed to approximately 99.5% of the sample weight. In addition, the measurements provide valuable information on physical parameters such as density, hygrometry, and material flow. Using a pulsed generator, the analysis system offers potential for on-line measurements (borehole logging or conveyor belt). An overall description of the experimental set-up is given. The experimental data include measurements of natural radioactivity, delayed radioactivity induced by activation, and prompt gamma rays following neutron reaction. In situ applications of neutron interactions provide continuous analysis and produce results which are more statistically significant. The key factors contributing to advances in industrial applications are the development of high count rate gamma spectroscopy and computational tools to design measurement systems and interpret their results.

WONKA: objective novel complex analysis for ensembles of protein-ligand structures.

PubMed

Bradley, A R; Wall, I D; von Delft, F; Green, D V S; Deane, C M; Marsden, B D

2015-10-01

WONKA is a tool for the systematic analysis of an ensemble of protein-ligand structures. It makes the identification of conserved and unusual features within such an ensemble straightforward. WONKA uses an intuitive workflow to process structural co-ordinates. Ligand and protein features are summarised and then presented within an interactive web application. WONKA's power in consolidating and summarising large amounts of data is described through the analysis of three bromodomain datasets. Furthermore, and in contrast to many current methods, WONKA relates analysis to individual ligands, from which we find unusual and erroneous binding modes. Finally the use of WONKA as an annotation tool to share observations about structures is demonstrated. WONKA is freely available to download and install locally or can be used online at http://wonka.sgc.ox.ac.uk.

CAT 2 - An improved version of Cryogenic Analysis Tools for online and offline monitoring and analysis of large size cryostats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pagliarone, C. E.; Uttaro, S.; Cappelli, L.; Fallone, M.; Kartal, S.

2017-02-01

CAT, Cryogenic Analysis Tools is a software package developed using LabVIEW and ROOT environments to analyze the performances of large size cryostats, where many parameters, input, and control variables need to be acquired and studied at the same time. The present paper describes how CAT works and which are the main improvements achieved in the new version: CAT 2. New Graphical User Interfaces have been developed in order to make the use of the full package more user-friendly as well as a process of resource optimization has been carried out. The offline analysis of the full cryostat performances is available both trough ROOT line command interface band also by using the new graphical interfaces.

Online collaboration and model sharing in volcanology via VHub.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, G.; Patra, A. K.; Bajo, J. V.; Bursik, M. I.; Calder, E.; Carn, S. A.; Charbonnier, S. J.; Connor, C.; Connor, L.; Courtland, L. M.; Gallo, S.; Jones, M.; Palma Lizana, J. L.; Moore-Russo, D.; Renschler, C. S.; Rose, W. I.

2013-12-01

VHub (short for VolcanoHub, and accessible at vhub.org) is an online platform for barrier free access to high end modeling and simulation and collaboration in research and training related to volcanoes, the hazards they pose, and risk mitigation. The underlying concept is to provide a platform, building upon the successful HUBzero software infrastructure (hubzero.org), that enables workers to collaborate online and to easily share information, modeling and analysis tools, and educational materials with colleagues around the globe. Collaboration occurs around several different points: (1) modeling and simulation; (2) data sharing; (3) education and training; (4) volcano observatories; and (5) project-specific groups. VHub promotes modeling and simulation in two ways: (1) some models can be implemented on VHub for online execution. VHub can provide a central warehouse for such models that should result in broader dissemination. VHub also provides a platform that supports the more complex CFD models by enabling the sharing of code development and problem-solving knowledge, benchmarking datasets, and the development of validation exercises. VHub also provides a platform for sharing of data and datasets. The VHub development team is implementing the iRODS data sharing middleware (see irods.org). iRODS allows a researcher to access data that are located at participating data sources around the world (a cloud of data) as if the data were housed in a single virtual database. Projects associated with VHub are also going to introduce the use of data driven workflow tools to support the use of multistage analysis processes where computing and data are integrated for model validation, hazard analysis etc. Audio-video recordings of seminars, PowerPoint slide sets, and educational simulations are all items that can be placed onto VHub for use by the community or by selected collaborators. An important point is that the manager of a given educational resource (or any other resource, such as a dataset or a model) can control the privacy of that resource, ranging from private (only accessible by, and known to, specific collaborators) to completely public. VHub is a very useful platform for project-specific collaborations. With a group site on VHub collaborators share documents, datasets, maps, and have ongoing discussions using the discussion board function. VHub is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, and is participating in development of larger earth-science cyberinfrastructure initiatives (EarthCube), as well as supporting efforts such as the Global Volcano Model. Emerging VHub-facilitated efforts include model benchmarking, collaborative code development, and growth in online modeling tools.

Measurement properties of self-report physical activity assessment tools in stroke: a protocol for a systematic review

PubMed Central

Martins, Júlia Caetano; Aguiar, Larissa Tavares; Nadeau, Sylvie; Scianni, Aline Alvim; Teixeira-Salmela, Luci Fuscaldi; Faria, Christina Danielli Coelho de Morais

2017-01-01

Introduction Self-report physical activity assessment tools are commonly used for the evaluation of physical activity levels in individuals with stroke. A great variety of these tools have been developed and widely used in recent years, which justify the need to examine their measurement properties and clinical utility. Therefore, the main objectives of this systematic review are to examine the measurement properties and clinical utility of self-report measures of physical activity and discuss the strengths and limitations of the identified tools. Methods and analysis A systematic review of studies that investigated the measurement properties and/or clinical utility of self-report physical activity assessment tools in stroke will be conducted. Electronic searches will be performed in five databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) (PubMed), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), followed by hand searches of the reference lists of the included studies. Two independent reviewers will screen all retrieve titles, abstracts, and full texts, according to the inclusion criteria and will also extract the data. A third reviewer will be referred to solve any disagreement. A descriptive summary of the included studies will contain the design, participants, as well as the characteristics, measurement properties, and clinical utility of the self-report tools. The methodological quality of the studies will be evaluated using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist and the clinical utility of the identified tools will be assessed considering predefined criteria. This systematic review will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Discussion This systematic review will provide an extensive review of the measurement properties and clinical utility of self-report physical activity assessment tools used in individuals with stroke, which would benefit clinicians and researchers. Trial registration number PROSPERO CRD42016037146. PMID:28193848

The quality of websites addressing fibromyalgia: an assessment of quality and readability using standardised tools

PubMed Central

MacDermid, Joy C; Wilkins, Seanne; Gibson, Jane; Shaw, Lynn

2011-01-01

Background Patients living with fibromyalgia strongly prefer to access health information on the web. However, the majority of subjects in previous studies strongly expressed their concerns about the quality of online information resources. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate existing online fibromyalgia information resources for content, quality and readability by using standardised quality and readability tools. Methods The first 25 websites were identified using Google and the search keyword ‘fibromyalgia’. Pairs of raters independently evaluated website quality using two structured tools (DISCERN and a quality checklist). Readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score maps. Results Ranking of the websites' quality varied by the tool used, although there was general agreement about the top three websites (Fibromyalgia Information, Fibromyalgia Information Foundation and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases). Content analysis indicated that 72% of websites provided information on treatment options, 68% on symptoms, 60% on diagnosis and 40% on coping and resources. DISCERN ratings classified 32% websites as ‘very good’, 32% as ‘good and 36% as ‘marginal’. The mean overall DISCERN score was 36.88 (good). Only 16% of websites met the recommended literacy level grade of 6–8 (range 7–15). Conclusion Higher quality websites tended to be less readable. Online fibromyalgia information resources do not provide comprehensive information about fibromyalgia, and have low quality and poor readability. While information is very important for those living with fibromyalgia, current resources are unlikely to provide necessary or accurate information, and may not be usable for most people. PMID:22021777

The quality of websites addressing fibromyalgia: an assessment of quality and readability using standardised tools.

PubMed

Daraz, Lubna; Macdermid, Joy C; Wilkins, Seanne; Gibson, Jane; Shaw, Lynn

2011-07-31

Background Patients living with fibromyalgia strongly prefer to access health information on the web. However, the majority of subjects in previous studies strongly expressed their concerns about the quality of online information resources. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate existing online fibromyalgia information resources for content, quality and readability by using standardised quality and readability tools. Methods The first 25 websites were identified using Google and the search keyword 'fibromyalgia'. Pairs of raters independently evaluated website quality using two structured tools (DISCERN and a quality checklist). Readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score maps. Results Ranking of the websites' quality varied by the tool used, although there was general agreement about the top three websites (Fibromyalgia Information, Fibromyalgia Information Foundation and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases). Content analysis indicated that 72% of websites provided information on treatment options, 68% on symptoms, 60% on diagnosis and 40% on coping and resources. DISCERN ratings classified 32% websites as 'very good', 32% as 'good and 36% as 'marginal'. The mean overall DISCERN score was 36.88 (good). Only 16% of websites met the recommended literacy level grade of 6-8 (range 7-15). Conclusion Higher quality websites tended to be less readable. Online fibromyalgia information resources do not provide comprehensive information about fibromyalgia, and have low quality and poor readability. While information is very important for those living with fibromyalgia, current resources are unlikely to provide necessary or accurate information, and may not be usable for most people.

Designing Online Assessment Tools for Disengaged Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brader, Andy; Luke, Allan; Klenowski, Val; Connolly, Stephen; Behzadpour, Adib

2014-01-01

This article reports on the development of online assessment tools for disengaged youth in flexible learning environments. Sociocultural theories of learning and assessment and Bourdieu's sociological concepts of capital and exchange were used to design a purpose-built content management system. This design experiment engaged participants in…

Using Online Compound Interest Tools to Improve Financial Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbard, Edward; Matthews, Percival; Samek, Anya

2016-01-01

The widespread use of personal computing presents the opportunity to design educational materials that can be delivered online, potentially addressing low financial literacy. The authors developed and evaluated three different educational tools focusing on interest compounding. In the authors' laboratory experiment, individuals were randomized to…

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information

PubMed Central

Wheeler, David L.; Barrett, Tanya; Benson, Dennis A.; Bryant, Stephen H.; Canese, Kathi; Chetvernin, Vyacheslav; Church, Deanna M.; DiCuccio, Michael; Edgar, Ron; Federhen, Scott; Geer, Lewis Y.; Helmberg, Wolfgang; Kapustin, Yuri; Kenton, David L.; Khovayko, Oleg; Lipman, David J.; Madden, Thomas L.; Maglott, Donna R.; Ostell, James; Pruitt, Kim D.; Schuler, Gregory D.; Schriml, Lynn M.; Sequeira, Edwin; Sherry, Stephen T.; Sirotkin, Karl; Souvorov, Alexandre; Starchenko, Grigory; Suzek, Tugba O.; Tatusov, Roman; Tatusova, Tatiana A.; Wagner, Lukas; Yaschenko, Eugene

2006-01-01

In addition to maintaining the GenBank(R) nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, MyNCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1, Human Protein Interaction Database, SAGEmap, Gene Expression Omnibus, Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, the Molecular Modeling Database, the Conserved Domain Database, the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized datasets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at: . PMID:16381840

Biological Dynamics Markup Language (BDML): an open format for representing quantitative biological dynamics data

PubMed Central

Kyoda, Koji; Tohsato, Yukako; Ho, Kenneth H. L.; Onami, Shuichi

2015-01-01

Motivation: Recent progress in live-cell imaging and modeling techniques has resulted in generation of a large amount of quantitative data (from experimental measurements and computer simulations) on spatiotemporal dynamics of biological objects such as molecules, cells and organisms. Although many research groups have independently dedicated their efforts to developing software tools for visualizing and analyzing these data, these tools are often not compatible with each other because of different data formats. Results: We developed an open unified format, Biological Dynamics Markup Language (BDML; current version: 0.2), which provides a basic framework for representing quantitative biological dynamics data for objects ranging from molecules to cells to organisms. BDML is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML). Its advantages are machine and human readability and extensibility. BDML will improve the efficiency of development and evaluation of software tools for data visualization and analysis. Availability and implementation: A specification and a schema file for BDML are freely available online at http://ssbd.qbic.riken.jp/bdml/. Contact: sonami@riken.jp Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:25414366

A Multi-layer, Data-driven Advanced Reasoning Tool for Intelligent Data Mining and Analysis for Smart Grids

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

Lu, Ning; Du, Pengwei; Greitzer, Frank L.

2012-12-31

This paper presents the multi-layer, data-driven advanced reasoning tool (M-DART), a proof-of-principle decision support tool for improved power system operation. M-DART will cross-correlate and examine different data sources to assess anomalies, infer root causes, and anneal data into actionable information. By performing higher-level reasoning “triage” of diverse data sources, M-DART focuses on early detection of emerging power system events and identifies highest priority actions for the human decision maker. M-DART represents a significant advancement over today’s grid monitoring technologies that apply offline analyses to derive model-based guidelines for online real-time operations and use isolated data processing mechanisms focusing on individualmore » data domains. The development of the M-DART will bridge these gaps by reasoning about results obtained from multiple data sources that are enabled by the smart grid infrastructure. This hybrid approach integrates a knowledge base that is trained offline but tuned online to capture model-based relationships while revealing complex causal relationships among data from different domains.« less

Biological Dynamics Markup Language (BDML): an open format for representing quantitative biological dynamics data.

PubMed

Kyoda, Koji; Tohsato, Yukako; Ho, Kenneth H L; Onami, Shuichi

2015-04-01

Recent progress in live-cell imaging and modeling techniques has resulted in generation of a large amount of quantitative data (from experimental measurements and computer simulations) on spatiotemporal dynamics of biological objects such as molecules, cells and organisms. Although many research groups have independently dedicated their efforts to developing software tools for visualizing and analyzing these data, these tools are often not compatible with each other because of different data formats. We developed an open unified format, Biological Dynamics Markup Language (BDML; current version: 0.2), which provides a basic framework for representing quantitative biological dynamics data for objects ranging from molecules to cells to organisms. BDML is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML). Its advantages are machine and human readability and extensibility. BDML will improve the efficiency of development and evaluation of software tools for data visualization and analysis. A specification and a schema file for BDML are freely available online at http://ssbd.qbic.riken.jp/bdml/. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Analysis of Learning Tools in the study of Developmental of Interactive Multimedia Based Physic Learning Charged in Problem Solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manurung, Sondang; Demonta Pangabean, Deo

2017-05-01

The main purpose of this study is to produce needs analysis, literature review, and learning tools in the study of developmental of interactive multimedia based physic learning charged in problem solving to improve thinking ability of physic prospective student. The first-year result of the study is: result of the draft based on a needs analysis of the facts on the ground, the conditions of existing learning and literature studies. Following the design of devices and instruments performed as well the development of media. Result of the second study is physics learning device -based interactive multimedia charged problem solving in the form of textbooks and scientific publications. Previous learning models tested in a limited sample, then in the evaluation and repair. Besides, the product of research has an economic value on the grounds: (1) a virtual laboratory to offer this research provides a solution purchases physics laboratory equipment is expensive; (2) address the shortage of teachers of physics in remote areas as a learning tool can be accessed offline and online; (3). reducing material or consumables as tutorials can be done online; Targeted research is the first year: i.e story board learning physics that have been scanned in a web form CD (compact disk) and the interactive multimedia of gas Kinetic Theory concept. This draft is based on a needs analysis of the facts on the ground, the existing learning conditions, and literature studies. Previous learning models tested in a limited sample, then in the evaluation and repair.

Workplace wellness using online learning tools in a healthcare setting.

PubMed

Blake, Holly; Gartshore, Emily

2016-09-01

The aim was to develop and evaluate an online learning tool for use with UK healthcare employees, healthcare educators and healthcare students, to increase knowledge of workplace wellness as an important public health issue. A 'Workplace Wellness' e-learning tool was developed and peer-reviewed by 14 topic experts. This focused on six key areas relating to workplace wellness: work-related stress, musculoskeletal disorders, diet and nutrition, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption. Each key area provided current evidence-based information on causes and consequences, access to UK government reports and national statistics, and guidance on actions that could be taken to improve health within a workplace setting. 188 users (93.1% female, age 18-60) completed online knowledge questionnaires before (n = 188) and after (n = 88) exposure to the online learning tool. Baseline knowledge of workplace wellness was poor (n = 188; mean accuracy 47.6%, s.d. 11.94). Knowledge significantly improved from baseline to post-intervention (mean accuracy = 77.5%, s.d. 13.71) (t(75) = -14.801, p < 0.0005) with knowledge increases evident for all included topics areas. Usability evaluation showed that participants perceived the tool to be useful (96.4%), engaging (73.8%) and would recommend it to others (86.9%). Healthcare professionals, healthcare educators and pre-registered healthcare students held positive attitudes towards online learning, indicating scope for development of further online packages relating to other important health parameters. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ePORT, NASA's Computer Database Program for System Safety Risk Management Oversight (Electronic Project Online Risk Tool)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Paul W.

2008-01-01

ePORT (electronic Project Online Risk Tool) provides a systematic approach to using an electronic database program to manage a program/project risk management processes. This presentation will briefly cover the standard risk management procedures, then thoroughly cover NASA's Risk Management tool called ePORT. This electronic Project Online Risk Tool (ePORT) is a web-based risk management program that provides a common framework to capture and manage risks, independent of a programs/projects size and budget. It is used to thoroughly cover the risk management paradigm providing standardized evaluation criterion for common management reporting, ePORT improves Product Line, Center and Corporate Management insight, simplifies program/project manager reporting, and maintains an archive of data for historical reference.

User Interface Requirements for Web-Based Integrated Care Pathways: Evidence from the Evaluation of an Online Care Pathway Investigation Tool.

PubMed

Balatsoukas, Panos; Williams, Richard; Davies, Colin; Ainsworth, John; Buchan, Iain

2015-11-01

Integrated care pathways (ICPs) define a chronological sequence of steps, most commonly diagnostic or treatment, to be followed in providing care for patients. Care pathways help to ensure quality standards are met and to reduce variation in practice. Although research on the computerisation of ICP progresses, there is still little knowledge on what are the requirements for designing user-friendly and usable electronic care pathways, or how users (normally health care professionals) interact with interfaces that support design, analysis and visualisation of ICPs. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to address this gap by evaluating the usability of a novel web-based tool called COCPIT (Collaborative Online Care Pathway Investigation Tool). COCPIT supports the design, analysis and visualisation of ICPs at the population level. In order to address the aim of this study, an evaluation methodology was designed based on heuristic evaluations and a mixed method usability test. The results showed that modular visualisation and direct manipulation of information related to the design and analysis of ICPs is useful for engaging and stimulating users. However, designers should pay attention to issues related to the visibility of the system status and the match between the system and the real world, especially in relation to the display of statistical information about care pathways and the editing of clinical information within a care pathway. The paper concludes with recommendations for interface design.

Online Tools for Bioinformatics Analyses in Nutrition Sciences12

PubMed Central

Malkaram, Sridhar A.; Hassan, Yousef I.; Zempleni, Janos

2012-01-01

Recent advances in “omics” research have resulted in the creation of large datasets that were generated by consortiums and centers, small datasets that were generated by individual investigators, and bioinformatics tools for mining these datasets. It is important for nutrition laboratories to take full advantage of the analysis tools to interrogate datasets for information relevant to genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. This review provides guidance regarding bioinformatics resources that are currently available in the public domain, with the intent to provide a starting point for investigators who want to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the bioinformatics field. PMID:22983844

EDCATS: An Evaluation Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heard, Pamala D.

1998-01-01

The purpose of this research is to explore the development of Marshall Space Flight Center Unique Programs. These academic tools provide the Education Program Office with important information from the Education Computer Aided Tracking System (EDCATS). This system is equipped to provide on-line data entry, evaluation, analysis, and report generation, with full archiving for all phases of the evaluation process. Another purpose is to develop reports and data that is tailored to Marshall Space Flight Center Unique Programs. It also attempts to acquire knowledge on how, why, and where information is derived. As a result, a user will be better prepared to decide which available tool is the most feasible for their reports.

Left centro-parieto-temporal response to tool-gesture incongruity: an ERP study.

PubMed

Chang, Yi-Tzu; Chen, Hsiang-Yu; Huang, Yuan-Chieh; Shih, Wan-Yu; Chan, Hsiao-Lung; Wu, Ping-Yi; Meng, Ling-Fu; Chen, Chen-Chi; Wang, Ching-I

2018-03-13

Action semantics have been investigated in relation to context violation but remain less examined in relation to the meaning of gestures. In the present study, we examined tool-gesture incongruity by event-related potentials (ERPs) and hypothesized that the component N400, a neural index which has been widely used in both linguistic and action semantic congruence, is significant for conditions of incongruence. Twenty participants performed a tool-gesture judgment task, in which they were asked to judge whether the tool-gesture pairs were correct or incorrect, for the purpose of conveying functional expression of the tools. Online electroencephalograms and behavioral performances (the accuracy rate and reaction time) were recorded. The ERP analysis showed a left centro-parieto-temporal N300 effect (220-360 ms) for the correct condition. However, the expected N400 (400-550 ms) could not be differentiated between correct/incorrect conditions. After 700 ms, a prominent late negative complex for the correct condition was also found in the left centro-parieto-temporal area. The neurophysiological findings indicated that the left centro-parieto-temporal area is the predominant region contributing to neural processing for tool-gesture incongruity in right-handers. The temporal dynamics of tool-gesture incongruity are: (1) firstly enhanced for recognizable tool-gesture using patterns, (2) and require a secondary reanalysis for further examination of the highly complicated visual structures of gestures and tools. The evidence from the tool-gesture incongruity indicated altered brain activities attributable to the N400 in relation to lexical and action semantics. The online interaction between gesture and tool processing provided minimal context violation or anticipation effect, which may explain the missing N400.

A Flexible Online Metadata Editing and Management System

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

Aguilar, Raul; Pan, Jerry Yun; Gries, Corinna

2010-01-01

A metadata editing and management system is being developed employing state of the art XML technologies. A modular and distributed design was chosen for scalability, flexibility, options for customizations, and the possibility to add more functionality at a later stage. The system consists of a desktop design tool or schema walker used to generate code for the actual online editor, a native XML database, and an online user access management application. The design tool is a Java Swing application that reads an XML schema, provides the designer with options to combine input fields into online forms and give the fieldsmore » user friendly tags. Based on design decisions, the tool generates code for the online metadata editor. The code generated is an implementation of the XForms standard using the Orbeon Framework. The design tool fulfills two requirements: First, data entry forms based on one schema may be customized at design time and second data entry applications may be generated for any valid XML schema without relying on custom information in the schema. However, the customized information generated at design time is saved in a configuration file which may be re-used and changed again in the design tool. Future developments will add functionality to the design tool to integrate help text, tool tips, project specific keyword lists, and thesaurus services. Additional styling of the finished editor is accomplished via cascading style sheets which may be further customized and different look-and-feels may be accumulated through the community process. The customized editor produces XML files in compliance with the original schema, however, data from the current page is saved into a native XML database whenever the user moves to the next screen or pushes the save button independently of validity. Currently the system uses the open source XML database eXist for storage and management, which comes with third party online and desktop management tools. However, access to metadata files in the application introduced here is managed in a custom online module, using a MySQL backend accessed by a simple Java Server Faces front end. A flexible system with three grouping options, organization, group and single editing access is provided. Three levels were chosen to distribute administrative responsibilities and handle the common situation of an information manager entering the bulk of the metadata but leave specifics to the actual data provider.« less

Student engagement in pharmacology courses using online learning tools.

PubMed

Karaksha, Abdullah; Grant, Gary; Anoopkumar-Dukie, Shailendra; Nirthanan, S Niru; Davey, Andrew K

2013-08-12

To assess factors influencing student engagement with e-tools used as a learning supplement to the standard curriculum in pharmacology courses. A suite of 148 e-tools (interactive online teaching materials encompassing the basic mechanisms of action for different drug classes) were designed and implemented across 2 semesters for third-year pharmacy students. Student engagement and use of this new teaching strategy were assessed using a survey instrument and usage statistics for the material. Use of e-tools during semester 1 was low, a finding attributable to a majority (75%) of students either being unaware of or forgetting about the embedded e-tools and a few (20%) lacking interest in accessing additional learning materials. In contrast to semester 1, e-tool use significantly increased in semester 2 with the use of frequent reminders and announcements (p<0.001). The provision of online teaching and learning resources were only effective in increasing student engagement after the implementation of a "marketing strategy" that included e-mail reminders and motivation.

Student Engagement in Pharmacology Courses Using Online Learning Tools

PubMed Central

Karaksha, Abdullah; Grant, Gary; Anoopkumar-Dukie, Shailendra; Nirthanan, S. Niru

2013-01-01

Objective. To assess factors influencing student engagement with e-tools used as a learning supplement to the standard curriculum in pharmacology courses. Design. A suite of 148 e-tools (interactive online teaching materials encompassing the basic mechanisms of action for different drug classes) were designed and implemented across 2 semesters for third-year pharmacy students. Assessment. Student engagement and use of this new teaching strategy were assessed using a survey instrument and usage statistics for the material. Use of e-tools during semester 1 was low, a finding attributable to a majority (75%) of students either being unaware of or forgetting about the embedded e-tools and a few (20%) lacking interest in accessing additional learning materials. In contrast to semester 1, e-tool use significantly increased in semester 2 with the use of frequent reminders and announcements (p<0.001). Conclusion. The provision of online teaching and learning resources were only effective in increasing student engagement after the implementation of a “marketing strategy” that included e-mail reminders and motivation. PMID:23966728

Women's use of online resources and acceptance of e-mental health tools during the perinatal period.

PubMed

Fonseca, Ana; Gorayeb, Ricardo; Canavarro, Maria Cristina

2016-10-01

The women's professional help-seeking rate for perinatal depression is low, despite the prevalent and disabling nature of this condition. Therefore, new approaches should be implemented to increase women's access and utilization of treatment resources, namely e-mental health tools. This study aimed to characterize women's current pattern of use of online resources for mental heal issues and women's acceptance of e-mental health tools during the perinatal period, and to investigate its main determinants. This study used an online cross-sectional survey that was completed by 546 women during the perinatal period. 31.3% had prior knowledge of websites targeting mental health illness. Women presenting an actual need for help (i.e., a positive screen for depression) reported greater use of online resources and greater engagement in e-health behaviors related to mental health (d=0.46-0.61), and being more accepting of e-mental health tools, particularly of informative websites. Women's perceptions concerning the e-mental tools were found to predict their intentions to use them. The results seem to globally support Portuguese women's acceptance of e-mental health tools. To improve the level of acceptance, women should be involved as stakeholders in the development of new e-mental health tools and provided with specific information before their utilization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of lignans in Magnoliae Flos by turbulent flow chromatography with online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Zhou, Xuan; Chen, Cen; Ye, Xiaolan; Song, Fenyun; Fan, Guorong; Wu, Fuhai

2016-04-01

In this study, a method coupling turbulent flow chromatography with online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was developed for analyzing the lignans in Magnoliae Flos. By the online pretreatment of turbulent flow chromatography solid-phase extraction, the impurities removal and analytes concentration were automatically processed, and the lignans were separated rapidly and well. Seven lignans of Magnoliae Flos including epieudesmin, magnolin, 1-irioresinol-B-dimethyl ether, epi-magnolin, fargesin aschantin, and demethoxyaschantin were identified by comparing their retention behavior, UV spectra, and mass spectra with those of reference substances or literature data. The developed method was validated, and the good results showed that the method was not only automatic and rapid, but also accurate and reliable. The turbulent flow chromatography with online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method holds a high potential to become an effective method for the quality control of lignans in Magnoliae Flos and a useful tool for the analysis of other complex mixtures. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Software Tools to Support Research on Airport Departure Planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carr, Francis; Evans, Antony; Feron, Eric; Clarke, John-Paul

2003-01-01

A simple, portable and useful collection of software tools has been developed for the analysis of airport surface traffic. The tools are based on a flexible and robust traffic-flow model, and include calibration, validation and simulation functionality for this model. Several different interfaces have been developed to help promote usage of these tools, including a portable Matlab(TM) implementation of the basic algorithms; a web-based interface which provides online access to automated analyses of airport traffic based on a database of real-world operations data which covers over 250 U.S. airports over a 5-year period; and an interactive simulation-based tool currently in use as part of a college-level educational module. More advanced applications for airport departure traffic include taxi-time prediction and evaluation of "windowing" congestion control.

Towards a better control of the wastewater treatment process: excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy of dissolved organic matter as a predictive tool of soluble BOD5 in influents of six Parisian wastewater treatment plants.

PubMed

Goffin, Angélique; Guérin, Sabrina; Rocher, Vincent; Varrault, Gilles

2018-03-01

The online monitoring of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in raw sewage water is expected to better control wastewater treatment processes. Fluorescence spectroscopy offers one possibility for both the online and real-time monitoring of DOM, especially as regards the DOM biodegradability assessment. In this study, three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy combined with a parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) has been investigated as a predictive tool of the soluble biological oxygen demand in 5 days (BOD 5 ) for raw sewage water. Six PARAFAC components were highlighted in 69 raw sewage water samples: C2, C5, and C6 related to humic-like compounds, along with C1, C3, and C4 related to protein-like compounds. Since the PARAFAC methodology is not available for online monitoring, a peak-picking approach based on maximum excitation-emission (Ex-Em) localization of the PARAFAC components identified in this study has been used. A good predictive model of soluble BOD 5 using fluorescence spectroscopy parameters was obtained (r 2  = 0.846, adjusted r 2  = 0.839, p < 0.0001). This model is quite straightforward, easy to automate, and applicable to the operational field of wastewater treatment for online monitoring purposes.

RISK ASSESSMENT ANALYSES USING EPA'S ON-LINE SITE-SPECIFIC TRANSPORT MODELS AND FIELD DATA

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has developed a suite of on-line calculators and transport models to aid in risk assessment for subsurface contamination. The calculators (www.epa.gov/athens/onsite) provide several levels of tools and data. These include tools for generating commonly-used model input param...

Use of Synchronous Online Tools in Private English Language Teaching in Russia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozar, Olga

2012-01-01

Like many other industries, private tutoring is now being transformed by the growth of information and communication technologies (ICT). An increasing number of educational entrepreneurs in different countries are incorporating Internet tools in their professional practice. While the popularity of online tutoring in countries with widespread…

Erosion Risks in Selected Watersheds for the 2005 School Fire Located Near Pomeroy, Washington on Predominately Ash-Cap Soils

Treesearch

William Elliot; Ina Sue Miller; Brandon Glaza

2007-01-01

A limited erosion potential analysis was carried out on the 50,000 acre School Fire. Three WEPP interfaces were used for the analysis, a GIS wizard, an online interface and a windows interface. Ten watersheds within the fire area were modeled with the GeoWEPP tool (a geo-spatial interface for WEPP, Water Erosion Predication Project). The watersheds covered 18,823 acres...

Weathering the Storm: Developing a Spatial Data Infrastructure and Online Research Platform for Oil Spill Preparedness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, J. R.; Rose, K.; Romeo, L.; Barkhurst, A.; Nelson, J.; Duran-Sesin, R.; Vielma, J.

2016-12-01

Efforts to prepare for and reduce the risk of hazards, from both natural and anthropogenic sources, which threaten our oceans and coasts requires an understanding of the dynamics and interactions between the physical, ecological, and socio-economic systems. Understanding these coupled dynamics are essential as offshore oil & gas exploration and production continues to push into harsher, more extreme environments where risks and uncertainty increase. However, working with these large, complex data from various sources and scales to assess risks and potential impacts associated with offshore energy exploration and production poses several challenges to research. In order to address these challenges, an integrated assessment model (IAM) was developed at the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) that combines spatial data infrastructure and an online research platform to manage, process, analyze, and share these large, multidimensional datasets, research products, and the tools and models used to evaluate risk and reduce uncertainty for the entire offshore system, from the subsurface, through the water column, to coastal ecosystems and communities. Here, we will discuss the spatial data infrastructure and online research platform, NETL's Energy Data eXchange (EDX), that underpin the offshore IAM, providing information on how the framework combines multidimensional spatial data and spatio-temporal tools to evaluate risks to the complex matrix of potential environmental, social, and economic impacts stemming from modeled offshore hazard scenarios, such as oil spills or hurricanes. In addition, we will discuss the online analytics, tools, and visualization methods integrated into this framework that support availability and access to data, as well as allow for the rapid analysis and effective communication of analytical results to aid a range of decision-making needs.

Pentexonomy: A Multi-Dimensional Taxonomy of Educational Online Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuapawa, Kimberley; Sher, William; Gu, Ning

2014-01-01

Educational online technologies (EOTs) have revolutionised the delivery of online education, making a large contribution towards the global increase in demand for higher learning. Educationalists have striven to adapt through knowledge development and application of online tools, but making educationally sound choices about technology has proved…

Web conferencing in online classrooms.

PubMed

Hart, Leigh

2014-01-01

Web conferencing is a promising tool for online education. A well-developed teaching strategy can lead to effective use of this technology to create a sense of community, engage students, and promote academic integrity in online courses. This article presents strategies for integrating Web conferencing into online nursing courses.

Online learning in dentistry: an overview of the future direction for dental education.

PubMed

Schönwetter, D J; Reynolds, P A; Eaton, K A; De Vries, J

2010-12-01

This paper provides an overview of the diversity of tools available for online learning and identifies the drivers of online learning and directives for future research relating to online learning in dentistry. After an introduction and definitions of online learning, this paper considers the democracy of knowledge and tools and systems that have democratized knowledge. It identifies assessment systems and the challenges of online learning. This paper also identifies the drivers for online learning, including those for instructors, administrators and leaders, technology innovators, information and communications technology personnel, global dental associations and government. A consideration of the attitudes of the stakeholders and how they might work together follows, using the example of the unique achievement of the successful collaboration between the Universities of Adelaide, Australia and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The importance of the interaction of educational principles and research on online learning is discussed. The paper ends with final reflections and conclusions, advocating readers to move forward in adopting online learning as a solution to the increasing worldwide shortage of clinical academics to teach dental clinicians of the future. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Tools for Rapid Understanding of Malware Code

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-07

cloaking techniques. We used three malware detectors, covering a wide spectrum of detection technologies, for our experiments: VirusTotal, an online ...Analysis and Manipulation ( SCAM ), 2014. [9] Babak Yadegari, Brian Johannesmeyer, Benjamin Whitely, and Saumya Debray. A generic approach to automatic...and Manipulation ( SCAM ), 2014. [9] Babak Yadegari, Brian Johannesmeyer, Benjamin Whitely, and Saumya Debray. A generic approach to automatic

Using Future Research Methods in Analysing Policies Relating to Open Distance Education in Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makoe, Mpine Elizabeth

2018-01-01

Many African countries have developed policies to reform their education system in order to widen participation in higher education. To achieve this, open, online and distance education based models have been advocated as the most viable delivery tools in expanding access to higher education. However, the policy analysis of Kenya, Rwanda and…

The Analysis of the Blogs Created in a Blended Course through the Reflective Thinking Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dos, Bulent; Demir, Servet

2013-01-01

Blogs have evolved from simple online diaries to communication tools with the capacity to engage people in collaboration, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate. Blog archives can be a source of information about student learning, providing a basis for ongoing feedback and redesign of learning activities. Previous studies show that blogs can…

Pedagogical Beliefs in Work-Based Learning: An Analysis and Implications of Teachers' Belief Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abukari, Abdulai

2014-01-01

This paper presents findings of a research project that aimed to critically examine the pedagogical beliefs of work-based learning teachers, and their potential implication on practice and expectations of learners and employers. Based on an online tool, qualitative and quantitative (descriptive) data were generated from a purposive sample of some…

Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Genetic Analysis Using Online Bioinformatics Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Jessica M.; Davidson, Rebecca M.; Strong, Michael

2014-01-01

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a serious global health problem, resulting in >1.4 million deaths each year. Of increasing concern is the evolution of antibiotic resistant strains of the bacterium that causes TB. Using this real-world scenario, we created a 90-minute activity for high school or undergraduate students to use online…

Barbie Girls and Xtractaurs: Discourse and Identity in Virtual Worlds for Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Rebecca W.; Korobkova, Ksenia; Epler, Alexandra

2014-01-01

This paper examines the ways in which Mattel's "Barbie Girls" and "Xtractaurs," online sites aimed at girls and boys of six years of age and up, respectively, offer markedly distinct literate and semiotic resources for their young users. Analysis focuses on the multimodal layers of meaning and the mediating tools,…

An Analysis of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) in a Science Lecture Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walvoord, Mark E.; Hoefnagels, Marielle H.; Gaffin, Douglas D.; Chumchal, Matthew M.; Long, David A.

2008-01-01

Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is an online tool being used to integrate a writing component in classrooms. In an introductory zoology lecture class, the authors found that CPR-assigned scores were significantly higher than instructor-assigned scores on two of three essay assignments. They also found that neither students' technical-writing skills…

Assessing Students' Use of LinkedIn in a Business and Professional Communication Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slone, Amanda Ruth; Gaffney, Amy L. H.

2016-01-01

This paper examined the practice of using LinkedIn as a tool for teaching students how to create a professional online presence. A descriptive analysis of student LinkedIn profiles revealed that students included some basic requirements, but many students still neglected to fully complete the profile, thereby leaving out some important information…

Orange Button Solar Data Exchange | Energy Analysis | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Orange Button Solar Data Exchange Orange Button Solar Data Exchange The new Orange Button Solar Data Exchange tool serves as an online resource for the solar industry to share, sell, or retrieve solar data and connect with colleagues. Screenshot image of Orange Button data website home page. The

Test and Evaluation of the Malicious Activity Simulation Tool (MAST) in a Local Area Network (LAN) Running the Common PC Operating System Environment (COMPOSE)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

Malicious Activity Simulation Tool MMORPG Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game MMS Mission Management Server MOA Memorandum of Agreement MS...conferencing, and massively multiplayer online role- playing games (MMORPG). During all of these Internet-based exchanges and transactions, the Internet user...In its 2011 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) stated there were more than 300,000 complaints of online criminal

IPAT: a freely accessible software tool for analyzing multiple patent documents with inbuilt landscape visualizer.

PubMed

Ajay, Dara; Gangwal, Rahul P; Sangamwar, Abhay T

2015-01-01

Intelligent Patent Analysis Tool (IPAT) is an online data retrieval tool, operated based on text mining algorithm to extract specific patent information in a predetermined pattern into an Excel sheet. The software is designed and developed to retrieve and analyze technology information from multiple patent documents and generate various patent landscape graphs and charts. The software is C# coded in visual studio 2010, which extracts the publicly available patent information from the web pages like Google Patent and simultaneously study the various technology trends based on user-defined parameters. In other words, IPAT combined with the manual categorization will act as an excellent technology assessment tool in competitive intelligence and due diligence for predicting the future R&D forecast.

The AMIDAS Website: An Online Tool for Direct Dark Matter Detection Experiments

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

Shan, Chung-Lin

2010-02-10

Following our long-erm work on development of model-independent data analysis methods for reconstructing the one-dimensional velocity distribution function of halo WIMPs as well as for determining their mass and couplings on nucleons by using data from direct Dark Matter detection experiments directly, we combined the simulation programs to a compact system: AMIDAS (A Model-Independent Data Analysis System). For users' convenience an online system has also been established at the same time. AMIDAS has the ability to do full Monte Carlo simulations, faster theoretical estimations, as well as to analyze (real) data sets recorded in direct detection experiments without modifying themore » source code. In this article, I give an overview of functions of the AMIDAS code based on the use of its website.« less

Moving from answer finding to sensemaking: Supporting middle school students' online inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Meilan

Online inquiry, use of the Web as an information source to conduct inquiry for a scientific question, has become increasingly common in middle schools in recent years. However, while valuable Web resources provide unprecedented learning opportunities, easy access to information does not guarantee learning. Previous research has found that middle school students tend to use the Web in a superficial manner. To address the challenges that students face in online inquiry, this study explored several supporting strategies implemented in Digital IdeaKeeper, a scaffolded software tool to help students move from passively finding a ready-made answer to actively making sense of the information they encounter through support for inquiry planning, information search, analysis, and synthesis. This study examined the differences and similarities between regular online inquiry and supported online inquiry performed by several sixth-graders in real classroom settings. Four pairs from a sixth grade class used IdeaKeeper for their online inquiry project, and another four pairs from a different sixth grade class taught by the same teacher used regular online search engines only. Both groups worked on the same science topic-water, and the entire project lasted about four weeks. During that time, students in both groups used computers for about 10-14 days to conduct online research. Multiple sources of data were collected, including video recordings of students' computer activities and conversations, students' artifacts, log files and student final writings. Several themes emerged from the data analysis. First, the findings refer to the importance of providing a structure for students' online inquiry, to promote a more integrated, efficient, continuous, metacognitive and engaging online inquiry. In addition, guidance is important to promote more careful, thorough, and purposeful online reading, Overall, the results suggest that middle school students' online inquiry needs to be structured and their online reading needs to be guided. However, challenges still remain to engage students in high-level critical thinking in online inquiry, because some prompts designed to guide students' reading do not seem effective. Implications of the research findings are discussed.

Development of a Suicidal Ideation Detection Tool for Primary Healthcare Settings: Using Open Access Online Psychosocial Data.

PubMed

Meyer, Denny; Abbott, Jo-Anne; Rehm, Imogen; Bhar, Sunil; Barak, Azy; Deng, Gary; Wallace, Klaire; Ogden, Edward; Klein, Britt

2017-04-01

Suicidal patients often visit healthcare professionals in their last month before suicide, but medical practitioners are unlikely to raise the issue of suicide with patients because of time constraints and uncertainty regarding an appropriate approach. A brief tool called the e-PASS Suicidal Ideation Detector (eSID) was developed for medical practitioners to help detect the presence of suicidal ideation (SI) in their clients. If SI is detected, the system alerts medical practitioners to address this issue with a client. The eSID tool was developed due to the absence of an easy-to-use, evidence-based SI detection tool for general practice. The tool was developed using binary logistic regression analyses of data provided by clients accessing an online psychological assessment function. Ten primary healthcare professionals provided advice regarding the use of the tool. The analysis identified eleven factors in addition to the Kessler-6 for inclusion in the model used to predict the probability of recent SI. The model performed well across gender and age groups 18-64 (AUR 0.834, 95% CI 0.828-0.841, N = 16,703). Healthcare professionals were interviewed; they recommended that the tool be incorporated into existing medical software systems and that additional resources be supplied, tailored to the level of risk identified. The eSID is expected to trigger risk assessments by healthcare professionals when this is necessary. Initial reactions of healthcare professionals to the tool were favorable, but further testing and in situ development are required.

Use of Feedback-Oriented Online Exercises to Help Physiology Students Construct Well-Organized Answers to Short-Answer Questions.

PubMed

Carnegie, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

Postsecondary education often requires students to use higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as analysis, evaluation, and creation as they assess situations and apply what they have learned during lecture to the formulation of solutions. Summative assessment of these abilities is often accomplished using short-answer questions (SAQs). Quandary was used to create feedback-oriented interactive online exercises to help students strengthen certain HOCS as they actively constructed answers to questions concerning the regulation of 1) metabolic rate, 2) blood sugar, 3) erythropoiesis, and 4) stroke volume. Each exercise began with a SAQ presenting an endocrine dysfunction or a physiological challenge; students were prompted to answer between six and eight multiple-choice questions while building their answer to the SAQ. Student outcomes on the SAQ sections of summative exams were compared before and after the introduction of the online tool and also between subgroups of students within the posttool-introduction population who demonstrated different levels of participation in the online exercises. While overall SAQ outcomes were not different before and after the introduction of the online exercises, once the SAQ tool had become available, those students who chose to use it had improved SAQ outcomes compared with those who did not. © 2015 J. Carnegie. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Global Learning Communities: A Comparison of Online Domestic and International Science Class Partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerlin, Steven C.; Carlsen, William S.; Kelly, Gregory J.; Goehring, Elizabeth

2013-08-01

The conception of Global Learning Communities (GLCs) was researched to discover potential benefits of the use of online technologies that facilitated communication and scientific data sharing outside of the normal classroom setting. 1,419 students in 635 student groups began the instructional unit. Students represented the classrooms of 33 teachers from the USA, 6 from Thailand, 7 from Australia, and 4 from Germany. Data from an international environmental education project were analyzed to describe grades 7-9 student scientific writing in domestic US versus international-US classroom online partnerships. The development of an argument analytic and a research model of exploratory data analysis followed by statistical testing were used to discover and highlight different ways students used evidence to support their scientific claims about temperature variation at school sites and deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Findings show modest gains in the use of some evidentiary discourse components by US students in international online class partnerships compared to their US counterparts in domestic US partnerships. The analytic, research model, and online collaborative learning tools may be used in other large-scale studies and learning communities. Results provide insights about the benefits of using online technologies and promote the establishment of GLCs.

Ostracism Online: A social media ostracism paradigm.

PubMed

Wolf, Wouter; Levordashka, Ana; Ruff, Johanna R; Kraaijeveld, Steven; Lueckmann, Jan-Matthis; Williams, Kipling D

2015-06-01

We describe Ostracism Online, a novel, social media-based ostracism paradigm designed to (1) keep social interaction experimentally controlled, (2) provide researchers with the flexibility to manipulate the properties of the social situation to fit their research purposes, (3) be suitable for online data collection, (4) be convenient for studying subsequent within-group behavior, and (5) be ecologically valid. After collecting data online, we compared the Ostracism Online paradigm with the Cyberball paradigm (Williams & Jarvis Behavior Research Methods, 38, 174-180, 2006) on need-threat and mood questionnaire scores (van Beest & Williams Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91, 918-928, 2006). We also examined whether ostracized targets of either paradigm would be more likely to conform to their group members than if they had been included. Using a Bayesian analysis of variance to examine the individual effects of the different paradigms and to compare these effects across paradigms, we found analogous effects on need-threat and mood. Perhaps because we examined conformity to the ostracizers (rather than neutral sources), neither paradigm showed effects of ostracism on conformity. We conclude that Ostracism Online is a cost-effective, easy to use, and ecologically valid research tool for studying the psychological and behavioral effects of ostracism.

Using Visualization to Motivate Student Participation in Collaborative Online Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Sung-Hee

2017-01-01

Online participation in collaborative online learning environments is instrumental in motivating students to learn and promoting their learning satisfaction, but there has been little research on the technical supports for motivating students' online participation. The purpose of this study was to develop a visualization tool to motivate learners…

Lesson Plan--Online Games to Teach Vocabulary to Young Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okaz, Abeer Ali

2014-01-01

This article describes how teachers can use online learning games to enhance young learners' language skill learning. Children love all sorts of games, therefore, implementing games (particularly online ones) are a useful aspect of lessons. Games are an indispensable tool while teaching, especially if employed effectively. The online activities…

Assessing Blackboard: Improving Online Instructional Delivery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chawdhry, Adnan A.; Paullet, Karen; Benjamin, Daniel

2011-01-01

Universities and colleges have been offering online classes without assessing the tools used for online learning management to determine student perceptions. An understanding of the benefits and concerns as perceived by the student population is essential to implementing an online education environment that is conducive to a student's learning.…

Building Bridges Between IPY Scientists and the Educational Community: A Spectrum of IPY Education and Outreach Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledley, T. S.; Dahlman, L.; McAuliffe, C.; Domenico, B.; Taber, M. R.

2006-12-01

The International Polar Year is an opportunity to simultaneously increase our scientific understanding of the polar regions and to engage the next generation of Earth scientists and socially responsible citizens. However, building the bridge between the scientific community who conduct the research and the education community who convey that information to students requires specific and continuing efforts. The Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET, http://serc.carleton.edu/eet) and the accompanying spectrum of activities encompassing development of materials that can provide access and understanding of IPY data and knowledge, and teacher professional development to facilitate the effective use of these materials with students can help build that bridge. The EET is an online resource that provides an easy way for educators to learn how to use Earth science datasets and data analysis tools to convey science concepts. Modules (called chapters) in the EET provide step-by-step instructions for accessing and analyzing these datasets within compelling case studies, and provide pedagogical information to help the educator use the data with their students. New EET chapters, featuring IPY data, can be developed through the use of an EET chapter template that standardizes the content and structure of the chapter. The initiation of new chapters can be facilitated through our Data in Education Workshops (previously DLESE Data Services Workshops, http://swiki.dlese.org/2006- dataservicesworkshop/). During these workshops IPY data providers, analysis tool specialists, IPY scientists, curriculum developers, and educators participate on teams of 5-6 members to create an outline of a new EET chapter featuring the IPY data and analysis tools represented on the team. New chapters will be completed by a curriculum developer following the workshop. Use of the IPY EET chapters will be facilitated by a range of professional development activities ranging from two 2-hour telecon-online workshops over the period of a month, to a year long professional development program that includes telecon-online workshops, a two-week summer workshop, follow-up online discussions and one-day meetings. In this paper we will discuss the EET and the spectrum of activities that can facilitate building a bridge between the IPY scientific community and future scientists and socially responsible citizens.

Network analysis of physics discussion forums and links to course success

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Traxler, Adrienne; Gavrin, Andrew; Lindell, Rebecca

2017-01-01

Large introductory science courses tend to isolate students, with negative consequences for long-term retention in college. Many active learning courses build collaboration and community among students as an explicit goal, and social network analysis has been used to track the development and beneficial effects of these collaborations. Here we supplement such work by conducting network analysis of online course discussion forums in two semesters of an introductory physics class. Online forums provide a tool for engaging students with each other outside of class, and offer new opportunities to commuter or non-traditional students with limited on-campus time. We look for correlations between position in the forum network (centrality) and final course grades. Preliminary investigation has shown weak correlations in the very dense full-semester network, so we will consider reduced ''backbone'' networks that highlight the most consistent links between students. Future work and implications for instruction will also be discussed.

German-French Case Study: Using Multi-Online Tools to Collaborate across Borders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brautlacht, Regina; Ducrocq, Csilla

2013-01-01

This paper examines how students learn to collaborate in English by participating in an intercultural project that focuses on teaching students to work together on a digital writing project using various online tools, and documents their reflections working in an intercultural context. Students from Université Paris Sud Orsay and Bonn…

Using Online Surveys to Engage a School Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayers, Steven

2012-01-01

In the not-too-distant past, using surveys to gauge public opinion was a costly and time-consuming activity that districts generally had to outsource. Today, with the advent of online survey tools such as Survey Monkey and Zoomerang and an increasingly Internet-connected society, surveys have become a useful and accessible tool for school…

Facebook Tools and Digital Learning Achievements in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidovitch, Nitza; Belichenko, Margarita

2018-01-01

During recent years there has been a significant increase in the usage of technological tools in general, and in academic teaching in particular. Many programs have been developed, including online teaching and online courses at educational institutions. In this paper, we discuss the Facebook social network and its use at the University. The…

Incorporating Online Tools in Tertiary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steenkamp, Leon P.; Rudman, Riaan J.

2013-01-01

Students currently studying at tertiary institutions have developed a set of attitudes and aptitudes as a result of growing up in an IT and media-rich environment. These attitudes and aptitudes influence how they learn and in order to be effective, lecturers must adapt to address their learning preferences and use the online teaching tools that…

Twitter vs. Facebook: Using Social Media to Promote Collaborative Argumentation in an Online Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Marissa; Nussbaum, E. Michael

2017-01-01

This study aimed to: 1) evaluate Twitter as a viable tool for promoting collaborative argumentation; 2) determine if scripting through sentence openers promotes a greater number of arguments within an online discussion; and 3) compare Twitter to Facebook as viable tools for promoting collaborative argumentation. Participants were 27 undergraduate…

Students' Reaction to WebCT: Implications for Designing On-Line Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osman, Mohamed Eltahir

2005-01-01

There is a growing number of web-based and web-assisted course development tools and products that can be used to create on-line learning environment. The utility of these products, however, varies greatly depending on their feasibility, prerequisite infrastructure, technical features, interface, and course development and management tools. WebCT…

Assessment in the Digital Age: An Overview of Online Tools and Considerations for School Psychologists and School Counsellors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jellins, Laura

2015-01-01

With recent developments in technology, online tests and digital tools offer school psychologists and school counsellors alternate modes of assessment. These new technologies have the potential to increase accessibility to tests (through greater portability), allow school psychologists and school counsellors to service more students (through…

"Dear Fresher …"--How Online Questionnaires Can Improve Learning and Teaching Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bebermeier, Sarah; Nussbeck, Fridtjof W.; Ontrup, Greta

2015-01-01

Lecturers teaching statistics are faced with several challenges supporting students' learning in appropriate ways. A variety of methods and tools exist to facilitate students' learning on statistics courses. The online questionnaires presented in this report are a new, slightly different computer-based tool: the central aim was to support students…

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Tools for Online Database Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mery, Yvonne; DeFrain, Erica; Kline, Elizabeth; Sult, Leslie

2014-01-01

The intent of this study was to evaluate the Guide on the Side (Gots), an online learning tool developed by the University of Arizona Libraries, and a screencast tutorial for teaching information literacy and database searching skills. Ninety undergraduate students were randomly assigned into three groups: group 1 completed a GotS tutorial; group…

Personalised Search Tool for Teachers--PoSTech!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seyedarabi, Faezeh; Peterson, Don; Keenoy, Kevin

2005-01-01

One of the ways in which teachers tend to "personalise" to the needs of their students is by complementing their teaching materials with online resources. However, the current online resources are designed in such a way that only allows teachers to customise their search and not personalise. Therefore, a Personalised Search Tool for…

Managing Skills and Knowledge Using Online Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waller, Dave; Holland, Tom

2009-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to explore a structured approach to measuring skills and knowledge, and to outline how such an approach can be beneficial for improving performance and supporting strategy. It also seeks to examine how online tools can help with this process and to look at implications for the wider UK and European skills development…

Design and Development Tools for the Systems Engineering Experience Accelerator. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-20

This also shows the value of design and developing tools for SEEA. World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG...attributed to being the most significant inspiration for the multiplayer online battle arena genre. Valve Corporation acquired the intellectual...33 Game -Based Learning

Enhancing Beginners' Second Language Learning through an Informal Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chakowa, Jessica

2018-01-01

Web 2.0 tools are used increasingly to support second language learning, but there have been limited studies involving beginner learners, multiple technologies, and informal settings. This current study addresses this gap and investigates the factors affecting students' interest in a nongraded online learning environment and what kinds of tools,…

How Social Bookmarking Can Help the 21st Century Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gormley, Kathleen A.; McDermott, Peter

2010-01-01

Social bookmarking, as an important tool for connecting, organizing and retaining online information, is presented in this article. The authors demonstrate how they use diigo to communicate with others in their professional communities and groups as well as how they use this tool for developing their online libraries. Suggestions are offered for…

Improving the LMS Selection Process: Instructor Concerns, Usage and Perceived Value of Online Course Delivery Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laverty, Joseph Packy; Wood, David; Tannehill, Darcy B.; Kohun, Fred; Turchek, John

2012-01-01

Selecting or upgrading a university's Learning Management System (LMS) involves complex decisions concerning curriculum delivery, students, financial commitments, technology and support services, and faculty. The purpose of this paper is to study faculty concerns, usage and perceptions of the instructional value of online course management tools.…

Upholding Accessibility Standards When Selecting Tech Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whetstone, Kimarie W.

2017-01-01

Research-supported guidelines to assist faculty with finding and evaluating online course tools and media that are accessible to learners taking online college courses in the United States are not generally available. The recent refresh to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. § 794(d)) provides justification for…

Simulation Software's Effect on College Students Spreadsheet Project Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, J. Kirk; Thrasher, Evelyn H.; Coleman, Phillip D.

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the potential impact of support materials on student spreadsheet skill acquisition. Specifically, this study examines the use of an online spreadsheet simulation tool versus a printed book across two independent student groups. This study hypothesizes that the online spreadsheet simulation tool will have a…

Workshops the Wired Way: More Tips and Tools for Developing and Delivering an Online Workshop.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trottier, Vicki

This document, which was developed during a project to expand professional development opportunities for adult literacy practitioners affiliated with member agencies of Community Literacy of Ontario (CLO), presents tips and tools for developing and delivering an online workshop for literacy practitioners. The document begins with an overview of…

Problem-based Learning Using the Online Medicare Part D Plan Finder Tool

PubMed Central

Stebbins, Marilyn R.; Lai, Eric; Smith, Amanda R.; Lipton, Helene Levens

2008-01-01

Objectives To implement didactic and problem-based learning curricular innovations aimed at increasing students' knowledge of Medicare Part D, improving their ability to apply the online Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool to a patient case, and improving their attitudes toward patient advocacy for Medicare beneficiaries. Methods A survey instrument and a case-based online Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool exercise were administered to a single group (n = 120) of second-year pharmacy graduate students prior to and following completion of a course on health policy. Three domains (knowledge, skill mastery and attitudes) were measured before and after two 90-minute lectures on Medicare Part D. Results The online Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder exercise and Medicare Part D didactic lectures had positive effects on students' knowledge of Part D, attitudes toward patient advocacy, and ability to accurately use the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder tool. Conclusions The success of these didactic and problem-based curricular innovations in improving pharmacy students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding Part D warrants further evaluation to determine their portability to clinical settings and other pharmacy schools. PMID:18698399

Do online prognostication tools represent a valid alternative to genomic profiling in the context of adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer? A systematic review of the literature.

PubMed

El Hage Chehade, Hiba; Wazir, Umar; Mokbel, Kinan; Kasem, Abdul; Mokbel, Kefah

2018-01-01

Decision-making regarding adjuvant chemotherapy has been based on clinical and pathological features. However, such decisions are seldom consistent. Web-based predictive models have been developed using data from cancer registries to help determine the need for adjuvant therapy. More recently, with the recognition of the heterogenous nature of breast cancer, genomic assays have been developed to aid in the therapeutic decision-making. We have carried out a comprehensive literature review regarding online prognostication tools and genomic assays to assess whether online tools could be used as valid alternatives to genomic profiling in decision-making regarding adjuvant therapy in early breast cancer. Breast cancer has been recently recognized as a heterogenous disease based on variations in molecular characteristics. Online tools are valuable in guiding adjuvant treatment, especially in resource constrained countries. However, in the era of personalized therapy, molecular profiling appears to be superior in predicting clinical outcome and guiding therapy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the feasibility of using online software to collect patient information in a chiropractic practice-based research network

PubMed Central

Kania-Richmond, Ania; Weeks, Laura; Scholten, Jeffrey; Reney, Mikaël

2016-01-01

Background: Practice based research networks (PBRNs) are increasingly used as a tool for evidence based practice. We developed and tested the feasibility of using software to enable online collection of patient data within a chiropractic PBRN to support clinical decision making and research in participating clinics. Purpose: To assess the feasibility of using online software to collect quality patient information. Methods: The study consisted of two phases: 1) Assessment of the quality of information provided, using a standardized form; and 2) Exploration of patients’ perspectives and experiences regarding online information provision through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was descriptive. Results: Forty-five new patients were recruited. Thirty-six completed online forms, which were submitted by an appropriate person 100% of the time, with an error rate of less than 1%, and submitted in a timely manner 83% of the time. Twenty-one participants were interviewed. Overall, online forms were preferred given perceived security, ease of use, and enabling provision of more accurate information. Conclusions: Use of online software is feasible, provides high quality information, and is preferred by most participants. A pen-and-paper format should be available for patients with this preference and in case of technical difficulties. PMID:27069272

SOCR Motion Charts: An Efficient, Open-Source, Interactive and Dynamic Applet for Visualizing Longitudinal Multivariate Data

PubMed Central

Al-Aziz, Jameel; Christou, Nicolas; Dinov, Ivo D.

2011-01-01

The amount, complexity and provenance of data have dramatically increased in the past five years. Visualization of observed and simulated data is a critical component of any social, environmental, biomedical or scientific quest. Dynamic, exploratory and interactive visualization of multivariate data, without preprocessing by dimensionality reduction, remains a nearly insurmountable challenge. The Statistics Online Computational Resource (www.SOCR.ucla.edu) provides portable online aids for probability and statistics education, technology-based instruction and statistical computing. We have developed a new Java-based infrastructure, SOCR Motion Charts, for discovery-based exploratory analysis of multivariate data. This interactive data visualization tool enables the visualization of high-dimensional longitudinal data. SOCR Motion Charts allows mapping of ordinal, nominal and quantitative variables onto time, 2D axes, size, colors, glyphs and appearance characteristics, which facilitates the interactive display of multidimensional data. We validated this new visualization paradigm using several publicly available multivariate datasets including Ice-Thickness, Housing Prices, Consumer Price Index, and California Ozone Data. SOCR Motion Charts is designed using object-oriented programming, implemented as a Java Web-applet and is available to the entire community on the web at www.socr.ucla.edu/SOCR_MotionCharts. It can be used as an instructional tool for rendering and interrogating high-dimensional data in the classroom, as well as a research tool for exploratory data analysis. PMID:21479108

Online Tools for Uncovering Data Quality (DQ) Issues in Satellite-Based Global Precipitation Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhong; Heo, Gil

2015-01-01

Data quality (DQ) has many attributes or facets (i.e., errors, biases, systematic differences, uncertainties, benchmark, false trends, false alarm ratio, etc.)Sources can be complicated (measurements, environmental conditions, surface types, algorithms, etc.) and difficult to be identified especially for multi-sensor and multi-satellite products with bias correction (TMPA, IMERG, etc.) How to obtain DQ info fast and easily, especially quantified info in ROI Existing parameters (random error), literature, DIY, etc.How to apply the knowledge in research and applications.Here, we focus on online systems for integration of products and parameters, visualization and analysis as well as investigation and extraction of DQ information.

A Systematic Method for Reviewing and Analyzing Health Information on Consumer-Oriented Websites.

PubMed

Rew, Lynn; Saenz, Ashley; Walker, Lorraine O

2018-05-29

A discussion of a proposed method for analyzing the quality of consumer-oriented websites that provide health-related information. The quality of health information available to consumers online varies widely in quality. In an effort to improve the quality of online information, experts have undertaken systematic reviews on selected health topics; however, no standardized comprehensive methodology currently exists for such review. An eight-step method is recommended embracing the following steps: (1) select topic; (2) determine the purpose of the analysis; (3) select search terms and engines; (4) develop and apply website inclusion and exclusion criteria; (5) develop processes and tools to manage search results; (6) specify measures of quality; (7) compute readability; (8) evaluate websites. Each of these steps is illustrated in relation to the health topic of gynecomastia, a physical and mental health challenge for many adolescent males and young men. Although most extant analyses of consumer-oriented websites have focused on disease conditions and their treatment, website-analysis methodology would encourage analyses that fall into the nursing care domain. The method outlined in this paper is intended to provide nurses and others who work with specific patient populations with the tools needed for website analytic studies. Such studies provide a foundation for making recommendations about quality websites, as well as identifying gaps in online information for health consumers. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

An online tool for obesity intervention and public health.

PubMed

Su, Jason G

2016-02-10

Though the United States of America (U.S.A.) obesity rate shows signs of leveling off, rates remain high. Poor nutrition contributes to the development of obesity, and physical inactivity is an important cause of numerous diseases and directly linked to obesity. Efforts to improve diet, increase physical activity and pursue other behavioral changes seem imperative. However, the effective management of intervention strategies for large number of participants are challenging because services in primary, secondary, and tertiary cares are often under-resourced, relatively uncoordinated with other parts of the health system. It is thus necessary to have accompanying intervention strategies that can be carried out at population level. In this paper, we describe an online intervention tool designed for the Obesity Prevention Tailored for Health II project to help achieve such goals. The first part of the online tool locates healthy food stores and recreational programs within a specified distance of a participant's home or a place of interest. The food environments include fruit & vegetable stores, farmers' markets and grocery stores, and the companying popup window shows the street address and contact information of each store. The parks and recreational programs are displayed on names of park or recreational program, types of program available, and city each amenity belongs to. The tool also provides spatial coverage of vegetation greenness, air pollution and of historical traffic accidents involving active travel. The second part of the tool provides optimized travel options for reaching various amenities. By incorporating bicycling, walking and public transit into the trip planner, this online tool helps increase active transport and reduce dependence on automobiles. It promotes transportation that encourages safety awareness, physical activity, health, recreation, and resource conservation. We developed the first Google-based online intervention tool that assists obese and overweight participants in finding food and recreational amenities around locations of interest and identifying optimized routes that fit their personal preferences. This tool can also serve general public and policy makers for education, disease prevention and health promotion.

Pattern of online communication in teaching a blended oral surgery course.

PubMed

Marei, H F; Al-Khalifa, K S

2016-11-01

To explore the factors that might affect the patterns of interaction amongst dental students that can be found in asynchronous online discussion fora. It is a qualitative study that involved the participation of 71 dental students (42 male and 29 female) who belong to one academic year. Students were participated in asynchronous online discussion fora as a part of a blended oral surgery course that involved both face-to-face lecture and an online learning environment using the Blackboard learning management system. Qualitative analysis of students' pattern of discussion was performed using Transcript Analysis Tool. The total number of postings was 410. Sixty-seven of 71 students participated in the discussion by writing posts, whereas all of the students had accessed all of the postings. A positive correlation between imposing vertical questions and the number of non-referential and referential statements was observed. Regarding horizontal questions, a positive correlation was observed with the number of referential statements, whilst there was a negative correlation with the number of non-referential statements. Asynchronous online discussion fora that are integrated as a part of a whole pedagogical practice may provide an opportunity for promoting learning, especially when consideration is given to the structure of problems, timely feedback by tutors and supportive strategies within the discussion threads. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

"Just Another Tool for Online Studies” (JATOS): An Easy Solution for Setup and Management of Web Servers Supporting Online Studies

PubMed Central

Lange, Kristian; Kühn, Simone; Filevich, Elisa

2015-01-01

We present here “Just Another Tool for Online Studies” (JATOS): an open source, cross-platform web application with a graphical user interface (GUI) that greatly simplifies setting up and communicating with a web server to host online studies that are written in JavaScript. JATOS is easy to install in all three major platforms (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux), and seamlessly pairs with a database for secure data storage. It can be installed on a server or locally, allowing researchers to try the application and feasibility of their studies within a browser environment, before engaging in setting up a server. All communication with the JATOS server takes place via a GUI (with no need to use a command line interface), making JATOS an especially accessible tool for researchers without a strong IT background. We describe JATOS’ main features and implementation and provide a detailed tutorial along with example studies to help interested researchers to set up their online studies. JATOS can be found under the Internet address: www.jatos.org. PMID:26114751

Quantitative evaluation of patient-specific quality assurance using online dosimetry system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Jae-Yong; Shin, Young-Ju; Sohn, Seung-Chang; Min, Jung-Whan; Kim, Yon-Lae; Kim, Dong-Su; Choe, Bo-Young; Suh, Tae-Suk

2018-01-01

In this study, we investigated the clinical performance of an online dosimetry system (Mobius FX system, MFX) by 1) dosimetric plan verification using gamma passing rates and dose volume metrics and 2) error-detection capability evaluation by deliberately introduced machine error. Eighteen volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans were studied. To evaluate the clinical performance of the MFX, we used gamma analysis and dose volume histogram (DVH) analysis. In addition, to evaluate the error-detection capability, we used gamma analysis and DVH analysis utilizing three types of deliberately introduced errors (Type 1: gantry angle-independent multi-leaf collimator (MLC) error, Type 2: gantry angle-dependent MLC error, and Type 3: gantry angle error). A dosimetric verification comparison of physical dosimetry system (Delt4PT) and online dosimetry system (MFX), gamma passing rates of the two dosimetry systems showed very good agreement with treatment planning system (TPS) calculation. For the average dose difference between the TPS calculation and the MFX measurement, most of the dose metrics showed good agreement within a tolerance of 3%. For the error-detection comparison of Delta4PT and MFX, the gamma passing rates of the two dosimetry systems did not meet the 90% acceptance criterion with the magnitude of error exceeding 2 mm and 1.5 ◦, respectively, for error plans of Types 1, 2, and 3. For delivery with all error types, the average dose difference of PTV due to error magnitude showed good agreement between calculated TPS and measured MFX within 1%. Overall, the results of the online dosimetry system showed very good agreement with those of the physical dosimetry system. Our results suggest that a log file-based online dosimetry system is a very suitable verification tool for accurate and efficient clinical routines for patient-specific quality assurance (QA).

Perl One-Liners: Bridging the Gap Between Large Data Sets and Analysis Tools.

PubMed

Hokamp, Karsten

2015-01-01

Computational analyses of biological data are becoming increasingly powerful, and researchers intending on carrying out their own analyses can often choose from a wide array of tools and resources. However, their application might be obstructed by the wide variety of different data formats that are in use, from standard, commonly used formats to output files from high-throughput analysis platforms. The latter are often too large to be opened, viewed, or edited by standard programs, potentially leading to a bottleneck in the analysis. Perl one-liners provide a simple solution to quickly reformat, filter, and merge data sets in preparation for downstream analyses. This chapter presents example code that can be easily adjusted to meet individual requirements. An online version is available at http://bioinf.gen.tcd.ie/pol.

NetIntel: A Database for Manipulation of Rich Social Network Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-03

between entities in a social or organizational system. For most of its history , social network analysis has operated on a notion of a dataset - a clearly...and procedural), as well as stored procedure and trigger capabilities. For the current implementation, we have chosen PostgreSQL [1] database. Of the...data and easy-to-use facilities for export of data into analysis tools as well as online browsing and data entry. References [1] Postgresql

A diagnostic interface for the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic (ICON) modelling framework based on the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy v2.50)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kern, Bastian; Jöckel, Patrick

2016-10-01

Numerical climate and weather models have advanced to finer scales, accompanied by large amounts of output data. The model systems hit the input and output (I/O) bottleneck of modern high-performance computing (HPC) systems. We aim to apply diagnostic methods online during the model simulation instead of applying them as a post-processing step to written output data, to reduce the amount of I/O. To include diagnostic tools into the model system, we implemented a standardised, easy-to-use interface based on the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) into the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic (ICON) modelling framework. The integration of the diagnostic interface into the model system is briefly described. Furthermore, we present a prototype implementation of an advanced online diagnostic tool for the aggregation of model data onto a user-defined regular coarse grid. This diagnostic tool will be used to reduce the amount of model output in future simulations. Performance tests of the interface and of two different diagnostic tools show, that the interface itself introduces no overhead in form of additional runtime to the model system. The diagnostic tools, however, have significant impact on the model system's runtime. This overhead strongly depends on the characteristics and implementation of the diagnostic tool. A diagnostic tool with high inter-process communication introduces large overhead, whereas the additional runtime of a diagnostic tool without inter-process communication is low. We briefly describe our efforts to reduce the additional runtime from the diagnostic tools, and present a brief analysis of memory consumption. Future work will focus on optimisation of the memory footprint and the I/O operations of the diagnostic interface.

Primal-dual techniques for online algorithms and mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liaghat, Vahid

An offline algorithm is one that knows the entire input in advance. An online algorithm, however, processes its input in a serial fashion. In contrast to offline algorithms, an online algorithm works in a local fashion and has to make irrevocable decisions without having the entire input. Online algorithms are often not optimal since their irrevocable decisions may turn out to be inefficient after receiving the rest of the input. For a given online problem, the goal is to design algorithms which are competitive against the offline optimal solutions. In a classical offline scenario, it is often common to see a dual analysis of problems that can be formulated as a linear or convex program. Primal-dual and dual-fitting techniques have been successfully applied to many such problems. Unfortunately, the usual tricks come short in an online setting since an online algorithm should make decisions without knowing even the whole program. In this thesis, we study the competitive analysis of fundamental problems in the literature such as different variants of online matching and online Steiner connectivity, via online dual techniques. Although there are many generic tools for solving an optimization problem in the offline paradigm, in comparison, much less is known for tackling online problems. The main focus of this work is to design generic techniques for solving integral linear optimization problems where the solution space is restricted via a set of linear constraints. A general family of these problems are online packing/covering problems. Our work shows that for several seemingly unrelated problems, primal-dual techniques can be successfully applied as a unifying approach for analyzing these problems. We believe this leads to generic algorithmic frameworks for solving online problems. In the first part of the thesis, we show the effectiveness of our techniques in the stochastic settings and their applications in Bayesian mechanism design. In particular, we introduce new techniques for solving a fundamental linear optimization problem, namely, the stochastic generalized assignment problem (GAP). This packing problem generalizes various problems such as online matching, ad allocation, bin packing, etc. We furthermore show applications of such results in the mechanism design by introducing Prophet Secretary, a novel Bayesian model for online auctions. In the second part of the thesis, we focus on the covering problems. We develop the framework of "Disk Painting" for a general class of network design problems that can be characterized by proper functions. This class generalizes the node-weighted and edge-weighted variants of several well-known Steiner connectivity problems. We furthermore design a generic technique for solving the prize-collecting variants of these problems when there exists a dual analysis for the non-prize-collecting counterparts. Hence, we solve the online prize-collecting variants of several network design problems for the first time. Finally we focus on designing techniques for online problems with mixed packing/covering constraints. We initiate the study of degree-bounded graph optimization problems in the online setting by designing an online algorithm with a tight competitive ratio for the degree-bounded Steiner forest problem. We hope these techniques establishes a starting point for the analysis of the important class of online degree-bounded optimization on graphs.

Tapping Global Resources: A Guide to Involving and Managing Online Volunteers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moy, Laurie

2002-01-01

People with Disabilities Uganda has a corps of 150 online volunteers who work on research, website management, newsletters, marketing and promotions, and program development. People volunteer online for convenience and anonymity. Management of online volunteers requires attention to written communication; a web group is a useful management tool.…

Evaluation of a Teaching Tool--Wiki--in Online Graduate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Caroline L.; Crocker, Cheryl; Nussey, Janice; Springate, Joyce; Hutchings, Darlene

2010-01-01

This study provides information on ways to enhance learning for students using online educational programs. Technologies that foster and engage students in the learning process are necessary in the online learning environment. Wiki is an online teaching strategy used to promote student interaction. A Wiki was introduced into three sections of a…

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barber, Wendy; Taylor, Stacey; Buchanan, Sylvia

2014-01-01

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

Factors That Influence School Counselors' Intent to Use Online Counseling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Golden, Sarah Heather

2017-01-01

Owing to advancements in technology, online counseling has become a viable option for counselors to provide counseling services to diverse populations. Despite the expansion of resources, a gap in research exists pertaining to a school counselor's intention to use online counseling. Furthermore, online counseling is an underused tool owing to a…

Development of Interactive and Reflective Learning among Malaysian Online Distant Learners: An ESL Instructor's Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murugaiah, Puvaneswary; Thang, Siew Ming

2010-01-01

Technology has brought tremendous advancements in online education, spurring transformations in online pedagogical practices. Online learning in the past was passive, using the traditional teacher-centred approach. However, with the tools available today, it can be active, collaborative, and meaningful. A well-developed task can impel learners to…

Leadership in MMOGs: A Field of Research on Virtual Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mysirlaki, Sofia; Paraskeva, Fotini

2012-01-01

As our need for collaboration constantly grows, new tools have emerged to connect us in social networks, supporting the development of online communities, such as online games and virtual worlds. MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) are complex systems, in which players are…

Students' Use of Self-Regulatory Tool and Critical Inquiry in Online Discussions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bai, Hua

2012-01-01

Facilitating students' critical thinking in asynchronous discussions is important in online learning environments. Since students need to be self-regulated in online learning, the instructors are expected to scaffold students by providing structure and guidance. This paper discusses critical inquiry in two groups of students' online discussions.…

Enhancing the Online Classroom: Transitioning from Discussion to Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acolatse, Tanae Wolo

2016-01-01

The discussion board is a tool used in online teaching that allows students to share ideas and facilitate learning. Research suggests that while the discussion board has been an enlightening experience for online students, there is concern that the online classroom has become stagnant and in some cases boring and ineffective. This paper proposes…

Targeted Food Marketing to Youth: Engaging Professionals in an Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katras, Mary Jo; Kunkel, Kelly; Croymans, Sara R.; Routh, Brianna; Schroeder, Mary; Olson, Carrie Ann

2014-01-01

The use of technology provides unique ways to create an engaged online community of learning for professionals that can be integrated into existing and future Extension programming. The Targeted Food Marketing to Youth online professional development course uses strategies and tools to create and support an engaged online community.

The new alchemy: Online networking, data sharing and research activity distribution tools for scientists

PubMed Central

Williams, Antony J.; Peck, Lou; Ekins, Sean

2017-01-01

There is an abundance of free online tools accessible to scientists and others that can be used for online networking, data sharing and measuring research impact. Despite this, few scientists know how these tools can be used or fail to take advantage of using them as an integrated pipeline to raise awareness of their research outputs. In this article, the authors describe their experiences with these tools and how they can make best use of them to make their scientific research generally more accessible, extending its reach beyond their own direct networks, and communicating their ideas to new audiences. These efforts have the potential to drive science by sparking new collaborations and interdisciplinary research projects that may lead to future publications, funding and commercial opportunities. The intent of this article is to: describe some of these freely accessible networking tools and affiliated products; demonstrate from our own experiences how they can be utilized effectively; and, inspire their adoption by new users for the benefit of science. PMID:28928951

Geoscience data visualization and analysis using GeoMapApp

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrini, Vicki; Carbotte, Suzanne; Ryan, William; Chan, Samantha

2013-04-01

Increased availability of geoscience data resources has resulted in new opportunities for developing visualization and analysis tools that not only promote data integration and synthesis, but also facilitate quantitative cross-disciplinary access to data. Interdisciplinary investigations, in particular, frequently require visualizations and quantitative access to specialized data resources across disciplines, which has historically required specialist knowledge of data formats and software tools. GeoMapApp (www.geomapapp.org) is a free online data visualization and analysis tool that provides direct quantitative access to a wide variety of geoscience data for a broad international interdisciplinary user community. While GeoMapApp provides access to online data resources, it can also be packaged to work offline through the deployment of a small portable hard drive. This mode of operation can be particularly useful during field programs to provide functionality and direct access to data when a network connection is not possible. Hundreds of data sets from a variety of repositories are directly accessible in GeoMapApp, without the need for the user to understand the specifics of file formats or data reduction procedures. Available data include global and regional gridded data, images, as well as tabular and vector datasets. In addition to basic visualization and data discovery functionality, users are provided with simple tools for creating customized maps and visualizations and to quantitatively interrogate data. Specialized data portals with advanced functionality are also provided for power users to further analyze data resources and access underlying component datasets. Users may import and analyze their own geospatial datasets by loading local versions of geospatial data and can access content made available through Web Feature Services (WFS) and Web Map Services (WMS). Once data are loaded in GeoMapApp, a variety options are provided to export data and/or 2D/3D visualizations into common formats including grids, images, text files, spreadsheets, etc. Examples of interdisciplinary investigations that make use of GeoMapApp visualization and analysis functionality will be provided.

Paleomagnetism.org: An online multi-platform open source environment for paleomagnetic data analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koymans, Mathijs R.; Langereis, Cor G.; Pastor-Galán, Daniel; van Hinsbergen, Douwe J. J.

2016-08-01

This contribution provides an overview of Paleomagnetism.org, an open-source, multi-platform online environment for paleomagnetic data analysis. Paleomagnetism.org provides an interactive environment where paleomagnetic data can be interpreted, evaluated, visualized, and exported. The Paleomagnetism.org application is split in to an interpretation portal, a statistics portal, and a portal for miscellaneous paleomagnetic tools. In the interpretation portal, principle component analysis can be performed on visualized demagnetization diagrams. Interpreted directions and great circles can be combined to find great circle solutions. These directions can be used in the statistics portal, or exported as data and figures. The tools in the statistics portal cover standard Fisher statistics for directions and VGPs, including other statistical parameters used as reliability criteria. Other available tools include an eigenvector approach foldtest, two reversal test including a Monte Carlo simulation on mean directions, and a coordinate bootstrap on the original data. An implementation is included for the detection and correction of inclination shallowing in sediments following TK03.GAD. Finally we provide a module to visualize VGPs and expected paleolatitudes, declinations, and inclinations relative to widely used global apparent polar wander path models in coordinates of major continent-bearing plates. The tools in the miscellaneous portal include a net tectonic rotation (NTR) analysis to restore a body to its paleo-vertical and a bootstrapped oroclinal test using linear regressive techniques, including a modified foldtest around a vertical axis. Paleomagnetism.org provides an integrated approach for researchers to work with visualized (e.g. hemisphere projections, Zijderveld diagrams) paleomagnetic data. The application constructs a custom exportable file that can be shared freely and included in public databases. This exported file contains all data and can later be imported to the application by other researchers. The accessibility and simplicity through which paleomagnetic data can be interpreted, analyzed, visualized, and shared makes Paleomagnetism.org of interest to the community.

Using Brain–Computer Interfaces and Brain-State Dependent Stimulation as Tools in Cognitive Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Jensen, Ole; Bahramisharif, Ali; Oostenveld, Robert; Klanke, Stefan; Hadjipapas, Avgis; Okazaki, Yuka O.; van Gerven, Marcel A. J.

2011-01-01

Large efforts are currently being made to develop and improve online analysis of brain activity which can be used, e.g., for brain–computer interfacing (BCI). A BCI allows a subject to control a device by willfully changing his/her own brain activity. BCI therefore holds the promise as a tool for aiding the disabled and for augmenting human performance. While technical developments obviously are important, we will here argue that new insight gained from cognitive neuroscience can be used to identify signatures of neural activation which reliably can be modulated by the subject at will. This review will focus mainly on oscillatory activity in the alpha band which is strongly modulated by changes in covert attention. Besides developing BCIs for their traditional purpose, they might also be used as a research tool for cognitive neuroscience. There is currently a strong interest in how brain-state fluctuations impact cognition. These state fluctuations are partly reflected by ongoing oscillatory activity. The functional role of the brain state can be investigated by introducing stimuli in real-time to subjects depending on the actual state of the brain. This principle of brain-state dependent stimulation may also be used as a practical tool for augmenting human behavior. In conclusion, new approaches based on online analysis of ongoing brain activity are currently in rapid development. These approaches are amongst others informed by new insight gained from electroencephalography/magnetoencephalography studies in cognitive neuroscience and hold the promise of providing new ways for investigating the brain at work. PMID:21687463

Young adults on the perceived benefits and expected use of personal health records: a qualitative descriptive study.

PubMed

Nguyen, Quynh; Bartlett, Gillian; Rodriguez, Charo; Tellier, Pierre-Paul

2016-04-18

Personal health records (PHRs) are tools that allow individuals to access, share and manage their health information online. Despite apparent interest, adoption rates remain low. There is a gap in our understanding as to what different populations of users, in particular young adults, might want from such a tool. To describe and interpret the views and expectations of young healthy adults about using an online PHR. A qualitative descriptive study was carried out. Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 29 participants (18-34 years old) from a community setting in Montreal, Canada. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed with inductivethematic analysis. With respect to how young adults viewed PHRs, three broad themes were identified: perceived advantages to using a PHR, future PHR users and concerns about PHRs. Three other overarching themes emerged from data analysis in terms of what participants expected from using a PHR: the use of the PHR for preventative health, PHR support to take more control over their health and strategies to make the PHR worthwhile. A conceptual framework of factors influencing expectations of PHR use in this population is proposed. While young adults view the PHR as beneficial, this is not enough for them to be motivated to actually use a PHR. To foster use, the PHRs need to be perceived as a health prevention tool that helps users to increase control over theirhealth status. More research is needed to understand the expectations and anticipated use of different populations in designing a person-centered tool;the proposedframework provides theoretical basis in this regard.

Making practice transparent through e-portfolio.

PubMed

Stewart, Sarah M

2013-12-01

Midwives are required to maintain a professional portfolio as part of their statutory requirements. Some midwives are using open social networking tools and processes to develop an e-portfolio. However, confidentiality of patient and client data and professional reputation have to be taken into consideration when using online public spaces for reflection. There is little evidence about how midwives use social networking tools for ongoing learning. It is uncertain how reflecting in an e-portfolio with an audience impacts on learning outcomes. This paper investigates ways in which reflective midwifery practice be carried out using e-portfolio in open, social networking platforms using collaborative processes. Using an auto-ethnographic approach I explored my e-portfolio and selected posts that had attracted six or more comments. I used thematic analysis to identify themes within the textual conversations in the posts and responses posted by readers. The analysis identified that my collaborative e-portfolio had four themes: to provide commentary and discuss issues; to reflect and process learning; to seek advice, brainstorm and process ideas for practice, projects and research, and provide evidence of professional development. E-portfolio using open social networking tools and processes is a viable option for midwives because it facilitates collaborative reflection and shared learning. However, my experience shows that concerns about what people think, and client confidentiality does impact on the nature of open reflection and learning outcomes. I conclude this paper with a framework for managing midwifery statutory obligations using online public spaces and social networking tools. Copyright © 2013 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Online Analysis of Wind and Solar Part II: Transmission Tool

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

Makarov, Yuri V.; Etingov, Pavel V.; Ma, Jian

2012-01-31

To facilitate wider penetration of renewable resources without compromising system reliability concerns arising from the lack of predictability of intermittent renewable resources, a tool for use by California Independent System Operator (CAISO) power grid operators was developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in conjunction with CAISO with funding from California Energy Commission. The tool analyzes and displays the impacts of uncertainties in forecasts of loads and renewable generation on: (1) congestion, (2)voltage and transient stability margins, and (3)voltage reductions and reactive power margins. The impacts are analyzed in the base case and under user-specified contingencies.A prototype of the toolmore » has been developed and implemented in software.« less

Seismicity map tools for earthquake studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boucouvalas, Anthony; Kaskebes, Athanasios; Tselikas, Nikos

2014-05-01

We report on the development of new and online set of tools for use within Google Maps, for earthquake research. We demonstrate this server based and online platform (developped with PHP, Javascript, MySQL) with the new tools using a database system with earthquake data. The platform allows us to carry out statistical and deterministic analysis on earthquake data use of Google Maps and plot various seismicity graphs. The tool box has been extended to draw on the map line segments, multiple straight lines horizontally and vertically as well as multiple circles, including geodesic lines. The application is demonstrated using localized seismic data from the geographic region of Greece as well as other global earthquake data. The application also offers regional segmentation (NxN) which allows the studying earthquake clustering, and earthquake cluster shift within the segments in space. The platform offers many filters such for plotting selected magnitude ranges or time periods. The plotting facility allows statistically based plots such as cumulative earthquake magnitude plots and earthquake magnitude histograms, calculation of 'b' etc. What is novel for the platform is the additional deterministic tools. Using the newly developed horizontal and vertical line and circle tools we have studied the spatial distribution trends of many earthquakes and we here show for the first time the link between Fibonacci Numbers and spatiotemporal location of some earthquakes. The new tools are valuable for examining visualizing trends in earthquake research as it allows calculation of statistics as well as deterministic precursors. We plan to show many new results based on our newly developed platform.

Tap the Power of the Internet for Your Fundraising Campaigns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawkins, Tom

2013-01-01

Just as online tools are connecting school communities, so, too, are the ways of raising the funds for grassroots projects changing. Over the past 10 years, increasingly sophisticated tools have been developed to assist with the process of raising money online. Crowdfunding is a new approach that offers donors a gamelike experience, with pledges…

Volunteering in the Digital Age: A Study of Online Collaboration Tools from the Perspective of CSCL

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kok, Ayse

2011-01-01

There is little evidence that helps to inform education, practice, policy, and research about issues surrounding the use of online collaboration tools for organisational initiatives (Brown & Duguid, 1991; Cook & Brown, 1999); let alone a single study conducted with regard to the volunteering practice of knowledge workers. The underlying…

Implementation of New Communication Tools to an Online Chemistry Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Karno

2018-01-01

Online courses provide flexibility and convenience for students and have become very popular in recent years. With the advance of technology and change of habits for the uses of traditional communication tools among students, there is a need for educators to explore effective ways to communicate with students that fit their social-media life…

Are Online Quizzes an Effective Tool for Mastering Basic Algebra?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Read, Wayne; Higgins, Patrick

2012-01-01

On-line quizzes are used to help first year University Mathematics students identify weaknesses in their basic skills and improve them. Quizzes developed as a formative tool have been utilised at JCU [James Cook University] for eight years. However, before this research no-one has questioned the effectiveness of quizzes for this task. We present a…

Tool Choice for E-Learning: Task-Technology Fit through Media Synchronicity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Jun; Wang, Ying

2014-01-01

One major challenge in online education is how to select appropriate e-learning tools for different learning tasks. Based on the premise of Task-Technology Fit Theory, this study suggests that the effectiveness of student learning in online courses depends on the alignment between two. Furthermore, it conceptualizes the formation of such a fit…

Online Quizzes in a Virtual Learning Environment as a Tool for Formative Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Donita; Sasson, Irit

2016-01-01

Assessment in education employing web tools, also known as e-assessment, deals with the effective use of technology to support successful instruction. The aim of this study was to investigate learning outcomes and the students' attitudes to online Moodle quizzes in order to improve instructional design. The research population included 204 college…

Using Electronic Communication Tools in Online Group Activities to Develop Collaborative Learning Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khalil, Hanan; Ebner, Martin

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using synchronous and asynchronous communication tools in online group activities to develop collaborative learning skills. An experimental study was implemented on a sample of faculty of education students in Mansoura University. The sample was divided into two groups, a group studied…

Non-Native Chinese Language Learners' Attitudes towards Online Vision-Based Motion Games

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hao, Yungwei; Hong, Jon-Chao; Jong, Jyh-Tsorng; Hwang, Ming-Yueh; Su, Chao-Ya; Yang, Jin-Shin

2010-01-01

Learning to write Chinese characters is often thought to be a very challenging and laborious task. However, new learning tools are being designed that might reduce learners' tedium. This study explores one such tool, an online program in which learners can learn Chinese characters through vision-based motion games. The learner's gestures are…

Tracking Online Data with YouTube's Insight Tracking Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinsey, Joanne

2012-01-01

YouTube users have access to the powerful data collection tool, Insight. Insight allows YouTube content producers to collect data about the number of online views, geographic location of viewers by country, the demographics of the viewers, how a video was discovered, and the attention span of the viewer while watching the video. This article…

Leveraging Learning Technologies for Collaborative Writing in an Online Pharmacotherapy Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pittenger, Amy L.; Olson-Kellogg, Becky

2012-01-01

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the development and delivery of a hypertext case scenario document to be used as the capstone assessment tool for doctoral-level physical therapy students. The integration of Web-based collaborative tools (PBworks[TM] and Google Sites[TM]) allowed students in this all-online course to apply their…

Examining Students' Use of Online Annotation Tools in Support of Argumentative Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Jingyan; Deng, Liping

2013-01-01

This study examined how students in a Hong Kong high school used Diigo, an online annotation tool, to support their argumentative reading activities. Two year 10 classes, a high-performance class (HPC) and an ordinary-performance class (OPC), highlighted passages of text and wrote and attached sticky notes to them to clarify argumentation…

A Visualisation Tool to Aid Exploration of Students' Interactions in Asynchronous Online Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jyothi, Sujana; McAvinia, Claire; Keating, John

2012-01-01

Much research in recent years has focused on the introduction of virtual learning environments (VLEs) to universities, documenting practice, and sharing experience ([2], [9], [45] and [58]). Attention has been directed towards the importance of online dialogue for learning as a defining feature of the VLE. Communicative tools are an important…

Basic Botany On-Line: A Training Tool for the Master Gardener Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanDerZanden, Ann Marie; Rost, Bob; Eckel, Rick

2002-01-01

A noncredit, online training module on botany was offered to participants in the Oregon Master Gardener program. The 48 participants felt the module was a useful training tool. They also noted that the convenience of completing the material at their own pace and during a time that fit into their schedule. (SK)

Student Attrition: An Argument for Synchronous Learning Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reigle, Rosemary R.

2010-01-01

The purpose of the study was to determine to what extent online instructors make use of synchronous tools, and whether use of synchronous tools is correlated with retention. Between April and September of 2010 a confidential web survey was e-mailed to 120 randomly selected higher education instructors across the country who taught either 3- or…

Digital Doctorates? An Exploratory Study of PhD Candidates' Use of Online Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dowling, Robyn; Wilson, Michael

2017-01-01

Online environments are transforming learning, including doctoral education. Yet the ways in which the PhD experience is shaped and transformed through these digital modes of engagement is seldom addressed, and not systematically understood. In this article, we explore PhD students' perceptions and use of digital tools. Drawing on the results of…

Evaluation of a Web Conferencing Tool and Collaborative Tasks in an Online Chinese Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Sijia

2014-01-01

This case study aims to explore the best practice of applying task-based language teaching (TBLT) via the web conferencing tool Blackboard Collaborate in a beginners' online Chinese course by evaluating the technical capacity of the software and the pedagogical values and limitations of the tasks designed. In this paper, Chapelle's (2001) criteria…

77 FR 60166 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Requests for Comments; Clearance of Renewed Approval of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-02

... Management (OPM) online USAJOBS system and the FAA's Automated Vacancy Information Access Tool for Online Referral (AVIATOR) staffing tool. Type of Review: Renewal of an information collection. Background: Under... Business Services Division, AES-200. [FR Doc. 2012-24190 Filed 10-1-12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-13-P ...

Translating Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Measures: Are There Alternative Methodologies?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brondani, Mario; He, Sarah

2013-01-01

Translating existing sociodental indicators to another language involves a rigorous methodology, which can be costly. Free-of-charge online translator tools are available, but have not been evaluated in the context of research involving quality of life measures. To explore the value of using online translator tools to develop oral health-related…

The Social Network: Keeping in Touch with Alumni through Online Media

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunker, Matt

2011-01-01

Not all social-networking tools are created equal. Knowing where alumni are and what they're doing online is key when deciding what social networks to use. Knowing how to address and employ social networking can change the way institutions engage alumni. Social media help institutions connect with alumni; these tools help build, sustain, and even…

Tool path strategy and cutting process monitoring in intelligent machining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ming; Wang, Chengdong; An, Qinglong; Ming, Weiwei

2018-06-01

Intelligent machining is a current focus in advanced manufacturing technology, and is characterized by high accuracy and efficiency. A central technology of intelligent machining—the cutting process online monitoring and optimization—is urgently needed for mass production. In this research, the cutting process online monitoring and optimization in jet engine impeller machining, cranio-maxillofacial surgery, and hydraulic servo valve deburring are introduced as examples of intelligent machining. Results show that intelligent tool path optimization and cutting process online monitoring are efficient techniques for improving the efficiency, quality, and reliability of machining.

Applied Linguistics Project: Student-Led Computer Assisted Research in High School EAL/EAP

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohát, Róbert; Rödlingová, Beata; Horáková, Nina

2015-01-01

The Applied Linguistics Project (ALP) started at the International School of Prague (ISP) in 2013. Every year, Grade 9 English as an Additional Language (EAL) students identify an area of learning in need of improvement and design a research method followed by data collection and analysis using basic computer software tools or online corpora.…

Evaluating the Network: A Workflow for Tracking Twitter Interactions Using Social Networking Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodier, Sarah

2018-01-01

Networking plays an important role in research projects to build a community and audience around a research area. Using social media is popular in project communication as it provides the ability to engage with a group of followers daily. Such online networking tools provide the advantage of providing nearrealtime data, which can be used to…

Analysis of Digital Marketing in NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II Colleges of Education and Colleges of Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vranes, Jason

2017-01-01

Higher education institutions have become big businesses that must thrive in the open marketplace to stay viable for the upcoming generation of students. As Generation Z students begin to populate campuses around the country, senior leaders need to possess tools to effectively solicit them. Reaching these online "digital natives" equates…

Dispositional Insight Scale: Development and Validation of a Tool That Measures Propensity toward Insight in Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ovington, Linda A.; Saliba, Anthony J.; Goldring, Jeremy

2016-01-01

This article reports the development of a brief self-report measure of dispositional insight problem solving, the Dispositional Insight Scale (DIS). From a representative Australian database, 1,069 adults (536 women and 533 men) completed an online questionnaire. An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis revealed a 5-item scale, with all…

A View from UMBC: Using Real-Time Labor-Market Data to Evaluate Professional Program Opportunities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Christopher; Goldberger, Susan; Restuccia, Dan

2013-01-01

Continuing and professional education units are faced with the constant need to keep pace with dynamic labor markets when assessing program offerings and content. Real-time labor-market data derived from detailed analysis of online job postings offers a new tool for more easily aligning programs to local labor-market demand. The authors describe a…

Connecting Classroom Practice to Concepts of Culturally Responsive Teaching: Video Analysis in an Online Teacher Education Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez, Leslie Ann

2013-01-01

Video has been shown to be an effective tool for synthesizing theory and connecting theory to practice in meaningful ways. This design-based research study examined how localized video of a practicing teacher impacted pre-service teachers' ability to learn culturally responsive teaching (CRT) methods and targeted strategies in an online…

Space as a Tool for Analysis: Examining Digital Learning Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Michelle

2018-01-01

Over the past decade we have seen a rise in the adoption and proliferation of social technologies, and along with these a move to build on the capacity to embrace new pedagogies and practices that can open our boundaries for both teaching and learning. How do we determine what we mean by space specifically in online environments and how can we…

Federated Giovanni

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, C.

2014-01-01

Federated Giovanni is a NASA-funded ACCESS project to extend the scope of the GES DISC Giovanni online analysis tool to 4 other Distributed Active Archive Centers within EOSDIS: OBPG, LP-DAAC, MODAPS and PO.DAAC. As such, it represents a significant instance of sharing technology across the DAACs. We also touch on several sub-areas that are also sharable, such as Giovanni URLs, workflows and OGC-accessible services.

Analysis of Means for Building Context-Aware Recommendation System for Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shcherbachenko, Larysa; Nowakowski, Samuel

2017-01-01

One of the rapidly developing tools for online learning is learning through a mobile environment. Therefore, developing and improving mobile learning environments is an active topic now. One of the ways to adapt the learning environment to the user's needs is to use his context. Context of the user consists of the current context in online…

Understanding Faculty Use of the Learning Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhode, Jason; Richter, Stephanie; Gowen, Peter; Miller, Tracy; Wills, Cameron

2017-01-01

The learning management system (LMS) has become a critical tool for nearly all institutions of higher education, and a driving force in online learning. According to a 2014 report by the Educause Center for Analysis and Research, 99% of higher education institutions have an LMS in place, and the LMS is used by 85% of faculty and 83% of students.…

Using ESRI Online Mapping Tools to Support STEM Learning through Analysis of the Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Change on Water Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Powley, C.; Alian, S.; Mayer, A.

2017-12-01

In the 2004 National Water Quality Report to the Congress, the US EPA states that about 44% of the streams, 64% of lakes and 30% of estuaries that were assessed were not suitable for basic use like fishing and swimming. Pollutants from nonpoint sources are most likely the cause. The needs of landowners to use their land for other uses is enormous and most are likely willing to forgo the potential damage to achieve monetary gains. These are difficult decisions as there are many positive gains in commercialized development, although this comes with a cost. So it is imperative for all entities to work together in developing an awareness that benefits all stakeholders. We used this water quality management context to prepare lessons for high school students to map water quality problem areas in Rifle River and the West Branch in Ogemaw County, Michigan based on field samples and by using ESRI online data entry and mapping tools. The students also used Long Term Hydrologic Impact Analysis (L-THIA) to evaluate the impacts of different land use/cover types, developing an understanding of the implication of land management on surface water quality.

Data Interactive Publications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domenico, B.; Weber, J.

2012-04-01

For some years now, the authors have developed examples of online documents that allowed the reader to interact directly with datasets, but there were limitations that restricted the interaction to specific desktop analysis and display tools that were not generally available to all readers of the documents. Recent advances in web service technology and related standards are making it possible to develop systems for publishing online documents that enable readers to access, analyze, and display the data discussed in the publication from the perspective and in the manner from which the author wants it to be represented. By clicking on embedded links, the reader accesses not only the usual textual information in a publication, but also data residing on a local or remote web server as well as a set of processing tools for analyzing and displaying the data. With the option of having the analysis and display processing provided on the server (or in the cloud), there are now a broader set of possibilities on the client side where the reader can interact with the data via a thin web client, a rich desktop application, or a mobile platform "app." The presentation will outline the architecture of data interactive publications along with illustrative examples.

Data Interactive Publications Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domenico, B.; Weber, W. J.

2011-12-01

A few years back, the authors presented examples of online documents that allowed the reader to interact directly with datasets, but there were limitations that restricted the interaction to specific desktop analysis and display tools that were not generally available to all readers of the documents. Recent advances in web service technology and related standards are making it possible to develop systems for publishing online documents that enable readers to access, analyze, and display the data discussed in the publication from the perspective and in the manner from which the author wants it to be represented. By clicking on embedded links, the reader accesses not only the usual textual information in a publication, but also data residing on a local or remote web server as well as a set of processing tools for analyzing and displaying the data. With the option of having the analysis and display processing provided on the server, there are now a broader set of possibilities on the client side where the reader can interact with the data via a thin web client, a rich desktop application, or a mobile platform "app." The presentation will outline the architecture of data interactive publications along with illustrative examples.

Recent Advances in On-Line Methods Based on Extraction for Speciation Analysis of Chromium in Environmental Matrices.

PubMed

Trzonkowska, Laura; Leśniewska, Barbara; Godlewska-Żyłkiewicz, Beata

2016-07-03

The biological activity of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) species, their chemical behavior, and toxic effects are dissimilar. The speciation analysis of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in environmental matrices is then of great importance and much research has been devoted to this area. This review presents recent developments in on-line speciation analysis of chromium in such samples. Flow systems have proved to be excellent tools for automation of sample pretreatment, separation/preconcentration of chromium species, and their detection by various instrumental techniques. Analytical strategies used in chromium speciation analysis discussed in this review are divided into categories based on selective extraction/separation of chromium species on solid sorbents and liquid-liquid extraction of chromium species. The most popular strategy is that based on solid-phase extraction. Therefore, this review shows the potential of novel materials designed and used for selective binding of chromium species. The progress in miniaturization of measurement systems is also presented.

Adventures in the microlensing cloud: Large datasets, eResearch tools, and GPUs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vernardos, G.; Fluke, C. J.

2014-10-01

As astronomy enters the petascale data era, astronomers are faced with new challenges relating to storage, access and management of data. A shift from the traditional approach of combining data and analysis at the desktop to the use of remote services, pushing the computation to the data, is now underway. In the field of cosmological gravitational microlensing, future synoptic all-sky surveys are expected to bring the number of multiply imaged quasars from the few tens that are currently known to a few thousands. This inflow of observational data, together with computationally demanding theoretical modeling via the production of microlensing magnification maps, requires a new approach. We present our technical solutions to supporting the GPU-Enabled, High Resolution cosmological MicroLensing parameter survey (GERLUMPH). This extensive dataset for cosmological microlensing modeling comprises over 70 000 individual magnification maps and ˜106 related results. We describe our approaches to hosting, organizing, and serving ˜ 30 TB of data and metadata products. We present a set of online analysis tools developed with PHP, JavaScript and WebGL to support access and analysis of GELRUMPH data in a Web browser. We discuss our use of graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate data production, and we release the core of the GPU-D direct inverse ray-shooting code (Thompson et al., 2010, 2014) used to generate the magnification maps. All of the GERLUMPH data and tools are available online from http://gerlumph.swin.edu.au. This project made use of gSTAR, the GPU Supercomputer for Theoretical Astrophysical Research.

Midwifery education and technology enhanced learning: Evaluating online story telling in preregistration midwifery education.

PubMed

Scamell, Mandie; Hanley, Thomas

2018-03-01

A major issue regarding the implementation of blended learning for preregistration health programmes is the analysis of students' perceptions and attitudes towards their learning. It is the extent of the embedding of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) into the higher education curriculum that makes this analysis so vital. This paper reports on the quantitative results of a UK based study that was set up to respond to the apparent disconnect between technology enhanced education provision and reliable student evaluation of this mode of learning. Employing a mixed methods research design, the research described here was carried to develop a reliable and valid evaluation tool to measure acceptability of and satisfaction with a blended learning approach, specifically designed for a preregistration midwifery module offered at level 4. Feasibility testing of 46 completed blended learning evaluation questionnaires - Student Midwife Evaluation of Online Learning Effectiveness (SMEOLE) - using descriptive statistics, reliability and internal consistency tests. Standard deviations and mean scores all followed predicted pattern. Results from the reliability and internal consistency testing confirm the feasibility of SMEOLE as an effective tool for measuring student satisfaction with a blended learning approach to preregistration learning. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that we have been successful in our aim to produce an evaluation tool capable of assessing the quality of technology enhanced, University level learning in Midwifery. This work can provide future benchmarking against which midwifery, and other health, blended learning curriculum planning could be structured and evaluated. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CUAHSI Data Services: Tools and Cyberinfrastructure for Water Data Discovery, Research and Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seul, M.; Brazil, L.; Castronova, A. M.

2017-12-01

CUAHSI Data Services: Tools and Cyberinfrastructure for Water Data Discovery, Research and CollaborationEnabling research surrounding interdisciplinary topics often requires a combination of finding, managing, and analyzing large data sets and models from multiple sources. This challenge has led the National Science Foundation to make strategic investments in developing community data tools and cyberinfrastructure that focus on water data, as it is central need for many of these research topics. CUAHSI (The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.) is a non-profit organization funded by the National Science Foundation to aid students, researchers, and educators in using and managing data and models to support research and education in the water sciences. This presentation will focus on open-source CUAHSI-supported tools that enable enhanced data discovery online using advanced searching capabilities and computational analysis run in virtual environments pre-designed for educators and scientists so they can focus their efforts on data analysis rather than IT set-up.

Online dose reconstruction for tracked volumetric arc therapy: Real-time implementation and offline quality assurance for prostate SBRT.

PubMed

Kamerling, Cornelis Ph; Fast, Martin F; Ziegenhein, Peter; Menten, Martin J; Nill, Simeon; Oelfke, Uwe

2017-11-01

Firstly, this study provides a real-time implementation of online dose reconstruction for tracked volumetric arc therapy (VMAT). Secondly, this study describes a novel offline quality assurance tool, based on commercial dose calculation algorithms. Online dose reconstruction for VMAT is a computationally challenging task in terms of computer memory usage and calculation speed. To potentially reduce the amount of memory used, we analyzed the impact of beam angle sampling for dose calculation on the accuracy of the dose distribution. To establish the performance of the method, we planned two single-arc VMAT prostate stereotactic body radiation therapy cases for delivery with dynamic MLC tracking. For quality assurance of our online dose reconstruction method we have also developed a stand-alone offline dose reconstruction tool, which utilizes the RayStation treatment planning system to calculate dose. For the online reconstructed dose distributions of the tracked deliveries, we could establish strong resemblance for 72 and 36 beam co-planar equidistant beam samples with less than 1.2% deviation for the assessed dose-volume indicators (clinical target volume D98 and D2, and rectum D2). We could achieve average runtimes of 28-31 ms per reported MLC aperture for both dose computation and accumulation, meeting our real-time requirement. To cross-validate the offline tool, we have compared the planned dose to the offline reconstructed dose for static deliveries and found excellent agreement (3%/3 mm global gamma passing rates of 99.8%-100%). Being able to reconstruct dose during delivery enables online quality assurance and online replanning strategies for VMAT. The offline quality assurance tool provides the means to validate novel online dose reconstruction applications using a commercial dose calculation engine. © 2017 The Authors. Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Systematic review with meta-analysis: online psychological interventions for mental and physical health outcomes in gastrointestinal disorders including irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.

PubMed

Hanlon, I; Hewitt, C; Bell, K; Phillips, A; Mikocka-Walus, A

2018-06-14

Online psychotherapy has been successfully used as supportive treatment in many chronic illnesses. However, there is a lack of evidence on its role in the management of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. To examine whether online psychological interventions improve mental and physical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. We searched CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium, PsycINFO, British Nursing Index, Cochrane Library, a specialised register of the IBD/FBD Cochrane Group, MEDLINE (PubMed) WHO International Clinical Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, and reference lists of all papers included in the review. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess internal validity. Where possible, data were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. We identified 11 publications (encompassing nine studies) meeting inclusion criteria. One study had a high risk of selection bias (allocation concealment), all studies had a high risk of performance and detection bias. Eight studies were included in the meta-analyses (6 on irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] and two on inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]). Online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was shown to significantly improve gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety (MD: -8.51, 95% CI -12.99 to -4.04, P = 0.0002) and lessen symptom-induced disability (MD: -2.78, 95% CI -5.43 to -0.12, P = 0.04) in IBS post intervention. There was no significant effect of online CBT on any other outcomes in IBS. No significant effect of online psychotherapy was demonstrated in IBD. There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of online CBT to manage mental and physical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integration of Traditional and E-Learning Methods to Improve Learning Outcomes for Dental Students in Histopathology.

PubMed

Ariana, Armin; Amin, Moein; Pakneshan, Sahar; Dolan-Evans, Elliot; Lam, Alfred K

2016-09-01

Dental students require a basic ability to explain and apply general principles of pathology to systemic, dental, and oral pathology. Although there have been recent advances in electronic and online resources, the academic effectiveness of using self-directed e-learning tools in pathology courses for dental students is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine if blended learning combining e-learning with traditional learning methods of lectures and tutorials would improve students' scores and satisfaction over those who experienced traditional learning alone. Two consecutive cohorts of Bachelor of Dentistry and Oral Health students taking the general pathology course at Griffith University in Australia were compared. The control cohort experienced traditional methods only, while members of the study cohort were also offered self-directed learning materials including online resources and online microscopy classes. Final assessments for the course were used to compare the differences in effectiveness of the intervention, and students' satisfaction with the teaching format was evaluated using questionnaires. On the final course assessments, students in the study cohort had significantly higher scores than students in the control cohort (p<0.01). Analysis of questionnaire results showed improved student satisfaction with the course in the study cohort. These findings suggest that the use of e-learning tools such as virtual microscopy and interactive online resources for delivering pathology instruction can be an effective supplement for developing dental students' competence, confidence, and satisfaction.

Peer Observation, Feedback and Reflection for Development of Practice in Synchronous Online Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Mark H.; Gallen, Anne-Marie

2016-01-01

Peer observation of teaching is an established developmental tool in face-to-face settings. While there have been studies into peer observation as applied to asynchronous online teaching, less is known about its application to teaching online using synchronous communication systems. We describe a small-scale study of an online peer observation…

Exploring College Students' Online Help-Seeking Behavior in a Flipped Classroom with a Web-Based Help-Seeking Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Er, Erkan; Kopcha, Theodore J.; Orey, Michael

2015-01-01

Today's generation often seeks help from each other in online environments; however, only a few investigated the role of Internet technologies and the nature of online help-seeking behavior in collaborative learning environments. This paper presents an educational design research project that examines college students' online help-seeking…

Creating Participatory Online Learning Environments: A Social Learning Approach Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Quincy; Lutz, Heather S.; Padgitt, Amanda J.

2017-01-01

Online learning has never been more popular than it is today. Due to the rapid growth of online instruction at colleges and universities, questions about the effectiveness of online courses have been raised. In this paper, we suggest guidelines for the selection and application of social media tools. In addition to describing the potential…

SCOOP: A Measurement and Database of Student Online Search Behavior and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Mingming

2015-01-01

The ability to access and process massive amounts of online information is required in many learning situations. In order to develop a better understanding of student online search process especially in academic contexts, an online tool (SCOOP) is developed for tracking mouse behavior on the web to build a more extensive account of student web…

Motif enrichment tool.

PubMed

Blatti, Charles; Sinha, Saurabh

2014-07-01

The Motif Enrichment Tool (MET) provides an online interface that enables users to find major transcriptional regulators of their gene sets of interest. MET searches the appropriate regulatory region around each gene and identifies which transcription factor DNA-binding specificities (motifs) are statistically overrepresented. Motif enrichment analysis is currently available for many metazoan species including human, mouse, fruit fly, planaria and flowering plants. MET also leverages high-throughput experimental data such as ChIP-seq and DNase-seq from ENCODE and ModENCODE to identify the regulatory targets of a transcription factor with greater precision. The results from MET are produced in real time and are linked to a genome browser for easy follow-up analysis. Use of the web tool is free and open to all, and there is no login requirement. ADDRESS: http://veda.cs.uiuc.edu/MET/. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Engaging in Online Group Discussions Using Facebook to Enhance Social Presence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, S. T.

2012-08-01

A comparison study between two different methods of conducting online discussions in an introductory astronomy course was performed to determine if the use of Facebook as an online discussion tool has an impact on student participation as well as student response time. This study shows that students using Facebook for their online discussions participated more frequently and responded more quickly than students using a traditional online discussion forum.

Online Teaching in Education, Health and Human Services: Helping Faculty Transition to Online Instruction and Providing Tools for Attaining Instructional Excellence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Magy; Martin, Don

2015-01-01

The critical success of online instructors is their ability to engage students in the learning process. With this expertise, the online experience is extremely effective. The goal of this book is to help faculty understand the processes of teaching online and learning to be student-centered, which are the first steps toward becoming a successful…

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

PubMed

Wheeler, David L; Barrett, Tanya; Benson, Dennis A; Bryant, Stephen H; Canese, Kathi; Chetvernin, Vyacheslav; Church, Deanna M; DiCuccio, Michael; Edgar, Ron; Federhen, Scott; Geer, Lewis Y; Kapustin, Yuri; Khovayko, Oleg; Landsman, David; Lipman, David J; Madden, Thomas L; Maglott, Donna R; Ostell, James; Miller, Vadim; Pruitt, Kim D; Schuler, Gregory D; Sequeira, Edwin; Sherry, Steven T; Sirotkin, Karl; Souvorov, Alexandre; Starchenko, Grigory; Tatusov, Roman L; Tatusova, Tatiana A; Wagner, Lukas; Yaschenko, Eugene

2007-01-01

In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, My NCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link(BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genome, Genome Project and related tools, the Trace and Assembly Archives, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Viral Genotyping Tools, Influenza Viral Resources, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART) and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. These resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

PubMed

Sayers, Eric W; Barrett, Tanya; Benson, Dennis A; Bryant, Stephen H; Canese, Kathi; Chetvernin, Vyacheslav; Church, Deanna M; DiCuccio, Michael; Edgar, Ron; Federhen, Scott; Feolo, Michael; Geer, Lewis Y; Helmberg, Wolfgang; Kapustin, Yuri; Landsman, David; Lipman, David J; Madden, Thomas L; Maglott, Donna R; Miller, Vadim; Mizrachi, Ilene; Ostell, James; Pruitt, Kim D; Schuler, Gregory D; Sequeira, Edwin; Sherry, Stephen T; Shumway, Martin; Sirotkin, Karl; Souvorov, Alexandre; Starchenko, Grigory; Tatusova, Tatiana A; Wagner, Lukas; Yaschenko, Eugene; Ye, Jian

2009-01-01

In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through the NCBI web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, MyNCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART) and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the web applications is custom implementation of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

The APIS service : a tool for accessing value-added HST planetary auroral observations over 1997-2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamy, L.; Henry, F.; Prangé, R.; Le Sidaner, P.

2015-10-01

The Auroral Planetary Imaging and Spectroscopy (APIS) service http://obspm.fr/apis/ provides an open and interactive access to processed auroral observations of the outer planets and their satellites. Such observations are of interest for a wide community at the interface between planetology, magnetospheric and heliospheric physics. APIS consists of (i) a high level database, built from planetary auroral observations acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) since 1997 with its mostly used Far-Ultraviolet spectro- imagers, (ii) a dedicated search interface aimed at browsing efficiently this database through relevant conditional search criteria (Figure 1) and (iii) the ability to interactively work with the data online through plotting tools developed by the Virtual Observatory (VO) community, such as Aladin and Specview. This service is VO compliant and can therefore also been queried by external search tools of the VO community. The diversity of available data and the capability to sort them out by relevant physical criteria shall in particular facilitate statistical studies, on long-term scales and/or multi-instrumental multispectral combined analysis [1,2]. We will present the updated capabilities of APIS with several examples. Several tutorials are available online.

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

Klise, Katherine A.; Murray, Regan; Bynum, Michael

Water utilities are vulnerable to a wide variety of human-caused and natural disasters. These disruptive events can result in loss of water service, contaminated water, pipe breaks, and failed equipment. Furthermore, long term changes in water supply and customer demand can have a large impact on the operating conditions of the network. The ability to maintain drinking water service during and following these types of events is critical. Simulation and analysis tools can help water utilities explore how their network will respond to disruptive events and plan effective mitigation strategies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Sandia National Laboratories aremore » developing new software tools to meet this need. The Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR, pronounced winter) is a Python package designed to help water utilities investigate resilience of water distribution systems over a wide range of hazardous scenarios and to evaluate resilience-enhancing actions. The following documentation includes installation instructions and examples, description of software features, and software license. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the Python Programming Language. References are included for additional background on software components. Online documentation, hosted at http://wntr.readthedocsio/, will be updated as new features are added. The online version includes API documentation and information for developers.« less

Resources for Functional Genomics Studies in Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Mohr, Stephanie E.; Hu, Yanhui; Kim, Kevin; Housden, Benjamin E.; Perrimon, Norbert

2014-01-01

Drosophila melanogaster has become a system of choice for functional genomic studies. Many resources, including online databases and software tools, are now available to support design or identification of relevant fly stocks and reagents or analysis and mining of existing functional genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, etc. datasets. These include large community collections of fly stocks and plasmid clones, “meta” information sites like FlyBase and FlyMine, and an increasing number of more specialized reagents, databases, and online tools. Here, we introduce key resources useful to plan large-scale functional genomics studies in Drosophila and to analyze, integrate, and mine the results of those studies in ways that facilitate identification of highest-confidence results and generation of new hypotheses. We also discuss ways in which existing resources can be used and might be improved and suggest a few areas of future development that would further support large- and small-scale studies in Drosophila and facilitate use of Drosophila information by the research community more generally. PMID:24653003

The Auroral Planetary Imaging and Spectroscopy (APIS) service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamy, L.; Prangé, R.; Henry, F.; Le Sidaner, P.

2015-06-01

The Auroral Planetary Imaging and Spectroscopy (APIS) service, accessible online, provides an open and interactive access to processed auroral observations of the outer planets and their satellites. Such observations are of interest for a wide community at the interface between planetology, magnetospheric and heliospheric physics. APIS consists of (i) a high level database, built from planetary auroral observations acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) since 1997 with its mostly used Far-Ultraviolet spectro-imagers, (ii) a dedicated search interface aimed at browsing efficiently this database through relevant conditional search criteria and (iii) the ability to interactively work with the data online through plotting tools developed by the Virtual Observatory (VO) community, such as Aladin and Specview. This service is VO compliant and can therefore also been queried by external search tools of the VO community. The diversity of available data and the capability to sort them out by relevant physical criteria shall in particular facilitate statistical studies, on long-term scales and/or multi-instrumental multi-spectral combined analysis.

An Online Atlas for Exploring Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Cancer Mortality (1972–2011) and Incidence (1995–2008) in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Ku, Wen-Yuan; Liaw, Yung-Po; Huang, Jing-Yang; Nfor, Oswald Ndi; Hsu, Shu-Yi; Ko, Pei-Chieh; Lee, Wen-Chung; Chen, Chien-Jen

2016-01-01

Abstract Public health mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are already being used to locate the geographical spread of diseases. This study describes the construction of an easy-to-use online atlas of cancer mortality (1972–2011) and incidence (1995–2008) in Taiwan. Two sets of color maps were made based on “age-adjusted mortality by rate” and “age-adjusted mortality by rank.” AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and SVG (Scaling Vector Graphic) were used to create the online atlas. Spatio-temporal patterns of cancer mortality and incidence in Taiwan over the period from 1972 to 2011 and from 1995 to 2008. The constructed online atlas contains information on cancer mortality and incidence (http://taiwancancermap.csmu-liawyp.tw/). The common GIS functions include zoom and pan and identity tools. Users can easily customize the maps to explore the spatio-temporal trends of cancer mortality and incidence using different devices (such as personal computers, mobile phone, or pad). This study suggests an easy- to-use, low-cost, and independent platform for exploring cancer incidence and mortality. It is expected to serve as a reference tool for cancer prevention and risk assessment. This online atlas is a cheap and fast tool that integrates various cancer maps. Therefore, it can serve as a powerful tool that allows users to examine and compare spatio-temporal patterns of various maps. Furthermore, it is an-easy-to use tool for updating data and assessing risk factors of cancer in Taiwan. PMID:27227915

An Online Atlas for Exploring Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Cancer Mortality (1972-2011) and Incidence (1995-2008) in Taiwan.

PubMed

Ku, Wen-Yuan; Liaw, Yung-Po; Huang, Jing-Yang; Nfor, Oswald Ndi; Hsu, Shu-Yi; Ko, Pei-Chieh; Lee, Wen-Chung; Chen, Chien-Jen

2016-05-01

Public health mapping and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are already being used to locate the geographical spread of diseases. This study describes the construction of an easy-to-use online atlas of cancer mortality (1972-2011) and incidence (1995-2008) in Taiwan.Two sets of color maps were made based on "age-adjusted mortality by rate" and "age-adjusted mortality by rank." AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and SVG (Scaling Vector Graphic) were used to create the online atlas. Spatio-temporal patterns of cancer mortality and incidence in Taiwan over the period from 1972 to 2011 and from 1995 to 2008.The constructed online atlas contains information on cancer mortality and incidence (http://taiwancancermap.csmu-liawyp.tw/). The common GIS functions include zoom and pan and identity tools. Users can easily customize the maps to explore the spatio-temporal trends of cancer mortality and incidence using different devices (such as personal computers, mobile phone, or pad). This study suggests an easy- to-use, low-cost, and independent platform for exploring cancer incidence and mortality. It is expected to serve as a reference tool for cancer prevention and risk assessment.This online atlas is a cheap and fast tool that integrates various cancer maps. Therefore, it can serve as a powerful tool that allows users to examine and compare spatio-temporal patterns of various maps. Furthermore, it is an-easy-to use tool for updating data and assessing risk factors of cancer in Taiwan.