Synchronous Discussion in Online Courses: A Pedagogical Strategy for Taming the Chat Beast

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Craig W.

2006-01-01

Many online classes use synchronous communication--chat--as a way to conduct class discussion. However, chat can quickly disintegrate into nonproductive chaos if allowed to flow unchecked. The tools provided by course management systems such as Blackboard provide one solution to this problem by allowing instructors to grant or deny access to…

Acquisition of electroencephalographic data in a large regional hospital - Bringing the brain waves to the computer.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Low, M. D.; Baker, M.; Ferguson, R.; Frost, J. D., Jr.

1972-01-01

This paper describes a complete electroencephalographic acquisition and transmission system, designed to meet the needs of a large hospital with multiple critical care patient monitoring units. The system provides rapid and prolonged access to a centralized recording and computing area from remote locations within the hospital complex, and from locations in other hospitals and other cities. The system includes quick-on electrode caps, amplifier units and cable transmission for access from within the hospital, and EEG digitization and telephone transmission for access from other hospitals or cities.

New Abstraction Networks and a New Visualization Tool in Support of Auditing the SNOMED CT Content

PubMed Central

Geller, James; Ochs, Christopher; Perl, Yehoshua; Xu, Junchuan

2012-01-01

Medical terminologies are large and complex. Frequently, errors are hidden in this complexity. Our objective is to find such errors, which can be aided by deriving abstraction networks from a large terminology. Abstraction networks preserve important features but eliminate many minor details, which are often not useful for identifying errors. Providing visualizations for such abstraction networks aids auditors by allowing them to quickly focus on elements of interest within a terminology. Previously we introduced area taxonomies and partial area taxonomies for SNOMED CT. In this paper, two advanced, novel kinds of abstraction networks, the relationship-constrained partial area subtaxonomy and the root-constrained partial area subtaxonomy are defined and their benefits are demonstrated. We also describe BLUSNO, an innovative software tool for quickly generating and visualizing these SNOMED CT abstraction networks. BLUSNO is a dynamic, interactive system that provides quick access to well organized information about SNOMED CT. PMID:23304293

New abstraction networks and a new visualization tool in support of auditing the SNOMED CT content.

PubMed

Geller, James; Ochs, Christopher; Perl, Yehoshua; Xu, Junchuan

2012-01-01

Medical terminologies are large and complex. Frequently, errors are hidden in this complexity. Our objective is to find such errors, which can be aided by deriving abstraction networks from a large terminology. Abstraction networks preserve important features but eliminate many minor details, which are often not useful for identifying errors. Providing visualizations for such abstraction networks aids auditors by allowing them to quickly focus on elements of interest within a terminology. Previously we introduced area taxonomies and partial area taxonomies for SNOMED CT. In this paper, two advanced, novel kinds of abstraction networks, the relationship-constrained partial area subtaxonomy and the root-constrained partial area subtaxonomy are defined and their benefits are demonstrated. We also describe BLUSNO, an innovative software tool for quickly generating and visualizing these SNOMED CT abstraction networks. BLUSNO is a dynamic, interactive system that provides quick access to well organized information about SNOMED CT.

Miami University Information Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miami Univ., Oxford, OH.

The 1975 information manual is designed to provide current data on policies, procedures, services, facilities, organization and governance of Miami University and, through the extensive index, quick access to this information. The manual is complementary to the university catalog and directory. Information relating to students is in the Student…

Using QR codes to enable quick access to information in acute cancer care.

PubMed

Upton, Joanne; Olsson-Brown, Anna; Marshall, Ernie; Sacco, Joseph

2017-05-25

Quick access to toxicity management information ensures timely access to steroids/immunosuppressive treatment for cancer patients experiencing immune-related adverse events, thus reducing length of hospital stays or avoiding hospital admission entirely. This article discusses a project to add a QR (quick response) code to a patient-held immunotherapy alert card. As QR code generation is free and the immunotherapy clinical management algorithms were already publicly available through the trust's clinical network website, the costs of integrating a QR code into the alert card, after printing, were low, while the potential benefits are numerous. Patient-held alert cards are widely used for patients receiving anti-cancer treatment, and this established standard of care has been modified to enable rapid access of information through the incorporation of a QR code.

The Geo Quick Ride (GQR) Program: Providing Inexpensive and Frequent Access to Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caffrey, Robert; Baniszewski, John

2004-01-01

This paper examines piggybacking NASA, university, and industry payloads on commercial geosynchronous satellites. NASA's RSDO Office awarded Geo Quick Ride (GQR) study contracts in 1998 to spacecraft manufactures to examine the issues with flying secondary payloads. The study results were very promising. Commercial communication satellites have frequent flights and significant unused resources that could be used to fly secondary payloads. However, manifesting secondary payloads on a commercial revenue-generating satellite is a complex problem to solve. The solution requires multiple simultaneous approaches in order to be successful. There are business, economic, technical, schedule, and organizational issues to be resolved. This paper examines the Geo Quick Ride (GQR) concept, discusses the development issues, and describes how this concept solves many of these issues.

JHelioviewer: Open-Source Software for Discovery and Image Access in the Petabyte Age (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, D.; Dimitoglou, G.; Langenberg, M.; Pagel, S.; Dau, A.; Nuhn, M.; Garcia Ortiz, J. P.; Dietert, H.; Schmidt, L.; Hughitt, V. K.; Ireland, J.; Fleck, B.

2010-12-01

The unprecedented torrent of data returned by the Solar Dynamics Observatory is both a blessing and a barrier: a blessing for making available data with significantly higher spatial and temporal resolution, but a barrier for scientists to access, browse and analyze them. With such staggering data volume, the data is bound to be accessible only from a few repositories and users will have to deal with data sets effectively immobile and practically difficult to download. From a scientist's perspective this poses three challenges: accessing, browsing and finding interesting data while avoiding the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack. To address these challenges, we have developed JHelioviewer, an open-source visualization software that lets users browse large data volumes both as still images and movies. We did so by deploying an efficient image encoding, storage, and dissemination solution using the JPEG 2000 standard. This solution enables users to access remote images at different resolution levels as a single data stream. Users can view, manipulate, pan, zoom, and overlay JPEG 2000 compressed data quickly, without severe network bandwidth penalties. Besides viewing data, the browser provides third-party metadata and event catalog integration to quickly locate data of interest, as well as an interface to the Virtual Solar Observatory to download science-quality data. As part of the Helioviewer Project, JHelioviewer offers intuitive ways to browse large amounts of heterogeneous data remotely and provides an extensible and customizable open-source platform for the scientific community.

Web-Based Geographic Information System Tool for Accessing Hanford Site Environmental Data

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

Triplett, Mark B.; Seiple, Timothy E.; Watson, David J.

Data volume, complexity, and access issues pose severe challenges for analysts, regulators and stakeholders attempting to efficiently use legacy data to support decision making at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site. DOE has partnered with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on the PHOENIX (PNNL-Hanford Online Environmental Information System) project, which seeks to address data access, transparency, and integration challenges at Hanford to provide effective decision support. PHOENIX is a family of spatially-enabled web applications providing quick access to decades of valuable scientific data and insight through intuitive query, visualization, and analysis tools. PHOENIX realizes broad, public accessibilitymore » by relying only on ubiquitous web-browsers, eliminating the need for specialized software. It accommodates a wide range of users with intuitive user interfaces that require little or no training to quickly obtain and visualize data. Currently, PHOENIX is actively hosting three applications focused on groundwater monitoring, groundwater clean-up performance reporting, and in-tank monitoring. PHOENIX-based applications are being used to streamline investigative and analytical processes at Hanford, saving time and money. But more importantly, by integrating previously isolated datasets and developing relevant visualization and analysis tools, PHOENIX applications are enabling DOE to discover new correlations hidden in legacy data, allowing them to more effectively address complex issues at Hanford.« less

Database Searching by Managers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Stephen E.

Managers and executives need the easy and quick access to business and management information that online databases can provide, but many have difficulty articulating their search needs to an intermediary. One possible solution would be to encourage managers and their immediate support staff members to search textual databases directly as they now…

Special tool kit aids heavily garmented workers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holmes, A. E.

1966-01-01

Triangular aluminum tool kit, filled with polyurethane is constructed to receive various tools and hold them in a snug but quick-release fit as an aid to heavily gloved workers. The kit is designed to allow mounting within easily accessable reach and to provide protection of the tools during storage.

Extend Instruction outside the Classroom: Take Advantage of Your Learning Management System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Lauren A.

2010-01-01

Numerous institutions of higher education have implemented a learning management system (LMS) or are considering doing so. This web-based software package provides self-service and quick (often personalized) access to content in a dynamic environment. Learning management systems support administrative, reporting, and documentation activities. LMSs…

In-Process Items on LCS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Thyra K.

Morris Library at Southern Illinois University computerized its technical processes using the Library Computer System (LCS), which was implemented in the library to streamline order processing by: (1) providing up-to-date online files to track in-process items; (2) encouraging quick, efficient accessing of information; (3) reducing manual files;…

Quick Access: Find Statistical Data on the Internet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Di

1999-01-01

Provides an annotated list of Internet sources (World Wide Web, ftp, and gopher sites) for current and historical statistical business data, including selected interest rates, the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, foreign currency exchange rates, noon buying rates, per diem rates, the special drawing right, stock quotes, and mutual…

Mobile Learning: Readiness and Perceptions of Teachers of Open Universities of Commonwealth Asia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miglani, Anshu; Awadhiya, Ashish Kumar

2017-01-01

Integration of "Mobile Learning" (m-learning) in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) systems can play a crucial role in reducing the "Digital Divide" and strengthening "Democratization of Education" by providing quality educational opportunities and access to information quickly at affordable cost in Commonwealth Asian…

A Principal's Guide to Reading Recovery.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith-Burke, M. Trika; Pinnell, Gay Su; Jackson, Mary; Wey, Susan; Askew, Billie J.; Hambright-Brown, Eloise

This guide, requested by principals across the nation, is intended to help them successfully implement Reading Recovery in their schools. The guide is organized by topics that experienced principals have said are important to ongoing program operation. To help access information quickly, a detailed table of contents is provided, as well as an…

Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Space Science's Past, Present, and Future on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie A.; Spearing, Scott F.; Jordan, Lee P.; McDaniel S. Greg

2012-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility designed for microgravity investigation handling aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. MSG facility provides an enclosed working area for investigation manipulation and observation in the ISS. Provides two levels of containment via physical barrier, negative pressure, and air filtration. The MSG team and facilities provide quick access to space for exploratory and National Lab type investigations to gain an understanding of the role of gravity in the physics associated research areas. The MSG is a very versatile and capable research facility on the ISS. The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on the International Space Station (ISS) has been used for a large body or research in material science, heat transfer, crystal growth, life sciences, smoke detection, combustion, plant growth, human health, and technology demonstration. MSG is an ideal platform for gravity-dependent phenomena related research. Moreover, the MSG provides engineers and scientists a platform for research in an environment similar to the one that spacecraft and crew members will actually experience during space travel and exploration. The MSG facility is ideally suited to provide quick, relatively inexpensive access to space for National Lab type investigations.

Retrieving clinical evidence: a comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar for quick clinical searches.

PubMed

Shariff, Salimah Z; Bejaimal, Shayna Ad; Sontrop, Jessica M; Iansavichus, Arthur V; Haynes, R Brian; Weir, Matthew A; Garg, Amit X

2013-08-15

Physicians frequently search PubMed for information to guide patient care. More recently, Google Scholar has gained popularity as another freely accessible bibliographic database. To compare the performance of searches in PubMed and Google Scholar. We surveyed nephrologists (kidney specialists) and provided each with a unique clinical question derived from 100 renal therapy systematic reviews. Each physician provided the search terms they would type into a bibliographic database to locate evidence to answer the clinical question. We executed each of these searches in PubMed and Google Scholar and compared results for the first 40 records retrieved (equivalent to 2 default search pages in PubMed). We evaluated the recall (proportion of relevant articles found) and precision (ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles) of the searches performed in PubMed and Google Scholar. Primary studies included in the systematic reviews served as the reference standard for relevant articles. We further documented whether relevant articles were available as free full-texts. Compared with PubMed, the average search in Google Scholar retrieved twice as many relevant articles (PubMed: 11%; Google Scholar: 22%; P<.001). Precision was similar in both databases (PubMed: 6%; Google Scholar: 8%; P=.07). Google Scholar provided significantly greater access to free full-text publications (PubMed: 5%; Google Scholar: 14%; P<.001). For quick clinical searches, Google Scholar returns twice as many relevant articles as PubMed and provides greater access to free full-text articles.

OneSearch Gives You Access to More Than 7,000 Publishers and Content Providers | Poster

Cancer.gov

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer OneSearch, an exciting new resource from the Scientific Library, is now available to the NCI at Frederick community. This new resource provides a quick and easy way to search multiple Scientific Library resources and collections using a single search box for journal articles, books, media, and more. A large central index is compiled from

Crewmans Retention System for Protection against High Speed Ejection up to 600 Knots

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-10-01

articulation and/or removal of the windscreen were to be considered as a standard maintenance procedure for optimum access to equipments, controls, and...crewman quick donning or divestment and easy ac- cess for tightening torso cross strap. The garment provides access to the four Navy torso harness...I: ’-_ _ _ _ - No. S~It OR a - -’" ,. ?, . -I ! _ _ I, I- -1 ,._ _ _ _ .N 00 ’ SS7 30UO J .3 86 NADC-76119-40 I _ __ii ... ..... ... II I .i

QUICK - AN INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlaifer, R. S.

1994-01-01

QUICK provides the computer user with the facilities of a sophisticated desk calculator which can perform scalar, vector and matrix arithmetic, propagate conic orbits, determine planetary and satellite coordinates and perform other related astrodynamic calculations within a Fortran-like environment. QUICK is an interpreter, therefore eliminating the need to use a compiler or a linker to run QUICK code. QUICK capabilities include options for automated printing of results, the ability to submit operating system commands on some systems, and access to a plotting package (MASL)and a text editor without leaving QUICK. Mathematical and programming features of QUICK include the ability to handle arbitrary algebraic expressions, the capability to define user functions in terms of other functions, built-in constants such as pi, direct access to useful COMMON areas, matrix capabilities, extensive use of double precision calculations, and the ability to automatically load user functions from a standard library. The MASL (The Multi-mission Analysis Software Library) plotting package, included in the QUICK package, is a set of FORTRAN 77 compatible subroutines designed to facilitate the plotting of engineering data by allowing programmers to write plotting device independent applications. Its universality lies in the number of plotting devices it puts at the user's disposal. The MASL package of routines has proved very useful and easy to work with, yielding good plots for most new users on the first or second try. The functions provided include routines for creating histograms, "wire mesh" surface plots and contour plots as well as normal graphs with a large variety of axis types. The library has routines for plotting on cartesian, polar, log, mercator, cyclic, calendar, and stereographic axes, and for performing automatic or explicit scaling. The lengths of the axes of a plot are completely under the control of the program using the library. Programs written to use the MASL subroutines can be made to output to the Calcomp 1055 plotter, the Hewlett-Packard 2648 graphics terminal, the HP 7221, 7475 and 7550 pen plotters, the Tektronix 40xx and 41xx series graphics terminals, the DEC VT125/VT240 graphics terminals, the QMS 800 laser printer, the Sun Microsystems monochrome display, the Ridge Computers monochrome display, the IBM/PC color display, or a "dumb" terminal or printer. Programs using this library can be written so that they always use the same type of plotter or they can allow the choice of plotter type to be deferred until after program execution. QUICK is written in RATFOR for use on Sun4 series computers running SunOS. No source code is provided. The standard distribution medium for this program is a .25 inch streaming magnetic tape cartridge in UNIX tar format. An electronic copy of the documentation in ASCII format is included on the distribution medium. QUICK was developed in 1991 and is a copyrighted work with all copyright vested in NASA.

Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Brenda; Lamb, Rynn M.

2015-07-09

When emergencies occur, first responders and disaster response teams often need rapid access to aerial photography and satellite imagery that is acquired before and after the event. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) provides quick and easy access to pre- and post-event imagery and geospatial datasets that support emergency response and recovery operations. The HDDS provides a single, consolidated point-of-entry and distribution system for USGS-hosted remotely sensed imagery and other geospatial datasets related to an event response. The data delivery services are provided through an interactive map-based interface that allows emergency response personnel to rapidly select and download pre-event ("baseline") and post-event emergency response imagery.

GODIVA2: interactive visualization of environmental data on the Web.

PubMed

Blower, J D; Haines, K; Santokhee, A; Liu, C L

2009-03-13

GODIVA2 is a dynamic website that provides visual access to several terabytes of physically distributed, four-dimensional environmental data. It allows users to explore large datasets interactively without the need to install new software or download and understand complex data. Through the use of open international standards, GODIVA2 maintains a high level of interoperability with third-party systems, allowing diverse datasets to be mutually compared. Scientists can use the system to search for features in large datasets and to diagnose the output from numerical simulations and data processing algorithms. Data providers around Europe have adopted GODIVA2 as an INSPIRE-compliant dynamic quick-view system for providing visual access to their data.

JHelioviewer: Open-Source Software for Discovery and Image Access in the Petabyte Age

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, D.; Dimitoglou, G.; Garcia Ortiz, J.; Langenberg, M.; Nuhn, M.; Dau, A.; Pagel, S.; Schmidt, L.; Hughitt, V. K.; Ireland, J.; Fleck, B.

2011-12-01

The unprecedented torrent of data returned by the Solar Dynamics Observatory is both a blessing and a barrier: a blessing for making available data with significantly higher spatial and temporal resolution, but a barrier for scientists to access, browse and analyze them. With such staggering data volume, the data is accessible only from a few repositories and users have to deal with data sets effectively immobile and practically difficult to download. From a scientist's perspective this poses three challenges: accessing, browsing and finding interesting data while avoiding the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack. To address these challenges, we have developed JHelioviewer, an open-source visualization software that lets users browse large data volumes both as still images and movies. We did so by deploying an efficient image encoding, storage, and dissemination solution using the JPEG 2000 standard. This solution enables users to access remote images at different resolution levels as a single data stream. Users can view, manipulate, pan, zoom, and overlay JPEG 2000 compressed data quickly, without severe network bandwidth penalties. Besides viewing data, the browser provides third-party metadata and event catalog integration to quickly locate data of interest, as well as an interface to the Virtual Solar Observatory to download science-quality data. As part of the ESA/NASA Helioviewer Project, JHelioviewer offers intuitive ways to browse large amounts of heterogeneous data remotely and provides an extensible and customizable open-source platform for the scientific community. In addition, the easy-to-use graphical user interface enables the general public and educators to access, enjoy and reuse data from space missions without barriers.

Use of iPads as Assistive Technology for Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ok, Min Wook

2018-01-01

Over the past decades, technology has been considered an essential tool for providing equal accessibility and opportunities for students with disabilities. As technology has evolved, a new type of technology, mobile devices, emerged in the late 2000s. Specifically, iPads have quickly gained attention and popularity in special education settings.…

Taking Care of Business: The Repercussions of Commodified Electronic Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dickinson, Sandra C.

The corporate takeover of the Internet has moved literacy into uncharted territory. Couched in capitalist metaphors of liberation, choice, utility, and desirability, an expanded communications network that provides quick and easy access to vast amounts of information appeals to the national psyche. The commodification of literacy as a result of…

A Framework for Mobile Apps in Colleges and Universities: Data Mining Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Archana; Ranjan, Jayanthi

2016-01-01

The Enterprise mobility communication technology provides easy and quick accessibility to data and information integrated into one single touch point device. This device incorporates or integrates all the processes into small applications or App and thus increases the workforce capability of knowledge workers. "App" which is a small set…

bioWeb3D: an online webGL 3D data visualisation tool.

PubMed

Pettit, Jean-Baptiste; Marioni, John C

2013-06-07

Data visualization is critical for interpreting biological data. However, in practice it can prove to be a bottleneck for non trained researchers; this is especially true for three dimensional (3D) data representation. Whilst existing software can provide all necessary functionalities to represent and manipulate biological 3D datasets, very few are easily accessible (browser based), cross platform and accessible to non-expert users. An online HTML5/WebGL based 3D visualisation tool has been developed to allow biologists to quickly and easily view interactive and customizable three dimensional representations of their data along with multiple layers of information. Using the WebGL library Three.js written in Javascript, bioWeb3D allows the simultaneous visualisation of multiple large datasets inputted via a simple JSON, XML or CSV file, which can be read and analysed locally thanks to HTML5 capabilities. Using basic 3D representation techniques in a technologically innovative context, we provide a program that is not intended to compete with professional 3D representation software, but that instead enables a quick and intuitive representation of reasonably large 3D datasets.

A distributed air index based on maximum boundary rectangle over grid-cells for wireless non-flat spatial data broadcast.

PubMed

Im, Seokjin; Choi, JinTak

2014-06-17

In the pervasive computing environment using smart devices equipped with various sensors, a wireless data broadcasting system for spatial data items is a natural way to efficiently provide a location dependent information service, regardless of the number of clients. A non-flat wireless broadcast system can support the clients in accessing quickly their preferred data items by disseminating the preferred data items more frequently than regular data on the wireless channel. To efficiently support the processing of spatial window queries in a non-flat wireless data broadcasting system, we propose a distributed air index based on a maximum boundary rectangle (MaxBR) over grid-cells (abbreviated DAIM), which uses MaxBRs for filtering out hot data items on the wireless channel. Unlike the existing index that repeats regular data items in close proximity to hot items at same frequency as hot data items in a broadcast cycle, DAIM makes it possible to repeat only hot data items in a cycle and reduces the length of the broadcast cycle. Consequently, DAIM helps the clients access the desired items quickly, improves the access time, and reduces energy consumption. In addition, a MaxBR helps the clients decide whether they have to access regular data items or not. Simulation studies show the proposed DAIM outperforms existing schemes with respect to the access time and energy consumption.

Science or Snake Oil? Teaching Critical Evaluation of "Research" Reports on the Internet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connor-Greene, Patricia A.; Greene, Dan J.

2002-01-01

The proliferation of information on the Internet introduces new challenges for educators. Although the Internet can provide quick and easy access to a wealth of information, it has virtually no quality control. Consequently, the Internet has rendered faculty more essential than ever as teachers of the analytic and evaluative skills students need…

Stories in Motion: Inviting Immersive Possibilities through the Chimera of Transmedia and Chameleon of Mediatecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paciencia Bamrungpong, Silvina G.

2012-01-01

Narratives are part of human culture; they provide a fundamental epistemological structure that assists us in making sense of the world. Narratives are the connection between discourse and story that have extended through various media. With the advancements made in technology, stories can be archived easily, accessed quickly, transferred among…

Inside the Web: A Look at Digital Libraries and the Invisible/Deep Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, Mila C.

2009-01-01

The evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web continually exceeds expectations with the "swift pace" of technological innovations. Information is added, and just as quickly becomes outdated at a rapid pace. Researchers have found that Digital materials can provide access to primary source materials and connect the researcher to institutions…

Retrieving Clinical Evidence: A Comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar for Quick Clinical Searches

PubMed Central

Bejaimal, Shayna AD; Sontrop, Jessica M; Iansavichus, Arthur V; Haynes, R Brian; Weir, Matthew A; Garg, Amit X

2013-01-01

Background Physicians frequently search PubMed for information to guide patient care. More recently, Google Scholar has gained popularity as another freely accessible bibliographic database. Objective To compare the performance of searches in PubMed and Google Scholar. Methods We surveyed nephrologists (kidney specialists) and provided each with a unique clinical question derived from 100 renal therapy systematic reviews. Each physician provided the search terms they would type into a bibliographic database to locate evidence to answer the clinical question. We executed each of these searches in PubMed and Google Scholar and compared results for the first 40 records retrieved (equivalent to 2 default search pages in PubMed). We evaluated the recall (proportion of relevant articles found) and precision (ratio of relevant to nonrelevant articles) of the searches performed in PubMed and Google Scholar. Primary studies included in the systematic reviews served as the reference standard for relevant articles. We further documented whether relevant articles were available as free full-texts. Results Compared with PubMed, the average search in Google Scholar retrieved twice as many relevant articles (PubMed: 11%; Google Scholar: 22%; P<.001). Precision was similar in both databases (PubMed: 6%; Google Scholar: 8%; P=.07). Google Scholar provided significantly greater access to free full-text publications (PubMed: 5%; Google Scholar: 14%; P<.001). Conclusions For quick clinical searches, Google Scholar returns twice as many relevant articles as PubMed and provides greater access to free full-text articles. PMID:23948488

OneSearch Gives You Access to More Than 7,000 Publishers and Content Providers | Poster

Cancer.gov

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer OneSearch, an exciting new resource from the Scientific Library, is now available to the NCI at Frederick community. This new resource provides a quick and easy way to search multiple Scientific Library resources and collections using a single search box for journal articles, books, media, and more. A large central index is compiled from more than 7,000 publishers and content providers outside the library’s holdings.

Improving wilderness stewardship through searchable databases of U.S. legislative history and legislated special provisions

Treesearch

David R. Craig; Peter Landres; Laurie Yung

2010-01-01

The online resource Wilderness.net currently provides quick access to the text of every public law designating wilderness in the U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). This article describes two new searchable databases recently completed and added to the information available on Wilderness.net to help wilderness managers and others understand and...

bioWeb3D: an online webGL 3D data visualisation tool

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Data visualization is critical for interpreting biological data. However, in practice it can prove to be a bottleneck for non trained researchers; this is especially true for three dimensional (3D) data representation. Whilst existing software can provide all necessary functionalities to represent and manipulate biological 3D datasets, very few are easily accessible (browser based), cross platform and accessible to non-expert users. Results An online HTML5/WebGL based 3D visualisation tool has been developed to allow biologists to quickly and easily view interactive and customizable three dimensional representations of their data along with multiple layers of information. Using the WebGL library Three.js written in Javascript, bioWeb3D allows the simultaneous visualisation of multiple large datasets inputted via a simple JSON, XML or CSV file, which can be read and analysed locally thanks to HTML5 capabilities. Conclusions Using basic 3D representation techniques in a technologically innovative context, we provide a program that is not intended to compete with professional 3D representation software, but that instead enables a quick and intuitive representation of reasonably large 3D datasets. PMID:23758781

Strategies for responding to RAC requests electronically.

PubMed

Schramm, Michael

2012-04-01

Providers that would like to respond to complex RAC reviews electronically should consider three strategies: Invest in an EHR software package or a high-powered scanner that can quickly scan large amounts of paper. Implement an audit software platform that will allow providers to manage the entire audit process in one place. Use a CONNECT-compatible gateway capable of accessing the Nationwide Health Information Network (the network on which the electronic submission of medical documentation program runs).

EVITHERM: The Virtual Institute of Thermal Metrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redgrove, J.; Filtz, J.-R.; Fischer, J.; Le Parlouër, P.; Mathot, V.; Nesvadba, P.; Pavese, F.

2007-12-01

Evitherm is a web-based thermal resource centre, resulting from a 3-year project partly funded by the EU’s GROWTH programme (2002 05). Evitherm links together the widely distributed centres of excellence (NMIs, research and teaching institutes, consultants, etc.) and others concerned with thermal measurements and technology to provide a focal point for information exchange and knowledge transfer between all these organizations and industry. To facilitate the quick and easy flow of thermal knowledge to users of thermal technologies, evitherm has a website (www.evitherm.org) through which it disseminates information and by which it also provides access to resources such as training, property data, measurements and experts. Among the resources available from the website are (1) thermal property data—offering access to some of the world’s leading databases; (2) expertise— evitherm has a database of consultants, an Advice line, a public Forum and a unique Consultancy Brokering Service whereby users are linked to the expert they need to solve their thermal industrial problems; (3) industry resources—thermal information for particular industry sectors; (4) services—information directories on thermal property measurement, training, equipment supply, reference materials, etc.; (5) literature—links to books, papers, standards, etc.; (6) events—conferences, meetings, seminars, organizations and networks, what’s happening. A user only has to register (for free) to gain access to all the information on the evitherm website. Much of the thermal property data can be accessed for free and in a few cases we have negotiated affordable rates for access to some leading databases, such as CINDAS, THERSYST and NELFOOD. This article illustrates the aims and structure of the evitherm Society, how it is directed, and how it serves the thermal community worldwide in its need for quick and easy access to the resources needed to help ensure a well resourced industrial work force and clean and efficient thermal processes.

Strategic Implications of Cloud Computing for Modeling and Simulation (Briefing)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

of Promises with Cloud • Cost efficiency • Unlimited storage • Backup and recovery • Automatic software integration • Easy access to information...activities that wrap the actual exercise itself (e.g., travel for exercise support, data collection, integration , etc.). Cloud -based simulation would...requiring quick delivery rather than fewer large messages requiring high bandwidth. Cloud environments tend to be better at providing high-bandwidth

World of intelligence defense object detection-machine learning (artificial intelligence)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Anitya; Kumar, Akhilesh; Bhushan, Vinayak

2018-04-01

This paper proposes a Quick Locale based Convolutional System strategy (Quick R-CNN) for question recognition. Quick R-CNN expands on past work to effectively characterize ob-ject recommendations utilizing profound convolutional systems. Com-pared to past work, Quick R-CNN utilizes a few in-novations to enhance preparing and testing speed while likewise expanding identification precision. Quick R-CNN trains the profound VGG16 arrange 9 quicker than R-CNN, is 213 speedier at test-time, and accomplishes a higher Guide on PASCAL VOC 2012. Contrasted with SPPnet, Quick R-CNN trains VGG16 3 quicker, tests 10 speedier, and is more exact. Quick R-CNN is actualized in Python and C++ (utilizing Caffe) and is accessible under the open-source MIT Permit.

The NOAO NVO Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, C. J.; Gasson, D.; Fuentes, E.

2007-10-01

The NOAO NVO Portal is a web application for one-stop discovery, analysis, and access to VO-compliant imaging data and services. The current release allows for GUI-based discovery of nearly a half million images from archives such as the NOAO Science Archive, the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 and ACS instruments, XMM-Newton, Chandra, and ESO's INT Wide-Field Survey, among others. The NOAO Portal allows users to view image metadata, footprint wire-frames, FITS image previews, and provides one-click access to science quality imaging data throughout the entire sky via the Firefox web browser (i.e., no applet or code to download). Users can stage images from multiple archives at the NOAO NVO Portal for quick and easy bulk downloads. The NOAO NVO Portal also provides simplified and direct access to VO analysis services, such as the WESIX catalog generation service. We highlight the features of the NOAO NVO Portal (http://nvo.noao.edu).

Legal barriers in accessing opioid medicines: results of the ATOME quick scan of national legislation of eastern European countries.

PubMed

Vranken, Marjolein J M; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K; Jünger, Saskia; Radbruch, Lukas; Lisman, John; Scholten, Willem; Payne, Sheila; Lynch, Tom; Schutjens, Marie-Hélène D B

2014-12-01

Overregulation of controlled medicines is one of the factors contributing to limited access to opioid medicines. The purpose of this study was to identify legal barriers to access to opioid medicines in 12 Eastern European countries participating in the Access to Opioid Medication in Europa project, using a quick scan method. A quick scan method to identify legal barriers was developed focusing on eight different categories of barriers. Key experts in 12 European countries were requested to send relevant legislation. Legislation was quick scanned using World Health Organization guidelines. Overly restrictive provisions and provisions that contain stigmatizing language and incorrect definitions were identified. The selected provisions were scored into two categories: 1) barrier and 2) uncertain, and reviewed by two authors. A barrier was recorded if both authors agreed the selected provision to be a barrier (Category 1). National legislation was obtained from 11 of 12 countries. All 11 countries showed legal barriers in the areas of prescribing (most frequently observed barrier). Ten countries showed barriers in the areas of dispensing and showed stigmatizing language and incorrect use of definitions in their legislation. Most barriers were identified in the legislation of Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Serbia, and Slovenia. The Cypriot legislation showed the fewest total number of barriers. The selected countries have in common as main barriers prescribing and dispensing restrictions, the use of stigmatizing language, and incorrect use of definitions. The practical impact of these barriers identified using a quick scan method needs to be validated by other means. Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cafe Variome: general-purpose software for making genotype-phenotype data discoverable in restricted or open access contexts.

PubMed

Lancaster, Owen; Beck, Tim; Atlan, David; Swertz, Morris; Thangavelu, Dhiwagaran; Veal, Colin; Dalgleish, Raymond; Brookes, Anthony J

2015-10-01

Biomedical data sharing is desirable, but problematic. Data "discovery" approaches-which establish the existence rather than the substance of data-precisely connect data owners with data seekers, and thereby promote data sharing. Cafe Variome (http://www.cafevariome.org) was therefore designed to provide a general-purpose, Web-based, data discovery tool that can be quickly installed by any genotype-phenotype data owner, or network of data owners, to make safe or sensitive content appropriately discoverable. Data fields or content of any type can be accommodated, from simple ID and label fields through to extensive genotype and phenotype details based on ontologies. The system provides a "shop window" in front of data, with main interfaces being a simple search box and a powerful "query-builder" that enable very elaborate queries to be formulated. After a successful search, counts of records are reported grouped by "openAccess" (data may be directly accessed), "linkedAccess" (a source link is provided), and "restrictedAccess" (facilitated data requests and subsequent provision of approved records). An administrator interface provides a wide range of options for system configuration, enabling highly customized single-site or federated networks to be established. Current uses include rare disease data discovery, patient matchmaking, and a Beacon Web service. © 2015 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Access to emergency hormonal contraception from community pharmacies and family planning clinics

PubMed Central

Lewington, Gaye; Marshall, Kay

2006-01-01

Aims To evaluate differences in the time taken to access progestogen-only emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) by young women from family planning (FP) or community pharmacy settings. Methods An observational study of 203 women requesting EHC from FP clinics and community pharmacies in South-west Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) from December 2002 to October 2003. Results Access to EHC from community pharmacy was significantly faster than from FP clinics (16 h vs. 41 h, P < 0.001). Older teenagers tended to seek EHC more quickly and were more likely to have had a contraceptive failure rather than have used no contraception at all. Conclusion The results provide further support for pharmacist involvement in the supply of EHC. PMID:16669854

A data skimming service for locally resident analysis data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cranshaw, J.; Gardner, R. W.; Gieraltowski, J.; Malon, D.; Mambelli, M.; May, E.

2008-07-01

A Data Skimming Service (DSS) is a site-level service for rapid event filtering and selection from locally resident datasets based on metadata queries to associated 'tag' databases. In US ATLAS, we expect most if not all of the AOD-based datasets to be replicated to each of the five Tier 2 regional facilities in the US Tier 1 'cloud' coordinated by Brookhaven National Laboratory. Entire datasets will consist of on the order of several terabytes of data, and providing easy, quick access to skimmed subsets of these data will be vital to physics working groups. Typically, physicists will be interested in portions of the complete datasets, selected according to event-level attributes (number of jets, missing Et, etc) and content (specific analysis objects for subsequent processing). In this paper we describe methods used to classify data (metadata tag generation) and to store these results in a local database. Next we discuss a general framework which includes methods for accessing this information, defining skims, specifying event output content, accessing locally available storage through a variety of interfaces (SRM, dCache/dccp, gridftp), accessing remote storage elements as specified, and user job submission tools through local or grid schedulers. The advantages of the DSS are the ability to quickly 'browse' datasets and design skims, for example, pre-adjusting cuts to get to a desired skim level with minimal use of compute resources, and to encode these analysis operations in a database for re-analysis and archival purposes. Additionally the framework has provisions to operate autonomously in the event that external, central resources are not available, and to provide, as a reduced package, a minimal skimming service tailored to the needs of small Tier 3 centres or individual users.

Testing Quick Response (QR) Codes as an Innovation to Improve Feedback Among Geographically-Separated Clerkship Sites.

PubMed

Snyder, Matthew J; Nguyen, Dana R; Womack, Jasmyne J; Bunt, Christopher W; Westerfield, Katie L; Bell, Adriane E; Ledford, Christy J W

2018-03-01

Collection of feedback regarding medical student clinical experiences for formative or summative purposes remains a challenge across clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of a quick response (QR) code-linked online feedback form improves the frequency and efficiency of rater feedback. In 2016, we compared paper-based feedback forms, an online feedback form, and a QR code-linked online feedback form at 15 family medicine clerkship sites across the United States. Outcome measures included usability, number of feedback submissions per student, number of unique raters providing feedback, and timeliness of feedback provided to the clerkship director. The feedback method was significantly associated with usability, with QR code scoring the highest, and paper second. Accessing feedback via QR code was associated with the shortest time to prepare feedback. Across four rotations, separate repeated measures analyses of variance showed no effect of feedback system on the number of submissions per student or the number of unique raters. The results of this study demonstrate that preceptors in the family medicine clerkship rate QR code-linked feedback as a high usability platform. Additionally, this platform resulted in faster form completion than paper or online forms. An overarching finding of this study is that feedback forms must be portable and easily accessible. Potential implementation barriers and the social norm for providing feedback in this manner need to be considered.

Working with Planetary-Scale Data in the Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flasher, J.

2017-12-01

When data is shared on AWS, it can be analyzed using AWS on-demand computing resources quickly and efficiently. Users can work with any amount of data without needing to download it or store their own copies. When heavy data like imagery, genomics data, or volumes of sensor data are available in AWS's cloud, the time required to copy the data to a virtual server for analysis is virtually eliminated. AWS's global infrastructure allows data providers to make their data available worldwide and ensure quick access to critical data from anywhere. In this session, we will share lessons learned from our experience supporting a global community of entrepreneurs, students and researchers by making petabytes of data freely available for anyone to use in the cloud.

Earth Sciences data access and preservation with gLibrary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guidetti, Veronica; Calanducci, Antonio

2010-05-01

ESA-ESRIN, the European Space Agency Centre for Earth Observation (EO), is the largest European EO data provider and operates as the reference European centre for EO payload data exploitation. EO data acquired from space have become powerful scientific tools to enable better understanding and management of the Earth and its resources. Large international initiatives such as GMES and GEO, supported by the European Commission, focus on coordinating international efforts to environmental monitoring, i.e. to provide political and technical solutions to global issues, such as climate change, global environment monitoring, management of natural resources and humanitarian response. Since the time-span of EO data archives extends from a few years to decades, their value as scientific time-series increases considerably, especially for the topic of global change. It will be soon necessary to re-analyse on global scale the information currently locked inside large thematic archives. Future research in the field of Earth Sciences is of invaluable importance: to carry it on researchers worldwide must be enabled to find and access data of interest in a quick and easy way. At present, several thousands of scientists, principal investigators and operators, access EO missions' metadata, data and derived information on a daily basis. Main objectives may be to study the global climate change, to check the status of the instrument on-board and the quality of EO data. There is a huge worldwide scientific community calling for the need to keep EO data accessible without time constrains, easily and quickly. In collaboration with ESA-ESRIN, INFN, the National Institute for Nuclear Physics, is implementing a demonstrative use case where satellite remote sensing data, including in-situ data and other kind of digital assets, are made available to the scientific community via gLibrary (https://glibrary.ct.infn.it), the INFN digital library platform. gLibrary can be used to store, organise, browse, retrieve, annotate and replicate any kind of digital asset on data grids or distributed storage environments. It provides digital assets preservation capabilities, making use of distributed replication of assets, decoupling from the underlying storage technology, and adoption of standard interfaces and metadata descriptions. In its future development gLibrary will investigate and possibly provide integration with grid and HPC processing services, including the ESA G-POD facility (http://eogrid.esrin.esa.int). Currently, gLibrary features encompass fast data access, quick retrieval of digital assets, metadata handling and sharing (including text annotation), high availability and scalability (due to its distributed architecture), (meta)data replication and, last but not least, authentication and authorisation. Much of the experimentation is on-going at EC and international level to provide coordinated and interoperable access to EO data and satellite imagery including any kind of related digital assets (metadata, documents, product guidelines, auxiliary data, mission/sensor specifications, environmental reports). The work with gLibrary comes as a best effort initiative and targets a full interoperability with ESA EO data dissemination, recovering and processing services and intends to demonstrate the benefit the scientific community can gain from this kind of integrated data access. It contributes to respond to the Earth Sciences data users' needs, moving forward the technology development to facilitate a very interactive EO information sharing, analysis and interoperability on the Web.

Defense AT&L (Volume 34, Number 4, July-August 2005)

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-08-01

government, industry, and academic communities. The system provides a single site where individuals and organizations can quickly access and search...made specifically about Navy TechMatch, the design, human interface, and system operation of DoD TechMatch are identical . Anyone can view, sort, and...causes another that subsequently supports the first]. Industry, academic , and DoD partners will benefit from the TechMatch concept. Tailored information

Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyridines via a One-Pot Metal-Free Strategy.

PubMed

Wei, Hongbo; Li, Yun; Xiao, Ke; Cheng, Bin; Wang, Huifei; Hu, Lin; Zhai, Hongbin

2015-12-18

An efficient strategy for the one-pot synthesis of polysubstituted pyridines via a cascade reaction from aldehydes, phosphorus ylides, and propargyl azide is reported. The reaction sequence involves a Wittig reaction, a Staudinger reaction, an aza-Wittig reaction, a 6π-3-azatriene electrocyclization, and a 1,3-H shift. This protocol provides quick access to the polysubstituted pyridines from readily available substrates in good to excellent yields.

Clean Air Markets - Quick Facts and Trends

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Quick Facts and Trends module is part of a suite of Clean Air Markets-related tools that are accessible at http://camddataandmaps.epa.gov/gdm/index.cfm. The Quick Facts and Trends module provides charts and graphs depicting national trends in emissions and heat input. The user can view, for example, data pertaining to the top annual and ozone season emitters of a selected pollutant, the number of units and facilities in a particular state, and trends in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions.EPA's Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) includes several market-based regulatory programs designed to improve air quality and ecosystems. The most well-known of these programs are EPA's Acid Rain Program and the NOx Programs, which reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx)-compounds that adversely affect air quality, the environment, and public health. CAMD also plays an integral role in the development and implementation of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR).

Using Google Maps to Access USGS Volcano Hazards Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venezky, D. Y.; Snedigar, S.; Guffanti, M.; Bailey, J. E.; Wall, B. G.

2006-12-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcano Hazard Program (VHP) is revising the information architecture of our website to provide data within a geospatial context for emergency managers, educators, landowners in volcanic areas, researchers, and the general public. Using a map-based interface for displaying hazard information provides a synoptic view of volcanic activity along with the ability to quickly ascertain where hazards are in relation to major population and infrastructure centers. At the same time, the map interface provides a gateway for educators and the public to find information about volcanoes in their geographic context. A plethora of data visualization solutions are available that are flexible, customizable, and can be run on individual websites. We are currently using a Google map interface because it can be accessed immediately from a website (a downloadable viewer is not required), and it provides simple features for moving around and zooming within the large map area that encompasses U.S. volcanism. A text interface will also be available. The new VHP website will serve as a portal to information for each volcano the USGS monitors with icons for alert levels and aviation color codes. When a volcano is clicked, a window will provide additional information including links to maps, images, and real-time data, thereby connecting information from individual observatories, the Smithsonian Institution, and our partner universities. In addition to the VHP home page, many observatories and partners have detailed graphical interfaces to data and images that include the activity pages for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the Smithsonian Google Earth files, and Yellowstone Volcano Observatory pictures and data. Users with varied requests such as raw data, scientific papers, images, or brief overviews expect to be able to quickly access information for their specialized needs. Over the next few years we will be gathering, cleansing, reorganizing, and posting data in multiple formats to meet these needs.

User-Centered Indexing for Adaptive Information Access

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, James R.; Mathe, Nathalie

1996-01-01

We are focusing on information access tasks characterized by large volume of hypermedia connected technical documents, a need for rapid and effective access to familiar information, and long-term interaction with evolving information. The problem for technical users is to build and maintain a personalized task-oriented model of the information to quickly access relevant information. We propose a solution which provides user-centered adaptive information retrieval and navigation. This solution supports users in customizing information access over time. It is complementary to information discovery methods which provide access to new information, since it lets users customize future access to previously found information. It relies on a technique, called Adaptive Relevance Network, which creates and maintains a complex indexing structure to represent personal user's information access maps organized by concepts. This technique is integrated within the Adaptive HyperMan system, which helps NASA Space Shuttle flight controllers organize and access large amount of information. It allows users to select and mark any part of a document as interesting, and to index that part with user-defined concepts. Users can then do subsequent retrieval of marked portions of documents. This functionality allows users to define and access personal collections of information, which are dynamically computed. The system also supports collaborative review by letting users share group access maps. The adaptive relevance network provides long-term adaptation based both on usage and on explicit user input. The indexing structure is dynamic and evolves over time. Leading and generalization support flexible retrieval of information under similar concepts. The network is geared towards more recent information access, and automatically manages its size in order to maintain rapid access when scaling up to large hypermedia space. We present results of simulated learning experiments.

The YeastGenome app: the Saccharomyces Genome Database at your fingertips.

PubMed

Wong, Edith D; Karra, Kalpana; Hitz, Benjamin C; Hong, Eurie L; Cherry, J Michael

2013-01-01

The Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) is a scientific database that provides researchers with high-quality curated data about the genes and gene products of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To provide instant and easy access to this information on mobile devices, we have developed YeastGenome, a native application for the Apple iPhone and iPad. YeastGenome can be used to quickly find basic information about S. cerevisiae genes and chromosomal features regardless of internet connectivity. With or without network access, you can view basic information and Gene Ontology annotations about a gene of interest by searching gene names and gene descriptions or by browsing the database within the app to find the gene of interest. With internet access, the app provides more detailed information about the gene, including mutant phenotypes, references and protein and genetic interactions, as well as provides hyperlinks to retrieve detailed information by showing SGD pages and views of the genome browser. SGD provides online help describing basic ways to navigate the mobile version of SGD, highlights key features and answers frequently asked questions related to the app. The app is available from iTunes (http://itunes.com/apps/yeastgenome). The YeastGenome app is provided freely as a service to our community, as part of SGD's mission to provide free and open access to all its data and annotations.

New Suborbital Flight Opportunities and Funding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saltman, Alexander

2013-07-01

New opportunities for suborbital research are on the horizon. Reusable suborbital vehicles will offer immediate and routine space access for scientific payloads, provide access to altitudes around 100 kilometers, create opportunities for low-cost monitoring of upper atmospheric phenomena, as well as small scale solar observation. Reduced operational cost and quick turn-around will enable equipment to be flown opportunistically, in response to specific solar activity, or in continuous test and improvement cycles. Suborbital test flights will also provide opportunities to test prospective satellite instruments in an extended microgravity environment before being launched to orbit, raising the technology readiness level (TRL) of flight hardware and reducing the risk of anomalies during missions. I discuss the capabilities of emerging suborbital vehicles, payload and integration requirements, and funding opportunities for suborbital flights at NASA.

RCSB PDB Mobile: iOS and Android mobile apps to provide data access and visualization to the RCSB Protein Data Bank

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

Quinn, Gregory B.; Bi, Chunxiao; Christie, Cole H.

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) resource provides tools for query, analysis and visualization of the 3D structures in the PDB archive. As the mobile Web is starting to surpass desktop and laptop usage, scientists and educators are beginning to integrate mobile devices into their research and teaching. In response, we have developed the RCSB PDB Mobile app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms to enable fast and convenient access to RCSB PDB data and services. Lastly, using the app, users from the general public to expert researchers can quickly search and visualize biomolecules,more » and add personal annotations via the RCSB PDB's integrated MyPDB service.« less

RCSB PDB Mobile: iOS and Android mobile apps to provide data access and visualization to the RCSB Protein Data Bank

DOE PAGES

Quinn, Gregory B.; Bi, Chunxiao; Christie, Cole H.; ...

2014-09-02

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) resource provides tools for query, analysis and visualization of the 3D structures in the PDB archive. As the mobile Web is starting to surpass desktop and laptop usage, scientists and educators are beginning to integrate mobile devices into their research and teaching. In response, we have developed the RCSB PDB Mobile app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms to enable fast and convenient access to RCSB PDB data and services. Lastly, using the app, users from the general public to expert researchers can quickly search and visualize biomolecules,more » and add personal annotations via the RCSB PDB's integrated MyPDB service.« less

Safe Haven Configurations for Deep Space Transit Habitats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smitherman, David; Polsgrove, Tara; Rowe, Justin; Simon, Matthew

2017-01-01

Throughout the human space flight program there have been instances where systems failures resulting in smoke, fire, and pressure loss have occurred onboard space vehicles, putting crews at risk for loss of mission and loss of life. In most instances the missions have been in Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) or Earth-Moon vicinity, with access to multiple volumes that could be used to quickly seal off the damaged module or access escape vehicles for return to Earth. For long duration missions beyond LEO, including Mars transit missions of about 1100 days, the mass penalty for multiple volumes and operating in an environment where a quick return will not be possible have been concerns. In 2016, a study was done to investigate a variety of dual pressure vessel configurations for habitats that could protect the crew from these hazards. It was found that with a modest increase in total mass it should be possible to provide significant protection for the crew. Several configurations were considered that either had a small safe haven to provide 30-days to recover, or a full duration safe haven using two equal size pressure vessel volumes. The 30-day safe haven was found to be the simplest, yielding the least total mass impact but still with some risk if recovery is not possible during that timeframe. The full duration safe haven was the most massive option but provided the most robust solution. This paper provides information on the various layouts developed during the study and provides a discussion of the findings for implementing a safe haven in future habitat designs.

Conversion of school nurse policy and procedure manual to electronic format.

PubMed

Randall, Joellyn; Knee, Rachel; Galemore, Cynthia

2006-10-01

Policy and procedure manuals are essential to establishing standards of practice and ensuring quality of care to students and families. The Olathe District Schools (Kansas) Technology Department created the Virtual File Cabinet to provide online access to employee policies, school board policies, forms, and other documents. A task force of school nurses was formed to convert the nursing department's policies, procedures, protocols, and forms from hard copy to electronic format and make them available on the district's Virtual File Cabinet. Having the policy and procedure manuals in electronic format allows for quick access and ease in updating information, thereby guaranteeing the school nurses have access to the most current information. Cost savings were realized by reducing the amount of paper and staff time needed to copy, collate, and assemble materials.

Building of communication system for nuclear accident emergency disposal based on IP multimedia subsystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Kang; Gao, Guiqing; Qin, Yuanli; He, Xiangyong

2018-05-01

The nuclear accident emergency disposal must be supported by an efficient, real-time modularization and standardization communication system. Based on the analysis of communication system for nuclear accident emergency disposal which included many functions such as the internal and external communication, multiply access supporting and command center. Some difficult problems of the communication system were discussed such as variety access device type, complex composition, high mobility, set up quickly, multiply business support, and so on. Taking full advantages of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a nuclear accident emergency communication system was build based on the IMS. It was studied and implemented that some key unit and module functions of communication system were included the system framework implementation, satellite access, short-wave access, load/vehicle-mounted communication units. The application tests showed that the system could provide effective communication support for the nuclear accident emergency disposal, which was of great practical value.

Smartphones in nursing education.

PubMed

Phillippi, Julia C; Wyatt, Tami H

2011-08-01

Smartphones are a new technology similar to PDAs but with expanded functions and greater Internet access. This article explores the potential uses and issues surrounding the use of smartphones in nursing education. While the functions of smartphones, such as sending text messages, viewing videos, and access to the Internet, may seem purely recreational, they can be used within the nursing curriculum to engage students and reinforce learning at any time or location. Smartphones can be used for quick access to educational materials and guidelines during clinical, class, or clinical conference. Students can review instructional videos prior to performing skills and readily reach their clinical instructor via text message. Downloadable applications, subscriptions, and reference materials expand the smartphone functions even further. Common concerns about requiring smartphones in nursing education include cost, disease transmission, and equipment interference; however, there are many ways to overcome these barriers and provide students with constant access to current clinical evidence.

Are You Connected to the Best Apps?

PubMed

Gaudette, Robert F

2015-11-01

While the vast majority of pharmacists use computers to access medical information, many prefer a mobile device to find information quickly. This review discusses pharmacists' use of mobile device applications (apps) and highlights an assortment of apps that are particularly helpful. Epocrates, which provides drug information and clinical content, was the first popular smartphone app developed in this area and was used to introduce the concept. Today, apps that provide a wide range of drug information can be supplemented with apps that fine-tune specific information about drug monitoring, disease states, and cost.

Enabling locally-developed content for access through the infobutton by means of automated concept annotation.

PubMed

Hulse, Nathan C; Long, Jie; Xu, Xiaomin; Tao, Cui

2014-01-01

Infobuttons have proven to be an increasingly important resource in providing a standardized approach to integrating useful educational materials at the point of care in electronic health records (EHRs). They provide a simple, uniform pathway for both patients and providers to receive pertinent education materials in a quick fashion from within EHRs and Personalized Health Records (PHRs). In recent years, the international standards organization Health Level Seven has balloted and approved a standards-based pathway for requesting and receiving data for infobuttons, simplifying some of the barriers for their adoption in electronic medical records and amongst content providers. Local content, developed by the hosting organization themselves, still needs to be indexed and annotated with appropriate metadata and terminologies in order to be fully accessible via the infobutton. In this manuscript we present an approach for automating the annotation of internally-developed patient education sheets with standardized terminologies and compare and contrast the approach with manual approaches used previously. We anticipate that a combination of system-generated and human reviewed annotations will provide the most comprehensive and effective indexing strategy, thereby allowing best access to internally-created content via the infobutton.

The Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peeples, Molly S.; Tumlinson, Jason; Fox, Andrew; Aloisi, Alessandra; Ayres, Thomas R.; Danforth, Charles; Fleming, Scott W.; Jenkins, Edward B.; Jedrzejewski, Robert I.; Keeney, Brian A.; Oliveira, Cristina M.

2016-01-01

With no future space ultraviolet instruments currently planned, the data from the UV spectrographs aboard the Hubble Space Telescope have a legacy value beyond their initial science goals. The Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive will provide to the community new science-grade combined spectra for all publicly available data obtained by the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). These data will be packaged into "smart archives" according to target type and scientific themes to facilitate the construction of archival samples for common science uses. A new "quick look" capability will make the data easy for users to quickly access, assess the quality of, and download for archival science starting in Cycle 24, with the first generation of these products for the FUV modes of COS available online via MAST in early 2016.

OpenTopography: Addressing Big Data Challenges Using Cloud Computing, HPC, and Data Analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Phan, M.; Youn, C.; Baru, C.; Arrowsmith, R.

2014-12-01

OpenTopography (OT) is a geoinformatics-based data facility initiated in 2009 for democratizing access to high-resolution topographic data, derived products, and tools. Hosted at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), OT utilizes cyberinfrastructure, including large-scale data management, high-performance computing, and service-oriented architectures to provide efficient Web based access to large, high-resolution topographic datasets. OT collocates data with processing tools to enable users to quickly access custom data and derived products for their application. OT's ongoing R&D efforts aim to solve emerging technical challenges associated with exponential growth in data, higher order data products, as well as user base. Optimization of data management strategies can be informed by a comprehensive set of OT user access metrics that allows us to better understand usage patterns with respect to the data. By analyzing the spatiotemporal access patterns within the datasets, we can map areas of the data archive that are highly active (hot) versus the ones that are rarely accessed (cold). This enables us to architect a tiered storage environment consisting of high performance disk storage (SSD) for the hot areas and less expensive slower disk for the cold ones, thereby optimizing price to performance. From a compute perspective, OT is looking at cloud based solutions such as the Microsoft Azure platform to handle sudden increases in load. An OT virtual machine image in Microsoft's VM Depot can be invoked and deployed quickly in response to increased system demand. OT has also integrated SDSC HPC systems like the Gordon supercomputer into our infrastructure tier to enable compute intensive workloads like parallel computation of hydrologic routing on high resolution topography. This capability also allows OT to scale to HPC resources during high loads to meet user demand and provide more efficient processing. With a growing user base and maturing scientific user community comes new requests for algorithms and processing capabilities. To address this demand, OT is developing an extensible service based architecture for integrating community-developed software. This "plugable" approach to Web service deployment will enable new processing and analysis tools to run collocated with OT hosted data.

Development of a fusion approach selection tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pohl, C.; Zeng, Y.

2015-06-01

During the last decades number and quality of available remote sensing satellite sensors for Earth observation has grown significantly. The amount of available multi-sensor images along with their increased spatial and spectral resolution provides new challenges to Earth scientists. With a Fusion Approach Selection Tool (FAST) the remote sensing community would obtain access to an optimized and improved image processing technology. Remote sensing image fusion is a mean to produce images containing information that is not inherent in the single image alone. In the meantime the user has access to sophisticated commercialized image fusion techniques plus the option to tune the parameters of each individual technique to match the anticipated application. This leaves the operator with an uncountable number of options to combine remote sensing images, not talking about the selection of the appropriate images, resolution and bands. Image fusion can be a machine and time-consuming endeavour. In addition it requires knowledge about remote sensing, image fusion, digital image processing and the application. FAST shall provide the user with a quick overview of processing flows to choose from to reach the target. FAST will ask for available images, application parameters and desired information to process this input to come out with a workflow to quickly obtain the best results. It will optimize data and image fusion techniques. It provides an overview on the possible results from which the user can choose the best. FAST will enable even inexperienced users to use advanced processing methods to maximize the benefit of multi-sensor image exploitation.

Innovative approach for low-cost quick-access small payload missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friis, Jan W., Jr.

2000-11-01

A significant part of the burgeoning commercial space industry is placing an unprecedented number of satellites into low earth orbit for a variety of new applications and services. By some estimates the commercial space industry now exceeds that of government space activities. Yet the two markets remain largely separate, with each deploying dedicated satellites and infrastructure for their respective missions. One commercial space firm, Final Analysis, has created a new program wherein either government, scientific or new technology payloads can be integrated on a commercial spacecraft on commercial satellites for a variety of mission scenarios at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated mission. NASA has recognized the advantage of this approach, and has awarded the Quick Ride program to provide frequent, low cost flight opportunities for small independent payloads aboard the Final Analysis constellation, and investigators are rapidly developing science programs that conform to the proposed payload accommodations envelope. Missions that were not feasible using dedicated launches are now receiving approval under the lower cost Quick Ride approach. Final Analysis has dedicated ten out of its thirty-eight satellites in support of the Quick Ride efforts. The benefit of this type of space access extend beyond NASA science programs. Commercial space firms can now gain valuable flight heritage for new technology and satellite product offerings. Further, emerging international space programs can now place a payload in orbit enabling the country to allocate its resources against the payload and mission requirements rather htan increased launch costs of a dedicated spacecraft. Finally, the low cost nature provides University-based research educational opportunities previously out of the reach of most space-related budgets. This paper will describe the motivation, benefits, technical features, and program costs of the Final Analysis secondary payload program. Payloads can be accommodated on up to thirty-eight separate satellites. Since the secondary payloads will fly on satellites designed for global wireless data services, each user can utilize low cost communication system already in place for sending and retrieving digital information from its payload.

The Hong Kong/AAO/Strasbourg Hα (HASH) Planetary Nebula Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bojičić, Ivan S.; Parker, Quentin A.; Frew, David J.

2017-10-01

The Hong Kong/AAO/Strasbourg Hα (HASH) planetary nebula database is an online research platform providing free and easy access to the largest and most comprehensive catalogue of known Galactic PNe and a repository of observational data (imaging and spectroscopy) for these and related astronomical objects. The main motivation for creating this system is resolving some of long standing problems in the field e.g. problems with mimics and dubious and/or misidentifications, errors in observational data and consolidation of the widely scattered data-sets. This facility allows researchers quick and easy access to the archived and new observational data and creating and sharing of non-redundant PN samples and catalogues.

Scientifically supported mental health intervention in schools: meeting accountability demands with an online resource.

PubMed

Powers, Joelle D

2012-01-01

Legislation has been passed that holds schools increasingly accountable for the proficiency of all students, including those with mental health problems. A critical obstacle impeding the ability of schools to effectively support students is the lack of access to quick, pre-screened, and organized information about scientifically-supported interventions that effectively address youth mental health problems. A new mental health best practices database was developed and made available online that provides access to free and user-friendly information about evidence-based interventions for use in schools. School staff will be better able to meet accountability demands of legislation and to effectively respond to student mental health problems.

Design and Development of Low-Cost Water Tunnel for Educational Purpose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zahari, M.; Dol, S. S.

2015-04-01

The hydrodynamic behaviour of immersed body is essential in fluid dynamics study. Water tunnel is an example of facility required to provide a controlled condition for fluid flow research. The operational principle of water tunnel is quite similar to the wind tunnel but with different working fluid and higher flow-pumping capacity. Flow visualization in wind tunnel is more difficult to conduct as turbulent flows in wind dissipate quickly whilst water tunnel is more suitable for such purpose due to higher fluid viscosity and wide variety of visualization techniques can be employed. The present work focusses on the design and development of open flow water tunnel for the purpose of studying vortex-induced vibration from turbulent vortex shedding phenomenon. The water tunnel is designed to provide a steady and uniform flow speed within the test section area. Construction details are discussed for development of low-cost water tunnel for quantitative and qualitative fluid flow measurements. The water tunnel can also be used for educational purpose such as fluid dynamics class activity to provide quick access to visualization medium for better understanding of various turbulence motion learnt in class.

The EBI Search engine: providing search and retrieval functionality for biological data from EMBL-EBI.

PubMed

Squizzato, Silvano; Park, Young Mi; Buso, Nicola; Gur, Tamer; Cowley, Andrew; Li, Weizhong; Uludag, Mahmut; Pundir, Sangya; Cham, Jennifer A; McWilliam, Hamish; Lopez, Rodrigo

2015-07-01

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI-https://www.ebi.ac.uk) provides free and unrestricted access to data across all major areas of biology and biomedicine. Searching and extracting knowledge across these domains requires a fast and scalable solution that addresses the requirements of domain experts as well as casual users. We present the EBI Search engine, referred to here as 'EBI Search', an easy-to-use fast text search and indexing system with powerful data navigation and retrieval capabilities. API integration provides access to analytical tools, allowing users to further investigate the results of their search. The interconnectivity that exists between data resources at EMBL-EBI provides easy, quick and precise navigation and a better understanding of the relationship between different data types including sequences, genes, gene products, proteins, protein domains, protein families, enzymes and macromolecular structures, together with relevant life science literature. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Space Sciences's Past, Present, and Future on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie A.; Jordan, Lee P.

2012-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility designed for microgravity investigation handling aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. MSG facility provides an enclosed working area for investigation manipulation and observation in the ISS. Provides two levels of containment via physical barrier, negative pressure, and air filtration. The MSG team and facilities provide quick access to space for exploratory and National Lab type investigations to gain an understanding of the role of gravity in the physics associated research areas.

Safe Haven Configurations for Deep Space Transit Habitats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smitherman, David; Polsgrove, Tara; Rowe, Justin; Simon, Matthew

2017-01-01

Throughout the human space flight program there have been instances where smoke, fire, and pressure loss have occurred onboard space vehicles, putting crews at risk for loss of mission and loss of life. In every instance the mission has been in Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) with access to multiple volumes that could be used to quickly seal off the damaged module or escape vehicles for a quick return to Earth. For long duration space missions beyond LEO, including Mars transit missions of about 1000 days, the mass penalty for multiple volumes has been a concern as has operating in an environment where a quick return will not be possible. In 2016 a study was done to investigate a variety of dual pressure vessel configurations for habitats that could protect the crew from these hazards. It was found that for a modest increase in total mass it should be possible to provide significant protection for the crew. Several configurations were developed that either had a small safe haven to provide 30-days to recover, or a full duration safe haven using two equal size pressure vessel volumes. The 30-day safe haven was found to be the simplest, yielding the least total mass impact but still with some risk if recovery is not possible during that timeframe. The full duration safe haven was the most massive option but provided the most robust solution. This paper provides information on the various layouts considered in the study and provides a discussion of the findings for implementing a safe haven in future habitat designs.

New Tools for Sea Ice Data Analysis and Visualization: NSIDC's Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vizcarra, N.; Stroeve, J.; Beam, K.; Beitler, J.; Brandt, M.; Kovarik, J.; Savoie, M. H.; Skaug, M.; Stafford, T.

2017-12-01

Arctic sea ice has long been recognized as a sensitive climate indicator and has undergone a dramatic decline over the past thirty years. Antarctic sea ice continues to be an intriguing and active field of research. The National Snow and Ice Data Center's Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis (ASINA) offers researchers and the public a transparent view of sea ice data and analysis. We have released a new set of tools for sea ice analysis and visualization. In addition to Charctic, our interactive sea ice extent graph, the new Sea Ice Data and Analysis Tools page provides access to Arctic and Antarctic sea ice data organized in seven different data workbooks, updated daily or monthly. An interactive tool lets scientists, or the public, quickly compare changes in ice extent and location. Another tool allows users to map trends, anomalies, and means for user-defined time periods. Animations of September Arctic and Antarctic monthly average sea ice extent and concentration may also be accessed from this page. Our tools help the NSIDC scientists monitor and understand sea ice conditions in near real time. They also allow the public to easily interact with and explore sea ice data. Technical innovations in our data center helped NSIDC quickly build these tools and more easily maintain them. The tools were made publicly accessible to meet the desire from the public and members of the media to access the numbers and calculations that power our visualizations and analysis. This poster explores these tools and how other researchers, the media, and the general public are using them.

Parametric design of tri-axial nested Helmholtz coils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, Jake J.

2015-05-01

This paper provides an optimal parametric design for tri-axial nested Helmholtz coils, which are used to generate a uniform magnetic field with controllable magnitude and direction. Circular and square coils, both with square cross section, are considered. Practical considerations such as wire selection, wire-wrapping efficiency, wire bending radius, choice of power supply, and inductance and time response are included. Using the equations provided, a designer can quickly create an optimal set of custom coils to generate a specified field magnitude in the uniform-field region while maintaining specified accessibility to the central workspace. An example case study is included.

Parametric design of tri-axial nested Helmholtz coils.

PubMed

Abbott, Jake J

2015-05-01

This paper provides an optimal parametric design for tri-axial nested Helmholtz coils, which are used to generate a uniform magnetic field with controllable magnitude and direction. Circular and square coils, both with square cross section, are considered. Practical considerations such as wire selection, wire-wrapping efficiency, wire bending radius, choice of power supply, and inductance and time response are included. Using the equations provided, a designer can quickly create an optimal set of custom coils to generate a specified field magnitude in the uniform-field region while maintaining specified accessibility to the central workspace. An example case study is included.

Parametric design of tri-axial nested Helmholtz coils

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

Abbott, Jake J., E-mail: jake.abbott@utah.edu

This paper provides an optimal parametric design for tri-axial nested Helmholtz coils, which are used to generate a uniform magnetic field with controllable magnitude and direction. Circular and square coils, both with square cross section, are considered. Practical considerations such as wire selection, wire-wrapping efficiency, wire bending radius, choice of power supply, and inductance and time response are included. Using the equations provided, a designer can quickly create an optimal set of custom coils to generate a specified field magnitude in the uniform-field region while maintaining specified accessibility to the central workspace. An example case study is included.

Making medical research clinically friendly: a communication-based conceptual framework.

PubMed

McGrath, John; Lawrence, Valerie; Richardson, W Scott

2004-11-01

It often takes a long time before the results of medical research are actually used by health care practitioners in day-to-day clinical settings. This problem, referred to as "the evidence-to-practice gap", has significant implications for patient health care. Practitioners have difficulty keeping up with the latest information in part because it is reported in hundreds of journals that may not be easily accessed and understood. This essay conceptualizes the evidence-to-practice gap as a communication problem and suggests how academic research can be translated into messages that are easier for practitioners to access, comprehend and incorporate into their medical practice. A "translation framework" shows the importance of targeting messages to specific audiences and provides a communication-based conceptual approach for summarizing research for clinicians. Targeting the results of academic research to practitioners will decrease the time it takes for patients to benefit from the latest medical evidence. Translation guidelines can help health researchers write more effectively for both academic and practitioner audiences. Since the evidence-to-practice gap is a systemic problem that begins with how we train our health researchers, educators should consider addressing this topic in the health professions classroom. The framework presented here can serve as the basis for an instructional unit on interpreting and reporting research findings. Finally, information technology can play a much larger role in the communication process because of the enormous advantages of quick access and data organization that computers and the Internet provide. Practitioner-targeted research summaries could be made available on government or not-for-profit sponsored websites as well as by journals themselves. Funding opportunities exist for research that focuses on how technology can help improve health care, and so the time is right for health researchers to investigate ways of making their studies more accessible and quickly usable via web-based distribution. The potential of medical science should not be limited by an information delivery system that we have the knowledge, expertise and resources to improve.

The Eclipsing Binary On-Line Atlas (EBOLA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradstreet, D. H.; Steelman, D. P.; Sanders, S. J.; Hargis, J. R.

2004-05-01

In conjunction with the upcoming release of \\it Binary Maker 3.0, an extensive on-line database of eclipsing binaries is being made available. The purposes of the atlas are: \\begin {enumerate} Allow quick and easy access to information on published eclipsing binaries. Amass a consistent database of light and radial velocity curve solutions to aid in solving new systems. Provide invaluable querying capabilities on all of the parameters of the systems so that informative research can be quickly accomplished on a multitude of published results. Aid observers in establishing new observing programs based upon stars needing new light and/or radial velocity curves. Encourage workers to submit their published results so that others may have easy access to their work. Provide a vast but easily accessible storehouse of information on eclipsing binaries to accelerate the process of understanding analysis techniques and current work in the field. \\end {enumerate} The database will eventually consist of all published eclipsing binaries with light curve solutions. The following information and data will be supplied whenever available for each binary: original light curves in all bandpasses, original radial velocity observations, light curve parameters, RA and Dec, V-magnitudes, spectral types, color indices, periods, binary type, 3D representation of the system near quadrature, plots of the original light curves and synthetic models, plots of the radial velocity observations with theoretical models, and \\it Binary Maker 3.0 data files (parameter, light curve, radial velocity). The pertinent references for each star are also given with hyperlinks directly to the papers via the NASA Abstract website for downloading, if available. In addition the Atlas has extensive searching options so that workers can specifically search for binaries with specific characteristics. The website has more than 150 systems already uploaded. The URL for the site is http://ebola.eastern.edu/.

QuickCash: Secure Transfer Payment Systems

PubMed Central

Alhothaily, Abdulrahman; Alrawais, Arwa; Song, Tianyi; Lin, Bin; Cheng, Xiuzhen

2017-01-01

Payment systems play a significant role in our daily lives. They are an important driver of economic activities and a vital part of the banking infrastructure of any country. Several current payment systems focus on security and reliability but pay less attention to users’ needs and behaviors. For example, people may share their bankcards with friends or relatives to withdraw money for various reasons. This behavior can lead to a variety of privacy and security issues since the cardholder has to share a bankcard and other sensitive information such as a personal identification number (PIN). In addition, it is commonplace that cardholders may lose their cards, and may not be able to access their accounts due to various reasons. Furthermore, transferring money to an individual who has lost their bankcard and identification information is not a straightforward task. A user-friendly person-to-person payment system is urgently needed to perform secure and reliable transactions that benefit from current technological advancements. In this paper, we propose two secure fund transfer methods termed QuickCash Online and QuickCash Offline to transfer money from peer to peer using the existing banking infrastructure. Our methods provide a convenient way to transfer money quickly, and they do not require using bank cards or any identification card. Unlike other person-to-person payment systems, the proposed methods do not require the receiving entity to have a bank account, or to perform any registration procedure. We implement our QuickCash payment systems and analyze their security strengths and properties. PMID:28608846

QuickCash: Secure Transfer Payment Systems.

PubMed

Alhothaily, Abdulrahman; Alrawais, Arwa; Song, Tianyi; Lin, Bin; Cheng, Xiuzhen

2017-06-13

Payment systems play a significant role in our daily lives. They are an important driver of economic activities and a vital part of the banking infrastructure of any country. Several current payment systems focus on security and reliability but pay less attention to users' needs and behaviors. For example, people may share their bankcards with friends or relatives to withdraw money for various reasons. This behavior can lead to a variety of privacy and security issues since the cardholder has to share a bankcard and other sensitive information such as a personal identification number (PIN). In addition, it is commonplace that cardholders may lose their cards, and may not be able to access their accounts due to various reasons. Furthermore, transferring money to an individual who has lost their bankcard and identification information is not a straightforward task. A user-friendly person-to-person payment system is urgently needed to perform secure and reliable transactions that benefit from current technological advancements. In this paper, we propose two secure fund transfer methods termed QuickCash Online and QuickCash Offline to transfer money from peer to peer using the existing banking infrastructure. Our methods provide a convenient way to transfer money quickly, and they do not require using bank cards or any identification card. Unlike other person-to-person payment systems, the proposed methods do not require the receiving entity to have a bank account, or to perform any registration procedure. We implement our QuickCash payment systems and analyze their security strengths and properties.

Engineering report for simulated riser installation

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

Brevick, C.H., Westinghouse Hanford

1996-05-09

The simulated riser installation field tests demonstrated that new access ports (risers) can be installed safely, quickly, and economically in the concrete domes of existing underground single- shell waste storage tanks by utilizing proven rotary drilling equipment and vacuum excavation techniques. The new riser installation will seal against water intrusion, provide as table riser anchored to the tank dome, and be installed in accordance with ALARA principles. The information contained in the report will apply to actual riser installation activity in the future.

Bellerophon

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

Lingerfelt, Eric J; Messer, II, Otis E

2017-01-02

The Bellerophon software system supports CHIMERA, a production-level HPC application that simulates the evolution of core-collapse supernovae. Bellerophon enables CHIMERA's geographically dispersed team of collaborators to perform job monitoring and real-time data analysis from multiple supercomputing resources, including platforms at OLCF, NERSC, and NICS. Its multi-tier architecture provides an encapsulated, end-to-end software solution that enables the CHIMERA team to quickly and easily access highly customizable animated and static views of results from anywhere in the world via a cross-platform desktop application.

Viewing the Value of Radiology Through Patient Web Portals.

PubMed

Liao, Geraldine J; Lee, Christoph I

2018-06-01

With widespread adoption of web portals and unfettered patient access to online radiology reports, these previous end products are quickly becoming springboards for direct radiologist-patient interactions, further increasing the value proposition for radiologists in an era of patient-centered care. Here, we provide a real-world scenario demonstrating a teachable moment on how imaging examination reporting in the digital era is expanding the radiologist's role in patient consultation. Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Information as Power: An Anthology of Selected United States Army War College Student Papers. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

audience. Things like web logs are providing a different way to access news and commentary. Bloggers invite the contributions of their readers...enough, there were wide differences in media coverage – some left leaning press and bloggers were quick to criticize this as a “war crime within a war...in the JOC. It is now after dinner and we are less than 12 hours from election time on January 29, 2005. The beautiful part is that this

Software Applications to Access Earth Science Data: Building an ECHO Client

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, A.; Cechini, M.; Pilone, D.

2010-12-01

Historically, developing an ECHO (NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) ClearingHOuse) client required interaction with its SOAP API. SOAP, as a framework for web service communication has numerous advantages for Enterprise applications and Java/C# type programming languages. However, as interest has grown for quick development cycles and more intriguing “mashups,” ECHO has seen the SOAP API lose its appeal. In order to address these changing needs, ECHO has introduced two new interfaces facilitating simple access to its metadata holdings. The first interface is built upon the OpenSearch format and ESIP Federated Search framework. The second interface is built upon the Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture. Using the REST and OpenSearch APIs to access ECHO makes development with modern languages much more feasible and simpler. Client developers can leverage the simple interaction with ECHO to focus more of their time on the advanced functionality they are presenting to users. To demonstrate the simplicity of developing with the REST API, participants will be led through a hands-on experience where they will develop an ECHO client that performs the following actions: + Login + Provider discovery + Provider based dataset discovery + Dataset, Temporal, and Spatial constraint based Granule discovery + Online Data Access

Availability of and Ease of Access to Calorie Information on Restaurant Websites

PubMed Central

Bennett, Gary G.; Steinberg, Dori M.; Lanpher, Michele G.; Askew, Sandy; Lane, Ilana B.; Levine, Erica L.; Goodman, Melody S.; Foley, Perry B.

2013-01-01

Objective Offering calories on restaurant websites might be particularly important for consumer meal planning, but the availability of and ease of accessing this information are unknown. Methods We assessed websites for the top 100 U.S. chain restaurants to determine the availability of and ease of access to calorie information as well as website design characteristics. We also examined potential predictors of calorie availability and ease of access. Results Eighty-two percent of restaurants provided calorie information on their websites; 25% presented calories on a mobile-formatted website. On average, calories could be accessed in 2.35±0.99 clicks. About half of sites (51.2%) linked to calorie information via the homepage. Fewer than half had a separate section identifying healthful options (46.3%), or utilized interactive meal planning tools (35.4%). Quick service/fast casual, larger restaurants, and those with less expensive entrées and lower revenue were more likely to make calorie information available. There were no predictors of ease of access. Conclusion Calorie information is both available and largely accessible on the websites of America’s leading restaurants. It is unclear whether consumer behavior is affected by the variability in the presentation of calorie information. PMID:23977193

Availability of and ease of access to calorie information on restaurant websites.

PubMed

Bennett, Gary G; Steinberg, Dori M; Lanpher, Michele G; Askew, Sandy; Lane, Ilana B; Levine, Erica L; Goodman, Melody S; Foley, Perry B

2013-01-01

Offering calories on restaurant websites might be particularly important for consumer meal planning, but the availability of and ease of accessing this information are unknown. We assessed websites for the top 100 U.S. chain restaurants to determine the availability of and ease of access to calorie information as well as website design characteristics. We also examined potential predictors of calorie availability and ease of access. Eighty-two percent of restaurants provided calorie information on their websites; 25% presented calories on a mobile-formatted website. On average, calories could be accessed in 2.35±0.99 clicks. About half of sites (51.2%) linked to calorie information via the homepage. Fewer than half had a separate section identifying healthful options (46.3%), or utilized interactive meal planning tools (35.4%). Quick service/fast casual, larger restaurants, and those with less expensive entrées and lower revenue were more likely to make calorie information available. There were no predictors of ease of access. Calorie information is both available and largely accessible on the websites of America's leading restaurants. It is unclear whether consumer behavior is affected by the variability in the presentation of calorie information.

RCSB PDB Mobile: iOS and Android mobile apps to provide data access and visualization to the RCSB Protein Data Bank.

PubMed

Quinn, Gregory B; Bi, Chunxiao; Christie, Cole H; Pang, Kyle; Prlić, Andreas; Nakane, Takanori; Zardecki, Christine; Voigt, Maria; Berman, Helen M; Bourne, Philip E; Rose, Peter W

2015-01-01

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) resource provides tools for query, analysis and visualization of the 3D structures in the PDB archive. As the mobile Web is starting to surpass desktop and laptop usage, scientists and educators are beginning to integrate mobile devices into their research and teaching. In response, we have developed the RCSB PDB Mobile app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms to enable fast and convenient access to RCSB PDB data and services. Using the app, users from the general public to expert researchers can quickly search and visualize biomolecules, and add personal annotations via the RCSB PDB's integrated MyPDB service. RCSB PDB Mobile is freely available from the Apple App Store and Google Play (http://www.rcsb.org). © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

RCSB PDB Mobile: iOS and Android mobile apps to provide data access and visualization to the RCSB Protein Data Bank

PubMed Central

Quinn, Gregory B.; Bi, Chunxiao; Christie, Cole H.; Pang, Kyle; Prlić, Andreas; Nakane, Takanori; Zardecki, Christine; Voigt, Maria; Berman, Helen M.; Rose, Peter W.

2015-01-01

Summary: The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) resource provides tools for query, analysis and visualization of the 3D structures in the PDB archive. As the mobile Web is starting to surpass desktop and laptop usage, scientists and educators are beginning to integrate mobile devices into their research and teaching. In response, we have developed the RCSB PDB Mobile app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms to enable fast and convenient access to RCSB PDB data and services. Using the app, users from the general public to expert researchers can quickly search and visualize biomolecules, and add personal annotations via the RCSB PDB’s integrated MyPDB service. Availability and implementation: RCSB PDB Mobile is freely available from the Apple App Store and Google Play (http://www.rcsb.org). Contact: pwrose@ucsd.edu PMID:25183487

Health Disparities in Women

PubMed Central

Hornbuckle, Lyndsey M; Amutah-Onukagha, Ndidiamaka; Bryan, Alicia; Skidmore Edwards, Elizabeth; Madzima, Takudzwa; Massey, Kelly; May, Linda; Robinson, Leah E

2017-01-01

AIMS AND SCOPE Clinical Medicine Insights: Women’s Health is an international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal which considers manuscripts on all aspects of the diagnosis, management, and prevention of disorders specific to women, in addition to related genetic, pathophysiological, and epidemiological topics. Clinical Medicine Insights: Women’s Health aims to provide researchers working in this complex, quickly developing field with online, open access to highly relevant scholarly articles by leading international researchers. In a field where the literature is ever-expanding, researchers increasingly need access to up-to-date, high-quality scholarly articles on areas of specific contemporary interest. This supplement is on Health Disparities in Women. This supplement aims to address this by presenting high-quality articles that allow readers to distinguish the signal from the noise. The editor in chief hopes that through this effort, practitioners and researchers will be aided in finding answers to some of the most complex and pressing issues of our time. PMID:28579867

For Which Side the Bell Tolls: The Laterality of Approach-Avoidance Associative Networks.

PubMed

Fetterman, Adam K; Ode, Scott; Robinson, Michael D

2013-03-01

The two hemispheres of the brain appear to play different roles in emotion and/or motivation. A great deal of previous research has examined the valence hypothesis (left hemisphere = positive; right = negative), but an increasing body of work has supported the motivational hypothesis (left hemisphere = approach; right = avoidance) as an alternative. The present investigation ( N = 117) sought to provide novel support for the latter perspective. Left versus right hemispheres were briefly activated by neutral lateralized auditory primes. Subsequently, participants categorized approach versus avoidance words as quickly and accurately as possible. Performance in the task revealed that approach-related thoughts were more accessible following left-hemispheric activation, whereas avoidance-related thoughts were more accessible following right-hemispheric activation. The present results are the first to examine such lateralized differences in accessible motivational thoughts, which may underlie more "downstream" manifestations of approach and avoidance motivation such as judgments, decision making, and behavior.

For Which Side the Bell Tolls: The Laterality of Approach-Avoidance Associative Networks

PubMed Central

Fetterman, Adam K.; Ode, Scott; Robinson, Michael D.

2012-01-01

The two hemispheres of the brain appear to play different roles in emotion and/or motivation. A great deal of previous research has examined the valence hypothesis (left hemisphere = positive; right = negative), but an increasing body of work has supported the motivational hypothesis (left hemisphere = approach; right = avoidance) as an alternative. The present investigation (N = 117) sought to provide novel support for the latter perspective. Left versus right hemispheres were briefly activated by neutral lateralized auditory primes. Subsequently, participants categorized approach versus avoidance words as quickly and accurately as possible. Performance in the task revealed that approach-related thoughts were more accessible following left-hemispheric activation, whereas avoidance-related thoughts were more accessible following right-hemispheric activation. The present results are the first to examine such lateralized differences in accessible motivational thoughts, which may underlie more “downstream” manifestations of approach and avoidance motivation such as judgments, decision making, and behavior. PMID:23869114

DAS: A Data Management System for Instrument Tests and Operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frailis, M.; Sartor, S.; Zacchei, A.; Lodi, M.; Cirami, R.; Pasian, F.; Trifoglio, M.; Bulgarelli, A.; Gianotti, F.; Franceschi, E.; Nicastro, L.; Conforti, V.; Zoli, A.; Smart, R.; Morbidelli, R.; Dadina, M.

2014-05-01

The Data Access System (DAS) is a and data management software system, providing a reusable solution for the storage of data acquired both from telescopes and auxiliary data sources during the instrument development phases and operations. It is part of the Customizable Instrument WorkStation system (CIWS-FW), a framework for the storage, processing and quick-look at the data acquired from scientific instruments. The DAS provides a data access layer mainly targeted to software applications: quick-look displays, pre-processing pipelines and scientific workflows. It is logically organized in three main components: an intuitive and compact Data Definition Language (DAS DDL) in XML format, aimed for user-defined data types; an Application Programming Interface (DAS API), automatically adding classes and methods supporting the DDL data types, and providing an object-oriented query language; a data management component, which maps the metadata of the DDL data types in a relational Data Base Management System (DBMS), and stores the data in a shared (network) file system. With the DAS DDL, developers define the data model for a particular project, specifying for each data type the metadata attributes, the data format and layout (if applicable), and named references to related or aggregated data types. Together with the DDL user-defined data types, the DAS API acts as the only interface to store, query and retrieve the metadata and data in the DAS system, providing both an abstract interface and a data model specific one in C, C++ and Python. The mapping of metadata in the back-end database is automatic and supports several relational DBMSs, including MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL.

Design and application of a tool for structuring, capitalizing and making more accessible information and lessons learned from accidents involving machinery.

PubMed

Sadeghi, Samira; Sadeghi, Leyla; Tricot, Nicolas; Mathieu, Luc

2017-12-01

Accident reports are published in order to communicate the information and lessons learned from accidents. An efficient accident recording and analysis system is a necessary step towards improvement of safety. However, currently there is a shortage of efficient tools to support such recording and analysis. In this study we introduce a flexible and customizable tool that allows structuring and analysis of this information. This tool has been implemented under TEEXMA®. We named our prototype TEEXMA®SAFETY. This tool provides an information management system to facilitate data collection, organization, query, analysis and reporting of accidents. A predefined information retrieval module provides ready access to data which allows the user to quickly identify the possible hazards for specific machines and provides information on the source of hazards. The main target audience for this tool includes safety personnel, accident reporters and designers. The proposed data model has been developed by analyzing different accident reports.

Enabling Object Storage via shims for Grid Middleware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cadellin Skipsey, Samuel; De Witt, Shaun; Dewhurst, Alastair; Britton, David; Roy, Gareth; Crooks, David

2015-12-01

The Object Store model has quickly become the basis of most commercially successful mass storage infrastructure, backing so-called ”Cloud” storage such as Amazon S3, but also underlying the implementation of most parallel distributed storage systems. Many of the assumptions in Object Store design are similar, but not identical, to concepts in the design of Grid Storage Elements, although the requirement for ”POSIX-like” filesystem structures on top of SEs makes the disjunction seem larger. As modern Object Stores provide many features that most Grid SEs do not (block level striping, parallel access, automatic file repair, etc.), it is of interest to see how easily we can provide interfaces to typical Object Stores via plugins and shims for Grid tools, and how well experiments can adapt their data models to them. We present evaluation of, and first-deployment experiences with, (for example) Xrootd-Ceph interfaces for direct object-store access, as part of an initiative within GridPP[1] hosted at RAL. Additionally, we discuss the tradeoffs and experience of developing plugins for the currently-popular Ceph parallel distributed filesystem for the GFAL2 access layer, at Glasgow.

The EBI search engine: EBI search as a service—making biological data accessible for all

PubMed Central

Park, Young M.; Squizzato, Silvano; Buso, Nicola; Gur, Tamer

2017-01-01

Abstract We present an update of the EBI Search engine, an easy-to-use fast text search and indexing system with powerful data navigation and retrieval capabilities. The interconnectivity that exists between data resources at EMBL–EBI provides easy, quick and precise navigation and a better understanding of the relationship between different data types that include nucleotide and protein sequences, genes, gene products, proteins, protein domains, protein families, enzymes and macromolecular structures, as well as the life science literature. EBI Search provides a powerful RESTful API that enables its integration into third-party portals, thus providing ‘Search as a Service’ capabilities, which are the main topic of this article. PMID:28472374

Design and implementation of fishery rescue data mart system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Jun; Huang, Haiguang; Liu, Yousong

A novel data mart based system for fishery rescue field was designed and implemented. The system runs ETL process to deal with original data from various databases and data warehouses, and then reorganized the data into the fishery rescue data mart. Next, online analytical processing (OLAP) are carried out and statistical reports are generated automatically. Particularly, quick configuration schemes are designed to configure query dimensions and OLAP data sets. The configuration file will be transformed into statistic interfaces automatically through a wizard-style process. The system provides various forms of reporting files, including crystal reports, flash graphical reports, and two-dimensional data grids. In addition, a wizard style interface was designed to guide users customizing inquiry processes, making it possible for nontechnical staffs to access customized reports. Characterized by quick configuration, safeness and flexibility, the system has been successfully applied in city fishery rescue department.

The Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peeples, M.; Tumlinson, J.; Fox, A.; Aloisi, A.; Fleming, S.; Jedrzejewski, R.; Oliveira, C.; Ayres, T.; Danforth, C.; Keeney, B.; Jenkins, E.

2017-04-01

With no future space ultraviolet instruments currently planned, the data from the UV spectrographs aboard the Hubble Space Telescope have a legacy value beyond their initial science goals. The goal of the Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy Archive(HSLA) is to provide to the community new science-grade combined spectra for all publicly available data obtained by the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). These data are packaged into "smart archives" according to target type and scientific themes to facilitate the construction of archival samples for common science uses. A new "quick look" capability makes the data easy for users to quickly access, assess the quality of,and download for archival science. The first generation of these products for the far-ultraviolet (FUV) modes of COS was made available online via the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) in early 2016 and updated in early 2017; future releases will include COS/NUV and STIS/UV data.

Policy Driven Development: Flexible Policy Insertion for Large Scale Systems.

PubMed

Demchak, Barry; Krüger, Ingolf

2012-07-01

The success of a software system depends critically on how well it reflects and adapts to stakeholder requirements. Traditional development methods often frustrate stakeholders by creating long latencies between requirement articulation and system deployment, especially in large scale systems. One source of latency is the maintenance of policy decisions encoded directly into system workflows at development time, including those involving access control and feature set selection. We created the Policy Driven Development (PDD) methodology to address these development latencies by enabling the flexible injection of decision points into existing workflows at runtime , thus enabling policy composition that integrates requirements furnished by multiple, oblivious stakeholder groups. Using PDD, we designed and implemented a production cyberinfrastructure that demonstrates policy and workflow injection that quickly implements stakeholder requirements, including features not contemplated in the original system design. PDD provides a path to quickly and cost effectively evolve such applications over a long lifetime.

Mobile-Based Dictionary of Information and Communication Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liando, O. E. S.; Mewengkang, A.; Kaseger, D.; Sangkop, F. I.; Rantung, V. P.; Rorimpandey, G. C.

2018-02-01

This study aims to design and build mobile-based dictionary of information and communication technology applications to provide access to information in the form of glossary of terms in the context of information and communication technologies. Applications built in this study using the Android platform, with SQLite database model. This research uses prototype model development method which covers the stages of communication, Quick Plan, Quick Design Modeling, Construction of Prototype, Deployment Delivery & Feedback, and Full System Transformation. The design of this application is designed in such a way as to facilitate the user in the process of learning and understanding the new terms or vocabularies encountered in the world of information and communication technology. Mobile-based dictionary of Information And Communication Technology applications that have been built can be an alternative to learning literature. In its simplest form, this application is able to meet the need for a comprehensive and accurate dictionary of Information And Communication Technology function.

Cloud-Based Mobile Application Development Tools and NASA Science Datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oostra, D.; Lewis, P. M.; Chambers, L. H.; Moore, S. W.

2011-12-01

A number of cloud-based visual development tools have emerged that provide methods for developing mobile applications quickly and without previous programming experience. This paper will explore how our new and current data users can best combine these cloud-based mobile application tools and available NASA climate science datasets. Our vision is that users will create their own mobile applications for visualizing our data and will develop tools for their own needs. The approach we are documenting is based on two main ideas. The first is to provide training and information. Through examples, sharing experiences, and providing workshops, users can be shown how to use free online tools to easily create mobile applications that interact with NASA datasets. The second approach is to provide application programming interfaces (APIs), databases, and web applications to access data in a way that educators, students and scientists can quickly integrate it into their own mobile application development. This framework allows us to foster development activities and boost interaction with NASA's data while saving resources that would be required for a large internal application development staff. The findings of this work will include data gathered through meetings with local data providers, educators, libraries and individuals. From the very first queries into this topic, a high level of interest has been identified from our groups of users. This overt interest, combined with the marked popularity of mobile applications, has created a new channel for outreach and communications between the science and education communities. As a result, we would like to offer educators and other stakeholders some insight into the mobile application development arena, and provide some next steps and new approaches. Our hope is that, through our efforts, we will broaden the scope and usage of NASA's climate science data by providing new ways to access environmentally relevant datasets.

Transaction aware tape-infrastructure monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikolaidis, Fotios; Kruse, Daniele Francesco

2014-06-01

Administrating a large scale, multi protocol, hierarchical tape infrastructure like the CERN Advanced STORage manager (CASTOR)[2], which stores now 100 PB (with an increasing step of 25 PB per year), requires an adequate monitoring system for quick spotting of malfunctions, easier debugging and on demand report generation. The main challenges for such system are: to cope with CASTOR's log format diversity and its information scattered among several log files, the need for long term information archival, the strict reliability requirements and the group based GUI visualization. For this purpose, we have designed, developed and deployed a centralized system consisting of four independent layers: the Log Transfer layer for collecting log lines from all tape servers to a single aggregation server, the Data Mining layer for combining log data into transaction context, the Storage layer for archiving the resulting transactions and finally the Web UI layer for accessing the information. Having flexibility, extensibility and maintainability in mind, each layer is designed to work as a message broker for the next layer, providing a clean and generic interface while ensuring consistency, redundancy and ultimately fault tolerance. This system unifies information previously dispersed over several monitoring tools into a single user interface, using Splunk, which also allows us to provide information visualization based on access control lists (ACL). Since its deployment, it has been successfully used by CASTOR tape operators for quick overview of transactions, performance evaluation, malfunction detection and from managers for report generation.

libChEBI: an API for accessing the ChEBI database.

PubMed

Swainston, Neil; Hastings, Janna; Dekker, Adriano; Muthukrishnan, Venkatesh; May, John; Steinbeck, Christoph; Mendes, Pedro

2016-01-01

ChEBI is a database and ontology of chemical entities of biological interest. It is widely used as a source of identifiers to facilitate unambiguous reference to chemical entities within biological models, databases, ontologies and literature. ChEBI contains a wealth of chemical data, covering over 46,500 distinct chemical entities, and related data such as chemical formula, charge, molecular mass, structure, synonyms and links to external databases. Furthermore, ChEBI is an ontology, and thus provides meaningful links between chemical entities. Unlike many other resources, ChEBI is fully human-curated, providing a reliable, non-redundant collection of chemical entities and related data. While ChEBI is supported by a web service for programmatic access and a number of download files, it does not have an API library to facilitate the use of ChEBI and its data in cheminformatics software. To provide this missing functionality, libChEBI, a comprehensive API library for accessing ChEBI data, is introduced. libChEBI is available in Java, Python and MATLAB versions from http://github.com/libChEBI, and provides full programmatic access to all data held within the ChEBI database through a simple and documented API. libChEBI is reliant upon the (automated) download and regular update of flat files that are held locally. As such, libChEBI can be embedded in both on- and off-line software applications. libChEBI allows better support of ChEBI and its data in the development of new cheminformatics software. Covering three key programming languages, it allows for the entirety of the ChEBI database to be accessed easily and quickly through a simple API. All code is open access and freely available.

Climate Engine - Monitoring Drought with Google Earth Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hegewisch, K.; Daudert, B.; Morton, C.; McEvoy, D.; Huntington, J. L.; Abatzoglou, J. T.

2016-12-01

Drought has adverse effects on society through reduced water availability and agricultural production and increased wildfire risk. An abundance of remotely sensed imagery and climate data are being collected in near-real time that can provide place-based monitoring and early warning of drought and related hazards. However, in an era of increasing wealth of earth observations, tools that quickly access, compute, and visualize archives, and provide answers at relevant scales to better inform decision-making are lacking. We have developed ClimateEngine.org, a web application that uses Google's Earth Engine platform to enable users to quickly compute and visualize real-time observations. A suite of drought indices allow us to monitor and track drought from local (30-meters) to regional scales and contextualize current droughts within the historical record. Climate Engine is currently being used by U.S. federal agencies and researchers to develop baseline conditions and impact assessments related to agricultural, ecological, and hydrological drought. Climate Engine is also working with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) to expedite monitoring agricultural drought over broad areas at risk of food insecurity globally.

The System for Quick Search of the Astronomical Objects and Events in the Digital Plate Archives.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sergeev, A. V.; Sergeeva, T. P.

From the middle of the XIX century observatories all over the world have accumulated about three millions astronomical plates contained the unique information about the Universe which can not be obtained or restored with the help of any newest facilities and technologies but may be useful for many modern astronomical investigations. The threat of astronomical plate archives loss caused by economical, technical or some other causes have put before world astronomical community a problem: the preservation of the unique information kept on those plates. The problem can be solved by transformation of the information from plates to digital form and keeping it on electronic data medium. We began a creation of a system for quick search and analysing of astronomical events and objects in digital plate archive of the Ukrainian Main astronomical observatory of NAS. Connection of the system to Internet will allow a remote user (astronomer or observer) to have access to digital plate archive and to work with it. For providing of the high efficiency of this work the plate database (list of the plates with all information about them and access software) are preparing. Modular structure of the system basic software and standard format of the plate image files allow future development of problem-oriented software for special astronomical researches.

Best practices for scholarly authors in the age of predatory journals

PubMed Central

Beall, J

2016-01-01

‘Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to understanding our potential.’ Margaret J Wheatley The focus of any academic or research author is to share his or her findings, and to gain respect and reward for publishing. The ideal journal is one that not only publishes an article quickly but also helps the author to improve the article before publication through peer review, selects only the best research so that the author’s article lies alongside other high quality articles, and provides maximum (and long-term) visibility and access to the article. Unfortunately, in the real world, authors need to make tradeoffs between high quality journals, those that work quickly, those that are willing to accept the article and those that provide the best access. Into this mix has come the potential of open access as a means of increasing visibility: journals publish the article without a subscription barrier so anyone, anywhere, can read the article. However, the growth of open access (pushed by institutions, grant bodies and governments as a means of improving human health and knowledge) has come with some unforeseen consequences. In this article, Jeffrey Beall discusses one recent phenomenon that has arisen from the open access movement: that of ‘predatory publishers’. These are individuals or companies that use the open access financial system (author pays, rather than library subscribes) to defraud authors and readers by promising reputable publishing platforms but delivering nothing of the sort. They frequently have imaginary editorial boards, do not operate any peer review or quality control, are unclear about payment requirements and opaque about ownership or location, include plagiarised content and publish whatever somebody will pay them to publish. Predatory publishers generally make false promises to authors and behave unethically. They also undermine the scholarly information and publishing environment with a deluge of poor quality, unchecked and invalidated articles often published on temporary sites, thus losing the scholarly record. Jeffrey Beall, a librarian in Denver, US, has watched the rise of such fraudulent practice, and manages a blog site that names publishers and journals that he has identified as predatory. While Beall’s lists can provide librarians and knowledgeable authors with information on which journals and publishers to be cautious about, several legitimate publishers, library groups and others have joined forces to educate and inform authors in what to look for when selecting journals to publish in (or read). This initiative, called Think. Check. Submit. (http://thinkchecksubmit.org/), was launched in the latter half of 2015 and hopes to raise awareness of disreputable journals while clearly separating them from valid, high quality, open access journals (of which there are many). PIPPA SMART Guest Editor PMID:26829665

Best practices for scholarly authors in the age of predatory journals.

PubMed

Beall, J

2016-02-01

'Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to understanding our potential.' Margaret J Wheatley. The focus of any academic or research author is to share his or her findings, and to gain respect and reward for publishing. The ideal journal is one that not only publishes an article quickly but also helps the author to improve the article before publication through peer review, selects only the best research so that the author's article lies alongside other high quality articles, and provides maximum (and long-term) visibility and access to the article. Unfortunately, in the real world, authors need to make tradeoffs between high quality journals, those that work quickly, those that are willing to accept the article and those that provide the best access. Into this mix has come the potential of open access as a means of increasing visibility: journals publish the article without a subscription barrier so anyone, anywhere, can read the article. However, the growth of open access (pushed by institutions, grant bodies and governments as a means of improving human health and knowledge) has come with some unforeseen consequences. In this article, Jeffrey Beall discusses one recent phenomenon that has arisen from the open access movement: that of 'predatory publishers'. These are individuals or companies that use the open access financial system (author pays, rather than library subscribes) to defraud authors and readers by promising reputable publishing platforms but delivering nothing of the sort. They frequently have imaginary editorial boards, do not operate any peer review or quality control, are unclear about payment requirements and opaque about ownership or location, include plagiarised content and publish whatever somebody will pay them to publish. Predatory publishers generally make false promises to authors and behave unethically. They also undermine the scholarly information and publishing environment with a deluge of poor quality, unchecked and invalidated articles often published on temporary sites, thus losing the scholarly record. Jeffrey Beall, a librarian in Denver, US, has watched the rise of such fraudulent practice, and manages a blog site that names publishers and journals that he has identified as predatory. While Beall's lists can provide librarians and knowledgeable authors with information on which journals and publishers to be cautious about, several legitimate publishers, library groups and others have joined forces to educate and inform authors in what to look for when selecting journals to publish in (or read). This initiative, called Think. Check. Submit. (http://thinkchecksubmit.org/), was launched in the latter half of 2015 and hopes to raise awareness of disreputable journals while clearly separating them from valid, high quality, open access journals (of which there are many). PIPPA SMART Guest Editor.

Processing of on-board recorded data for quick analysis of aircraft performance. [rotor systems research aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Michaud, N. H.

1979-01-01

A system of independent computer programs for the processing of digitized pulse code modulated (PCM) and frequency modulated (FM) data is described. Information is stored in a set of random files and accessed to produce both statistical and graphical output. The software system is designed primarily to present these reports within a twenty-four hour period for quick analysis of the helicopter's performance.

Gee Fu: a sequence version and web-services database tool for genomic assembly, genome feature and NGS data.

PubMed

Ramirez-Gonzalez, Ricardo; Caccamo, Mario; MacLean, Daniel

2011-10-01

Scientists now use high-throughput sequencing technologies and short-read assembly methods to create draft genome assemblies in just days. Tools and pipelines like the assembler, and the workflow management environments make it easy for a non-specialist to implement complicated pipelines to produce genome assemblies and annotations very quickly. Such accessibility results in a proliferation of assemblies and associated files, often for many organisms. These assemblies get used as a working reference by lots of different workers, from a bioinformatician doing gene prediction or a bench scientist designing primers for PCR. Here we describe Gee Fu, a database tool for genomic assembly and feature data, including next-generation sequence alignments. Gee Fu is an instance of a Ruby-On-Rails web application on a feature database that provides web and console interfaces for input, visualization of feature data via AnnoJ, access to data through a web-service interface, an API for direct data access by Ruby scripts and access to feature data stored in BAM files. Gee Fu provides a platform for storing and sharing different versions of an assembly and associated features that can be accessed and updated by bench biologists and bioinformaticians in ways that are easy and useful for each. http://tinyurl.com/geefu dan.maclean@tsl.ac.uk.

Minimizing Spatial Variability of Healthcare Spatial Accessibility-The Case of a Dengue Fever Outbreak.

PubMed

Chu, Hone-Jay; Lin, Bo-Cheng; Yu, Ming-Run; Chan, Ta-Chien

2016-12-13

Outbreaks of infectious diseases or multi-casualty incidents have the potential to generate a large number of patients. It is a challenge for the healthcare system when demand for care suddenly surges. Traditionally, valuation of heath care spatial accessibility was based on static supply and demand information. In this study, we proposed an optimal model with the three-step floating catchment area (3SFCA) to account for the supply to minimize variability in spatial accessibility. We used empirical dengue fever outbreak data in Tainan City, Taiwan in 2015 to demonstrate the dynamic change in spatial accessibility based on the epidemic trend. The x and y coordinates of dengue-infected patients with precision loss were provided publicly by the Tainan City government, and were used as our model's demand. The spatial accessibility of heath care during the dengue outbreak from August to October 2015 was analyzed spatially and temporally by producing accessibility maps, and conducting capacity change analysis. This study also utilized the particle swarm optimization (PSO) model to decrease the spatial variation in accessibility and shortage areas of healthcare resources as the epidemic went on. The proposed method in this study can help decision makers reallocate healthcare resources spatially when the ratios of demand and supply surge too quickly and form clusters in some locations.

Mass prophylaxis dispensing concerns: traffic and public access to PODs.

PubMed

Baccam, Prasith; Willauer, David; Krometis, Justin; Ma, Yongchang; Sen, Atri; Boechler, Michael

2011-06-01

The ability to quickly dispense postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) using multiple points of dispensing (PODs) following a bioterrorism event could potentially save a large proportion of those who were exposed, while failure in PEP dispensing could have dire public health consequences. A Monte Carlo simulation was developed to explore the traffic flow and parking around PODs under different arrival rates and how these factors might affect the utilization rate of POD workers. The results demonstrate that the public can reasonably access the PODs under ideal conditions assuming a stationary (uniform) arrival rate. For the 5 nonstationary arrival rates tested, however, the available parking spaces quickly become filled, causing long traffic queues and resulting in total processing times that range from 1 hour to over 6 hours. Basic planning considerations should include the use of physical barriers, signage, and traffic control officers to help direct vehicular and pedestrian access to the PODs. Furthermore, the parking and traffic surrounding PODs creates long queues of people waiting to access the PODs. Thus, POD staff are fully used approximately 90% of the time, which can lead to worker fatigue and burn out.

Learning Relational Policies from Electronic Health Record Access Logs

PubMed Central

Malin, Bradley; Nyemba, Steve; Paulett, John

2011-01-01

Modern healthcare organizations (HCOs) are composed of complex dynamic teams to ensure clinical operations are executed in a quick and competent manner. At the same time, the fluid nature of such environments hinders administrators' efforts to define access control policies that appropriately balance patient privacy and healthcare functions. Manual efforts to define these policies are labor-intensive and error-prone, often resulting in systems that endow certain care providers with overly broad access to patients' medical records while restricting other providers from legitimate and timely use. In this work, we propose an alternative method to generate these policies by automatically mining usage patterns from electronic health record (EHR) systems. EHR systems are increasingly being integrated into clinical environments and our approach is designed to be generalizable across HCOs, thus assisting in the design and evaluation of local access control policies. Our technique, which is grounded in data mining and social network analysis theory, extracts a statistical model of the organization from the access logs of its EHRs. In doing so, our approach enables the review of predefined policies, as well as the discovery of unknown behaviors. We evaluate our approach with five months of access logs from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and confirm the existence of stable social structures and intuitive business operations. Additionally, we demonstrate that there is significant turnover in the interactions between users in the HCO and that policies learned at the department level afford greater stability over time. PMID:21277996

Visualization of High-Resolution LiDAR Topography in Google Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Arrowsmith, R.; Blair, J. L.

2009-12-01

The growing availability of high-resolution LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) topographic data has proven to be revolutionary for Earth science research. These data allow scientists to study the processes acting on the Earth’s surfaces at resolutions not previously possible yet essential for their appropriate representation. In addition to their utility for research, the data have also been recognized as powerful tools for communicating earth science concepts for education and outreach purposes. Unfortunately, the massive volume of data produced by LiDAR mapping technology can be a barrier to their use. To facilitate access to these powerful data for research and educational purposes, we have been exploring the use of Keyhole Markup Language (KML) and Google Earth to deliver LiDAR-derived visualizations. The OpenTopography Portal (http://www.opentopography.org/) is a National Science Foundation-funded facility designed to provide access to Earth science-oriented LiDAR data. OpenTopography hosts a growing collection of LiDAR data for a variety of geologic domains, including many of the active faults in the western United States. We have found that the wide spectrum of LiDAR users have variable scientific applications, computing resources, and technical experience and thus require a data distribution system that provides various levels of access to the data. For users seeking a synoptic view of the data, and for education and outreach purposes, delivering full-resolution images derived from LiDAR topography into the Google Earth virtual globe is powerful. The virtual globe environment provides a freely available and easily navigated viewer and enables quick integration of the LiDAR visualizations with imagery, geographic layers, and other relevant data available in KML format. Through region-dependant network linked KML, OpenTopography currently delivers over 20 GB of LiDAR-derived imagery to users via simple, easily downloaded KMZ files hosted at the Portal. This method provides seamlessly access to hillshaded imagery for both bare earth and first return terrain models with various angles of illumination. Seamless access to LiDAR-derived imagery in Google Earth has proven to be the most popular product available in the OpenTopography Portal. The hillshade KMZ files have been downloaded over 3000 times by users ranging from earthquake scientists to K-12 educators who wish to introduce cutting edge real world data into their earth science lessons. OpenTopography also provides dynamically generated KMZ visualizations of LiDAR data products produced when users choose to use the OpenTopography point cloud access and processing system. These Google Earth compatible products allow users to quickly visualize the custom terrain products they have generated without the burden of loading the data into a GIS environment. For users who have installed the Google Earth browser plug-in, these visualizations can be launched directly from the OpenTopography results page and viewed directly in the browser.

The tablet device in hospital neurology and in neurology graduate medical education: a preliminary study.

PubMed

George, Pravin; Newey, Christopher R; Bhimraj, Adarsh

2015-01-01

There is limited literature on tablet devices for neurohospitalists and in neurological graduate medical education. This study evaluated utilization, benefits, and limitations of customized tablets on inpatient neurology practice and resident education. The hypothesis was the perception of the tablet would be positive, given their portability, convenience to accessing point-of-care reference, and accessibility to the electronic medical record. Second-generation iPads with neurology-specific applications and literature were provided to our in-hospital general, stroke, and consult neurology teams. After 1 year, residents on these teams were surveyed on demographic data, familiarity, and utilization of the iPad and their perceptions of the device. All 27 residents responded to the survey. Most participants (23 of 27) used a tablet while on inpatient service. Twelve regularly utilized the neurology-specific apps and/or accessed scientific articles. Technologically savvy residents felt significantly more comfortable using tablets and were more quickly acquainted with the features. Thirteen respondents wanted a formal orientation on the advanced features of the tablet independent of their familiarity with the device or level of technological comfort. Overall, the perception was that the tablet was beneficial for inpatient clinical care and as an educational reference. Participants became easily familiarized with the device features quickly, regardless of whether they owned one previously or not. Most physicians indicated interest in advanced features of tablets; however, a formal orientation may be beneficial for optimal utilization. A reliable network connection is essential to in-hospital use of tablet devices. Additional research pertaining to patient outcomes, objective educational benefit, and cost-effectiveness is necessary.

Radial access for cerebrovascular procedures: Case report and technical note.

PubMed

Satti, Sudhakar R; Vance, Ansar Z; Sivapatham, Thinesh

2016-04-01

Advantages of radial access over brachial/axillary or femoral access have been well described for several decades and include decreased cost, patient preference, and decreased major access site complications. Despite these advantages, radial access is rarely employed or even considered for neurointerventional procedures. This attitude should be reconsidered given several recent large, randomized, controlled trials from the cardiovascular literature proving that radial access is associated with statistically lower costs, decreased incidence of myocardial infarctions, strokes, and even decreased mortality. Radial access is now considered the standard of care for percutaneous coronary interventions in most US centers. Although radial access has been described for neurovascular procedures in the past, overall experience is limited. The two major challenges are the unique anatomy required to access the cerebral vasculature given very acute angles between the arm and craniocervical vessels and limitations in available technology. We present a simplified approach to radial access for cerebrovascular procedures and provide a concise step-by-step approach for patient selection, ultrasound-guided single-wall access, recommended catheters/wires, and review of patent hemostasis. Additionally, we present a complex cerebrovascular intervention in which standard femoral access was unsuccessful, while radial access was quickly achieved to highlight the importance of familiarity with the radial approach for all neurointerventionalists. We have found that the learning curve is not too steep and that the radial access approach can be adopted smoothly for a large percentage of diagnostic and interventional neuroradiologic procedures. Radial access should be considered in all patients undergoing a cerebrovascular procedure. © The Author(s) 2015.

GENESI-DR - A single access point to Earth Science data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cossu, R.; Goncalves, P.; Pacini, F.

2009-04-01

The amount of information being generated about our planet is increasing at an exponential rate, but it must be easily accessible in order to apply it to the global needs relating to the state of the Earth. Currently, information about the state of the Earth, relevant services, analysis results, applications and tools are accessible in a very scattered and uncoordinated way, often through individual initiatives from Earth Observation mission operators, scientific institutes dealing with ground measurements, service companies, data catalogues, etc. A dedicated infrastructure providing transparent access to all this will support Earth Science communities by allowing them to easily and quickly derive objective information and share knowledge based on all environmentally sensitive domains. The use of high-speed networks (GÉANT) and the experimentation of new technologies, like BitTorrent, will also contribute to better services for the Earth Science communities. GENESI-DR (Ground European Network for Earth Science Interoperations - Digital Repositories), an ESA-led, European Commission (EC)-funded two-year project, is taking the lead in providing reliable, easy, long-term access to Earth Science data via the Internet. This project will allow scientists from different Earth Science disciplines located across Europe to locate, access, combine and integrate historical and fresh Earth-related data from space, airborne and in-situ sensors archived in large distributed repositories. GENESI-DR builds a federated collection of heterogeneous digital Earth Science repositories to establish a dedicated infrastructure providing transparent access to all this and allowing Earth Science communities to easily and quickly derive objective information and share knowledge based on all environmentally sensitive domains. The federated digital repositories, seen as services and data providers, will share access to their resources (catalogue functions, data access, processing services etc.) and will adhere to a common set of standards / policies / interfaces. The end-users will be provided with a virtual collection of digital Earth Science data, irrespectively of their location in the various single federated repositories. GENESI-DR objectives have lead to the identification of the basic GENESI-DR infrastructure requirements: • Capability, for Earth Science users, to discover data from different European Earth Science Digital Repositories through the same interface in a transparent and homogeneous way; • Easiness and speed of access to large volumes of coherently maintained distributed data in an effective and timely way; • Capability, for DR owners, to easily make available their data to a significantly increased audience with no need to duplicate them in a different storage system. Data discovery is based on a Central Discovery Service, which allows users and applications to easily query information about data collections and products existing in heterogeneous catalogues, at federated DR sites. This service can be accessed by users via web interface, the GENESI-DR Web Portal, or by external applications via open standardized interfaces exposed by the system. The Central Discovery Service identifies the DRs providing products complying with the user search criteria and returns the corresponding access points to the requester. By taking into consideration different and efficient data transfer technologies such as HTTPS, GridFTP and BitTorrent, the infrastructure provides easiness and speed of access. Conversely, for data publishing GENESI-DR provides several mechanisms to assist DR owners in producing a metadata catalogues. In order to reach its objectives, the GENESI-DR e-Infrastructure will be validated against user needs for accessing and sharing Earth Science data. Initially, four specific applications in the land, atmosphere and marine domains have been selected, including: • Near real time orthorectification for agricultural crops monitoring • Urban area mapping in support of emergency response • Data assimilation in GlobModel, addressing major environmental and health issues in Europe, with a particular focus on air quality • SeaDataNet to aid environmental assessments and to forecast the physical state of the oceans in near real time. Other applications will complement this during the second half of the project. GENESI-DR also aims to develop common approaches to preserve the historical archives and the ability to access the derived user information as both software and hardware transformations occur. Ensuring access to Earth Science data for future generations is of utmost importance because it allows for the continuity of knowledge generation improvement. For instance, scientists accessing today's climate change data in 50 years will be able to better understand and detect trends in global warming and apply this knowledge to ongoing natural phenomena. GENESI-DR will work towards harmonising operations and applying approved standards, policies and interfaces at key Earth Science data repositories. To help with this undertaking, GENESI-DR will establish links with the relevant organisations and programmes such as space agencies, institutional environmental programmes, international Earth Science programmes and standardisation bodies.

Achieving open access to conservation science.

PubMed

Fuller, Richard A; Lee, Jasmine R; Watson, James E M

2014-12-01

Conservation science is a crisis discipline in which the results of scientific enquiry must be made available quickly to those implementing management. We assessed the extent to which scientific research published since the year 2000 in 20 conservation science journals is publicly available. Of the 19,207 papers published, 1,667 (8.68%) are freely downloadable from an official repository. Moreover, only 938 papers (4.88%) meet the standard definition of open access in which material can be freely reused providing attribution to the authors is given. This compares poorly with a comparable set of 20 evolutionary biology journals, where 31.93% of papers are freely downloadable and 7.49% are open access. Seventeen of the 20 conservation journals offer an open access option, but fewer than 5% of the papers are available through open access. The cost of accessing the full body of conservation science runs into tens of thousands of dollars per year for institutional subscribers, and many conservation practitioners cannot access pay-per-view science through their workplace. However, important initiatives such as Research4Life are making science available to organizations in developing countries. We urge authors of conservation science to pay for open access on a per-article basis or to choose publication in open access journals, taking care to ensure the license allows reuse for any purpose providing attribution is given. Currently, it would cost $51 million to make all conservation science published since 2000 freely available by paying the open access fees currently levied to authors. Publishers of conservation journals might consider more cost effective models for open access and conservation-oriented organizations running journals could consider a broader range of options for open access to nonmembers such as sponsorship of open access via membership fees. © 2014 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of the Society for Conservation Biology.

78 FR 76711 - Royal City Charter Coach Lines Ltd.-Acquisition of Control-Quick Coach Lines Ltd. d/b/a Quick...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-18

... current ownership of Quick, and its wholly owned subsidiary Quick Coach Lines USA Inc. (Quick USA... passengers (MC-205116). Quick USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Quick. When Royal acquires control of Quick, it will also obtain control of Quick USA. Quick USA is currently inactive and does not provide any...

Civil Discourse in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shuster, Kate

2009-01-01

We live in a climate ripe for noise: Media outlets and 24-hour news cycles mean that everyone with access to a computer has access to a megaphone to broadcast their views. Never before in human history has an opinion had the opportunity to reach so many so quickly regardless of its accuracy or appropriateness. Of course, it's difficult to hear…

webPOISONCONTROL: can poison control be automated?

PubMed

Litovitz, Toby; Benson, Blaine E; Smolinske, Susan

2016-08-01

A free webPOISONCONTROL app allows the public to determine the appropriate triage of poison ingestions without calling poison control. If accepted and safe, this alternative expands access to reliable poison control services to those who prefer the Internet over the telephone. This study assesses feasibility, safety, and user-acceptance of automated online triage of asymptomatic, nonsuicidal poison ingestion cases. The user provides substance name, amount, age, and weight in an automated online tool or downloadable app, and is given a specific triage recommendation to stay home, go to the emergency department, or call poison control for further guidance. Safety was determined by assessing outcomes of consecutive home-triaged cases with follow-up and by confirming the correct application of algorithms. Case completion times and user perceptions of speed and ease of use were measures of user-acceptance. Of 9256 cases, 73.3% were triaged to home, 2.1% to an emergency department, and 24.5% directed to call poison control. Children younger than 6 years were involved in 75.2% of cases. Automated follow-up was done in 31.2% of home-triaged cases; 82.3% of these had no effect. No major or fatal outcomes were reported. More than 91% of survey respondents found the tool quick and easy to use. Median case completion time was 4.1 minutes. webPOISONCONTROL augments traditional poison control services by providing automated, accurate online access to case-specific triage and first aid guidance for poison ingestions. It is safe, quick, and easy to use. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stitch in Time: Enabling Change Using Computers: Innovative Uses of Information Technology Helping Providers to Care

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

l’ults 43 J4 Microalbumin Results 19 6 LOL Results 43 34 Encounters Percentages Done Foot Exams 18% Ey e Exam s 19% Flu shots 26% Pneumo-Vax 26...diagnose and treat. • Shares clinical workload, helps  nurses  and  ancillary staff identify what preventive clinical  measures a patient needs...Quick access to patient‐centered  resources. 2011 MHS Conference Providers and nurses  can review data..................... ~==:=~~~~~~~~==~~~~~ ~E

The conversion to electronic hospital notes at Mayo Clinic. Overcoming barriers and challenges.

PubMed

Andreen, Debra L; Dobie, Linda J; Jasperson, Jan C; Lucas, Thomas A; Wubbenhorst, Cathryn L

2010-01-01

This article describes the conversion to electronic hospital notes at a large, multi-specialty group practice: Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Because of the size of the institution and the barriers to the adoption of electronic notes, the process was a gradual one that took several years. Making a convincing case for change to institutional leaders and maintaining their support was crucial to success. Equally vital was the careful investigation of user requirements and the development of software features that allowed providers to complete their notes quickly in the fast-paced hospital environment. Care providers discovered the value of having immediate access to legible hospital notes throughout the campus and from remote locations.

3D printing and milling a real-time PCR device for infectious disease diagnostics.

PubMed

Mulberry, Geoffrey; White, Kevin A; Vaidya, Manjusha; Sugaya, Kiminobu; Kim, Brian N

2017-01-01

Diagnosing infectious diseases using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) offers a conclusive result in determining the infection, the strain or type of pathogen, and the level of infection. However, due to the high-cost instrumentation involved and the complexity in maintenance, it is rarely used in the field to make a quick turnaround diagnosis. In order to provide a higher level of accessibility than current qPCR devices, a set of 3D manufacturing methods is explored as a possible option to fabricate a low-cost and portable qPCR device. The key advantage of this approach is the ability to upload the digital format of the design files on the internet for wide distribution so that people at any location can simply download and feed into their 3D printers for quick manufacturing. The material and design are carefully selected to minimize the number of custom parts that depend on advanced manufacturing processes which lower accessibility. The presented 3D manufactured qPCR device is tested with 20-μL samples that contain various concentrations of lentivirus, the same type as HIV. A reverse-transcription step is a part of the device's operation, which takes place prior to the qPCR step to reverse transcribe the target RNA from the lentivirus into complementary DNA (cDNA). This is immediately followed by qPCR which quantifies the target sequence molecules in the sample during the PCR amplification process. The entire process of thermal control and time-coordinated fluorescence reading is automated by closed-loop feedback and a microcontroller. The resulting device is portable and battery-operated, with a size of 12 × 7 × 6 cm3 and mass of only 214 g. By uploading and sharing the design files online, the presented low-cost qPCR device may provide easier access to a robust diagnosis protocol for various infectious diseases, such as HIV and malaria.

3D printing and milling a real-time PCR device for infectious disease diagnostics

PubMed Central

Mulberry, Geoffrey; White, Kevin A.; Vaidya, Manjusha; Sugaya, Kiminobu

2017-01-01

Diagnosing infectious diseases using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) offers a conclusive result in determining the infection, the strain or type of pathogen, and the level of infection. However, due to the high-cost instrumentation involved and the complexity in maintenance, it is rarely used in the field to make a quick turnaround diagnosis. In order to provide a higher level of accessibility than current qPCR devices, a set of 3D manufacturing methods is explored as a possible option to fabricate a low-cost and portable qPCR device. The key advantage of this approach is the ability to upload the digital format of the design files on the internet for wide distribution so that people at any location can simply download and feed into their 3D printers for quick manufacturing. The material and design are carefully selected to minimize the number of custom parts that depend on advanced manufacturing processes which lower accessibility. The presented 3D manufactured qPCR device is tested with 20-μL samples that contain various concentrations of lentivirus, the same type as HIV. A reverse-transcription step is a part of the device’s operation, which takes place prior to the qPCR step to reverse transcribe the target RNA from the lentivirus into complementary DNA (cDNA). This is immediately followed by qPCR which quantifies the target sequence molecules in the sample during the PCR amplification process. The entire process of thermal control and time-coordinated fluorescence reading is automated by closed-loop feedback and a microcontroller. The resulting device is portable and battery-operated, with a size of 12 × 7 × 6 cm3 and mass of only 214 g. By uploading and sharing the design files online, the presented low-cost qPCR device may provide easier access to a robust diagnosis protocol for various infectious diseases, such as HIV and malaria. PMID:28586401

The NVO in Day-to-Day Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGlynn, T. A.; White, N. E.

2000-12-01

In the discussion following the decadal review's recommendation to establish a National Virtual Observatory (NVO) much attention has been paid to how the NVO could provide unprecedented capabilities to perform complex statistical analyses of the huge datasets now entering the community. It is equally important to recognize how it can also redefine how astronomers conduct smaller scale investigations. The NVO vision includes a federation of current major data providers, providing astronomers with seamless access to data from distributed sites, spanning the entire spectrum. This goes well beyond earlier services, e.g., SkyView, Astrobrowse, NED, .... The NVO's metadata standards, data mining capabilities, and data discovery services will enable all astronomers -- including those without substantial access to physical observatories -- to quickly and effectively use the archival resources of the community. In this paper we describe how the NVO may come to permeate the culture of astronomy in the coming decade. We discuss our experience with forerunners of the NVO including SkyView and Astrobrowse, and we also consider the requirements that the NVO must meet to ensure it achieves its potential for the entire astronomical community.

Oceans 2.0 API: Programmatic access to Ocean Networks Canada's sensor data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heesemann, M.; Ross, R.; Hoeberechts, M.; Pirenne, B.; MacArthur, M.; Jeffries, M. A.; Morley, M. G.

2017-12-01

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is a not-for-profit society that operates and manages innovative cabled observatories on behalf of the University of Victoria. These observatories supply continuous power and Internet connectivity to various scientific instruments located in coastal, deep-ocean and Arctic environments. The data from the instruments are relayed to the University of Victoria where they are archived, quality-controlled and made freely available to researchers, educators, and the public. The Oceans 2.0 data management system currently contains over 500 terabytes of data collected over 11 years from thousands of sensors. In order to facilitate access to the data, particularly for large datasets and long-time series of high-resolution data, a project was started in 2016 create a comprehensive Application Programming Interface, the "Oceans 2.0 API," to provide programmatic access to all ONC data products. The development is part of a project entitled "A Research Platform for User-Defined Oceanographic Data Products," funded through CANARIE, a Canadian organization responsible for the design and delivery of digital infrastructure for research, education and innovation [1]. Providing quick and easy access to ONC Data Products from within custom software solutions, allows researchers, modelers and decision makers to focus on what is important: solving their problems, answering their questions and making informed decisions. In this paper, we discuss how to access ONC's vast archive of data programmatically, through the Oceans 2.0 API. In particular we discuss the following: Access to ONC Data Products Access to ONC sensor data in near real-time Programming language support Use Cases References [1] CANARIE. Internet: https://www.canarie.ca/; accessed March 6, 2017.

Extreme Access & Lunar Ice Mining in Permanently Shadowed Craters Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mueller, Robert P.

2014-01-01

Results from the recent LCROSS mission in 2010, indicate that H2O ice and other useful volatiles such as CO, He, and N are present in the permanently shadowed craters at the poles of the moon. However, the extreme topography and steep slopes of the crater walls make access a significant challenge. In addition temperatures have been measured at 40K (-233 C) so quick access and exit is desirable before the mining robot cold soaks. The Global Exploration Roadmap lists extreme access as a necessary technology for Lunar Exploration.

Talking to someone with hearing loss

MedlinePlus

... of Health & Human Services. Quick guide to health literacy and older adults: Hearing impairment. Health.gov website. www.health.gov/communication/literacy/olderadults/hearing.htm . Accessed July 5, 2017. Review ...

Public outreach and communications of the Alaska Volcano Observatory during the 2005-2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano: Chapter 27 in The 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adleman, Jennifer N.; Cameron, Cheryl E.; Snedigar, Seth F.; Neal, Christina A.; Wallace, Kristi L.; Power, John A.; Coombs, Michelle L.; Freymueller, Jeffrey T.

2010-01-01

The AVO Web site, with its accompanying database, is the backbone of AVO's external and internal communications. This was the first Cook Inlet volcanic eruption with a public expectation of real-time access to data, updates, and hazards information over the Internet. In March 2005, AVO improved the Web site from individual static pages to a dynamic, database-driven site. This new system provided quick and straightforward access to the latest information for (1) staff within the observatory, (2) emergency managers from State and local governments and organizations, (3) the media, and (4) the public. From mid-December 2005 through April 2006, the AVO Web site served more than 45 million Web pages and about 5.5 terabytes of data.

Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) Cloud/Virtual Open Campus Quick-Start Guide

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

distribution is unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This document serves as the quick-start guide for GIFT Cloud, the web -based...to users with a GIFT Account at no cost. GIFT Cloud is a new implementation of GIFT. This web -based application allows learners, authors, and...distribution is unlimited. 3 3. Requirements for GIFT Cloud GIFT Cloud is accessed via a web browser. Officially, GIFT Cloud has been tested to work on

Quick actuating closure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, III, Dorsey E. (Inventor); Updike, deceased, Benjamin T. (Inventor); Allred, Johnny W. (Inventor)

1989-01-01

A quick actuating closure for a pressure vessel 80 in which a wedge ring 30 with a conical outer surface 31 is moved forward to force shear blocks 40, with conical inner surfaces 41, radially outward to lock an end closure plug 70 within an opening 81 in the pressure vessel 80. A seal ring 60 and a preload ramp 50 sit between the shear blocks 40 and the end closure plug 70 to provide a backup sealing capability. Conical surfaces 44 and 55 of the preload ramp 50 and the shear blocks 40 interact to force the seal ring 60 into shoulders 73 and 85 in the end closure plug 70 and opening 81 to form a tight seal. The end closure plug 70 is unlocked by moving the wedge ring 30 rearward, which causes T-bars 32 of the wedge ring 30 riding within T -slots 42 of the shear blocks 40 to force them radially inward. The end closure plug 70 is then removed, allowing access to the interior of the pressure vessel 80.

An Investigation of the Individual Differences in Cognitive Factors that Contribute to Bilingual Lexical Disambiguation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Areas da Luz Fontes, Ana B.

2010-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of working memory capacity, access to subordinate meanings of L1 homonyms and degree of cross-language activation on the access to subordinate meanings of L2 homonyms. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals completed a word recognition task which assessed how quickly and accurately…

“Social” Neuroscience: Leveraging Social Media to Increase Student Engagement and Public Understanding of Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Valentine, Alissa; Kurczek, Jake

2016-01-01

Neuroscience is young and still developing. It is quickly adapting to a number of emerging changes in science and education. Not only have neuroscientists been at the forefront of the open access publishing movement, but many prominent neuroscientists continue to push towards making science more accessible and understandable to the broader public. Social media is a global phenomenon that is changing the way that we talk about research and education. Researchers, students, and the public alike can leverage social media to find updates in research and higher education. Social media also provides pathways to connect with experts and non-experts in a way never been seen before. Two major trends are appearing in education and social media: 1) providing more engaging teaching activities, and 2) providing opportunities for community engagement using teaching activities that leverage social media. In this article, we describe a semester long teaching activity that challenged students to use social media in their learning process. We provide initial evaluation and feedback from the students on their social media experience in class, and suggestions for how to improve the project in future implementations. PMID:27980477

Electronic tools for infectious diseases and microbiology

PubMed Central

Burdette, Steven D

2007-01-01

Electronic tools for infectious diseases and medical microbiology have the ability to change the way the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases are approached. Medical information today has the ability to be dynamic, keeping up with the latest research or clinical issues, instead of being static and years behind, as many textbooks are. The ability to rapidly disseminate information around the world opens up the possibility of communicating with people thousands of miles away to quickly and efficiently learn about emerging infections. Electronic tools have expanded beyond the desktop computer and the Internet, and now include personal digital assistants and other portable devices such as cellular phones. These pocket-sized devices have the ability to provide access to clinical information at the point of care. New electronic tools include e-mail listservs, electronic drug databases and search engines that allow focused clinical questions. The goal of the present article is to provide an overview of how electronic tools can impact infectious diseases and microbiology, while providing links and resources to allow users to maximize their efficiency in accessing this information. Links to the mentioned Web sites and programs are provided along with other useful electronic tools. PMID:18978984

NASA Taxonomy 2.0 Project Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dutra, Jayne; Busch, Joseph

2004-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the project to develop a Taxonomy for NASA. The benefits of this project are: Make it easy for various audiences to find relevant information from NASA programs quickly, specifically (1) Provide easy access for NASA Web resources (2) Information integration for unified queries and management reporting ve search results targeted to user interests the ability to move content through the enterprise to where it is needed most (3) Facilitate Records Management and Retention Requirements. In addition the project will assist NASA in complying with E-Government Act of 2002 and prepare NASA to participate in federal projects.

Fuel transfer tube quick opening hatch

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

Meuschke, R. E.; Sherwood, D. G.; Silverblatt, B. L.

1985-05-28

A quick opening hatch for use on a transfer tube of a nuclear reactor plant that is adapted to replace the conventional hatch on the transfer tube. A locking ring is provided with a plurality of screw openings that is adapted for connection to the transfer tube, and a hatch cover fitably received within the locking ring for closing-off the transfer tube. To lock the cover to the ring, latches are movably connected with the cover for locking engagement with the locking ring, and a sprocket with a plurality of crank arms is movably connected with the cover and themore » latches for movement thereof into locking engagement with a latch housing on the locking ring for locking the cover to the ring and out of engagement with the latch housing for releasing the cover from the locking ring so as to permit removal of the hatch cover from the locking ring to provide access to the transfer tube. A davit assembly is provided which is connected with the transfer tube and the hatch cover to move the cover away and to provide guidance for closing-off the transfer tube. The locking ring and hatch cover also include cooperating keys and keyways for alignment when closing the transfer tube. The cover is provided with sealing rings and the latch housing and latches include cooperating cam surfaces to provide a tight locking engagement by compressing the sealing rings between the transfer tube and the hatch cover.« less

An adaptable XML based approach for scientific data management and integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fusheng; Thiel, Florian; Furrer, Daniel; Vergara-Niedermayr, Cristobal; Qin, Chen; Hackenberg, Georg; Bourgue, Pierre-Emmanuel; Kaltschmidt, David; Wang, Mo

2008-03-01

Increased complexity of scientific research poses new challenges to scientific data management. Meanwhile, scientific collaboration is becoming increasing important, which relies on integrating and sharing data from distributed institutions. We develop SciPort, a Web-based platform on supporting scientific data management and integration based on a central server based distributed architecture, where researchers can easily collect, publish, and share their complex scientific data across multi-institutions. SciPort provides an XML based general approach to model complex scientific data by representing them as XML documents. The documents capture not only hierarchical structured data, but also images and raw data through references. In addition, SciPort provides an XML based hierarchical organization of the overall data space to make it convenient for quick browsing. To provide generalization, schemas and hierarchies are customizable with XML-based definitions, thus it is possible to quickly adapt the system to different applications. While each institution can manage documents on a Local SciPort Server independently, selected documents can be published to a Central Server to form a global view of shared data across all sites. By storing documents in a native XML database, SciPort provides high schema extensibility and supports comprehensive queries through XQuery. By providing a unified and effective means for data modeling, data access and customization with XML, SciPort provides a flexible and powerful platform for sharing scientific data for scientific research communities, and has been successfully used in both biomedical research and clinical trials.

An Adaptable XML Based Approach for Scientific Data Management and Integration.

PubMed

Wang, Fusheng; Thiel, Florian; Furrer, Daniel; Vergara-Niedermayr, Cristobal; Qin, Chen; Hackenberg, Georg; Bourgue, Pierre-Emmanuel; Kaltschmidt, David; Wang, Mo

2008-02-20

Increased complexity of scientific research poses new challenges to scientific data management. Meanwhile, scientific collaboration is becoming increasing important, which relies on integrating and sharing data from distributed institutions. We develop SciPort, a Web-based platform on supporting scientific data management and integration based on a central server based distributed architecture, where researchers can easily collect, publish, and share their complex scientific data across multi-institutions. SciPort provides an XML based general approach to model complex scientific data by representing them as XML documents. The documents capture not only hierarchical structured data, but also images and raw data through references. In addition, SciPort provides an XML based hierarchical organization of the overall data space to make it convenient for quick browsing. To provide generalization, schemas and hierarchies are customizable with XML-based definitions, thus it is possible to quickly adapt the system to different applications. While each institution can manage documents on a Local SciPort Server independently, selected documents can be published to a Central Server to form a global view of shared data across all sites. By storing documents in a native XML database, SciPort provides high schema extensibility and supports comprehensive queries through XQuery. By providing a unified and effective means for data modeling, data access and customization with XML, SciPort provides a flexible and powerful platform for sharing scientific data for scientific research communities, and has been successfully used in both biomedical research and clinical trials.

The EBI search engine: EBI search as a service-making biological data accessible for all.

PubMed

Park, Young M; Squizzato, Silvano; Buso, Nicola; Gur, Tamer; Lopez, Rodrigo

2017-07-03

We present an update of the EBI Search engine, an easy-to-use fast text search and indexing system with powerful data navigation and retrieval capabilities. The interconnectivity that exists between data resources at EMBL-EBI provides easy, quick and precise navigation and a better understanding of the relationship between different data types that include nucleotide and protein sequences, genes, gene products, proteins, protein domains, protein families, enzymes and macromolecular structures, as well as the life science literature. EBI Search provides a powerful RESTful API that enables its integration into third-party portals, thus providing 'Search as a Service' capabilities, which are the main topic of this article. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

A Java-Enabled Interactive Graphical Gas Turbine Propulsion System Simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reed, John A.; Afjeh, Abdollah A.

1997-01-01

This paper describes a gas turbine simulation system which utilizes the newly developed Java language environment software system. The system provides an interactive graphical environment which allows the quick and efficient construction and analysis of arbitrary gas turbine propulsion systems. The simulation system couples a graphical user interface, developed using the Java Abstract Window Toolkit, and a transient, space- averaged, aero-thermodynamic gas turbine analysis method, both entirely coded in the Java language. The combined package provides analytical, graphical and data management tools which allow the user to construct and control engine simulations by manipulating graphical objects on the computer display screen. Distributed simulations, including parallel processing and distributed database access across the Internet and World-Wide Web (WWW), are made possible through services provided by the Java environment.

Earth Sciences data user community feedbacks to PARSE.Insight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giaretta, David; Guidetti, Veronica

2010-05-01

The presentation in point reports on the topic of long term availability of environmental data as perceived by the Earth Science data user community. In the context of the European strategy for preserving Earth Observation (EO) data and as partner of the EU FP7 PARSE.Insight project (http://www.parse-insight.eu/), the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a public consultation on-line targeting its EO data user base. The timely and active participation confirmed the high interest in the addressed topic. Primary target of such an action is to provide ESA teams dedicated to environmental data access, archiving and re-processing with the first insight from the Earth Science community on the preservation of space data in the long-term. As a significant example, ESA's Climate Change Initiative requires activities like long-term preservation, recalibration and re-processing of data records. The time-span of EO data archives extends from a few years to decades and their value as scientific time-series increases considerably regarding the topic of global change. Future research in the field of Earth Sciences is of invaluable importance: to carry it on researchers worldwide must be enabled to find and access data of interest quickly. At present several thousands of scientists, principal investigators and operators, access EO missions' metadata, data and derived information daily. Main objectives may be to study the global climate change, to check the status of the instrument and the quality of EO data. There is a huge worldwide scientific community calling for the need to keep EO data accessible without time constrains, easily and quickly. The scientific community's standpoint is given over the stewardship of environmental data and the appropriateness of current EO data access systems as enabling digital preservation and offering HPC capabilities. This insight in the Earth Sciences community provides a comprehensive illustration of the users' responses over topics like use experiences with historical EO data, preferences in terms of historical data availability and proposals to better access and use them. The main achievement this initiative brought is certainly enforcing the link with the worldwide Earth Science community on the topic of environmental and space data preservation. Moreover it confirmed the following aspects: - The scientific community needs and wants to access historical environmental data and historical time series of Earth observations, for the most disparate applications across Earth Science; - The community wants to enhance its experiences on historical data exploitation aiming at a more active involvement in the process, e.g. by reporting examples and suggestions to foster data availability and accessibility; - Users are aware and informed about current infrastructures' limitations to enable data availability and accessibility, and ask for timely and effective solutions. This work presentation is a very good opportunity to receive further feedback over the preservation of EO data from the user community attending the conference.

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

TableViewer for Herschel Data Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, L.; Schulz, B.

2006-07-01

The TableViewer utility is a GUI tool written in Java to support interactive data processing and analysis for the Herschel Space Observatory (Pilbratt et al. 2001). The idea was inherited from a prototype written in IDL (Schulz et al. 2005). It allows to graphically view and analyze tabular data organized in columns with equal numbers of rows. It can be run either as a standalone application, where data access is restricted to FITS (FITS 1999) files only, or it can be run from the Quick Look Analysis(QLA) or Interactive Analysis(IA) command line, from where also objects are accessible. The graphic display is very versatile, allowing plots in either linear or log scales. Zooming, panning, and changing data columns is performed rapidly using a group of navigation buttons. Selecting and de-selecting of fields of data points controls the input to simple analysis tasks like building a statistics table, or generating power spectra. The binary data stored in a TableDataset^1, a Product or in FITS files can also be displayed as tabular data, where values in individual cells can be modified. TableViewer provides several processing utilities which, besides calculation of statistics either for all channels or for selected channels, and calculation of power spectra, allows to convert/repair datasets by changing the unit name of data columns, and by modifying data values in columns with a simple calculator tool. Interactively selected data can be separated out, and modified data sets can be saved to FITS files. The tool will be very helpful especially in the early phases of Herschel data analysis when a quick access to contents of data products is important. TableDataset and Product are Java classes defined in herschel.ia.dataset.

The Tablet Device in Hospital Neurology and in Neurology Graduate Medical Education

PubMed Central

Newey, Christopher R.; Bhimraj, Adarsh

2015-01-01

Background and Purpose: There is limited literature on tablet devices for neurohospitalists and in neurological graduate medical education. This study evaluated utilization, benefits, and limitations of customized tablets on inpatient neurology practice and resident education. The hypothesis was the perception of the tablet would be positive, given their portability, convenience to accessing point-of-care reference, and accessibility to the electronic medical record. Methods: Second-generation iPads with neurology-specific applications and literature were provided to our in-hospital general, stroke, and consult neurology teams. After 1 year, residents on these teams were surveyed on demographic data, familiarity, and utilization of the iPad and their perceptions of the device. Results: All 27 residents responded to the survey. Most participants (23 of 27) used a tablet while on inpatient service. Twelve regularly utilized the neurology-specific apps and/or accessed scientific articles. Technologically savvy residents felt significantly more comfortable using tablets and were more quickly acquainted with the features. Thirteen respondents wanted a formal orientation on the advanced features of the tablet independent of their familiarity with the device or level of technological comfort. Conclusion: Overall, the perception was that the tablet was beneficial for inpatient clinical care and as an educational reference. Participants became easily familiarized with the device features quickly, regardless of whether they owned one previously or not. Most physicians indicated interest in advanced features of tablets; however, a formal orientation may be beneficial for optimal utilization. A reliable network connection is essential to in-hospital use of tablet devices. Additional research pertaining to patient outcomes, objective educational benefit, and cost-effectiveness is necessary. PMID:25553224

PREVENTION GUIDELINES SYSTEM/DATABASE

EPA Science Inventory

The Prevention Guidelines System gives public health practitioners quick access to the most current CDC recommendations and guidelines for the prevention, control, treatment and detection of infectious and chronic diseases, environmental hazards, natural or human-generated disast...

Olfactory groove meningiomas: approaches and complications.

PubMed

Aguiar, Paulo Henrique Pires de; Tahara, Adriana; Almeida, Antonio Nogueira; Simm, Renata; Silva, Arnaldo Neves da; Maldaun, Marcos Vinicius Calfatt; Panagopoulos, Alexandros Theodoros; Zicarelli, Carlos Alexandre; Silva, Pedro Gabriel

2009-09-01

Olfactory groove meningiomas (OGM) account for 4.5% of all intracranial meningiomas. We report 21 patients with OGMs. Tumors were operated on using three surgical approaches: bifrontal (7 patients), fronto-pterional (11 patients) and fronto-orbital (3 patients). Total tumor removal (Simpson Grade 1) was achieved in 13 patients and Simpson II in 8 patients. Perioperative mortality was 4.76%. The average size of the OGM was 4.3+/-1.1cm. The overall recurrence rate was 19%. We preferred to use the pterional approach, which provides quick access to the tumor with less brain exposure. It also allows complete drainage of cisternal cerebrospinal fluid, providing a good level of brain relaxation during surgery. However, for long, thin tumors, hemostasis can be difficult using this approach.

Trends in hospital librarianship and hospital library services: 1989 to 2006.

PubMed

Thibodeau, Patricia L; Funk, Carla J

2009-10-01

The research studied the status of hospital librarians and library services to better inform the Medical Library Association's advocacy activities. The Vital Pathways Survey Subcommittee of the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians distributed a web-based survey to hospital librarians and academic health sciences library directors. The survey results were compared to data collected in a 1989 survey of hospital libraries by the American Hospital Association in order to identify any trends in hospital libraries, roles of librarians, and library services. A web-based hospital library report form based on the survey questions was also developed to more quickly identify changes in the status of hospital libraries on an ongoing basis. The greatest change in library services between 1989 and 2005/06 was in the area of access to information, with 40% more of the respondents providing access to commercial online services, 100% more providing access to Internet resources, and 28% more providing training in database searching and use of information resources. Twenty-nine percent (n = 587) of the 2005/06 respondents reported a decrease in staff over the last 5 years. Survey data support reported trends of consolidation of hospitals and hospital libraries and additions of new services. These services have likely required librarians to acquire new skills. It is hoped that future surveys will be undertaken to continue to study these trends.

Trends in hospital librarianship and hospital library services: 1989 to 2006

PubMed Central

Thibodeau, Patricia L.; Funk, Carla J.

2009-01-01

Objective: The research studied the status of hospital librarians and library services to better inform the Medical Library Association's advocacy activities. Methods: The Vital Pathways Survey Subcommittee of the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians distributed a web-based survey to hospital librarians and academic health sciences library directors. The survey results were compared to data collected in a 1989 survey of hospital libraries by the American Hospital Association in order to identify any trends in hospital libraries, roles of librarians, and library services. A web-based hospital library report form based on the survey questions was also developed to more quickly identify changes in the status of hospital libraries on an ongoing basis. Results: The greatest change in library services between 1989 and 2005/06 was in the area of access to information, with 40% more of the respondents providing access to commercial online services, 100% more providing access to Internet resources, and 28% more providing training in database searching and use of information resources. Twenty-nine percent (n = 587) of the 2005/06 respondents reported a decrease in staff over the last 5 years. Conclusions: Survey data support reported trends of consolidation of hospitals and hospital libraries and additions of new services. These services have likely required librarians to acquire new skills. It is hoped that future surveys will be undertaken to continue to study these trends. PMID:19851491

Astrophysical Research Consortium Telescope Imaging Camera (ARCTIC) facility optical imager for the Apache Point Observatory 3.5m telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huehnerhoff, Joseph; Ketzeback, William; Bradley, Alaina; Dembicky, Jack; Doughty, Caitlin; Hawley, Suzanne; Johnson, Courtney; Klaene, Mark; Leon, Ed; McMillan, Russet; Owen, Russell; Sayres, Conor; Sheen, Tyler; Shugart, Alysha

2016-08-01

The Astrophysical Research Consortium Telescope Imaging Camera, ARCTIC, is a new optical imaging camera now in use at the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO). As a facility instrument, the design criteria broadly encompassed many current and future science opportunities, and the components were built for quick repair or replacement, to minimize down-time. Examples include a quick change shutter, filter drive components accessible from the exterior and redundant amplifiers on the detector. The detector is a Semiconductor Technology Associates (STA) device with several key properties (e.g. high quantum efficiency, low read-noise, quick readout, minimal fringing, operational bandpass 350-950nm). Focal reducing optics (f/10.3 to f/8.0) were built to control aberrations over a 7.8'x7.8' field, with a plate scale of 0.11" per 0.15 micron pixel. The instrument body and dewar were designed to be simple and robust with only two components to the structure forward of the dewar, which in turn has minimal feedthroughs and permeation areas and holds a vacuum <10-8 Torr. A custom shutter was also designed, using pneumatics as the driving force. This device provides exceptional performance and reduces heat near the optical path. Measured performance is repeatable at the 2ms level and offers field uniformity to the same level of precision. The ARCTIC facility imager will provide excellent science capability with robust operation and minimal maintenance for the next decade or more at APO.

Studying "exposure" to firearms: household ownership v access

PubMed Central

Ikeda, R; Dahlberg, L; Kresnow, M; Sacks, J; Mercy, J

2003-01-01

Background: Firearm ownership has often been used to measure access to weapons. However, persons who own a firearm may not have access to it and conversely, persons who do not own a firearm may be able to access one quickly. Objectives: To examine whether using firearm ownership is a reasonable proxy for access by describing the demographic characteristics associated with ownership and access. Methods: Data are from the 1994 Injury Control and Risk Survey, a national, random digit dial survey. Information about household firearm ownership and ready access to a loaded firearm were collected and weighted to provide national estimates. Adjusted odds ratios for three separate models were calculated using logistic regression. Results: A total of 1353 (27.9%) respondents reported both having a firearm in the household and ready access to one. An additional 313 respondents (8.1%) reported having a firearm, but were not able to access these weapons. Another 421 respondents (7.2%) did not have a firearm in or around their home, yet reported being able to retrieve and fire one within 10 minutes. Based on the logistic regression findings, the demographic characteristics of this latter group are quite different from those who report ownership. Those who do not have a firearm, but report ready access to one, are more likely to be ethnic minorities, single, and living in attached homes. Conclusions: Asking only about the presence of a firearm in a household may miss some respondents with ready access to a loaded firearm. More importantly, those who do not own a firearm, but report ready access to one, appear to be qualitatively different from those who report ownership. Caution should be exercised when using measures of ownership as a proxy for access. PMID:12642560

A game-based crowdsourcing platform for rapidly training middle and high school students to perform biomedical image analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Steve; Woo, Min-jae; Kim, Hannah; Kim, Eunso; Ki, Sojung; Shao, Lei; Ozcan, Aydogan

2016-03-01

We developed an easy-to-use and widely accessible crowd-sourcing tool for rapidly training humans to perform biomedical image diagnostic tasks and demonstrated this platform's ability on middle and high school students in South Korea to diagnose malaria infected red-blood-cells (RBCs) using Giemsa-stained thin blood smears imaged under light microscopes. We previously used the same platform (i.e., BioGames) to crowd-source diagnostics of individual RBC images, marking them as malaria positive (infected), negative (uninfected), or questionable (insufficient information for a reliable diagnosis). Using a custom-developed statistical framework, we combined the diagnoses from both expert diagnosticians and the minimally trained human crowd to generate a gold standard library of malaria-infection labels for RBCs. Using this library of labels, we developed a web-based training and educational toolset that provides a quantified score for diagnosticians/users to compare their performance against their peers and view misdiagnosed cells. We have since demonstrated the ability of this platform to quickly train humans without prior training to reach high diagnostic accuracy as compared to expert diagnosticians. Our initial trial group of 55 middle and high school students has collectively played more than 170 hours, each demonstrating significant improvements after only 3 hours of training games, with diagnostic scores that match expert diagnosticians'. Next, through a national-scale educational outreach program in South Korea we recruited >1660 students who demonstrated a similar performance level after 5 hours of training. We plan to further demonstrate this tool's effectiveness for other diagnostic tasks involving image labeling and aim to provide an easily-accessible and quickly adaptable framework for online training of new diagnosticians.

A study of smart card for radiation exposure history of patient.

PubMed

Rehani, Madan M; Kushi, Joseph F

2013-04-01

The purpose of this article is to undertake a study on developing a prototype of a smart card that, when swiped in a system with access to the radiation exposure monitoring server, will locate the patient's radiation exposure history from that institution or set of associated institutions to which it has database access. Like the ATM or credit card, the card acts as a secure unique "token" rather than having cash, credit, or dose data on the card. The system provides the requested radiation history report, which then can be printed or sent by e-mail to the patient. The prototype system is capable of extending outreach to wherever the radiation exposure monitoring server extends, at county, state, or national levels. It is anticipated that the prototype shall pave the way for quick availability of patient exposure history for use in clinical practice for strengthening radiation protection of patients.

Converging Intracranial Markers of Conscious Access

PubMed Central

Gaillard, Raphaël; Dehaene, Stanislas; Adam, Claude; Clémenceau, Stéphane; Hasboun, Dominique; Baulac, Michel; Cohen, Laurent; Naccache, Lionel

2009-01-01

We compared conscious and nonconscious processing of briefly flashed words using a visual masking procedure while recording intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) in ten patients. Nonconscious processing of masked words was observed in multiple cortical areas, mostly within an early time window (<300 ms), accompanied by induced gamma-band activity, but without coherent long-distance neural activity, suggesting a quickly dissipating feedforward wave. In contrast, conscious processing of unmasked words was characterized by the convergence of four distinct neurophysiological markers: sustained voltage changes, particularly in prefrontal cortex, large increases in spectral power in the gamma band, increases in long-distance phase synchrony in the beta range, and increases in long-range Granger causality. We argue that all of those measures provide distinct windows into the same distributed state of conscious processing. These results have a direct impact on current theoretical discussions concerning the neural correlates of conscious access. PMID:19296722

Marketing in the Special Library Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Janet E.

1995-01-01

Special libraries developed in response to a need for quick access to specific information. Integrated marketing in special libraries focuses the library toward strategic planning and offers the opportunity to develop more effective library services. (Author/AEF)

7 CFR 1486.206 - What is the Quick Response Marketing Fund?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Marketing Fund must identify specific market access issues that also face time constraints. Application... responsiveness to time-sensitive marketing problems or opportunities, such as a change in an import regime or the...

Asthma - quick-relief drugs

MedlinePlus

... Accessed February 28, 2018. Durrani SR, Busse WW. Management of asthma in adolescents and adults. In: Adkinson NF Jr, Bochner BS, Burks AW, et al, eds. Middleton's Allergy: Principles and Practice . 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; ...

Stratospheric Balloon Platforms for Near Space Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewey, R. G.

2012-12-01

For over five decades, high altitude aerospace balloon platforms have provided a unique vantage point for space and geophysical research by exposing scientific instrument packages and experiments to space-like conditions above 99% of Earth's atmosphere. Reaching altitudes in excess of 30 km for durations ranging from hours to weeks, high altitude balloons offer longer flight durations than both traditional sounding rockets and emerging suborbital reusable launch vehicles. For instruments and experiments requiring access to high altitudes, engineered balloon systems provide a timely, responsive, flexible, and cost-effective vehicle for reaching near space conditions. Moreover, high altitude balloon platforms serve as an early means of testing and validating hardware bound for suborbital or orbital space without imposing space vehicle qualifications and certification requirements on hardware in development. From float altitudes above 30 km visible obscuration of the sky is greatly reduced and telescopes and other sensors function in an orbit-like environment, but in 1g. Down-facing sensors can take long-exposure atmospheric measurements and images of Earth's surface from oblique and nadir perspectives. Payload support subsystems such as telemetry equipment and command, control, and communication (C3) interfaces can also be tested and operationally verified in this space-analog environment. For scientific payloads requiring over-flight of specific areas of interests, such as an active volcano or forest region, advanced mission planning software allows flight trajectories to be accurately modeled. Using both line-of-sight and satellite-based communication systems, payloads can be tracked and controlled throughout the entire mission duration. Under NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, NSC can provide a range of high altitude flight options to support space and geophysical research: High Altitude Shuttle System (HASS) - A balloon-borne semi-autonomous glider carries payloads to high altitude and returns them safely to pre-selected landing sites, supporting quick recovery, refurbishment, and re-flight. Small Balloon System (SBS) - Controls payload interfaces via a standardized avionics system. Using a parachute for recovery, the SBS is well suited for small satellite and spacecraft subsystem developers wanting to raise their Technology Readiness Level (TRL) in an operationally relevant environment. Provides flexibility for scientific payloads requiring externally mounted equipment, such as telescopes and antennas. Nano Balloon System (NBS) - For smaller payloads (~CubeSats) with minimal C3 requirements, the Nano Balloon System (NBS) operates under less restrictive flight regulations with increased operational flexibility. The NBS is well suited for payload providers seeking a quick, simple, and cost effective solution for operating small ~passive payloads in near space. High altitude balloon systems offer the payload provider and experimenter a unique and flexible platform for geophysical and space research. Though new launch vehicles continue to expand access to suborbital and orbital space, recent improvements in high altitude balloon technology and operations provide a cost effective alternative to access space-like conditions.

U.S. Geological Survey Library classification system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sasscer, R. Scott

2000-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Library classification system has been designed for earth science libraries. It is a tool for assigning call numbers to earth science and allied pure science materials in order to collect these materials into related subject groups on the library shelves and arrange them alphabetically by author and title. The classification can be used as a retrieval system to access materials through the subject and geographic numbers.The classification scheme has been developed over the years since 1904 to meet the ever-changing needs of increased specialization and the development of new areas of research in the earth sciences. The system contains seven schedules: Subject scheduleGeological survey schedule Earth science periodical scheduleGovernment document periodical scheduleGeneral science periodical schedule Earth science map schedule Geographic schedule Introduction provides detailed instructions on the construction of call numbers for works falling into the framework of the classification schedules.The tables following the introduction can be quickly accessed through the use of the newly expanded subject index.The purpose of this publication is to provide the earth science community with a classification and retrieval system for earth science materials, to offer sufficient explanation of its structure and use, and to enable library staff and clientele to classify or access research materials in a library collection.

Central-Monitor Software Module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bachelder, Aaron; Foster, Conrad

2005-01-01

One of the software modules of the emergency-vehicle traffic-light-preemption system of the two preceding articles performs numerous functions for the central monitoring subsystem. This module monitors the states of all units (vehicle transponders and intersection controllers): It provides real-time access to the phases of traffic and pedestrian lights, and maps the positions and states of all emergency vehicles. Most of this module is used for installation and configuration of units as they are added to the system. The module logs all activity in the system, thereby providing information that can be analyzed to minimize response times and optimize response strategies. The module can be used from any location within communication range of the system; with proper configuration, it can also be used via the Internet. It can be integrated into call-response centers, where it can be used for alerting emergency vehicles and managing their responses to specific incidents. A variety of utility subprograms provide access to any or all units for purposes of monitoring, testing, and modification. Included are "sniffer" utility subprograms that monitor incoming and outgoing data for accuracy and timeliness, and that quickly and autonomously shut off malfunctioning vehicle or intersection units.

Neuro-Ophthalmology: Transitioning From Old to New Models of Health Care Delivery.

PubMed

Frohman, Larry P

2017-06-01

In contradiction to fundamental laws of supply and demand, 2 decades of payment policies have led to some medical specialties experiencing declines in both manpower and reimbursement. This paradox has resulted in increasingly long wait times to see some specialists, some specialties becoming less attractive to potential trainees, and a dearth of new trainees entering these fields. Evolving models of health care delivery hold the promise of increasing patient access to most providers and may diminish costs and improve outcomes for most patients/conditions. However, patients who need care in understaffed fields may, in the future, be unable to quickly access a specialist with the requisite expertise. Impeding the sickest and most complex patients from seeing physicians with appropriate expertise may lead to increased costs and deleterious outcomes-consequences contrary to the goals of health care reform. To ensure appropriate access for these patients requires 2 conditions: 1. Compensation models that do not discourage trainees from pursuing nonprocedural specialties, and 2. A care delivery model that expediently identifies and routes these patients to the appropriate specialist.

Virtual Observatories for Space Physics Observations and Simulations: New Routes to Efficient Access and Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, Aaron

2005-01-01

New tools for data access and visualization promise to make the analysis of space plasma data both more efficient and more powerful, especially for answering questions about the global structure and dynamics of the Sun-Earth system. We will show how new existing tools (particularly the Virtual Space Physics Observatory-VSPO-and the Visual System for Browsing, Analysis and Retrieval of Data-ViSBARD; look for the acronyms in Google) already provide rapid access to such information as spacecraft orbits, browse plots, and detailed data, as well as visualizations that can quickly unite our view of multispacecraft observations. We will show movies illustrating multispacecraft observations of the solar wind and magnetosphere during a magnetic storm, and of simulations of 3 0-spacecraft observations derived from MHD simulations of the magnetosphere sampled along likely trajectories of the spacecraft for the MagCon mission. An important issue remaining to be solved is how best to integrate simulation data and services into the Virtual Observatory environment, and this talk will hopefully stimulate further discussion along these lines.

Interventional nephrology: Physical examination as a tool for surveillance for the hemodialysis arteriovenous access.

PubMed

Salman, Loay; Beathard, Gerald

2013-07-01

The prospective recognition of stenosis affecting dialysis vascular access and its prospective treatment is important in the management of the hemodialysis patient. Surveillance by physical examination is easily learned, easily performed, quickly done, and economical. In addition, it has a level of accuracy and reliability equivalent to other approaches that require special instrumentation. Physical examination should be part of any education to all hemodialysis care givers. This review presents the basic principles of physical examination of the hemodialysis vascular access and discusses the evidence behind its value.

Nursing Portal; a Nursing Informatics Solution for Iran, Lessons Learned from a Comparative Study

PubMed Central

Safdari, Reza; Masoori, Niloufar; Torabi, Mashaallah; Cheraghi, Mohammad A.; farzananejad, Ahmadreza; Azadmanjir, Zahra

2012-01-01

The nursing portal is an informatics solution in which services and capabilities supports the nursing staff in their practices and professional development with respect to the existing challenges for use of Internet by nurses at work. It can be considered as a creditable gateway for quick access to research-based evidence provided by reliable resources. Also it provide interactive virtual environment for knowledge exchange with experts or colleagues in different geographical area. Through a comparative study on specialized nursing portals in Iran and other three countries, the aim of this paper is defining desired content and structural specifications of nursing portals which support the practice of nurses in the workplace. Based on results of the present study, a set of recommendations provide for development of a comprehensive nursing portal in Iran. PMID:24199117

Nursing portal; a nursing informatics solution for iran, lessons learned from a comparative study.

PubMed

Safdari, Reza; Masoori, Niloufar; Torabi, Mashaallah; Cheraghi, Mohammad A; Farzananejad, Ahmadreza; Azadmanjir, Zahra

2012-01-01

The nursing portal is an informatics solution in which services and capabilities supports the nursing staff in their practices and professional development with respect to the existing challenges for use of Internet by nurses at work. It can be considered as a creditable gateway for quick access to research-based evidence provided by reliable resources. Also it provide interactive virtual environment for knowledge exchange with experts or colleagues in different geographical area. Through a comparative study on specialized nursing portals in Iran and other three countries, the aim of this paper is defining desired content and structural specifications of nursing portals which support the practice of nurses in the workplace. Based on results of the present study, a set of recommendations provide for development of a comprehensive nursing portal in Iran.

Remote Sensing Operational Capabilities

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-10-01

systems. In each of the cases orbital and sensor characteristics were modeled , as was the possible impact of weather over target areas. In each of the...collect the desired information quickly, it is imperative that the satellite be capable of accessing the target area frequently. • Flexibility and...be capable of accessing the target area frequently. 66 • Flexibility and speed in tasking: the system should be capable of collecting data with a

Comparison of Quick-Set and mineral trioxide aggregate root-end fillings for the regeneration of apical tissues in dogs.

PubMed

Kohout, George D; He, Jianing; Primus, Carolyn M; Opperman, Lynne A; Woodmansey, Karl F

2015-02-01

Quick-Set (Avalon Biomed Inc, Bradenton, FL) is a calcium aluminosilicate cement that is a potential alternative to mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) with greater acid resistance and faster setting. The purpose of this study was to compare the regeneration of apical tissues after root-end surgery when the apical tissues were exposed to Quick-Set or White ProRoot MTA (Dentsply Tulsa Dental Specialties, Tulsa, OK) by root-end resection. The root canals of 42 mandibular premolars in 7 beagle dogs were accessed, cleaned and shaped, and obturated with Quick-Set or white MTA. Osteotomies and root-end resections were performed immediately. The dogs were sacrificed at 90 days, and the teeth and surrounding tissues were removed and prepared for histologic analysis. The sections of the apical areas were scored for inflammation, new cementum formation, periodontal ligament formation, and bone quality. At 90 days, both materials supported some degree of cementum formation on the surface of the material, periodontal ligament regeneration, and excellent bone quality. The only significant difference was greater inflammation found in the Quick-Set group. Quick-Set and White ProRoot MTA had a similar effect on bone quality, cementum formation, and periodontal ligament formation after root-end surgery in dogs. Quick-Set was associated with greater inflammation. Copyright © 2015 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Data Basin: Expanding Access to Conservation Data, Tools, and People

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comendant, T.; Strittholt, J.; Frost, P.; Ward, B. C.; Bachelet, D. M.; Osborne-Gowey, J.

2009-12-01

Mapping and spatial analysis are a fundamental part of problem solving in conservation science, yet spatial data are widely scattered, difficult to locate, and often unavailable. Valuable time and resources are wasted locating and gaining access to important biological, cultural, and economic datasets, scientific analysis, and experts. As conservation problems become more serious and the demand to solve them grows more urgent, a new way to connect science and practice is needed. To meet this need, an open-access, web tool called Data Basin (www.databasin.org) has been created by the Conservation Biology Institute in partnership with ESRI and the Wilburforce Foundation. Users of Data Basin can gain quick access to datasets, experts, groups, and tools to help solve real-world problems. Individuals and organizations can perform essential tasks such as exploring and downloading from a vast library of conservation datasets, uploading existing datasets, connecting to other external data sources, create groups, and produce customized maps that can be easily shared. Data Basin encourages sharing and publishing, but also provides privacy and security for sensitive information when needed. Users can publish projects within Data Basin to tell more complete and rich stories of discovery and solutions. Projects are an ideal way to publish collections of datasets, maps and other information on the internet to reach wider audiences. Data Basin also houses individual centers that provide direct access to data, maps, and experts focused on specific geographic areas or conservation topics. Current centers being developed include the Boreal Information Centre, the Data Basin Climate Center, and proposed Aquatic and Forest Conservation Centers.

[The QR code in society, economy and medicine--fields of application, options and chances].

PubMed

Flaig, Benno; Parzeller, Markus

2011-01-01

2D codes like the QR Code ("Quick Response") are becoming more and more common in society and medicine. The application spectrum and benefits in medicine and other fields are described. 2D codes can be created free of charge on any computer with internet access without any previous knowledge. The codes can be easily used in publications, presentations, on business cards and posters. Editors choose between contact details, text or a hyperlink as information behind the code. At expert conferences, linkage by QR Code allows the audience to download presentations and posters quickly. The documents obtained can then be saved, printed, processed etc. Fast access to stored data in the internet makes it possible to integrate additional and explanatory multilingual videos into medical posters. In this context, a combination of different technologies (printed handout, QR Code and screen) may be reasonable.

What does God know? Supernatural agents' access to socially strategic and non-strategic information.

PubMed

Purzycki, Benjamin G; Finkel, Daniel N; Shaver, John; Wales, Nathan; Cohen, Adam B; Sosis, Richard

2012-07-01

Current evolutionary and cognitive theories of religion posit that supernatural agent concepts emerge from cognitive systems such as theory of mind and social cognition. Some argue that these concepts evolved to maintain social order by minimizing antisocial behavior. If these theories are correct, then people should process information about supernatural agents' socially strategic knowledge more quickly than non-strategic knowledge. Furthermore, agents' knowledge of immoral and uncooperative social behaviors should be especially accessible to people. To examine these hypotheses, we measured response-times to questions about the knowledge attributed to four different agents--God, Santa Claus, a fictional surveillance government, and omniscient but non-interfering aliens--that vary in their omniscience, moral concern, ability to punish, and how supernatural they are. As anticipated, participants respond more quickly to questions about agents' socially strategic knowledge than non-strategic knowledge, but only when agents are able to punish. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Tubular and genetic disorders associated with kidney stones.

PubMed

Mohebbi, Nilufar; Ferraro, Pietro Manuel; Gambaro, Giovanni; Unwin, Robert

2017-02-01

This concise review summarizes our current understanding and the recent developments in genetics and related renal tubular disorders that have been linked with, or have been shown to be causal in, renal stone disease. The aim is to provide a readily accessible quick and easy update for urologists, nephrologists and endocrine or metabolic physicians whose practice involves the diagnosis and management of nephrolithiasis. An important message is to always consider a seemingly rare, and usually genetic, cause of kidney stones, since some of these are emerging as more common than originally thought, especially in adult clinical practice in which a family history of stones is a common finding.

Insights into rare diseases from social media surveys.

PubMed

Davies, William

2016-11-09

The internet, and social media platforms, are increasingly being used by substantial sectors of the worldwide population. By engaging effectively with online and social media, scientists and clinicians can obtain unprecedented access to relatively large cohorts of individuals with rare diseases, as well as their relatives, carers and professionals involved in their healthcare. Online surveys of these stakeholder groups may provide important new insights into rare conditions and their management relatively quickly and easily, with the possibility of rapid translation into healthcare interventions and policy. Here, I describe our recent positive experience with the online survey approach to a rare disease (X-linked ichthyosis), and review its advantages and limitations.

EyeMIAS: a cloud-based ophthalmic image reading and auxiliary diagnosis system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Di; Zhao, Heming; Yu, Kai; Chen, Xinjian

2018-03-01

Relying solely on ophthalmic equipment is unable to meet the present health needs. It is urgent to find an efficient way to provide a quick screening and early diagnosis on diabetic retinopathy and other ophthalmic diseases. The purpose of this study is to develop a cloud-base system for medical image especially ophthalmic image to store, view and process and accelerate the screening and diagnosis. In this purpose the system with web application, upload client, storage dependency and algorithm support is implemented. After five alpha tests, the system bore the thousands of large traffic access and generated hundreds of reports with diagnosis.

Transcriptome sequences resolve deep relationships of the grape family.

PubMed

Wen, Jun; Xiong, Zhiqiang; Nie, Ze-Long; Mao, Likai; Zhu, Yabing; Kan, Xian-Zhao; Ickert-Bond, Stefanie M; Gerrath, Jean; Zimmer, Elizabeth A; Fang, Xiao-Dong

2013-01-01

Previous phylogenetic studies of the grape family (Vitaceae) yielded poorly resolved deep relationships, thus impeding our understanding of the evolution of the family. Next-generation sequencing now offers access to protein coding sequences very easily, quickly and cost-effectively. To improve upon earlier work, we extracted 417 orthologous single-copy nuclear genes from the transcriptomes of 15 species of the Vitaceae, covering its phylogenetic diversity. The resulting transcriptome phylogeny provides robust support for the deep relationships, showing the phylogenetic utility of transcriptome data for plants over a time scale at least since the mid-Cretaceous. The pros and cons of transcriptome data for phylogenetic inference in plants are also evaluated.

Merging and Visualization of Archived Oceanographic Acoustic, Optical, and Sensor Data to Support Improved Access and Interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malik, M. A.; Cantwell, K. L.; Reser, B.; Gray, L. M.

2016-02-01

Marine researchers and managers routinely rely on interdisciplinary data sets collected using hull-mounted sonars, towed sensors, or submersible vehicles. These data sets can be broadly categorized into acoustic remote sensing, imagery-based observations, water property measurements, and physical samples. The resulting raw data sets are overwhelmingly large and complex, and often require specialized software and training to process. To address these challenges, NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is developing tools to improve the discoverability of raw data sets and integration of quality-controlled processed data in order to facilitate re-use of archived oceanographic data. Majority of recently collected OER raw oceanographic data can be retrieved from national data archives (e.g. NCEI and NOAA central library). Merging of disperse data sets by scientists with diverse expertise, however remains problematic. Initial efforts at OER have focused on merging geospatial acoustic remote sensing data with imagery and water property measurements that typically lack direct geo-referencing. OER has developed `smart' ship and submersible tracks that can provide a synopsis of geospatial coverage of various data sets. Tools under development enable scientists to quickly assess the relevance of archived OER data to their respective research or management interests, and enable quick access to the desired raw and processed data sets. Pre-processing of the data and visualization to combine various data sets also offers benefits to streamline data quality assurance and quality control efforts.

A Framework for Context Sensitive Risk-Based Access Control in Medical Information Systems

PubMed Central

Choi, Donghee; Kim, Dohoon; Park, Seog

2015-01-01

Since the access control environment has changed and the threat of insider information leakage has come to the fore, studies on risk-based access control models that decide access permissions dynamically have been conducted vigorously. Medical information systems should protect sensitive data such as medical information from insider threat and enable dynamic access control depending on the context such as life-threatening emergencies. In this paper, we suggest an approach and framework for context sensitive risk-based access control suitable for medical information systems. This approach categorizes context information, estimating and applying risk through context- and treatment-based permission profiling and specifications by expanding the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) to apply risk. The proposed framework supports quick responses to medical situations and prevents unnecessary insider data access through dynamic access authorization decisions in accordance with the severity of the context and treatment. PMID:26075013

Exploring FlyBase Data Using QuickSearch.

PubMed

Marygold, Steven J; Antonazzo, Giulia; Attrill, Helen; Costa, Marta; Crosby, Madeline A; Dos Santos, Gilberto; Goodman, Joshua L; Gramates, L Sian; Matthews, Beverley B; Rey, Alix J; Thurmond, Jim

2016-12-08

FlyBase (flybase.org) is the primary online database of genetic, genomic, and functional information about Drosophila species, with a major focus on the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. The long and rich history of Drosophila research, combined with recent surges in genomic-scale and high-throughput technologies, mean that FlyBase now houses a huge quantity of data. Researchers need to be able to rapidly and intuitively query these data, and the QuickSearch tool has been designed to meet these needs. This tool is conveniently located on the FlyBase homepage and is organized into a series of simple tabbed interfaces that cover the major data and annotation classes within the database. This unit describes the functionality of all aspects of the QuickSearch tool. With this knowledge, FlyBase users will be equipped to take full advantage of all QuickSearch features and thereby gain improved access to data relevant to their research. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Probiotics and Disease: A Comprehensive Summary—Part 2, Commercially Produced Cultured and Fermented Foods Commonly Available in the United States

PubMed Central

Parker, Emily C.; Gossard, Crystal M.; Dolan, Keren E.; Finley, Heather J.; Burns, Cathleen M.; Gasta, Margaret G.; Pizano, Jessica M.; Williamson, Christy B.; Lipski, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

This article series provides a literature review of the disease-specific probiotic strains studied in published clinical trials in humans and animals. The goal of the series is to provide clinically useful tools. The table design allows for quick access to supportive data and will be helpful as a guide for both researchers and clinicians. The first article (part 1) focused on mental health and neurological conditions. This second article (part 2) explores cultured and fermented foods that are commonly available in the United States. Future articles will review conditions related to cardiometabolic and fatigue syndromes; ear, nose, throat, respiratory, and infectious diseases; immune and dermatological conditions; cancer; gastrointestinal and genitourinary; followed by an article focused on probiotic supplements. This literature review is specific to disease conditions, probiotic classification, and individual strains. In part 1, we explored foods, brands, bacterial strains, and the number of organisms at end of production (in colony-forming units). In part 2, we investigate many of the commercially available cultured and fermented probiotic rich foods that are currently available in the United States. This summary can serve as a quick reference guide for recommending probiotic rich foods to patients. PMID:28223894

Where We Are | FNLCR Staging

Cancer.gov

With a population of almost 250,000 residents, Frederick County sits at the crossroads of several major highways, with quick access to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Historic downtown Frederick lies at the center of the county, and is home to workpla

Rapid Data Delivery System (RDDS)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cress, Jill J.; Goplen, Susan E.

2007-01-01

Since the start of the active 2000 summer fire season, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center (RMGSC) has been actively engaged in providing crucial and timely support to Federal, State, and local natural hazards monitoring, analysis, response, and recovery activities. As part of this support, RMGSC has developed the Rapid Data Delivery System (RDDS) to provide emergency and incident response teams with timely access to geospatial data. The RDDS meets these needs by combining a simple web-enabled data viewer for the selection and preview of vector and raster geospatial data with an easy to use data ordering form. The RDDS viewer also incorporates geospatial locations for current natural hazard incidents, including wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanoes, allowing incident responders to quickly focus on their area of interest for data selection.

ACCESS: A Communicating and Cooperating Expert Systems System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-31

therefore more quickly accepted by programmers. This is in part due to the already familiar concepts of multi-processing environments (e.g. semaphores ...Di68] and monitors [Br75]) which can be viewed as a special case of synchronized shared memory models [Di6S]. Heterogeneous systems however, are by...locality of nodes is not possible and frequent access of memory is required. Synchronization of processes also suffers from a loss of efficiency in

Quick Estimation Model for the Concentration of Indoor Airborne Culturable Bacteria: An Application of Machine Learning.

PubMed

Liu, Zhijian; Li, Hao; Cao, Guoqing

2017-07-30

Indoor airborne culturable bacteria are sometimes harmful to human health. Therefore, a quick estimation of their concentration is particularly necessary. However, measuring the indoor microorganism concentration (e.g., bacteria) usually requires a large amount of time, economic cost, and manpower. In this paper, we aim to provide a quick solution: using knowledge-based machine learning to provide quick estimation of the concentration of indoor airborne culturable bacteria only with the inputs of several measurable indoor environmental indicators, including: indoor particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), temperature, relative humidity, and CO₂ concentration. Our results show that a general regression neural network (GRNN) model can sufficiently provide a quick and decent estimation based on the model training and testing using an experimental database with 249 data groups.

A quick SEED tutorial

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ringler, Adam; Evans, John R.

2015-01-01

A number of different government-funded seismic data centers offer free open-access data (e.g., U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center, the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), and Data Management System), which can be freely downloaded and shared among different members of the community (Lay, 2009). To efficiently share data, it is important that different data providers follow a common format. The Standard for the Exchange of Earthquake Data (SEED) provides one such format for storing seismic and other geophysical data. The SEED format is widely used in earthquake seismology; however, SEED and its structure can be difficult for many first-time users (ourselves included). Below is a quick tutorial that outlines the basic structure of SEED format. This write-up is in no way intended to replace the comprehensive SEED manual (Ahern et al., 2009), and instead of going into the details of any specific part of the SEED format we refer the reader to the manual for additional details. The goal of this write-up is to succinctly explain the basic structure of SEED format as well as the associated jargon, as most commonly used now, in a colloquial way so that novice users of SEED can become more familiar with the format and its application quickly. Our goal is to give the reader the necessary background so that when problems or questions about SEED format arise they will have some understanding of where they should look for more details or from where the problem might be stemming. As a secondary goal, we hope to help the reader become familiar with the SEED manual (Ahern et al., 2009), which contains detailed information about all aspects of the SEED format.

Quick-setting concrete and a method for making quick-setting concrete

DOEpatents

Wagh, A.S.; Singh, D.; Pullockaran, J.D.; Knox, L.

1997-04-29

A method for producing quick setting concrete is provided comprising mixing a concrete dry mixture with carbonate solution to create a slurry, and allowing the slurry to cure. The invention also provides for a quick setting concrete having a predetermined proportion of CaCO{sub 3} of between 5 and 23 weight percent of the entire concrete mixture, and whereby the concrete has a compression strength of approximately 4,000 pounds per square inch (psi) within 24 hours after pouring. 2 figs.

Quick-setting concrete and a method for making quick-setting concrete

DOEpatents

Wagh, Arun S.; Singh, Dileep; Pullockaran, Jose D.; Knox, Lerry

1997-01-01

A method for producing quick setting concrete is provided comprising hydrng a concrete dry mixture with carbonate solution to create a slurry, and allowing the slurry to cure. The invention also provides for a quick setting concrete having a predetermined proportion of CaCO.sub.3 of between 5 and 23 weight percent of the entire concrete mixture, and whereby the concrete has a compression strength of approximately 4,000 pounds per square inch (psi) within 24 hours after pouring.

Creating Web Area Segments with Google Analytics

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Segments allow you to quickly access data for a predefined set of Sessions or Users, such as government or education users, or sessions in a particular state. You can then apply this segment to any report within the Google Analytics (GA) interface.

Quick Guide to Health Literacy and Older Adults

MedlinePlus

... starter tips Resources Additional Resources Cultural Competence Health Literacy Older Adults Plain Language Visual Impairment Web sites Content last updated: October 30, 2007 skip to navigation | skip to content ACCESSIBILITY | FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US Office of Disease ...

Proceedings of the 2004 High Spatial Resolution Commercial Imagery Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

Topics covered include: NASA Applied Sciences Program; USGS Land Remote Sensing: Overview; QuickBird System Status and Product Overview; ORBIMAGE Overview; IKONOS 2004 Calibration and Validation Status; OrbView-3 Spatial Characterization; On-Orbit Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) Measurement of QuickBird; Spatial Resolution Characterization for QuickBird Image Products 2003-2004 Season; Image Quality Evaluation of QuickBird Super Resolution and Revisit of IKONOS: Civil and Commercial Application Project (CCAP); On-Orbit System MTF Measurement; QuickBird Post Launch Geopositional Characterization Update; OrbView-3 Geometric Calibration and Geopositional Accuracy; Geopositional Statistical Methods; QuickBird and OrbView-3 Geopositional Accuracy Assessment; Initial On-Orbit Spatial Resolution Characterization of OrbView-3 Panchromatic Images; Laboratory Measurement of Bidirectional Reflectance of Radiometric Tarps; Stennis Space Center Verification and Validation Capabilities; Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) Team; Adjacency Effects in High Resolution Imagery; Effect of Pulse Width vs. GSD on MTF Estimation; Camera and Sensor Calibration at the USGS; QuickBird Geometric Verification; Comparison of MODTRAN to Heritage-based Results in Vicarious Calibration at University of Arizona; Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Determine Impervious Surface in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Estimating Sub-Pixel Proportions of Sagebrush with a Regression Tree; How Do YOU Use the National Land Cover Dataset?; The National Map Hazards Data Distribution System; Recording a Troubled World; What Does This-Have to Do with This?; When Can a Picture Save a Thousand Homes?; InSAR Studies of Alaska Volcanoes; Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) Data Products; Improving Access to the USGS Aerial Film Collections: High Resolution Scanners; Improving Access to the USGS Aerial Film Collections: Phoenix Digitizing System Product Distribution; System and Product Characterization: Issues Approach; Innovative Approaches to Analysis of Lidar Data for the National Map; Changes in Imperviousness near Military Installations; Geopositional Accuracy Evaluations of QuickBird and OrbView-3: Civil and Commercial Applications Project (CCAP); Geometric Accuracy Assessment: OrbView ORTHO Products; QuickBird Radiometric Calibration Update; OrbView-3 Radiometric Calibration; QuickBird Radiometric Characterization; NASA Radiometric Characterization; Establishing and Verifying the Traceability of Remote-Sensing Measurements to International Standards; QuickBird Applications; Airport Mapping and Perpetual Monitoring Using IKONOS; OrbView-3 Relative Accuracy Results and Impacts on Exploitation and Accuracy Improvement; Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Determine Impervious Surface in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Applying High-Resolution Satellite Imagery and Remotely Sensed Data to Local Government Applications: Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Automatic Co-Registration of QuickBird Data for Change Detection Applications; Developing Coastal Surface Roughness Maps Using ASTER and QuickBird Data Sources; Automated, Near-Real Time Cloud and Cloud Shadow Detection in High Resolution VNIR Imagery; Science Applications of High Resolution Imagery at the USGS EROS Data Center; Draft Plan for Characterizing Commercial Data Products in Support of Earth Science Research; Atmospheric Correction Prototype Algorithm for High Spatial Resolution Multispectral Earth Observing Imaging Systems; Determining Regional Arctic Tundra Carbon Exchange: A Bottom-Up Approach; Using IKONOS Imagery to Assess Impervious Surface Area, Riparian Buffers and Stream Health in the Mid-Atlantic Region; Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy Civil Implementation Update; USGS Commercial Remote Sensing Data Contracts (CRSDC); and Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy (CRSSP): Civil Near-Term Requirements Collection Update.

The ISO Data Archive and Interoperability with Other Archives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salama, Alberto; Arviset, Christophe; Hernández, José; Dowson, John; Osuna, Pedro

The ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), an unprecedented observatory for infrared astronomy launched in November 1995, successfully made nearly 30,000 scientific observations in its 2.5-year mission. The ISO data can be retrieved from the ISO Data Archive, available at ISO Data Archive , and comprised of about 150,000 observations, including parallel and serendipity mode observations. A user-friendly Java interface permits queries to the database and data retrieval. The interface currently offers a wide variety of links to other archives, such as name resolution with NED and SIMBAD, access to electronic articles from ADS and CDS/VizieR, and access to IRAS data. In the past year development has been focused on improving the IDA interoperability with other astronomical archives, either by accessing other relevant archives or by providing direct access to the ISO data for external services. A mechanism of information transfer has been developed, allowing direct query to the IDA via a Java Server Page, returning quick look ISO images and relevant, observation-specific information embedded in an HTML page. This method has been used to link from the CDS/Vizier Data Centre and ADS, and work with IPAC to allow access to the ISO Archive from IRSA, including display capabilities of the observed sky regions onto other mission images, is in progress. Prospects for further links to and from other archives and databases are also addressed.

Access to MISR Aerosol Data and Imagery for the GoMACCS Field Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritchey, N.; Watkinson, T.; Davis, J.; Walter, J.; Protack, S.; Matthews, J.; Smyth, M.; Rheingans, B.; Gaitley, B.; Ferebee, M.; Haberer, S.

2006-12-01

NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Multi- angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) teams collaborated to provide special data products and images in an innovative approach for the Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study (GoMACCS) field campaign. GoMACCS was an intensive field study focused on providing a better understanding of the sources and atmospheric processes responsible for the formation and distribution of ozone and aerosols in the atmosphere and the influence that these species have on the radiative forcing of regional and global climate, as well as their impact on human health and regional haze. The study area encompassed Texas and the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Numerous U. S. Government agencies, universities and commercial entities participated in the field campaign which occurred August through September 2006. Aerosol and meteorological measurements were provided by a network of instruments on land, buoys and ships, by airborne in situ and remote instruments, and by satellite retrievals. MISR's role in GoMACCS was to provide satellite retrievals of aerosols and cloud properties and imagery as quickly as possible after data acquisition. The diverse group of scientific participants created unique opportunities for ASDC and MISR to develop special data products and images that were easily accessible by all participants. Examples of the data products, images and access methods as well as the data and imagery flow will be presented. Additional information about ASDC and MISR is available from the following web sites, http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov and http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Beware of the predatory science journal: A potential threat to the integrity of medical research.

PubMed

Johal, Jaspreet; Ward, Robert; Gielecki, Jerzy; Walocha, Jerzy; Natsis, Kostantinos; Tubbs, R Shane; Loukas, Marios

2017-09-01

The issue of predatory journals has become increasingly more prevalent over the past decade, as the open-access model of publishing has gained prominence. Although the open-access model is well intentioned to increase accessibility of biomedical research, it is vulnerable to exploitation by those looking to corrupt medical academia and circumvent ethics and research standards. Predatory journals will achieve publication by either soliciting unsuspecting researchers who have legitimate research but fall victim to these predators or researchers looking to quickly publish their research without a thorough review process. Some features of predatory journals are a quick non-peer-review process, falsely listing or exaggerating the credibility of editorial board members, and either lack of or falsification of institutional affiliations and database listings. These predatory journals are a serious threat to the integrity of medical research, as they will infect the available literature with unsubstantiated articles, and allow low-quality research. A number of steps can be taken to prevent the spread and increase awareness of predatory publishers, and these must be done to maintain the integrity of medical academia. Clin. Anat. 30:767-773, 2017. © 2017Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

GAIA virtual observatory - development and practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syrjäsuo, Mikko; Marple, Steve

2010-05-01

The Global Auroral Imaging Access, or GAIA, is a virtual observatory providing quick access to summary data from satellite and ground-based instruments that remote sense auroral precipitation (http://gaia-vxo.org). This web-based service facilitates locating data relevant to particular events by simultaneously displaying summary images from various data sets around the world. At the moment, there are GAIA server nodes in Canada, Finland, Norway and the UK. The development is an international effort and the software and metadata are freely available. The GAIA system is based on a relational database which is queried by a dedicated software suite that also creates the graphical end-user interface if such is needed. Most commonly, the virtual observatory is used interactively by using a web browser: the user provides the date and the type of data of interest. As the summary data from multiple instruments are displayed simultaneously, the user can conveniently explore the recorded data. The virtual observatory provides essentially instant access to the images originating from all major auroral instrument networks including THEMIS, NORSTAR, GLORIA and MIRACLE. The scientific, educational and outreach use is limited by creativity rather than access. The first version of the GAIA was developed at the University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) in 2004-2005. This proof-of-concept included mainly THEMIS and MIRACLE data, which comprised of millions of summary plots and thumbnail images. However, it was soon realised that a complete re-design was necessary to increase flexibility. In the presentation, we will discuss the early history and motivation of GAIA as well as how the development continued towards the current version. The emphasis will be on practical problems and their solutions. Relevant design choices will also be highlighted.

Electronic communication improves access, but barriers to its widespread adoption remain.

PubMed

Bishop, Tara F; Press, Matthew J; Mendelsohn, Jayme L; Casalino, Lawrence P

2013-08-01

Because electronic communication is quick, convenient, and inexpensive for most patients, care that is truly patient centered should promote the use of such communication between patients and providers, even using it as a substitute for office visits when clinically appropriate. Despite the potential benefits of electronic communication, fewer than 7 percent of providers used it in 2008. To learn from the experiences of providers that have widely incorporated electronic communication into patient care, we interviewed leaders of twenty-one medical groups that use it extensively with patients. We also interviewed staff in six of those groups. Electronic communication was widely perceived to be a safe, effective, and efficient means of communication that improves patient satisfaction and saves patients time but that increases the volume of physician work unless office visits are reduced. Practice redesign and new payment methods are likely necessary for electronic communication to be more widely used in patient care.

Variation in Results Release and Patient Portal Access to Diagnostic Test Results at an Academic Medical Center

PubMed Central

Krasowski, Matthew D.; Grieme, Caleb V.; Cassady, Brian; Dreyer, Nicholas R.; Wanat, Karolyn A.; Hightower, Maia; Nepple, Kenneth G.

2017-01-01

Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are commonplace in industrialized countries. Many hospitals are granting their patients access to their medical information through online patient portals. In this report, we describe a retrospective analysis of patient access to diagnostic test results released through the patient portal (MyChart; Epic, Inc.) at a state academic medical center. Methods: We analyzed 6 months of data for anatomic pathology, clinical laboratory, and radiology test results to evaluate variations in results release (automated vs. manual) and subsequent patient access to the institutional patient portal. During this period, diagnostic test results were released for all patient encounters including inpatient units, outpatient clinics, and the emergency department. Results: Manual results release by providers before automated release time occurred most commonly in the outpatient setting. The highest rates of access of diagnostic test results occurred for outpatients (about 30% overall view rate), females (two times or more compared to males in nearly every age bracket), and 20–45-year-old. Access rates of diagnostic tests in the emergency department or inpatient units were <10% across all populations. Access of diagnostic test results was very low for 12–17-year-old, likely influenced by institutional policies limiting parental proxy access within this pediatric age range. Approximately 20% of outpatient laboratory results were viewed by patients within 8 h of release from the EHR to the patient portal and 10% within 2 h of release. Conclusions: Patient accessing of diagnostic test results were generally higher for females, outpatients, and 20–45-year-old. Approximately, 20% of outpatient results were viewed quickly by patients after release to the EHR. PMID:29226008

Variation in Results Release and Patient Portal Access to Diagnostic Test Results at an Academic Medical Center.

PubMed

Krasowski, Matthew D; Grieme, Caleb V; Cassady, Brian; Dreyer, Nicholas R; Wanat, Karolyn A; Hightower, Maia; Nepple, Kenneth G

2017-01-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) are commonplace in industrialized countries. Many hospitals are granting their patients access to their medical information through online patient portals. In this report, we describe a retrospective analysis of patient access to diagnostic test results released through the patient portal (MyChart; Epic, Inc.) at a state academic medical center. We analyzed 6 months of data for anatomic pathology, clinical laboratory, and radiology test results to evaluate variations in results release (automated vs. manual) and subsequent patient access to the institutional patient portal. During this period, diagnostic test results were released for all patient encounters including inpatient units, outpatient clinics, and the emergency department. Manual results release by providers before automated release time occurred most commonly in the outpatient setting. The highest rates of access of diagnostic test results occurred for outpatients (about 30% overall view rate), females (two times or more compared to males in nearly every age bracket), and 20-45-year-old. Access rates of diagnostic tests in the emergency department or inpatient units were <10% across all populations. Access of diagnostic test results was very low for 12-17-year-old, likely influenced by institutional policies limiting parental proxy access within this pediatric age range. Approximately 20% of outpatient laboratory results were viewed by patients within 8 h of release from the EHR to the patient portal and 10% within 2 h of release. Patient accessing of diagnostic test results were generally higher for females, outpatients, and 20-45-year-old. Approximately, 20% of outpatient results were viewed quickly by patients after release to the EHR.

Quick Estimation Model for the Concentration of Indoor Airborne Culturable Bacteria: An Application of Machine Learning

PubMed Central

Liu, Zhijian; Li, Hao; Cao, Guoqing

2017-01-01

Indoor airborne culturable bacteria are sometimes harmful to human health. Therefore, a quick estimation of their concentration is particularly necessary. However, measuring the indoor microorganism concentration (e.g., bacteria) usually requires a large amount of time, economic cost, and manpower. In this paper, we aim to provide a quick solution: using knowledge-based machine learning to provide quick estimation of the concentration of indoor airborne culturable bacteria only with the inputs of several measurable indoor environmental indicators, including: indoor particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentration. Our results show that a general regression neural network (GRNN) model can sufficiently provide a quick and decent estimation based on the model training and testing using an experimental database with 249 data groups. PMID:28758941

Universal access to electricity in Burkina Faso: scaling-up renewable energy technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moner-Girona, M.; Bódis, K.; Huld, T.; Kougias, I.; Szabó, S.

2016-08-01

This paper describes the status quo of the power sector in Burkina Faso, its limitations, and develops a new methodology that through spatial analysis processes with the aim to provide a possible pathway for universal electricity access. Following the SE4All initiative approach, it recommends the more extensive use of distributed renewable energy systems to increase access to electricity on an accelerated timeline. Less than 5% of the rural population in Burkina Faso have currently access to electricity and supply is lacking at many social structures such as schools and hospitals. Energy access achievements in Burkina Faso are still very modest. According to the latest SE4All Global Tracking Framework (2015), the access to electricity annual growth rate in Burkina Faso from 2010 to 2012 is 0%. The rural electrification strategy for Burkina Faso is scattered in several electricity sector development policies: there is a need of defining a concrete action plan. Planning and coordination between grid extension and the off-grid electrification programme is essential to reach a long-term sustainable energy model and prevent high avoidable infrastructure investments. This paper goes into details on the methodology and findings of the developed Geographic Information Systems tool. The aim of the dynamic planning tool is to provide support to the national government and development partners to define an alternative electrification plan. Burkina Faso proves to be paradigm case for the methodology as its national policy for electrification is still dominated by grid extension and the government subsidising fossil fuel electricity production. However, the results of our analysis suggest that the current grid extension is becoming inefficient and unsustainable in order to reach the national energy access targets. The results also suggest that Burkina Faso’s rural electrification strategy should be driven local renewable resources to power distributed mini-grids. We find that this approach would connect more people to power more quickly, and would reduce fossil fuel use that would otherwise be necessary for grid extension options.

Quick Information Sheets. 1988.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisconsin Univ., Madison. Trace Center.

The Trace Center gathers and organizes information on communication, control, and computer access for handicapped individuals. The information is disseminated in the form of brief sheets describing print, nonprint, and organizational resources and listing addresses and telephone numbers for ordering or for additional information. This compilation…

Where We Are | Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

With a population of almost 250,000 residents, Frederick County sits at the crossroads of several major highways, with quick access to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Historic downtown Frederick lies at the center of the county, and is home to workpla

GLCF: Data & Products

Science.gov Websites

Imagery Products Derived from Satellite Imagery Landsat Forest Change Products Amazon Basin Central Africa Paraguay Coastal Marsh Health Index Forest Cover Change Impervious Surface Cover Landsat Mosaics Landsat Guides * Data Policies * Restricted Access Quick Links * EROS Data Center * Global Change Master

Switch on Micro*scope!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roland, Sarah; Bahr, Michele; Olendzenski, Lorraine; Patterson, David J.

2005-01-01

Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, have created micro*scope, a free, searchable knowledge environment for exploring the microbial world. Microbiology can easily be incorporated into the curriculum, because microbial communities are easy to access. Organisms grow quickly, making certain arrays of…

Improved Information Retrieval Performance on SQL Database Using Data Adapter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Husni, M.; Djanali, S.; Ciptaningtyas, H. T.; Wicaksana, I. G. N. A.

2018-02-01

The NoSQL databases, short for Not Only SQL, are increasingly being used as the number of big data applications increases. Most systems still use relational databases (RDBs), but as the number of data increases each year, the system handles big data with NoSQL databases to analyze and access data more quickly. NoSQL emerged as a result of the exponential growth of the internet and the development of web applications. The query syntax in the NoSQL database differs from the SQL database, therefore requiring code changes in the application. Data adapter allow applications to not change their SQL query syntax. Data adapters provide methods that can synchronize SQL databases with NotSQL databases. In addition, the data adapter provides an interface which is application can access to run SQL queries. Hence, this research applied data adapter system to synchronize data between MySQL database and Apache HBase using direct access query approach, where system allows application to accept query while synchronization process in progress. From the test performed using data adapter, the results obtained that the data adapter can synchronize between SQL databases, MySQL, and NoSQL database, Apache HBase. This system spends the percentage of memory resources in the range of 40% to 60%, and the percentage of processor moving from 10% to 90%. In addition, from this system also obtained the performance of database NoSQL better than SQL database.

An on-demand provision model for geospatial multisource information with active self-adaption services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Hong; Li, Huan

2015-12-01

Location-related data are playing an increasingly irreplaceable role in business, government and scientific research. At the same time, the amount and types of data are rapidly increasing. It is a challenge how to quickly find required information from this rapidly growing volume of data, as well as how to efficiently provide different levels of geospatial data to users. This paper puts forward a data-oriented access model for geographic information science data. First, we analyze the features of GIS data including traditional types such as vector and raster data and new types such as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). Taking into account these analyses, a classification scheme for geographic data is proposed and TRAFIE is introduced to describe the establishment of a multi-level model for geographic data. Based on this model, a multi-level, scalable access system for geospatial information is put forward. Users can select different levels of data according to their concrete application needs. Pull-based and push-based data access mechanisms based on this model are presented. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) was chosen for the data processing. The model of this study has been described by providing decision-making process of government departments with a simulation of fire disaster data collection. The use case shows this data model and the data provision system is flexible and has good adaptability.

Cancer care management through a mobile phone health approach: key considerations.

PubMed

Mohammadzadeh, Niloofar; Safdari, Reza; Rahimi, Azin

2013-01-01

Greater use of mobile phone devices seems inevitable because the health industry and cancer care are facing challenges such as resource constraints, rising care costs, the need for immediate access to healthcare data of types such as audio video texts for early detection and treatment of patients and increasing remote aids in telemedicine. Physicians, in order to study the causes of cancer, detect cancer earlier, act in prevention measures, determine the effectiveness of treatment and specify the reasons for the treatment ineffectiveness, need to access accurate, comprehensive and timely cancer data. Mobile devices provide opportunities and can play an important role in consulting, diagnosis, treatment, and quick access to health information. There easy carriage make them perfect tools for healthcare providers in cancer care management. Key factors in cancer care management systems through a mobile phone health approach must be considered such as human resources, confidentiality and privacy, legal and ethical issues, appropriate ICT and provider infrastructure and costs in general aspects and interoperability, human relationships, types of mobile devices and telecommunication related points in specific aspects. The successful implementation of mobile-based systems in cancer care management will constantly face many challenges. Hence, in applying mobile cancer care, involvement of users and considering their needs in all phases of project, providing adequate bandwidth, preparation of standard tools that provide maximum mobility and flexibility for users, decreasing obstacles to interrupt network communications, and using suitable communication protocols are essential. It is obvious that identifying and reducing barriers and strengthening the positive points will have a significant role in appropriate planning and promoting the achievements of mobile cancer care systems. The aim of this article is to explain key points which should be considered in designing appropriate mobile health systems in cancer care as an approach for improving cancer care management.

FreeDam - A webtool for free-electron laser-induced damage in femtosecond X-ray crystallography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jönsson, H. Olof; Östlin, Christofer; Scott, Howard A.; Chapman, Henry N.; Aplin, Steve J.; Tîmneanu, Nicuşor; Caleman, Carl

2018-03-01

Over the last decade X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) sources have been made available to the scientific community. One of the most successful uses of these new machines has been protein crystallography. When samples are exposed to the intense short X-ray pulses provided by the XFELs, the sample quickly becomes highly ionized and the atomic structure is affected. Here we present a webtool dubbed FreeDam based on non-thermal plasma simulations, for estimation of radiation damage in free-electron laser experiments in terms of ionization, temperatures and atomic displacements. The aim is to make this tool easily accessible to scientists who are planning and performing experiments at XFELs.

Therapeutic Group work for People with Cognitive Losses Therapeutic Groupwork for People with Cognitive Losses Mike Bender Speechmark 288 pp £37.50 0 86388 4067 0863884067 [Formula: see text].

PubMed

2005-10-01

Mike Bender has provided a thoroughly accessible book that imparts information and guidance, and focuses effort. He quickly constructs a sound rationale for supporting therapeutic groupwork in people who experience cognitive loss. This theme runs throughout and is reinforced by positive experiences reported in the text. The author does not over-complicate or attempt to place groupwork in the hands of a skilled few; instead he shows that with planning, solid support from colleagues, attention to detail in preparation and by following some well-grounded 'rules', groupwork is available to most.

The antioxidant effect of derivatives pyroglutamic lactam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohadi, Atisya; Lazim, Azwani Mat; Hasbullah, Siti Aishah

2013-11-01

Diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) is widely used for quickly accessing the ability of polyphenols to transfer labile H atoms to radicals. The antioxidant activity of all the synthesized compounds was screened by DPPH method. Compound (4) showed 54% antioxidant potential while all other compounds were found to have moderate to have moderate to mild antioxidant activity ranging from 47-52%. Pyroglutamic lactams have been synthesized stereoselectively in racemic form from levulinic acid as bifunctional adduct using convertible isocyanide in one-pot Ugi 4-center-3-component condensation reaction (U-4C-3CR). The product formed provides biologically interesting products in excellent yields in a short reaction time. The structures of the synthesized compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic data and elemental analysis.

HERCULES: A Pattern Driven Code Transformation System

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

Kartsaklis, Christos; Hernandez, Oscar R; Hsu, Chung-Hsing

2012-01-01

New parallel computers are emerging, but developing efficient scientific code for them remains difficult. A scientist must manage not only the science-domain complexity but also the performance-optimization complexity. HERCULES is a code transformation system designed to help the scientist to separate the two concerns, which improves code maintenance, and facilitates performance optimization. The system combines three technologies, code patterns, transformation scripts and compiler plugins, to provide the scientist with an environment to quickly implement code transformations that suit his needs. Unlike existing code optimization tools, HERCULES is unique in its focus on user-level accessibility. In this paper we discuss themore » design, implementation and an initial evaluation of HERCULES.« less

Transcriptome Sequences Resolve Deep Relationships of the Grape Family

PubMed Central

Wen, Jun; Xiong, Zhiqiang; Nie, Ze-Long; Mao, Likai; Zhu, Yabing; Kan, Xian-Zhao; Ickert-Bond, Stefanie M.; Gerrath, Jean; Zimmer, Elizabeth A.; Fang, Xiao-Dong

2013-01-01

Previous phylogenetic studies of the grape family (Vitaceae) yielded poorly resolved deep relationships, thus impeding our understanding of the evolution of the family. Next-generation sequencing now offers access to protein coding sequences very easily, quickly and cost-effectively. To improve upon earlier work, we extracted 417 orthologous single-copy nuclear genes from the transcriptomes of 15 species of the Vitaceae, covering its phylogenetic diversity. The resulting transcriptome phylogeny provides robust support for the deep relationships, showing the phylogenetic utility of transcriptome data for plants over a time scale at least since the mid-Cretaceous. The pros and cons of transcriptome data for phylogenetic inference in plants are also evaluated. PMID:24069307

Understanding reactions to an internet-delivered health-care intervention: accommodating user preferences for information provision.

PubMed

Yardley, Lucy; Morrison, Leanne G; Andreou, Panayiota; Joseph, Judith; Little, Paul

2010-09-17

It is recognised as good practice to use qualitative methods to elicit users' views of internet-delivered health-care interventions during their development. This paper seeks to illustrate the advantages of combining usability testing with 'theoretical modelling', i.e. analyses that relate the findings of qualitative studies during intervention development to social science theory, in order to gain deeper insights into the reasons and context for how people respond to the intervention. This paper illustrates how usability testing may be enriched by theoretical modelling by means of two qualitative studies of users' views of the delivery of information in an internet-delivered intervention to help users decide whether they needed to seek medical care for their cold or flu symptoms. In Study 1, 21 participants recruited from a city in southern England were asked to 'think aloud' while viewing draft web-pages presented in paper format. In Study 2, views of our prototype website were elicited, again using think aloud methods, in a sample of 26 participants purposively sampled for diversity in education levels. Both data-sets were analysed by thematic analysis. Study 1 revealed that although the information provided by the draft web-pages had many of the intended empowering benefits, users often felt overwhelmed by the quantity of information. Relating these findings to theory and research on factors influencing preferences for information-seeking we hypothesised that to meet the needs of different users (especially those with lower literacy levels) our website should be designed to provide only essential personalised advice, but with options to access further information. Study 2 showed that our website design did prove accessible to users with different literacy levels. However, some users seemed to want still greater control over how information was accessed. Educational level need not be an insuperable barrier to appreciating web-based access to detailed health-related information, provided that users feel they can quickly gain access to the specific information they seek.

Understanding reactions to an internet-delivered health-care intervention: accommodating user preferences for information provision

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background It is recognised as good practice to use qualitative methods to elicit users' views of internet-delivered health-care interventions during their development. This paper seeks to illustrate the advantages of combining usability testing with 'theoretical modelling', i.e. analyses that relate the findings of qualitative studies during intervention development to social science theory, in order to gain deeper insights into the reasons and context for how people respond to the intervention. This paper illustrates how usability testing may be enriched by theoretical modelling by means of two qualitative studies of users' views of the delivery of information in an internet-delivered intervention to help users decide whether they needed to seek medical care for their cold or flu symptoms. Methods In Study 1, 21 participants recruited from a city in southern England were asked to 'think aloud' while viewing draft web-pages presented in paper format. In Study 2, views of our prototype website were elicited, again using think aloud methods, in a sample of 26 participants purposively sampled for diversity in education levels. Both data-sets were analysed by thematic analysis. Results Study 1 revealed that although the information provided by the draft web-pages had many of the intended empowering benefits, users often felt overwhelmed by the quantity of information. Relating these findings to theory and research on factors influencing preferences for information-seeking we hypothesised that to meet the needs of different users (especially those with lower literacy levels) our website should be designed to provide only essential personalised advice, but with options to access further information. Study 2 showed that our website design did prove accessible to users with different literacy levels. However, some users seemed to want still greater control over how information was accessed. Conclusions Educational level need not be an insuperable barrier to appreciating web-based access to detailed health-related information, provided that users feel they can quickly gain access to the specific information they seek. PMID:20849599

BioMart Central Portal: an open database network for the biological community

PubMed Central

Guberman, Jonathan M.; Ai, J.; Arnaiz, O.; Baran, Joachim; Blake, Andrew; Baldock, Richard; Chelala, Claude; Croft, David; Cros, Anthony; Cutts, Rosalind J.; Di Génova, A.; Forbes, Simon; Fujisawa, T.; Gadaleta, E.; Goodstein, D. M.; Gundem, Gunes; Haggarty, Bernard; Haider, Syed; Hall, Matthew; Harris, Todd; Haw, Robin; Hu, S.; Hubbard, Simon; Hsu, Jack; Iyer, Vivek; Jones, Philip; Katayama, Toshiaki; Kinsella, R.; Kong, Lei; Lawson, Daniel; Liang, Yong; Lopez-Bigas, Nuria; Luo, J.; Lush, Michael; Mason, Jeremy; Moreews, Francois; Ndegwa, Nelson; Oakley, Darren; Perez-Llamas, Christian; Primig, Michael; Rivkin, Elena; Rosanoff, S.; Shepherd, Rebecca; Simon, Reinhard; Skarnes, B.; Smedley, Damian; Sperling, Linda; Spooner, William; Stevenson, Peter; Stone, Kevin; Teague, J.; Wang, Jun; Wang, Jianxin; Whitty, Brett; Wong, D. T.; Wong-Erasmus, Marie; Yao, L.; Youens-Clark, Ken; Yung, Christina; Zhang, Junjun; Kasprzyk, Arek

2011-01-01

BioMart Central Portal is a first of its kind, community-driven effort to provide unified access to dozens of biological databases spanning genomics, proteomics, model organisms, cancer data, ontology information and more. Anybody can contribute an independently maintained resource to the Central Portal, allowing it to be exposed to and shared with the research community, and linking it with the other resources in the portal. Users can take advantage of the common interface to quickly utilize different sources without learning a new system for each. The system also simplifies cross-database searches that might otherwise require several complicated steps. Several integrated tools streamline common tasks, such as converting between ID formats and retrieving sequences. The combination of a wide variety of databases, an easy-to-use interface, robust programmatic access and the array of tools make Central Portal a one-stop shop for biological data querying. Here, we describe the structure of Central Portal and show example queries to demonstrate its capabilities. Database URL: http://central.biomart.org. PMID:21930507

KSC-2009-2029

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-03-14

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the orbiter access arm and White Room are extended toward space shuttle Discovery after rollback of the rotating service structure. The White Room provides crew access into the shuttle. The rollback is in preparation for Discovery's liftoff on the STS-119 mission with a crew of seven. An earlier launch attempt March 11 was scrubbed at 2:36 p.m. due to a gaseous hydrogen leak from the external tank at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate during tanking. A seven-inch quick disconnect and two seals were replaced. The STS-119 mission is the 28th to the International Space Station and the 125th space shuttle flight. Discovery will deliver the final pair of power-generating solar array wings and the S6 truss segment. Installation of S6 will signal the station's readiness to house a six-member crew for conducting increased science. Liftoff of Discovery is scheduled for 7:43 p.m. EDT on March 15. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

KSC-2009-2030

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-03-14

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the orbiter access arm and White Room are extended toward space shuttle Discovery after rollback of the rotating service structure. The White Room provides crew access into the shuttle. The rollback is in preparation for Discovery's liftoff on the STS-119 mission with a crew of seven. An earlier launch attempt March 11 was scrubbed at 2:36 p.m. due to a gaseous hydrogen leak from the external tank at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate during tanking. A seven-inch quick disconnect and two seals were replaced. The STS-119 mission is the 28th to the International Space Station and the 125th space shuttle flight. Discovery will deliver the final pair of power-generating solar array wings and the S6 truss segment. Installation of S6 will signal the station's readiness to house a six-member crew for conducting increased science. Liftoff of Discovery is scheduled for 7:43 p.m. EDT on March 15. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

The Gene Ontology (GO) project: structured vocabularies for molecular biology and their application to genome and expression analysis.

PubMed

Blake, Judith A; Harris, Midori A

2008-09-01

Scientists wishing to utilize genomic data have quickly come to realize the benefit of standardizing descriptions of experimental procedures and results for computer-driven information retrieval systems. The focus of the Gene Ontology project is three-fold. First, the project goal is to compile the Gene Ontologies: structured vocabularies describing domains of molecular biology. Second, the project supports the use of these structured vocabularies in the annotation of gene products. Third, the gene product-to-GO annotation sets are provided by participating groups to the public through open access to the GO database and Web resource. This unit describes the current ontologies and what is beyond the scope of the Gene Ontology project. It addresses the issue of how GO vocabularies are constructed and related to genes and gene products. It concludes with a discussion of how researchers can access, browse, and utilize the GO project in the course of their own research. Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Map based multimedia tool on Pacific theatre in World War II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pakala Venkata, Devi Prasada Reddy

Maps have been used for depicting data of all kinds in the educational community for many years. A standout amongst the rapidly changing methods of teaching is through the development of interactive and dynamic maps. The emphasis of the thesis is to develop an intuitive map based multimedia tool, which provides a timeline of battles and events in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The tool contains summaries of major battles and commanders and has multimedia content embedded in it. The primary advantage of this Map tool is that one can quickly know about all the battles and campaigns of the Pacific Theatre by accessing Timeline of Battles in each region or Individual Battles in each region or Summary of each Battle in an interactive way. This tool can be accessed via any standard web browser and motivate the user to know more about the battles involved in the Pacific Theatre. It was made responsive using Google maps API, JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS.

BioMart Central Portal: an open database network for the biological community.

PubMed

Guberman, Jonathan M; Ai, J; Arnaiz, O; Baran, Joachim; Blake, Andrew; Baldock, Richard; Chelala, Claude; Croft, David; Cros, Anthony; Cutts, Rosalind J; Di Génova, A; Forbes, Simon; Fujisawa, T; Gadaleta, E; Goodstein, D M; Gundem, Gunes; Haggarty, Bernard; Haider, Syed; Hall, Matthew; Harris, Todd; Haw, Robin; Hu, S; Hubbard, Simon; Hsu, Jack; Iyer, Vivek; Jones, Philip; Katayama, Toshiaki; Kinsella, R; Kong, Lei; Lawson, Daniel; Liang, Yong; Lopez-Bigas, Nuria; Luo, J; Lush, Michael; Mason, Jeremy; Moreews, Francois; Ndegwa, Nelson; Oakley, Darren; Perez-Llamas, Christian; Primig, Michael; Rivkin, Elena; Rosanoff, S; Shepherd, Rebecca; Simon, Reinhard; Skarnes, B; Smedley, Damian; Sperling, Linda; Spooner, William; Stevenson, Peter; Stone, Kevin; Teague, J; Wang, Jun; Wang, Jianxin; Whitty, Brett; Wong, D T; Wong-Erasmus, Marie; Yao, L; Youens-Clark, Ken; Yung, Christina; Zhang, Junjun; Kasprzyk, Arek

2011-01-01

BioMart Central Portal is a first of its kind, community-driven effort to provide unified access to dozens of biological databases spanning genomics, proteomics, model organisms, cancer data, ontology information and more. Anybody can contribute an independently maintained resource to the Central Portal, allowing it to be exposed to and shared with the research community, and linking it with the other resources in the portal. Users can take advantage of the common interface to quickly utilize different sources without learning a new system for each. The system also simplifies cross-database searches that might otherwise require several complicated steps. Several integrated tools streamline common tasks, such as converting between ID formats and retrieving sequences. The combination of a wide variety of databases, an easy-to-use interface, robust programmatic access and the array of tools make Central Portal a one-stop shop for biological data querying. Here, we describe the structure of Central Portal and show example queries to demonstrate its capabilities.

FIREDOC users manual, 3rd edition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jason, Nora H.

1993-12-01

FIREDOC is the on-line bibliographic database which reflects the holdings (published reports, journal articles, conference proceedings, books, and audiovisual items) of the Fire Research Information Services (FRIS) at the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This manual provides step-by-step procedures for entering and exiting the database via telecommunication lines, as well as a number of techniques for searching the database and processing the results of the searches. This Third Edition is necessitated by the change to a UNIX platform. The new computer allows for faster response time if searching via a modem and, in addition, offers internet accessibility. FIREDOC may be used with personal computers, using DOS or Windows, or with Macintosh computers and workstations. A new section on how to access Internet is included, and one on how to obtain the references of interest to you. Appendix F: Quick Guide to Getting Started will be useful to both modem and Internet users.

Evaluation of the Quality of Online Information for Patients with Rare Cancers: Thyroid Cancer.

PubMed

Kuenzel, Ulrike; Monga Sindeu, Tabea; Schroth, Sarah; Huebner, Jutta; Herth, Natalie

2017-01-24

The Internet offers an easy and quick access to a vast amount of patient information. However, several studies point to the poor quality of many websites and the resulting hazards of false information. The aim of this study was to assess quality of information on thyroid cancer. A patients' search for information about thyroid cancer on German websites was simulated using the search engine Google and the patient portal "Patienten-Information.de". The websites were assessed using a standardized instrument with formal and content aspects from the German Cancer Society. Supporting the results of prior studies that analysed patient information on the Internet, the data showed that the quality of patient information on thyroid cancer is highly heterogeneous depending on the website providers. The majority of website providers are represented by media and health providers other than health insurances, practices and professionals offering patient information of relatively poor quality. Moreover, most websites offer patient information of low-quality content. Only a few trustworthy, high-quality websites exist. Especially Google, a common search engine, focuses more on the dissemination of information than on quality aspects. In order to improve the patient information from the Internet, the visibility of high-quality websites must be improved. For that, education programs to improve patients' eHealth literacy are needed. A quick and easy evaluation tool for online information suited for patients should be implemented, and patients should be taught to integrate such a tool into their research process.

Mount St. Helens Quick Response Damage Assessment Using High-Altitude Infrared Photography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinkle, Richard E.; Prill, James C.; Pruitt, John R.

1981-11-01

After the destructive volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, there was a need for a quick response damage assessment. Timeliness of the information was emphasized because of the need to immediately devise land man-agement plans for timber sale operations, rehabilitation efforts, fire protection activities, and areas to be preserved. High-altitude color-infrared photography was collected during May and June by the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-tion (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC). Interpretation of the photography plus a helicopter trip into the area provided the basis for the construction of 58 map-registered overlays within a 3-week period. These overlays depicted in detail the damage to timber resources, the transportation network, and the watershed. Using the 14 timber loss overlays, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service personnel were able to digitize cells depicting ownership, degree of damage, and the preeruption cover classes. These digitized data provided such informa-tion as the total area affected within and outside the national forest, total timber acreage destroyed and damaged, the sizes of timber destroyed, and the acreage of barren land both before and after the eruption. The hydrology and transportation overlays provided information for an alert system to locate areas needing in-depth studies. These problem areas were then studied in detail on low-altitude color photography so that potential erosion sites could receive preventive treatments and essential access roads needed for fire control and timber salvage could be repaired.

The Proteins API: accessing key integrated protein and genome information

PubMed Central

Antunes, Ricardo; Alpi, Emanuele; Gonzales, Leonardo; Liu, Wudong; Luo, Jie; Qi, Guoying; Turner, Edd

2017-01-01

Abstract The Proteins API provides searching and programmatic access to protein and associated genomics data such as curated protein sequence positional annotations from UniProtKB, as well as mapped variation and proteomics data from large scale data sources (LSS). Using the coordinates service, researchers are able to retrieve the genomic sequence coordinates for proteins in UniProtKB. This, the LSS genomics and proteomics data for UniProt proteins is programmatically only available through this service. A Swagger UI has been implemented to provide documentation, an interface for users, with little or no programming experience, to ‘talk’ to the services to quickly and easily formulate queries with the services and obtain dynamically generated source code for popular programming languages, such as Java, Perl, Python and Ruby. Search results are returned as standard JSON, XML or GFF data objects. The Proteins API is a scalable, reliable, fast, easy to use RESTful services that provides a broad protein information resource for users to ask questions based upon their field of expertise and allowing them to gain an integrated overview of protein annotations available to aid their knowledge gain on proteins in biological processes. The Proteins API is available at (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/proteins/api/doc). PMID:28383659

TomoPhantom, a software package to generate 2D-4D analytical phantoms for CT image reconstruction algorithm benchmarks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazantsev, Daniil; Pickalov, Valery; Nagella, Srikanth; Pasca, Edoardo; Withers, Philip J.

2018-01-01

In the field of computerized tomographic imaging, many novel reconstruction techniques are routinely tested using simplistic numerical phantoms, e.g. the well-known Shepp-Logan phantom. These phantoms cannot sufficiently cover the broad spectrum of applications in CT imaging where, for instance, smooth or piecewise-smooth 3D objects are common. TomoPhantom provides quick access to an external library of modular analytical 2D/3D phantoms with temporal extensions. In TomoPhantom, quite complex phantoms can be built using additive combinations of geometrical objects, such as, Gaussians, parabolas, cones, ellipses, rectangles and volumetric extensions of them. Newly designed phantoms are better suited for benchmarking and testing of different image processing techniques. Specifically, tomographic reconstruction algorithms which employ 2D and 3D scanning geometries, can be rigorously analyzed using the software. TomoPhantom also provides a capability of obtaining analytical tomographic projections which further extends the applicability of software towards more realistic, free from the "inverse crime" testing. All core modules of the package are written in the C-OpenMP language and wrappers for Python and MATLAB are provided to enable easy access. Due to C-based multi-threaded implementation, volumetric phantoms of high spatial resolution can be obtained with computational efficiency.

Scotland's Knowledge Network: translating knowledge into action to improve quality of care.

PubMed

Wales, A; Graham, S; Rooney, K; Crawford, A

2012-11-01

The Knowledge Network (www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk) is Scotland's online knowledge service for health and social care. It is designed to support practitioners to apply knowledge in frontline delivery of care, helping to translate knowledge into better health-care outcomes through safe, effective, person-centred care. The Knowledge Network helps to combine the worlds of evidence-based practice and quality improvement by providing access to knowledge about the effectiveness of clinical interventions ('know-what') and knowledge about how to implement this knowledge to support individual patients in working health-care environments ('know-how'). An 'evidence and guidance' search enables clinicians to quickly access quality-assured evidence and best practice, while point of care and mobile solutions provide knowledge in actionable formats to embed in clinical workflow. This research-based knowledge is complemented by social networking services and improvement tools which support the capture and exchange of knowledge from experience, facilitating practice change and systems improvement. In these cases, the Knowledge Network supports key components of the knowledge-to-action cycle--acquiring, creating, sharing and disseminating knowledge to improve performance and innovate. It provides a vehicle for implementing the recommendations of the national Knowledge into Action review, which outlines a new national approach to embedding knowledge in frontline practice and systems improvement.

Design of a web portal for interdisciplinary image retrieval from multiple online image resources.

PubMed

Kammerer, F J; Frankewitsch, T; Prokosch, H-U

2009-01-01

Images play an important role in medicine. Finding the desired images within the multitude of online image databases is a time-consuming and frustrating process. Existing websites do not meet all the requirements for an ideal learning environment for medical students. This work intends to establish a new web portal providing a centralized access point to a selected number of online image databases. A back-end system locates images on given websites and extracts relevant metadata. The images are indexed using UMLS and the MetaMap system provided by the US National Library of Medicine. Specially developed functions allow to create individual navigation structures. The front-end system suits the specific needs of medical students. A navigation structure consisting of several medical fields, university curricula and the ICD-10 was created. The images may be accessed via the given navigation structure or using different search functions. Cross-references are provided by the semantic relations of the UMLS. Over 25,000 images were identified and indexed. A pilot evaluation among medical students showed good first results concerning the acceptance of the developed navigation structures and search features. The integration of the images from different sources into the UMLS semantic network offers a quick and an easy-to-use learning environment.

Comprehensive innovative solution for resident education using the Intranet Journal of Chest Radiology.

PubMed

Nishino, Mizuki; Wolfe, Donna; Yam, Chun-Shan; Larson, Michael; Boiselle, Phillip M; Hatabu, Hiroto

2004-10-01

Because of the rapid increase in clinical workload in academic radiology departments, time for teaching rotating residents is getting more and more limited. As a solution to this problem, we introduced the Intranet Journal of Chest Radiology as a comprehensive innovative tool for assisting resident education. The Intranet Journal of Chest Radiology is constructed using Microsoft FrontPage version 2002 (Microsoft Corp, Redmond, WA) and is hosted in our departmental web server (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA). The home page of the intranet journal provides access to the main features, "Cases of the Month," "Teaching File," "Selected Articles for Residents," "Lecture Series," and "Current Publications." These features provide quick access to the selected radiology articles, the interesting chest cases, and the lecture series and current publication from the chest section. Our intranet journal has been well utilized for 6 months after its introduction. It enhances residents' interest and motivation to work on case collections, to search and read articles, and to generate interest in research. Frequent updating is necessary for the journal to be kept current, relevant, and well-utilized. The intranet journal serves as a comprehensive innovative solution for resident education, providing basic educational resources and opportunities of interactive participation by residents.

The Proteins API: accessing key integrated protein and genome information.

PubMed

Nightingale, Andrew; Antunes, Ricardo; Alpi, Emanuele; Bursteinas, Borisas; Gonzales, Leonardo; Liu, Wudong; Luo, Jie; Qi, Guoying; Turner, Edd; Martin, Maria

2017-07-03

The Proteins API provides searching and programmatic access to protein and associated genomics data such as curated protein sequence positional annotations from UniProtKB, as well as mapped variation and proteomics data from large scale data sources (LSS). Using the coordinates service, researchers are able to retrieve the genomic sequence coordinates for proteins in UniProtKB. This, the LSS genomics and proteomics data for UniProt proteins is programmatically only available through this service. A Swagger UI has been implemented to provide documentation, an interface for users, with little or no programming experience, to 'talk' to the services to quickly and easily formulate queries with the services and obtain dynamically generated source code for popular programming languages, such as Java, Perl, Python and Ruby. Search results are returned as standard JSON, XML or GFF data objects. The Proteins API is a scalable, reliable, fast, easy to use RESTful services that provides a broad protein information resource for users to ask questions based upon their field of expertise and allowing them to gain an integrated overview of protein annotations available to aid their knowledge gain on proteins in biological processes. The Proteins API is available at (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/proteins/api/doc). © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Re-Imaging Re-Imagining

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahoney, Ellen

2011-01-01

The history of the photomontage spans artistic movements and political history. In the early twentieth century, Dada artists used the new media of mass-produced photographs to assemble collages that reflected their expression of the absurd. Russian Constructivists utilized their access to photographs and ability to quickly distribute completed…

Optimizing Reasonableness, Critical Thinking, and Cyberspace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ikuenobe, Polycarp

2003-01-01

In this paper, the author argues that the quantity, superabundance of information, easy availability, and quick access to information in cyberspace may engender critical thinking and the optimization of reasonableness. This point is different from, but presupposes, the commonplace view that critical thinking abilities, criteria, processes, and…

Consolidating Our Country’s Biometric Resources and the Possible Implications

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-02

passenger’s quick access through airport security by pre-clearing travelers. The Fly Clear smart cards store the passenger’s personal information...Fly Through Airport Security , undated); “Fly Through Airport Security ,”; available from http://flyclear.com/about/clear _howclearworks.html

JournalMap: Geo-semantic searching for relevant knowledge

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ecologists struggling to understand rapidly changing environments and evolving ecosystem threats need quick access to relevant research and documentation of natural systems. The advent of semantic and aggregation searching (e.g., Google Scholar, Web of Science) has made it easier to find useful lite...

Enantioselective total synthesis of hyperforin.

PubMed

Sparling, Brian A; Moebius, David C; Shair, Matthew D

2013-01-16

A modular, 18-step total synthesis of hyperforin is described. The natural product was quickly accessed using latent symmetry elements, whereby a group-selective, Lewis acid-catalyzed epoxide-opening cascade cyclization was used to furnish the bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane core and set two key quaternary stereocenters.

Infrared Technology Trends and Implications to Home and Building Energy Use Efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woolaway, James T.

2008-09-01

It has long been realized that infrared technology would have applicability in improving the energy efficiency of homes and buildings. Walls that are missing or are poorly insulated can be quickly evaluated by looking at the thermal images of these surfaces. Similarly, air infiltration leaks under doors and around windows leave a telltale thermal signature easily seen in the infrared. The ability to view, evaluate and quickly respond to these images has immediate benefits in addressing and correcting situations where these types of losses are occurring. The principle issue that has been limiting the use of infrared technology in these applications has been the lack of availability and accessibility of infrared technology at a cost point suited to this market. The emergence of low cost microbolometer based infrared cameras, not needing sensor cooling, will greatly increase the accessibility and use of infrared technology for House Doctor inspections. The technology cost for this use is projected to be less than 1 per inspection.

Informatics in radiology: An open-source and open-access cancer biomedical informatics grid annotation and image markup template builder.

PubMed

Mongkolwat, Pattanasak; Channin, David S; Kleper, Vladimir; Rubin, Daniel L

2012-01-01

In a routine clinical environment or clinical trial, a case report form or structured reporting template can be used to quickly generate uniform and consistent reports. Annotation and image markup (AIM), a project supported by the National Cancer Institute's cancer biomedical informatics grid, can be used to collect information for a case report form or structured reporting template. AIM is designed to store, in a single information source, (a) the description of pixel data with use of markups or graphical drawings placed on the image, (b) calculation results (which may or may not be directly related to the markups), and (c) supplemental information. To facilitate the creation of AIM annotations with data entry templates, an AIM template schema and an open-source template creation application were developed to assist clinicians, image researchers, and designers of clinical trials to quickly create a set of data collection items, thereby ultimately making image information more readily accessible.

Informatics in Radiology: An Open-Source and Open-Access Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid Annotation and Image Markup Template Builder

PubMed Central

Channin, David S.; Rubin, Vladimir Kleper Daniel L.

2012-01-01

In a routine clinical environment or clinical trial, a case report form or structured reporting template can be used to quickly generate uniform and consistent reports. Annotation and Image Markup (AIM), a project supported by the National Cancer Institute’s cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid, can be used to collect information for a case report form or structured reporting template. AIM is designed to store, in a single information source, (a) the description of pixel data with use of markups or graphical drawings placed on the image, (b) calculation results (which may or may not be directly related to the markups), and (c) supplemental information. To facilitate the creation of AIM annotations with data entry templates, an AIM template schema and an open-source template creation application were developed to assist clinicians, image researchers, and designers of clinical trials to quickly create a set of data collection items, thereby ultimately making image information more readily accessible. © RSNA, 2012 PMID:22556315

An overview of longitudinal data analysis methods for neurological research.

PubMed

Locascio, Joseph J; Atri, Alireza

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide a concise, broad and readily accessible overview of longitudinal data analysis methods, aimed to be a practical guide for clinical investigators in neurology. In general, we advise that older, traditional methods, including (1) simple regression of the dependent variable on a time measure, (2) analyzing a single summary subject level number that indexes changes for each subject and (3) a general linear model approach with a fixed-subject effect, should be reserved for quick, simple or preliminary analyses. We advocate the general use of mixed-random and fixed-effect regression models for analyses of most longitudinal clinical studies. Under restrictive situations or to provide validation, we recommend: (1) repeated-measure analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), (2) ANCOVA for two time points, (3) generalized estimating equations and (4) latent growth curve/structural equation models.

Dynamic test input generation for multiple-fault isolation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schaefer, Phil

1990-01-01

Recent work is Causal Reasoning has provided practical techniques for multiple fault diagnosis. These techniques provide a hypothesis/measurement diagnosis cycle. Using probabilistic methods, they choose the best measurements to make, then update fault hypotheses in response. For many applications such as computers and spacecraft, few measurement points may be accessible, or values may change quickly as the system under diagnosis operates. In these cases, a hypothesis/measurement cycle is insufficient. A technique is presented for a hypothesis/test-input/measurement diagnosis cycle. In contrast to generating tests a priori for determining device functionality, it dynamically generates tests in response to current knowledge about fault probabilities. It is shown how the mathematics previously used for measurement specification can be applied to the test input generation process. An example from an efficient implementation called Multi-Purpose Causal (MPC) is presented.

Echo

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

Harvey, Dustin Yewell

This document is a white paper marketing proposal for Echo™ is a data analysis platform designed for efficient, robust, and scalable creation and execution of complex workflows. Echo’s analysis management system refers to the ability to track, understand, and reproduce workflows used for arriving at results and decisions. Echo improves on traditional scripted data analysis in MATLAB, Python, R, and other languages to allow analysts to make better use of their time. Additionally, the Echo platform provides a powerful data management and curation solution allowing analysts to quickly find, access, and consume datasets. After two years of development and amore » first release in early 2016, Echo is now available for use with many data types in a wide range of application domains. Echo provides tools that allow users to focus on data analysis and decisions with confidence that results are reported accurately.« less

BioGPS and MyGene.info: organizing online, gene-centric information.

PubMed

Wu, Chunlei; Macleod, Ian; Su, Andrew I

2013-01-01

Fast-evolving technologies have enabled researchers to easily generate data at genome scale, and using these technologies to compare biological states typically results in a list of candidate genes. Researchers are then faced with the daunting task of prioritizing these candidate genes for follow-up studies. There are hundreds, possibly even thousands, of web-based gene annotation resources available, but it quickly becomes impractical to manually access and review all of these sites for each gene in a candidate gene list. BioGPS (http://biogps.org) was created as a centralized gene portal for aggregating distributed gene annotation resources, emphasizing community extensibility and user customizability. BioGPS serves as a convenient tool for users to access known gene-centric resources, as well as a mechanism to discover new resources that were previously unknown to the user. This article describes updates to BioGPS made after its initial release in 2008. We summarize recent additions of features and data, as well as the robust user activity that underlies this community intelligence application. Finally, we describe MyGene.info (http://mygene.info) and related web services that provide programmatic access to BioGPS.

Rendering of 3D-wavelet-compressed concentric mosaic scenery with progressive inverse wavelet synthesis (PIWS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yunnan; Luo, Lin; Li, Jin; Zhang, Ya-Qin

2000-05-01

The concentric mosaics offer a quick solution to the construction and navigation of a virtual environment. To reduce the vast data amount of the concentric mosaics, a compression scheme based on 3D wavelet transform has been proposed in a previous paper. In this work, we investigate the efficient implementation of the renderer. It is preferable not to expand the compressed bitstream as a whole, so that the memory consumption of the renderer can be reduced. Instead, only the data necessary to render the current view are accessed and decoded. The progressive inverse wavelet synthesis (PIWS) algorithm is proposed to provide the random data access and to reduce the calculation for the data access requests to a minimum. A mixed cache is used in PIWS, where the entropy decoded wavelet coefficient, intermediate result of lifting and fully synthesized pixel are all stored at the same memory unit because of the in- place calculation property of the lifting implementation. PIWS operates with a finite state machine, where each memory unit is attached with a state to indicate what type of content is currently stored. The computational saving achieved by PIWS is demonstrated with extensive experiment results.

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.

ON-LINE BIOMEDICAL DATABASES–THE BEST SOURCE FOR QUICK SEARCH OF THE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IN THE BIOMEDICINE

PubMed Central

Masic, Izet; Milinovic, Katarina

2012-01-01

Most of medical journals now has it’s electronic version, available over public networks. Although there are parallel printed and electronic versions, and one other form need not to be simultaneously published. Electronic version of a journal can be published a few weeks before the printed form and must not has identical content. Electronic form of a journals may have an extension that does not contain a printed form, such as animation, 3D display, etc., or may have available fulltext, mostly in PDF or XML format, or just the contents or a summary. Access to a full text is usually not free and can be achieved only if the institution (library or host) enters into an agreement on access. Many medical journals, however, provide free access for some articles, or after a certain time (after 6 months or a year) to complete content. The search for such journals provide the network archive as High Wire Press, Free Medical Journals.com. It is necessary to allocate PubMed and PubMed Central, the first public digital archives unlimited collect journals of available medical literature, which operates in the system of the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda (USA). There are so called on- line medical journals published only in electronic form. It could be searched over on-line databases. In this paper authors shortly described about 30 data bases and short instructions how to make access and search the published papers in indexed medical journals. PMID:23322957

More than a feeling: Emotional cues impact the access and experience of autobiographical memories.

PubMed

Sheldon, Signy; Donahue, Julia

2017-07-01

Remembering is impacted by several factors of retrieval, including the emotional content of a memory cue. Here we tested how musical retrieval cues that differed on two dimensions of emotion-valence (positive and negative) and arousal (high and low)-impacted the following aspects of autobiographical memory recall: the response time to access a past personal event, the experience of remembering (ratings of memory vividness), the emotional content of a cued memory (ratings of event arousal and valence), and the type of event recalled (ratings of event energy, socialness, and uniqueness). We further explored how cue presentation affected autobiographical memory retrieval by administering cues of similar arousal and valence levels in a blocked fashion to one half of the tested participants, and randomly to the other half. We report three main findings. First, memories were accessed most quickly in response to musical cues that were highly arousing and positive in emotion. Second, we observed a relation between a cue and the elicited memory's emotional valence but not arousal; however, both the cue valence and arousal related to the nature of the recalled event. Specifically, high cue arousal led to lower memory vividness and uniqueness ratings, but cues with both high arousal and positive valence were associated with memories rated as more social and energetic. Finally, cue presentation impacted both how quickly and specifically memories were accessed and how cue valence affected the memory vividness ratings. The implications of these findings for views of how emotion directs the access to memories and the experience of remembering are discussed.

The AmericaView Project - Putting the Earth into Your Hands

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2005-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a leader in collecting, archiving, and distributing geospatial data and information about the Earth. Providing quick, reliable access to remotely sensed images and geospatial data is the driving principle behind the AmericaView Project. A national not-for-profit organization, AmericaView, Inc. was established and is supported by the USGS to coordinate the activities of a national network of university-led consortia with the primary objective of the advancement of the science of remote sensing. Individual consortia members include academic institutions, as well as state, local, and tribal government agencies. AmericaView's focus is to expand the understanding and use of remote sensing through education and outreach efforts and to provide affordable, integrated remote sensing information access and delivery to the American public. USGS's Landsat and NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite data are downlinked from satellites or transferred from other facilities to the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) ground receiving station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The data can then be transferred over high-speed networks to consortium members, where it is archived and made available for public use.

Lessons learned: a "homeless shelter intervention" by a medical student.

PubMed

Owusu, Yasmin; Kunik, Mark; Coverdale, John; Shah, Asim; Primm, Annelle; Harris, Toi

2012-05-01

The authors explored the process of implementing a medical student-initiated program designed to provide computerized mental health screening, referral, and education in a homeless shelter. An educational program was designed to teach homeless shelter staff about psychiatric disorders and culturally-informed treatment strategies. Pre- and post-questionnaires were obtained in conjunction with the educational program involving seven volunteer shelter staff. A computerized mental health screening tool, Quick Psycho-Diagnostics Panel (QPD), was utilized to screen for the presence of nine psychiatric disorders in 19 volunteer homeless shelter residents. Shelter staffs' overall fund of knowledge improved by an average of 23% on the basis of pre-/post-questionnaires (p=0.005). Of the individuals who participated in the mental health screening, 68% screened positive for at least one psychiatric disorder and were referred for further mental health care. At the 3-month follow-up of these individuals, 46% of those referred had accessed their referral services as recommended. Medical student-initiated psychiatric outreach programs to the homeless community have the potential to reduce mental health disparities by both increasing access to mental health services and by providing education. The authors discuss educational challenges and benefits for the medical students involved in this project.

A Cough-Based Algorithm for Automatic Diagnosis of Pertussis.

PubMed

Pramono, Renard Xaviero Adhi; Imtiaz, Syed Anas; Rodriguez-Villegas, Esther

2016-01-01

Pertussis is a contagious respiratory disease which mainly affects young children and can be fatal if left untreated. The World Health Organization estimates 16 million pertussis cases annually worldwide resulting in over 200,000 deaths. It is prevalent mainly in developing countries where it is difficult to diagnose due to the lack of healthcare facilities and medical professionals. Hence, a low-cost, quick and easily accessible solution is needed to provide pertussis diagnosis in such areas to contain an outbreak. In this paper we present an algorithm for automated diagnosis of pertussis using audio signals by analyzing cough and whoop sounds. The algorithm consists of three main blocks to perform automatic cough detection, cough classification and whooping sound detection. Each of these extract relevant features from the audio signal and subsequently classify them using a logistic regression model. The output from these blocks is collated to provide a pertussis likelihood diagnosis. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using audio recordings from 38 patients. The algorithm is able to diagnose all pertussis successfully from all audio recordings without any false diagnosis. It can also automatically detect individual cough sounds with 92% accuracy and PPV of 97%. The low complexity of the proposed algorithm coupled with its high accuracy demonstrates that it can be readily deployed using smartphones and can be extremely useful for quick identification or early screening of pertussis and for infection outbreaks control.

A Cough-Based Algorithm for Automatic Diagnosis of Pertussis

PubMed Central

Pramono, Renard Xaviero Adhi; Imtiaz, Syed Anas; Rodriguez-Villegas, Esther

2016-01-01

Pertussis is a contagious respiratory disease which mainly affects young children and can be fatal if left untreated. The World Health Organization estimates 16 million pertussis cases annually worldwide resulting in over 200,000 deaths. It is prevalent mainly in developing countries where it is difficult to diagnose due to the lack of healthcare facilities and medical professionals. Hence, a low-cost, quick and easily accessible solution is needed to provide pertussis diagnosis in such areas to contain an outbreak. In this paper we present an algorithm for automated diagnosis of pertussis using audio signals by analyzing cough and whoop sounds. The algorithm consists of three main blocks to perform automatic cough detection, cough classification and whooping sound detection. Each of these extract relevant features from the audio signal and subsequently classify them using a logistic regression model. The output from these blocks is collated to provide a pertussis likelihood diagnosis. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using audio recordings from 38 patients. The algorithm is able to diagnose all pertussis successfully from all audio recordings without any false diagnosis. It can also automatically detect individual cough sounds with 92% accuracy and PPV of 97%. The low complexity of the proposed algorithm coupled with its high accuracy demonstrates that it can be readily deployed using smartphones and can be extremely useful for quick identification or early screening of pertussis and for infection outbreaks control. PMID:27583523

Simulating pad-electrodes with high-definition arrays in transcranial electric stimulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kempe, René; Huang, Yu; Parra, Lucas C.

2014-04-01

Objective. Research studies on transcranial electric stimulation, including direct current, often use a computational model to provide guidance on the placing of sponge-electrode pads. However, the expertise and computational resources needed for finite element modeling (FEM) make modeling impractical in a clinical setting. Our objective is to make the exploration of different electrode configurations accessible to practitioners. We provide an efficient tool to estimate current distributions for arbitrary pad configurations while obviating the need for complex simulation software. Approach. To efficiently estimate current distributions for arbitrary pad configurations we propose to simulate pads with an array of high-definition (HD) electrodes and use an efficient linear superposition to then quickly evaluate different electrode configurations. Main results. Numerical results on ten different pad configurations on a normal individual show that electric field intensity simulated with the sampled array deviates from the solutions with pads by only 5% and the locations of peak magnitude fields have a 94% overlap when using a dense array of 336 electrodes. Significance. Computationally intensive FEM modeling of the HD array needs to be performed only once, perhaps on a set of standard heads that can be made available to multiple users. The present results confirm that by using these models one can now quickly and accurately explore and select pad-electrode montages to match a particular clinical need.

77 FR 45421 - Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing: Continuum of Care Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-31

... Re-Housing for Families Demonstration program and the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing... to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and...

Estuary Data Mapper: A virtual portal to coastal data informing environmental management decisions

EPA Science Inventory

The Estuary Data Mapper (EDM) is a free, interactive graphical application under development at the US EPA that allows environmental researchers and managers to quickly and easily retrieve, view and save subsets of online US coastal estuary-related data. Accessible data include ...

Web Card - Clean Cities Plug-In Electric Vehicle Handbook for Public Charging Station Hosts

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

None

A 2" x 3-1/4" web card which has a quick response code for accessing the PEV Handbook for Public Charging Station Hosts via a smart phone. The cards are intended to be handed out instead of the handbook.

Handheld Diagnostic Device Delivers Quick Medical Readings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2014-01-01

To monitor astronauts' health remotely, Glenn Research Center awarded SBIR funding to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based DNA Medical Institute, which developed a device capable of analyzing blood cell counts and a variety of medical biomarkers. The technology will prove especially useful in rural areas without easy access to labs.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION FOR A HISPANIC POPULATION: RESULTS FROM A COMMUNITY HEALTH STUDY

EPA Science Inventory

Survey researchers, social scientists, and opinion pollsters have long been concerned with accessing and collecting survey research data from the Hispanic population. The Hispanic population in the United States is quickly becoming one of the most important minority groups to im...

DIMA quick start, database for inventory, monitoring and assessment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Database for Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment (DIMA) is a highly-customized Microsoft Access database for collecting data electronically in the field and for organizing, storing and reporting those data for monitoring and assessment. While DIMA can be used for any number of different monito...

FINDING A COMMON DATA REPRESENTATION AND INTERCHANGE APPROACH FOR MULTIMEDIA MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

Within many disciplines, multiple approaches are used to represent and access very similar data (e.g., a time series of values), often due to the lack of commonly accepted standards. When projects must use data from multiple disciplines, the problems quickly compound. Often sig...

Use of cloud computing technology in natural hazard assessment and emergency management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webley, P. W.; Dehn, J.

2015-12-01

During a natural hazard event, the most up-to-date data needs to be in the hands of those on the front line. Decision support system tools can be developed to provide access to pre-made outputs to quickly assess the hazard and potential risk. However, with the ever growing availability of new satellite data as well as ground and airborne data generated in real-time there is a need to analyze the large volumes of data in an easy-to-access and effective environment. With the growth in the use of cloud computing, where the analysis and visualization system can grow with the needs of the user, then these facilities can used to provide this real-time analysis. Think of a central command center uploading the data to the cloud compute system and then those researchers in-the-field connecting to a web-based tool to view the newly acquired data. New data can be added by any user and then viewed instantly by anyone else in the organization through the cloud computing interface. This provides the ideal tool for collaborative data analysis, hazard assessment and decision making. We present the rationale for developing a cloud computing systems and illustrate how this tool can be developed for use in real-time environments. Users would have access to an interactive online image analysis tool without the need for specific remote sensing software on their local system therefore increasing their understanding of the ongoing hazard and mitigate its impact on the surrounding region.

A new forecast presentation tool for offshore contractors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jørgensen, M.

2009-09-01

Contractors working off shore are often very sensitive to both sea and weather conditions, and it's essential that they have easy access to reliable information on coming conditions to enable planning of when to start or shut down offshore operations to avoid loss of life and materials. Danish Meteorological Institute, DMI, recently, in cooperation with business partners in the field, developed a new application to accommodate that need. The "Marine Forecast Service” is a browser based forecast presentation tool. It provides an interface for the user to enable easy and quick access to all relevant meteorological and oceanographic forecasts and observations for a given area of interest. Each customer gains access to the application via a standard login/password procedure. Once logged in, the user can inspect animated forecast maps of parameters like wind, gust, wave height, swell and current among others. Supplementing the general maps, the user can choose to look at forecast graphs for each of the locations where the user is running operations. These forecast graphs can also be overlaid with the user's own in situ observations, if such exist. Furthermore, the data from the graphs can be exported as data files that the customer can use in his own applications as he desires. As part of the application, a forecaster's view on the current and near future weather situation is presented to the user as well, adding further value to the information presented through maps and graphs. Among other features of the product, animated radar and satellite images could be mentioned. And finally the application provides the possibility of a "second opinion” through traditional weather charts from another recognized provider of weather forecasts. The presentation will provide more detailed insights into the contents of the applications as well as some of the experiences with the product.

NCBI GEO: archive for functional genomics data sets--10 years on.

PubMed

Barrett, Tanya; Troup, Dennis B; Wilhite, Stephen E; Ledoux, Pierre; Evangelista, Carlos; Kim, Irene F; Tomashevsky, Maxim; Marshall, Kimberly A; Phillippy, Katherine H; Sherman, Patti M; Muertter, Rolf N; Holko, Michelle; Ayanbule, Oluwabukunmi; Yefanov, Andrey; Soboleva, Alexandra

2011-01-01

A decade ago, the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was established at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The original objective of GEO was to serve as a public repository for high-throughput gene expression data generated mostly by microarray technology. However, the research community quickly applied microarrays to non-gene-expression studies, including examination of genome copy number variation and genome-wide profiling of DNA-binding proteins. Because the GEO database was designed with a flexible structure, it was possible to quickly adapt the repository to store these data types. More recently, as the microarray community switches to next-generation sequencing technologies, GEO has again adapted to host these data sets. Today, GEO stores over 20,000 microarray- and sequence-based functional genomics studies, and continues to handle the majority of direct high-throughput data submissions from the research community. Multiple mechanisms are provided to help users effectively search, browse, download and visualize the data at the level of individual genes or entire studies. This paper describes recent database enhancements, including new search and data representation tools, as well as a brief review of how the community uses GEO data. GEO is freely accessible at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/.

Lexicalization of idioms in urban fifth graders: a reaction time study.

PubMed

Qualls, Constance Dean; Treaster, Beth; Blood, Gordon W; Hammer, Carol Scheffner

2003-01-01

Idioms are an important aspect of language that comprises a sizeable portion of our vocabulary. However, lexical access research has largely been limited to understanding how literal words are accessed and processed in the mental lexicon. Adult data show that idioms are quickly accessed from the lexicon and are likely processed as long words [J. Verbal Learn. Verbal Behav. 18 (1979) 523]. The purpose of this study was to examine lexicalization of idioms in a group of school-aged children. Using a phrase classification design, this research tested the Lexical Representation Hypothesis [J. Verbal Learn. Verbal Behav. 18 (1979) 523] in 19 urban fifth graders (5 boys, 14 girls; M age=10.16 years). On a computer, the students classified 54 phrases, including 24 idioms (high, moderate, and low familiarity [J. Speech Hear. Res. 36 (1993) 728]), 24 grammatical control word strings and 6 unrelated foils as either idioms or nonidioms. The idioms were identified with 62% accuracy. Unexpectedly, the boys tended to show higher rates of accuracy than the girls. Response latencies were shorter on the idioms compared to the controls and high familiarity idioms were processed faster than moderate and low familiarity idioms. These findings provide developmental data for lexicalization of idioms and the relationship between lexicalization and familiarity. At the cocnlusion of this articel, the reader will be able to: (1). discuss the various theories of idiom access and processing, (2). discuss how lexical access relates to idiom knowledge in school-aged children, and (3). consider the association between lexical access and familiarity relative to idiom comprehension in school-aged children.

Real-time Data Access to First Responders: A VORB application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, S.; Kim, J. B.; Bryant, P.; Foley, S.; Vernon, F.; Rajasekar, A.; Meier, S.

2006-12-01

Getting information to first responders is not an easy task. The sensors that provide the information are diverse in formats and come from many disciplines. They are also distributed by location, transmit data at different frequencies and are managed and owned by autonomous administrative entities. Pulling such types of data in real-time, needs a very robust sensor network with reliable data transport and buffering capabilities. Moreover, the system should be extensible and scalable in numbers and sensor types. ROADNet is a real- time sensor network project at UCSD gathering diverse environmental data in real-time or near-real-time. VORB (Virtual Object Ring Buffer) is the middleware used in ROADNet offering simple, uniform and scalable real-time data management for discovering (through metadata), accessing and archiving real-time data and data streams. Recent development in VORB, a web API, has offered quick and simple real-time data integration with web applications. In this poster, we discuss one application developed as part of ROADNet. SMER (Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve) is located in interior Southern California, a region prone to catastrophic wildfires each summer and fall. To provide data during emergencies, we have applied the VORB framework to develop a web-based application for providing access to diverse sensor data including weather data, heat sensor information, and images from cameras. Wildfire fighters have access to real-time data about weather and heat conditions in the area and view pictures taken from cameras at multiple points in the Reserve to pinpoint problem areas. Moreover, they can browse archived images and sensor data from earlier times to provide a comparison framework. To show scalability of the system, we have expanded the sensor network under consideration through other areas in Southern California including sensors accessible by Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACOFD) and those available through the High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN). The poster will discuss the system architecture and components, the types of sensor being used and usage scenarios. The system is currently operational through the SMER web-site.

A Proof Progression for Geometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nirode, Wayne

2018-01-01

Twenty years ago when the author was student teaching, he quickly learned what geometry teachers and researchers (e.g., Senk 1985) have long known: High school geometry students struggle with proof. Throughout his career, he has tried to create instructional materials to make proof more accessible to his students. From field-testing materials with…

Internet Tools Access Administrative Data at the University of Delaware.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobson, Carl

1995-01-01

At the University of Delaware, World Wide Web tools are used to produce multiplatform administrative applications, including hyperreporting, mixed media, electronic forms, and kiosk services. Web applications are quickly and easily crafted to interact with administrative databases. They are particularly suited to customer outreach efforts,…

Application of Cloud Computing at KTU: MS Live@Edu Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miseviciene, Regina; Budnikas, Germanas; Ambraziene, Danute

2011-01-01

Cloud computing is a significant alternative in today's educational perspective. The technology gives the students and teachers the opportunity to quickly access various application platforms and resources through the web pages on-demand. Unfortunately, not all educational institutions often have an ability to take full advantages of the newest…

Future of applied watershed science at regional scales

Treesearch

Lee Benda; Daniel Miller; Steve Lanigan; Gordon Reeves

2009-01-01

Resource managers must deal increasingly with land use and conservation plans applied at large spatial scales (watersheds, landscapes, states, regions) involving multiple interacting federal agencies and stakeholders. Access to a geographically focused and application-oriented database would allow users in different locations and with different concerns to quickly...

Development Principles of the Pedagogical System Aimed at Bachelor Training Based on Modern Information Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurymbayev, Sayat G.; Samashova, Gulfarida E.; Alshynbayeva, Zhuldyz E.; Mukhametzhanova, Aigul O.; Sharazdin, Adilzada M.; Kalybekova, Kalamkas S.; Kosybaeva, Umitzhan A.

2016-01-01

Modern education is aimed at training competent specialists, which requires modernizing the training process by implementing innovative technologies, especially information technologies. Information technologies allow quickly accessing necessary data, which speeds up the training process. This paper deals with issues related to training bachelors…

Neural network applications in telecommunications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alspector, Joshua

1994-01-01

Neural network capabilities include automatic and organized handling of complex information, quick adaptation to continuously changing environments, nonlinear modeling, and parallel implementation. This viewgraph presentation presents Bellcore work on applications, learning chip computational function, learning system block diagram, neural network equalization, broadband access control, calling-card fraud detection, software reliability prediction, and conclusions.

Minimizing Security Vulnerabilities in High-Tech Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozkan, Betul C.; Gunay, Vedat

2004-01-01

Emerging technologies are quickly becoming part of daily learning and teaching endeavors in academia. Due to the access to certain high-tech tools educators must learn how to integrate these tools in educational settings. However, many also encounter problems and weaknesses in the same high-tech environment that uses and delivers information…

Why Cash Flow Is No Longer for Wimps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curry, John R.; Hutton, Lyn

2012-01-01

Managing liquidity--a college or university's ability to access cash quickly or to easily convert assets to cash--is an increasingly crucial component of enterprise risk management. Liquidity risks lurk around nearly every corner--in the endowment portfolio, the debt portfolio, and in working-capital management. It also influences students'…

Accessing the Gulf of Maine’s Climate Change Data Through Webtools

EPA Science Inventory

Climate variables have been measured in the Gulf of Maine and its watersheds for over one hundred years and long-standing time series are available at many different institutes. However, today’s managers looking for a quick answer to scientific questions rarely have the tim...

77 FR 4337 - Notice of the FY 2011 Substantial Amendment Process and Other Related Information for Recipients...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-27

... quickly regain stability in permanent housing--this is reflected in the expenditure limits on street... economic opportunity) and the corresponding outcome category (availability/accessibility, affordability, or... the existing housing and economic conditions in their community. Additionally, HUD reminds recipients...

77 FR 15564 - Expansion of 911 Access Loans and Loan Guarantees

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-16

... sixty-minute period immediately following a traumatic injury, like an injury resulting from a car crash is known as the ``golden hour.'' The risks of death or permanent injury increase dramatically if... work against the quick discovery and treatment of injuries resulting from an individual or mass...

Issues and Solutions for Bringing Heterogeneous Water Cycle Data Sets Together

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acker, James; Kempler, Steven; Teng, William; Belvedere, Deborah; Liu, Zhong; Leptoukh, Gregory

2010-01-01

The water cycle research community has generated many regional to global scale products using data from individual NASA missions or sensors (e.g., TRMM, AMSR-E); multiple ground- and space-based data sources (e.g., Global Precipitation Climatology Project [GPCP] products); and sophisticated data assimilation systems (e.g., Land Data Assimilation Systems [LDAS]). However, it is often difficult to access, explore, merge, analyze, and inter-compare these data in a coherent manner due to issues of data resolution, format, and structure. These difficulties were substantiated at the recent Collaborative Energy and Water Cycle Information Services (CEWIS) Workshop, where members of the NASA Energy and Water cycle Study (NEWS) community gave presentations, provided feedback, and developed scenarios which illustrated the difficulties and techniques for bringing together heterogeneous datasets. This presentation reports on the findings of the workshop, thus defining the problems and challenges of multi-dataset research. In addition, the CEWIS prototype shown at the workshop will be presented to illustrate new technologies that can mitigate data access roadblocks encountered in multi-dataset research, including: (1) Quick and easy search and access of selected NEWS data sets. (2) Multi-parameter data subsetting, manipulation, analysis, and display tools. (3) Access to input and derived water cycle data (data lineage). It is hoped that this presentation will encourage community discussion and feedback on heterogeneous data analysis scenarios, issues, and remedies.

Network planning study of the metro-optical-network-oriented 3G application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Qian; Xu, Rong; Lin, Jin Tong

2005-02-01

To compare with the 2G mobile communication, 3G technologies can supply the perfect service scope and performance. 3G is the trend of the mobile communication. So now to build the transmission network, it is needed to consider how the transmission network to support the 3G applications. For the 3G network architecture, it include the 2 part: Utran access network and core network. So the metro optical network should consider how to build the network to adapt the 3G applications. Include the metro core and access layer. In the metro core, we should consider the network should evolved towards the Mesh architecture with ASON function to realize the fast protection and restoration, quick end-to-end service provision, and high capacity cross-connect matrix etc. In the access layer, the network should have the ability to access the 3G services such as ATM interface with IMA function. In addition, the traffic grooming should be provided to improve the bandwidth utility. In this paper, first we present the MCC network situation, the network planning model will be introduced. Then we present the topology architecture, node capacity and traffic forecast. At last, based on our analysis, we will give a total solution to MCC to build their metro optical network toward to the mesh network with the consideration of 3G services.

Teaching Evidence-Based Medicine in the Era of Point-of-Care Databases: The Case of the Giant Bladder Stone.

PubMed

Kash, Melissa J

2016-01-01

In an era where physicians rely on point-of-care databases that provide filtered, pre-appraised, and quickly accessible clinical information by smartphone applications, it is difficult to teach medical students the importance of knowing not only when it is appropriate to search the primary medical literature but also how to do it. This column will describe how librarians at an academic health sciences library use an unusual clinical case to make demonstrations of searching primary medical literature real and meaningful to medical students, and to illustrate vividly the importance of knowing what to do when the answer to a clinical question cannot be found in a point-of-care database.

Distributed Processing of Projections of Large Datasets: A Preliminary Study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Maddox, Brian G.

2004-01-01

Modern information needs have resulted in very large amounts of data being used in geographic information systems. Problems arise when trying to project these data in a reasonable amount of time and accuracy, however. Current single-threaded methods can suffer from two problems: fast projection with poor accuracy, or accurate projection with long processing time. A possible solution may be to combine accurate interpolation methods and distributed processing algorithms to quickly and accurately convert digital geospatial data between coordinate systems. Modern technology has made it possible to construct systems, such as Beowulf clusters, for a low cost and provide access to supercomputer-class technology. Combining these techniques may result in the ability to use large amounts of geographic data in time-critical situations.

[The travelling sports physician].

PubMed

Jenoure, Peter

2016-07-13

Travelling around your own country or even further abroad with a sports team or individual athletes as a sports physician is to be considered as a fundamental part of the various activities of a sports medicine practitioner.However, in our modern and quickly changing world, it is imperative to understand the different aspects of caring for athletes, also the legal ones. These may include licensing issues, malpractice coverage, access to care at outside institutions and prescribing and transporting medication of all sorts, including narcotics and substances of the list of prohibited ones (doping).With significant changes in healthcare at state and national levels, physicians must be aware of how these policy differences can affect their way of working, their ability to provide the expected care.

How to improve your image with physicians. Differentiating your laboratory for a competitive advantage.

PubMed

Riggs, L; Winsten, D

1996-01-01

A collaborative partnership between physicians and the laboratory is more important than ever. This requires addressing the five major complaints that physicians have regarding the laboratory within the context of six key characteristics of doctors. The complaints concern: timeliness of information, completeness, accessibility, providing information in a suitable form, and making it understandable to time-pressed physicians. Working effectively with physicians to achieve an immaculate image means understanding why they tend toward control, have difficulty with conceptual presentations, and are quick to stereotype. It also means understanding how to capitalize on their tendency to respect expertise and reward it with loyalty. Establishing a favorable image requires creating a perception of cooperative proactivity based on sensitive performance.

Flight Deck Interval Management Display. [Elements, Information and Annunciations Database User Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lancaster, Jeff; Dillard, Michael; Alves, Erin; Olofinboba, Olu

2014-01-01

The User Guide details the Access Database provided with the Flight Deck Interval Management (FIM) Display Elements, Information, & Annunciations program. The goal of this User Guide is to support ease of use and the ability to quickly retrieve and select items of interest from the Database. The Database includes FIM Concepts identified in a literature review preceding the publication of this document. Only items that are directly related to FIM (e.g., spacing indicators), which change or enable FIM (e.g., menu with control buttons), or which are affected by FIM (e.g., altitude reading) are included in the database. The guide has been expanded from previous versions to cover database structure, content, and search features with voiced explanations.

A summary of existing and planned experiment hardware for low-gravity fluids research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Myron E.; Omalley, Terence F.

1991-01-01

An overview is presented of (1) existing ground-based, low gravity research facilities, with examples of hardware capabilities, and (2) existing and planned space-based research facilities, with examples of current and past flight hardware. Low-gravity, ground-based facilities, such as drop towers and aircraft, provide the experimenter with quick turnaround time, easy access to equipment, gravity levels ranging from 10(exp -2) to 10(exp -6) G, and low-gravity durations ranging from 2 to 30 sec. Currently, the only operational space-based facility is the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle's payload bay and middeck facilities are described. Existing and planned low-gravity fluids research facilities are also described with examples of experiments and hardware capabilities.

The antioxidant effect of derivatives pyroglutamic lactam

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

Rohadi, Atisya; Lazim, Azwani Mat; Hasbullah, Siti Aishah

Diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) is widely used for quickly accessing the ability of polyphenols to transfer labile H atoms to radicals. The antioxidant activity of all the synthesized compounds was screened by DPPH method. Compound (4) showed 54% antioxidant potential while all other compounds were found to have moderate to have moderate to mild antioxidant activity ranging from 47–52%. Pyroglutamic lactams have been synthesized stereoselectively in racemic form from levulinic acid as bifunctional adduct using convertible isocyanide in one-pot Ugi 4-center-3-component condensation reaction (U-4C-3CR). The product formed provides biologically interesting products in excellent yields in a short reaction time. The structures ofmore » the synthesized compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic data and elemental analysis.« less

Crowdsourcing: Global search and the twisted roles of consumers and producers.

PubMed

Bauer, Robert M; Gegenhuber, Thomas

2015-09-01

Crowdsourcing spreads and morphs quickly, shaping areas as diverse as creating, organizing, and sharing knowledge; producing digital artifacts; providing services involving tangible assets; or monitoring and evaluating. Crowdsourcing as sourcing by means of 'global search' yields four types of values for sourcing actors: creative expertise, critical items, execution capacity, and bargaining power. It accesses cheap excess capacities at the work realm's margins, channeling them toward production. Provision and utilization of excess capacities rationalize society while intimately connecting to a broader societal trend twisting consumers' and producers' roles: leading toward 'working consumers' and 'consuming producers' and shifting power toward the latter. Similarly, marketers using crowdsourcing's look and feel to camouflage traditional approaches to bringing consumers under control preserve producer power.

The Histochemistry and Cell Biology compendium: a review of 2012.

PubMed

Taatjes, Douglas J; Roth, Jürgen

2013-06-01

The year 2012 was another exciting year for Histochemistry and Cell Biology. Innovations in immunohistochemical techniques and microscopy-based imaging have provided the means for advances in the field of cell biology. Over 130 manuscripts were published in the journal during 2012, representing methodological advancements, pathobiology of disease, and cell and tissue biology. This annual review of the manuscripts published in the previous year in Histochemistry and Cell Biology serves as an abbreviated reference for the readership to quickly peruse and discern trends in the field over the past year. The review has been broadly divided into multiple sections encompassing topics such as method advancements, subcellular components, extracellular matrix, and organ systems. We hope that the creation of this subdivision will serve to guide the reader to a specific topic of interest, while simultaneously providing a concise and easily accessible encapsulation of other topics in the broad area of Histochemistry and Cell Biology.

Application of information technology to the National Launch System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mauldin, W. T.; Smith, Carolyn L.; Monk, Jan C.; Davis, Steve; Smith, Marty E.

1992-01-01

The approach to the development of the Unified Information System (UNIS) to provide in a timely manner all the information required to manage, design, manufacture, integrate, test, launch, operate, and support the Advanced Launch System (NLS), as well as the current and planned capabilities are described. STESYM, the Space Transportation Main Engine (STME) development program, is comprised of a collection of data models which can be grouped into two primary models: the Engine Infrastructure Model (ENGIM) and the Engine Integrated Cast Model (ENGICOM). ENGIM is an end-to-end model of the infrastructure needed to perform the fabrication, assembly, and testing of the STEM program and its components. Together, UNIS and STESYM are to provide NLS managers and engineers with the ability to access various types and files of data quickly and use that data to assess the capabilities of the STEM program.

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

De Carlo, Francesco; Gürsoy, Doğa; Ching, Daniel J.

There is a widening gap between the fast advancement of computational methods for tomographic reconstruction and their successful implementation in production software at various synchrotron facilities. This is due in part to the lack of readily available instrument datasets and phantoms representative of real materials for validation and comparison of new numerical methods. Recent advancements in detector technology made sub-second and multi-energy tomographic data collection possible [1], but also increased the demand to develop new reconstruction methods able to handle in-situ [2] and dynamic systems [3] that can be quickly incorporated in beamline production software [4]. The X-ray Tomography Datamore » Bank, tomoBank, provides a repository of experimental and simulated datasets with the aim to foster collaboration among computational scientists, beamline scientists, and experimentalists and to accelerate the development and implementation of tomographic reconstruction methods for synchrotron facility production software by providing easy access to challenging dataset and their descriptors.« less

The adoption and implementation of RFID technologies in healthcare: a literature review.

PubMed

Yao, Wen; Chu, Chao-Hsien; Li, Zang

2012-12-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology not only offers tracking capability to locate equipment, supplies and people in real time, but also provides efficient and accurate access to medical data for health professionals. However, the reality of RFID adoption in healthcare is far behind earlier expectation. This study reviews literature on the use of RFID in healthcare/hospitals following a formal innovation-decision framework. We aim to identify the common applications, potential benefits, barriers, and critical success factors. Our study facilitates quick assessment and provides guidance for researchers and practitioners in adopting RFID in medical arenas. Many earlier adopters in healthcare found RFID to be functional and useful in such areas as asset tracking and patient identification. Major barriers to adoption include technological limitations, interference concerns, prohibitive costs, lack of global standards and privacy concerns. Better designed RFID systems with low cost and privacy issues addressed are needed to increase acceptance of RFID in healthcare.

Interactive Visualization of Computational Fluid Dynamics using Mosaic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clucas, Jean; Watson, Velvin; Chancellor, Marisa K. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

The Web provides new Methods for accessing Information world-wide, but the current text-and-pictures approach neither utilizes all the Web's possibilities not provides for its limitations. While the inclusion of pictures and animations in a paper communicates more effectively than text alone, It Is essentially an extension of the concept of "publication." Also, as use of the Web increases putting images and animations online will quickly load even the "Information Superhighway." We need to find forms of communication that take advantage of the special nature of the Web. This paper presents one approach: the use of the Internet and the Mosaic interface for data sharing and collaborative analysis. We will describe (and In the presentation, demonstrate) our approach: using FAST (Flow Analysis Software Toolkit), a scientific visualization package, as a data viewer and interactive tool called from MOSAIC. Our intent is to stimulate the development of other tools that utilize the unique nature of electronic communication.

An Overview of Longitudinal Data Analysis Methods for Neurological Research

PubMed Central

Locascio, Joseph J.; Atri, Alireza

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide a concise, broad and readily accessible overview of longitudinal data analysis methods, aimed to be a practical guide for clinical investigators in neurology. In general, we advise that older, traditional methods, including (1) simple regression of the dependent variable on a time measure, (2) analyzing a single summary subject level number that indexes changes for each subject and (3) a general linear model approach with a fixed-subject effect, should be reserved for quick, simple or preliminary analyses. We advocate the general use of mixed-random and fixed-effect regression models for analyses of most longitudinal clinical studies. Under restrictive situations or to provide validation, we recommend: (1) repeated-measure analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), (2) ANCOVA for two time points, (3) generalized estimating equations and (4) latent growth curve/structural equation models. PMID:22203825

High-speed network for delivery of education-on-demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordero, Carlos; Harris, Dale; Hsieh, Jeff

1996-03-01

A project to investigate the feasibility of delivering on-demand distance education to the desktop, known as the Asynchronous Distance Education ProjecT (ADEPT), is presently being carried out. A set of Stanford engineering classes is digitized on PC, Macintosh, and UNIX platforms, and is made available on servers. Students on campus and in industry may then access class material on these servers via local and metropolitan area networks. Students can download class video and audio, encoded in QuickTimeTM and Show-Me TVTM formats, via file-transfer protocol or the World Wide Web. Alternatively, they may stream a vector-quantized version of the class directly from a server for real-time playback. Students may also download PostscriptTM and Adobe AcrobatTM versions of class notes. Off-campus students may connect to ADEPT servers via the internet, the Silicon Valley Test Track (SVTT), or the Bay-Area Gigabit Network (BAGNet). The SVTT and BAGNet are high-speed metropolitan-area networks, spanning the Bay Area, which provide IP access over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Student interaction is encouraged through news groups, electronic mailing lists, and an ADEPT home page. Issues related to having multiple platforms and interoperability are examined in this paper. The ramifications of providing a reliable service are discussed. System performance and the parameters that affect it are then described. Finally, future work on expanding ATM access, real-time delivery of classes, and enhanced student interaction is described.

Leveraging Quick Response Code Technology to Facilitate Simulation-Based Leaderboard Competition.

PubMed

Chang, Todd P; Doughty, Cara B; Mitchell, Diana; Rutledge, Chrystal; Auerbach, Marc A; Frisell, Karin; Jani, Priti; Kessler, David O; Wolfe, Heather; MacKinnon, Ralph J; Dewan, Maya; Pirie, Jonathan; Lemke, Daniel; Khattab, Mona; Tofil, Nancy; Nagamuthu, Chenthila; Walsh, Catharine M

2018-02-01

Leaderboards provide feedback on relative performance and a competitive atmosphere for both self-guided improvement and social comparison. Because simulation can provide substantial quantitative participant feedback, leaderboards can be used, not only locally but also in a multidepartment, multicenter fashion. Quick Response (QR) codes can be integrated to allow participants to access and upload data. We present the development, implementation, and initial evaluation of an online leaderboard employing principles of gamification using points, badges, and leaderboards designed to enhance competition among healthcare providers. This article details the fundamentals behind the development and implementation of a user-friendly, online, multinational leaderboard that employs principles of gamification to enhance competition and integrates a QR code system to promote both self-reporting of performance data and data integrity. An open-ended survey was administered to capture perceptions of leaderboard implementation. Conceptual step-by-step instructions detailing how to apply the QR code system to any leaderboard using simulated or real performance metrics are outlined using an illustrative example of a leaderboard that employed simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance scores to compare participants across 17 hospitals in 4 countries for 16 months. The following three major descriptive categories that captured perceptions of leaderboard implementation emerged from initial evaluation data from 10 sites: (1) competition, (2) longevity, and (3) perceived deficits. A well-designed leaderboard should be user-friendly and encompass best practices in gamification principles while collecting and storing data for research analyses. Easy storage and export of data allow for longitudinal record keeping that can be leveraged both to track compliance and to enable social competition.

Electronic Biomedical Literature Search for Budding Researcher

PubMed Central

Thakre, Subhash B.; Thakre S, Sushama S.; Thakre, Amol D.

2013-01-01

Search for specific and well defined literature related to subject of interest is the foremost step in research. When we are familiar with topic or subject then we can frame appropriate research question. Appropriate research question is the basis for study objectives and hypothesis. The Internet provides a quick access to an overabundance of the medical literature, in the form of primary, secondary and tertiary literature. It is accessible through journals, databases, dictionaries, textbooks, indexes, and e-journals, thereby allowing access to more varied, individualised, and systematic educational opportunities. Web search engine is a tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web, which may be in the form of web pages, images, information, and other types of files. Search engines for internet-based search of medical literature include Google, Google scholar, Scirus, Yahoo search engine, etc., and databases include MEDLINE, PubMed, MEDLARS, etc. Several web-libraries (National library Medicine, Cochrane, Web of Science, Medical matrix, Emory libraries) have been developed as meta-sites, providing useful links to health resources globally. A researcher must keep in mind the strengths and limitations of a particular search engine/database while searching for a particular type of data. Knowledge about types of literature, levels of evidence, and detail about features of search engine as available, user interface, ease of access, reputable content, and period of time covered allow their optimal use and maximal utility in the field of medicine. Literature search is a dynamic and interactive process; there is no one way to conduct a search and there are many variables involved. It is suggested that a systematic search of literature that uses available electronic resource effectively, is more likely to produce quality research. PMID:24179937

Freeing data through The Polar Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruin, Taco; Chen, Robert; Parsons, Mark; Carlson, David

2010-05-01

The polar regions are changing rapidly with dramatic global effect. Wise management of resources, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on resource and geopolitical issues require deeper understanding and better prediction of these changes. Unfortunately, polar data and information remain scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research, we assert that data and information about the polar regions are themselves "public goods" that should be shared ethically and with minimal constraint. We therefore envision the Polar Information Commons (PIC) as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information that would provide a shared, community-based cyber-infrastructure fostering innovation, improving scientific efficiency, and encouraging participation in polar research, education, planning, and management. The PIC will build on the legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY), providing a long-term framework for access to and preservation of both existing and future data and information about the polar regions. Rapid change demands rapid data access. The PIC system will enable scientists to quickly expose their data to the world and share them through open protocols on the Internet. A PIC digital label will alert users and data centers to new polar data and ensure that usage rights are clear. The PIC will utilize the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, which promotes open data access through the public domain coupled with community norms of practice to ensure use of data in a fair and equitable manner. A set of PIC norms is currently being developed in consultation with key polar data organizations and other stakeholders. We welcome inputs from the broad science community as we further develop and refine the PIC approach and move ahead with implementation.

Freeing data through The Polar Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruin, T.; Chen, R. S.; Parsons, M. A.; Carlson, D. J.

2009-12-01

The polar regions are changing rapidly with dramatic global effect. Wise management of resources, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on resource and geopolitical issues require deeper understanding and better prediction of these changes. Unfortunately, polar data and information remain scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research, we assert that data and information about the polar regions are themselves “public goods” that should be shared ethically and with minimal constraint. We therefore envision the Polar Information Commons (PIC) as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information that would provide a shared, community-based cyber-infrastructure fostering innovation, improving scientific efficiency, and encouraging participation in polar research, education, planning, and management. The PIC will build on the legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY), providing a long-term framework for access to and preservation of both existing and future data and information about the polar regions. Rapid change demands rapid data access. The PIC system will enable scientists to quickly expose their data to the world and share them through open protocols on the Internet. A PIC digital label will alert users and data centers to new polar data and ensure that usage rights are clear. The PIC will utilize the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, which promotes open data access through the public domain coupled with community norms of practice to ensure use of data in a fair and equitable manner. A set of PIC norms is currently being developed in consultation with key polar data organizations and other stakeholders. We welcome inputs from the broad science community as we further develop and refine the PIC approach and move ahead with implementation.

Freeing data through The Polar Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruin, T.; Chen, R. S.; Parsons, M. A.; Carlson, D. J.; Cass, K.; Finney, K.; Wilbanks, J.; Jochum, K.

2010-12-01

The polar regions are changing rapidly with dramatic global effect. Wise management of resources, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on resource and geopolitical issues require deeper understanding and better prediction of these changes. Unfortunately, polar data and information remain scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research, we assert that data and information about the polar regions are themselves “public goods” that should be shared ethically and with minimal constraint. ICSU’s Committee on Data (CODATA) therefore started the Polar Information Commons (PIC) as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information. The PIC provides a shared, community-based cyber-infrastructure fostering innovation, improving scientific efficiency, and encouraging participation in polar research, education, planning, and management. The PIC builds on the legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY), providing a long-term framework for access to and preservation of both existing and future data and information about the polar regions. Rapid change demands rapid data access. The PIC system enables scientists to quickly expose their data to the world and share them through open protocols on the Internet. A PIC digital label will alert users and data centers to new polar data and ensure that usage rights are clear. The PIC utilizes the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, which promotes open data access through the public domain coupled with community norms of practice to ensure use of data in a fair and equitable manner. A set of PIC norms has been developed in consultation with key polar data organizations and other stakeholders. We welcome inputs from the broad science community as we further develop and refine the PIC approach and move ahead with implementation.

Electronic biomedical literature search for budding researcher.

PubMed

Thakre, Subhash B; Thakre S, Sushama S; Thakre, Amol D

2013-09-01

Search for specific and well defined literature related to subject of interest is the foremost step in research. When we are familiar with topic or subject then we can frame appropriate research question. Appropriate research question is the basis for study objectives and hypothesis. The Internet provides a quick access to an overabundance of the medical literature, in the form of primary, secondary and tertiary literature. It is accessible through journals, databases, dictionaries, textbooks, indexes, and e-journals, thereby allowing access to more varied, individualised, and systematic educational opportunities. Web search engine is a tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web, which may be in the form of web pages, images, information, and other types of files. Search engines for internet-based search of medical literature include Google, Google scholar, Scirus, Yahoo search engine, etc., and databases include MEDLINE, PubMed, MEDLARS, etc. Several web-libraries (National library Medicine, Cochrane, Web of Science, Medical matrix, Emory libraries) have been developed as meta-sites, providing useful links to health resources globally. A researcher must keep in mind the strengths and limitations of a particular search engine/database while searching for a particular type of data. Knowledge about types of literature, levels of evidence, and detail about features of search engine as available, user interface, ease of access, reputable content, and period of time covered allow their optimal use and maximal utility in the field of medicine. Literature search is a dynamic and interactive process; there is no one way to conduct a search and there are many variables involved. It is suggested that a systematic search of literature that uses available electronic resource effectively, is more likely to produce quality research.

Web Based Rapid Mapping of Disaster Areas using Satellite Images, Web Processing Service, Web Mapping Service, Frequency Based Change Detection Algorithm and J-iView

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandibas, J. C.; Takarada, S.

2013-12-01

Timely identification of areas affected by natural disasters is very important for a successful rescue and effective emergency relief efforts. This research focuses on the development of a cost effective and efficient system of identifying areas affected by natural disasters, and the efficient distribution of the information. The developed system is composed of 3 modules which are the Web Processing Service (WPS), Web Map Service (WMS) and the user interface provided by J-iView (fig. 1). WPS is an online system that provides computation, storage and data access services. In this study, the WPS module provides online access of the software implementing the developed frequency based change detection algorithm for the identification of areas affected by natural disasters. It also sends requests to WMS servers to get the remotely sensed data to be used in the computation. WMS is a standard protocol that provides a simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map images from one or more geospatial databases. In this research, the WMS component provides remote access of the satellite images which are used as inputs for land cover change detection. The user interface in this system is provided by J-iView, which is an online mapping system developed at the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ). The 3 modules are seamlessly integrated into a single package using J-iView, which could rapidly generate a map of disaster areas that is instantaneously viewable online. The developed system was tested using ASTER images covering the areas damaged by the March 11, 2011 tsunami in northeastern Japan. The developed system efficiently generated a map showing areas devastated by the tsunami. Based on the initial results of the study, the developed system proved to be a useful tool for emergency workers to quickly identify areas affected by natural disasters.

Colorado Late Cenozoic Fault and Fold Database and Internet Map Server: User-friendly technology for complex information

USGS Publications Warehouse

Morgan, K.S.; Pattyn, G.J.; Morgan, M.L.

2005-01-01

Internet mapping applications for geologic data allow simultaneous data delivery and collection, enabling quick data modification while efficiently supplying the end user with information. Utilizing Web-based technologies, the Colorado Geological Survey's Colorado Late Cenozoic Fault and Fold Database was transformed from a monothematic, nonspatial Microsoft Access database into a complex information set incorporating multiple data sources. The resulting user-friendly format supports easy analysis and browsing. The core of the application is the Microsoft Access database, which contains information compiled from available literature about faults and folds that are known or suspected to have moved during the late Cenozoic. The database contains nonspatial fields such as structure type, age, and rate of movement. Geographic locations of the fault and fold traces were compiled from previous studies at 1:250,000 scale to form a spatial database containing information such as length and strike. Integration of the two databases allowed both spatial and nonspatial information to be presented on the Internet as a single dataset (http://geosurvey.state.co.us/pubs/ceno/). The user-friendly interface enables users to view and query the data in an integrated manner, thus providing multiple ways to locate desired information. Retaining the digital data format also allows continuous data updating and quick delivery of newly acquired information. This dataset is a valuable resource to anyone interested in earthquake hazards and the activity of faults and folds in Colorado. Additional geologic hazard layers and imagery may aid in decision support and hazard evaluation. The up-to-date and customizable maps are invaluable tools for researchers or the public.

Role of light satellites in the high-resolution Earth observation domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fishman, Moshe

1999-12-01

Current 'classic' applications using and exploring space based earth imagery are exclusive, narrow niche tailored, expensive and hardly accessible. On the other side new, inexpensive and widely used 'consumable' applications will be only developed concurrently to the availability of appropriate imagery allowing that process. A part of these applications can be imagined today, like WWW based 'virtual tourism' or news media, but the history of technological, cultural and entertainment evolution teaches us that most of future applications are unpredictable -- they emerge together with the platforms enabling their appearance. The only thing, which can be ultimately stated, is that the definitive condition for such applications is the availability of the proper imagery platform providing low cost, high resolution, large area, quick response, simple accessibility and quick dissemination of the raw picture. This platform is a constellation of Earth Observation satellites. Up to 1995 the Space Based High Resolution Earth Observation Domain was dominated by heavy, super-expensive and very inflexible birds. The launch of Israeli OFEQ-3 Satellite by MBT Division of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) marked the entrance to new era of light, smart and cheap Low Earth Orbited Imaging satellites. The Earth Resource Observation System (EROS) initiated by West Indian Space, is based on OFEQ class Satellites design and it is capable to gather visual data of Earth Surface both at high resolution and large image capacity. The main attributes, derived from its compact design, low weight and sophisticated logic and which convert the EROS Satellite to valuable and productive system, are discussed. The major advantages of Light Satellites in High Resolution Earth Observation Domain are presented and WIS guidelines featuring the next generation of LEO Imaging Systems are included.

Using and Distributing Spaceflight Data: The Johnson Space Center Life Sciences Data Archive

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cardenas, J. A.; Buckey, J. C.; Turner, J. N.; White, T. S.; Havelka,J. A.

1995-01-01

Life sciences data collected before, during and after spaceflight are valuable and often irreplaceable. The Johnson Space Center Life is hard to find, and much of the data (e.g. Sciences Data Archive has been designed to provide researchers, engineers, managers and educators interactive access to information about and data from human spaceflight experiments. The archive system consists of a Data Acquisition System, Database Management System, CD-ROM Mastering System and Catalog Information System (CIS). The catalog information system is the heart of the archive. The CIS provides detailed experiment descriptions (both written and as QuickTime movies), hardware descriptions, hardware images, documents, and data. An initial evaluation of the archive at a scientific meeting showed that 88% of those who evaluated the catalog want to use the system when completed. The majority of the evaluators found the archive flexible, satisfying and easy to use. We conclude that the data archive effectively provides key life sciences data to interested users.

A Data Management System for International Space Station Simulation Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Betts, Bradley J.; DelMundo, Rommel; Elcott, Sharif; McIntosh, Dawn; Niehaus, Brian; Papasin, Richard; Mah, Robert W.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Groups associated with the design, operational, and training aspects of the International Space Station make extensive use of modeling and simulation tools. Users of these tools often need to access and manipulate large quantities of data associated with the station, ranging from design documents to wiring diagrams. Retrieving and manipulating this data directly within the simulation and modeling environment can provide substantial benefit to users. An approach for providing these kinds of data management services, including a database schema and class structure, is presented. Implementation details are also provided as a data management system is integrated into the Intelligent Virtual Station, a modeling and simulation tool developed by the NASA Ames Smart Systems Research Laboratory. One use of the Intelligent Virtual Station is generating station-related training procedures in a virtual environment, The data management component allows users to quickly and easily retrieve information related to objects on the station, enhancing their ability to generate accurate procedures. Users can associate new information with objects and have that information stored in a database.

Measuring the usefulness of family planning job aids following distribution at training workshops.

PubMed

Tumlinson, Katherine; Hubacher, David; Wesson, Jennifer; Lasway, Christine

2010-09-01

A job aid is a tool, such as a flowchart or checklist, that makes it easier for staff to carry out tasks by providing quick access to needed information. Many public health organizations are engaged in the production of job aids intended to improve adherence to important medical guidelines and protocols, particularly in resource-constrained countries. However, some evidence suggests that actual use of job aids remains low. One strategy for improving utilization is the introduction of job aids in training workshops. This paper summarizes the results of two separate evaluations conducted in Uganda and the Dominican Republic (DR) which measured the usefulness of a series of four family planning checklists 7-24 months after distribution in training workshops. While more than half of the health care providers used the checklists at least once, utilization rates were sub-optimal. However, the vast majority of those providers who utilized the checklists found them to be very useful in their work.

DNA Assembly in 3D Printed Fluidics (Open Access, Publisher’s Version)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-30

advances in commodity digital fabrication tools, it is now possible to directly print fluidic devices and supporting hardware. 3D printed micro- and...millifluidic devices are inexpensive, easy to make and quick to pro- duce. We demonstrate Golden Gate DNA assembly in 3D - printed fluidics with reaction vol

The Husky Byte Program: Delivering Nutrition Education One Sound Byte at a Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pierce, Michelle B.; Hudson, Kerrian A.; Lora, Karina R.; Havens, Erin K.; Ferris, Ann M.

2011-01-01

The Husky Byte program uses interactive displays to deliver quick sound bytes of nutrition information to adults in frequented community settings. This innovative program considers time constraints, adult learning theory, diverse learning styles, and is easily accessible to adults. Both process and impact evaluations have demonstrated positive…

Microwave powered sterile access port

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sauer, Richard L. (Inventor); Atwater, James E. (Inventor); Dahl, Roger W. (Inventor); Garmon, Frank C. (Inventor); Lunsford, Teddie D. (Inventor); Michalek, William F. (Inventor); Wheeler, Jr., Richard R. (Inventor)

2000-01-01

A device and method for elimination of contamination during transfer of materials either into or from bioreactors, food containers, or other microbially vulnerable systems. Using microwave power, thermal sterilizations of mating fixtures are achieved simply, reliably, and quickly by the volatilization of small quantities of water to produce superheated steam which contacts all exposed surfaces.

Of Icebergs, Ship, and Arrogant Captains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Peter

2004-01-01

Faculty members in American higher education are quick to label themselves "the best ever." And in many ways, their achievements to date are just that: consider the community college movement, the research power in their land-grant and major private institutions, and the continuing commitment to access and quality that they all support.…

Inclusive Instruction: Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching Students with Disabilities. What Works for Special-Needs Learners Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brownell, Mary T.; Smith, Sean J.; Crockett, Jean B.; Griffin, Cynthia C.

2012-01-01

This accessible book presents research-based strategies for supporting K-8 students with high-incidence disabilities to become accomplished learners. The authors clearly describe the core components of effective inclusive instruction, showing how to recognize and respond to individual students' needs quickly and appropriately. Teachers are…

PUNCHED CARD SYSTEM NEEDN'T BE COMPLEX TO GIVE COMPLETE CONTROL.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BEMIS, HAZEL T.

AT WORCESTER JUNIOR COLLEGE, MASSACHUSETTS, USE OF A MANUALLY OPERATED PUNCHED CARD SYSTEM HAS RESULTED IN (1) SIMPLIFIED REGISTRATION PROCEDURES, (2) QUICK ANALYSIS OF CONFLICTS AND PROBLEMS IN CLASS SCHEDULING, (3) READY ACCESS TO STATISTICAL INFORMATION, (4) DIRECTORY INFORMATION IN A WIDE RANGE OF CLASSIFICATIONS, (5) EASY VERIFICATION OF…

Nutrition: Too Many Gimmicks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Tommy

2002-01-01

Notes that despite having access to vast nutritional knowledge, Americans today are more malnourished and obese than ever before. Concludes that eating normal, basic, ordinary foods in variety can supply all nutritional needs; gimmicks are not needed, and the search for the "quick-fix" must stop--it is not on any shelf. Includes the United States…

Embracing Distance Education in a Blended Learning Model: Challenges and Prospects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fresen, Jill W.

2018-01-01

Distance education reaches out to non-traditional students in geographically dispersed locations, who are unable to attend face-to-face classes. Contact institutions have been quick to realise the many advantages of distance (online) learning, such as easy access to learning materials, interactive activities, assessment and communication tools.…

EBOOK.EXE: A Desktop Authoring Tool for HURAA.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Xiangen; Mathews, Eric; Graesser, Arthur C.; Susarla, Suresh

The development of authoring tools for intelligent systems is an important step for creating, maintaining, and structuring content in a quick and easy manner. It has the benefit of allowing for a rapid change to new domains or topics for tutoring. The development of such tools requires functional control, access protection, ease of learning, and…

Virtual digital library

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thoma, George R.

1996-03-01

The virtual digital library, a concept that is quickly becoming a reality, offers rapid and geography-independent access to stores of text, images, graphics, motion video and other datatypes. Furthermore, a user may move from one information source to another through hypertext linkages. The projects described here further the notion of such an information paradigm from an end user viewpoint.

Does the Medium Dictate the Message? Cultivating E-Communication in an Asynchronous Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiernan, Mary; Thomas, Pete; Woodroffe, Mark

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are often perceived by education establishments as an opportunity to widen access without traditional overheads. An integral part of most VLEs is asynchronous computer conferencing and on-line moderators must help students migrate quickly to the new virtual environment to minimize learning disruption. This…

Surface versus Edge-Based Determinants of Visual Recognition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biederman, Irving; Ju, Ginny

1988-01-01

The latency at which objects could be identified by 126 subjects was compared through line drawings (edge-based) or color photography (surface depiction). The line drawing was identified about as quickly as the photograph; primal access to a mental representation of an object can be modeled from an edge-based description. (SLD)

The Role of Intuitive Approximation Skills for School Math Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Libertus, Melissa E.

2015-01-01

Research has shown that educated children and adults have access to two ways of representing numerical information: an approximate number system (ANS) that is present from birth and allows for quick approximations of numbers of objects encountered in one's environment, and an exact number system (ENS) that is acquired through experience and…

p3d--Python module for structural bioinformatics.

PubMed

Fufezan, Christian; Specht, Michael

2009-08-21

High-throughput bioinformatic analysis tools are needed to mine the large amount of structural data via knowledge based approaches. The development of such tools requires a robust interface to access the structural data in an easy way. For this the Python scripting language is the optimal choice since its philosophy is to write an understandable source code. p3d is an object oriented Python module that adds a simple yet powerful interface to the Python interpreter to process and analyse three dimensional protein structure files (PDB files). p3d's strength arises from the combination of a) very fast spatial access to the structural data due to the implementation of a binary space partitioning (BSP) tree, b) set theory and c) functions that allow to combine a and b and that use human readable language in the search queries rather than complex computer language. All these factors combined facilitate the rapid development of bioinformatic tools that can perform quick and complex analyses of protein structures. p3d is the perfect tool to quickly develop tools for structural bioinformatics using the Python scripting language.

The Footprint Database and Web Services of the Herschel Space Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dobos, László; Varga-Verebélyi, Erika; Verdugo, Eva; Teyssier, David; Exter, Katrina; Valtchanov, Ivan; Budavári, Tamás; Kiss, Csaba

2016-10-01

Data from the Herschel Space Observatory is freely available to the public but no uniformly processed catalogue of the observations has been published so far. To date, the Herschel Science Archive does not contain the exact sky coverage (footprint) of individual observations and supports search for measurements based on bounding circles only. Drawing on previous experience in implementing footprint databases, we built the Herschel Footprint Database and Web Services for the Herschel Space Observatory to provide efficient search capabilities for typical astronomical queries. The database was designed with the following main goals in mind: (a) provide a unified data model for meta-data of all instruments and observational modes, (b) quickly find observations covering a selected object and its neighbourhood, (c) quickly find every observation in a larger area of the sky, (d) allow for finding solar system objects crossing observation fields. As a first step, we developed a unified data model of observations of all three Herschel instruments for all pointing and instrument modes. Then, using telescope pointing information and observational meta-data, we compiled a database of footprints. As opposed to methods using pixellation of the sphere, we represent sky coverage in an exact geometric form allowing for precise area calculations. For easier handling of Herschel observation footprints with rather complex shapes, two algorithms were implemented to reduce the outline. Furthermore, a new visualisation tool to plot footprints with various spherical projections was developed. Indexing of the footprints using Hierarchical Triangular Mesh makes it possible to quickly find observations based on sky coverage, time and meta-data. The database is accessible via a web site http://herschel.vo.elte.hu and also as a set of REST web service functions, which makes it readily usable from programming environments such as Python or IDL. The web service allows downloading footprint data in various formats including Virtual Observatory standards.

Hospitals in rural or remote areas: An exploratory review of policies in 8 high-income countries.

PubMed

Rechel, Bernd; Džakula, Aleksandar; Duran, Antonio; Fattore, Giovanni; Edwards, Nigel; Grignon, Michel; Haas, Marion; Habicht, Triin; Marchildon, Gregory P; Moreno, Antonio; Ricciardi, Walter; Vaughan, Louella; Smith, Tina Anderson

2016-07-01

Our study reviewed policies in 8 high-income countries (Australia, Canada, United States, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Croatia and Estonia) in Europe, Australasia and North America with regard to hospitals in rural or remote areas. We explored whether any specific policies on hospitals in rural or remote areas are in place, and, if not, how countries made sure that the population in remote or rural areas has access to acute inpatient services. We found that only one of the eight countries (Italy) had drawn up a national policy on hospitals in rural or remote areas. In the United States, although there is no singular comprehensive national plan or vision, federal levers have been used to promote access in rural or remote areas and provide context for state and local policy decisions. In Australia and Canada, intermittent policies have been developed at the sub-national level of states and provinces respectively. In those countries where access to hospital services in rural or remote areas is a concern, common challenges can be identified, including the financial sustainability of services, the importance of medical education and telemedicine and the provision of quick transport to more specialized services. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Public-Private Partnership: Joint recommendations to improve downloads of large Earth observation data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramachandran, R.; Murphy, K. J.; Baynes, K.; Lynnes, C.

2016-12-01

With the volume of Earth observation data expanding rapidly, cloud computing is quickly changing the way Earth observation data is processed, analyzed, and visualized. The cloud infrastructure provides the flexibility to scale up to large volumes of data and handle high velocity data streams efficiently. Having freely available Earth observation data collocated on a cloud infrastructure creates opportunities for innovation and value-added data re-use in ways unforeseen by the original data provider. These innovations spur new industries and applications and spawn new scientific pathways that were previously limited due to data volume and computational infrastructure issues. NASA, in collaboration with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, have jointly developed a set of recommendations to enable efficient transfer of Earth observation data from existing data systems to a cloud computing infrastructure. The purpose of these recommendations is to provide guidelines against which all data providers can evaluate existing data systems and be used to improve any issues uncovered to enable efficient search, access, and use of large volumes of data. Additionally, these guidelines ensure that all cloud providers utilize a common methodology for bulk-downloading data from data providers thus preventing the data providers from building custom capabilities to meet the needs of individual cloud providers. The intent is to share these recommendations with other Federal agencies and organizations that serve Earth observation to enable efficient search, access, and use of large volumes of data. Additionally, the adoption of these recommendations will benefit data users interested in moving large volumes of data from data systems to any other location. These data users include the cloud providers, cloud users such as scientists, and other users working in a high performance computing environment who need to move large volumes of data.

Chroni - an Android Application for Geochronologists to Access Archived Sample Analyses from the NSF-Funded Geochron.Org Data Repository.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nettles, J. J.; Bowring, J. F.

2014-12-01

NSF requires data management plans as part of funding proposals and geochronologists, among other scientists, are archiving their data and results to the public cloud archives managed by the NSF-funded Integrated Earth Data Applications, or IEDA. GeoChron is a database for geochronology housed within IEDA. The software application U-Pb_Redux developed at the Cyber Infrastructure Research and Development Lab for the Earth Sciences (CIRDLES.org) at the College of Charleston provides seamless connectivity to GeoChron for uranium-lead (U-Pb) geochronologists to automatically upload and retrieve their data and results. U-Pb_Redux also manages publication-quality documents including report tables and graphs. CHRONI is a lightweight mobile application for Android devices that provides easy access to these archived data and results. With CHRONI, U-Pb geochronologists can view archived data and analyses downloaded from the Geochron database, or any other location, in a customizable format. CHRONI uses the same extensible markup language (XML) schema and documents used by U-Pb_Redux and GeoChron. Report Settings are special XML files that can be customized in U-Pb_Redux, stored in the cloud, and then accessed and used in CHRONI to create the same customized data display on the mobile device. In addition to providing geologists effortless and mobile access to archived data and analyses, CHRONI allows users to manage their GeoChron credentials, quickly download private and public files via a specified IEDA International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) or URL, and view specialized graphics associated with particular IGSNs. Future versions of CHRONI will be developed to support iOS compatible devices. CHRONI is an open source project under the Apache 2 license and is hosted at https://github.com/CIRDLES/CHRONI. We encourage community participation in its continued development.

SequenceCEROSENE: a computational method and web server to visualize spatial residue neighborhoods at the sequence level.

PubMed

Heinke, Florian; Bittrich, Sebastian; Kaiser, Florian; Labudde, Dirk

2016-01-01

To understand the molecular function of biopolymers, studying their structural characteristics is of central importance. Graphics programs are often utilized to conceive these properties, but with the increasing number of available structures in databases or structure models produced by automated modeling frameworks this process requires assistance from tools that allow automated structure visualization. In this paper a web server and its underlying method for generating graphical sequence representations of molecular structures is presented. The method, called SequenceCEROSENE (color encoding of residues obtained by spatial neighborhood embedding), retrieves the sequence of each amino acid or nucleotide chain in a given structure and produces a color coding for each residue based on three-dimensional structure information. From this, color-highlighted sequences are obtained, where residue coloring represent three-dimensional residue locations in the structure. This color encoding thus provides a one-dimensional representation, from which spatial interactions, proximity and relations between residues or entire chains can be deduced quickly and solely from color similarity. Furthermore, additional heteroatoms and chemical compounds bound to the structure, like ligands or coenzymes, are processed and reported as well. To provide free access to SequenceCEROSENE, a web server has been implemented that allows generating color codings for structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank or structure models uploaded by the user. Besides retrieving visualizations in popular graphic formats, underlying raw data can be downloaded as well. In addition, the server provides user interactivity with generated visualizations and the three-dimensional structure in question. Color encoded sequences generated by SequenceCEROSENE can aid to quickly perceive the general characteristics of a structure of interest (or entire sets of complexes), thus supporting the researcher in the initial phase of structure-based studies. In this respect, the web server can be a valuable tool, as users are allowed to process multiple structures, quickly switch between results, and interact with generated visualizations in an intuitive manner. The SequenceCEROSENE web server is available at https://biosciences.hs-mittweida.de/seqcerosene.

CERN data services for LHC computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Espinal, X.; Bocchi, E.; Chan, B.; Fiorot, A.; Iven, J.; Lo Presti, G.; Lopez, J.; Gonzalez, H.; Lamanna, M.; Mascetti, L.; Moscicki, J.; Pace, A.; Peters, A.; Ponce, S.; Rousseau, H.; van der Ster, D.

2017-10-01

Dependability, resilience, adaptability and efficiency. Growing requirements require tailoring storage services and novel solutions. Unprecedented volumes of data coming from the broad number of experiments at CERN need to be quickly available in a highly scalable way for large-scale processing and data distribution while in parallel they are routed to tape for long-term archival. These activities are critical for the success of HEP experiments. Nowadays we operate at high incoming throughput (14GB/s during 2015 LHC Pb-Pb run and 11PB in July 2016) and with concurrent complex production work-loads. In parallel our systems provide the platform for the continuous user and experiment driven work-loads for large-scale data analysis, including end-user access and sharing. The storage services at CERN cover the needs of our community: EOS and CASTOR as a large-scale storage; CERNBox for end-user access and sharing; Ceph as data back-end for the CERN OpenStack infrastructure, NFS services and S3 functionality; AFS for legacy distributed-file-system services. In this paper we will summarise the experience in supporting LHC experiments and the transition of our infrastructure from static monolithic systems to flexible components providing a more coherent environment with pluggable protocols, tuneable QoS, sharing capabilities and fine grained ACLs management while continuing to guarantee dependable and robust services.

UGTA Photograph Database

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

NSTec Environmental Restoration

One of the advantages of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) is that most of the geologic and hydrologic features such as hydrogeologic units (HGUs), hydrostratigraphic units (HSUs), and faults, which are important aspects of flow and transport modeling, are exposed at the surface somewhere in the vicinity of the NTS and thus are available for direct observation. However, due to access restrictions and the remote locations of many of the features, most Underground Test Area (UGTA) participants cannot observe these features directly in the field. Fortunately, National Security Technologies, LLC, geologists and their predecessors have photographed many of these featuresmore » through the years. During fiscal year 2009, work was done to develop an online photograph database for use by the UGTA community. Photographs were organized, compiled, and imported into Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7. The photographs were then assigned keyword tags such as alteration type, HGU, HSU, location, rock feature, rock type, and stratigraphic unit. Some fully tagged photographs were then selected and uploaded to the UGTA website. This online photograph database provides easy access for all UGTA participants and can help “ground truth” their analytical and modeling tasks. It also provides new participants a resource to more quickly learn the geology and hydrogeology of the NTS.« less

Equalizing access to pandemic influenza vaccines through optimal allocation to public health distribution points.

PubMed

Huang, Hsin-Chan; Singh, Bismark; Morton, David P; Johnson, Gregory P; Clements, Bruce; Meyers, Lauren Ancel

2017-01-01

Vaccines are arguably the most important means of pandemic influenza mitigation. However, as during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, mass immunization with an effective vaccine may not begin until a pandemic is well underway. In the U.S., state-level public health agencies are responsible for quickly and fairly allocating vaccines as they become available to populations prioritized to receive vaccines. Allocation decisions can be ethically and logistically complex, given several vaccine types in limited and uncertain supply and given competing priority groups with distinct risk profiles and vaccine acceptabilities. We introduce a model for optimizing statewide allocation of multiple vaccine types to multiple priority groups, maximizing equal access. We assume a large fraction of available vaccines are distributed to healthcare providers based on their requests, and then optimize county-level allocation of the remaining doses to achieve equity. We have applied the model to the state of Texas, and incorporated it in a Web-based decision-support tool for the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Based on vaccine quantities delivered to registered healthcare providers in response to their requests during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, we find that a relatively small cache of discretionary doses (DSHS reserved 6.8% in 2009) suffices to achieve equity across all counties in Texas.

KSC-2009-2031

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-03-14

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Lights glow on the structures on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after rollback of the rotating service structure from around space shuttle Discovery. The orbiter access arm and White Room are extended toward Discovery The White Room provides crew access into the shuttle. The rollback is in preparation for Discovery's liftoff on the STS-119 mission with a crew of seven. An earlier launch attempt March 11 was scrubbed at 2:36 p.m. due to a gaseous hydrogen leak from the external tank at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate during tanking. A seven-inch quick disconnect and two seals were replaced. The STS-119 mission is the 28th to the International Space Station and the 125th space shuttle flight. Discovery will deliver the final pair of power-generating solar array wings and the S6 truss segment. Installation of S6 will signal the station's readiness to house a six-member crew for conducting increased science. Liftoff of Discovery is scheduled for 7:43 p.m. EDT on March 15. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Space rescue system definition (system performance analysis and trades)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Housten, Sam; Elsner, Tim; Redler, Ken; Svendsen, Hal; Wenzel, Sheri

This paper addresses key technical issues involved in the system definition of the Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV). The perspective on these issues is that of a prospective ACRV contractor, performing system analysis and trade studies. The objective of these analyses and trade studies is to develop the recovery vehicle system concept and top level requirements. The starting point for this work is the definition of the set of design missions for the ACRV. This set of missions encompasses three classes of contingency/emergency (crew illness/injury, space station catastrophe/failure, transportation element catastrophe/failure). The need is to provide a system to return Space Station crew to Earth quickly (less than 24 hours) in response to randomly occurring contingency events over an extended period of time (30 years of planned Space Station life). The main topics addressed and characterized in this paper include the following: Key Recovery (Rescue) Site Access Considerations; Rescue Site Locations and Distribution; Vehicle Cross Range vs Site Access; On-orbit Loiter Capability and Vehicle Design; and Water vs. Land Recovery.

AQUIRE: Aquatic Toxicity Information Retrieval data base. Data file

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

Anderson, E.; Pilli, A.

The purpose of Aquatic Toxicity Information Retrieval (AQUIRE) data base is to provide scientists and managers quick access to a comprehensive, systematic, computerized compilation of aquatic toxicity data. Scientific papers published both nationally and internationally on the toxicity of chemicals to aquatic organisms and plants are collected and reviewed for AQUIRE. Independently compiled data files that meet AQUIRE parameter and quality assurance criteria are also included. Selected toxicity-test results and related testing information for any individual chemical from laboratory and field aquatic toxicity tests are extracted and added to AQUIRE. Acute, sublethal, and bioconcentration effects are included for tests withmore » freshwater and marine organisms. The total number of data records in AQUIRE now equals 104,500. This includes data from 6000 references, for 5200 chemicals and 2400 test species. A major data file, Acute Toxicity of Organic Chemicals (ATOC), has been incorporated into AQUIRE. The ATOC file contains laboratory acute test data on 525 organic chemicals using juvenile fathead minnows. The complete data file can be accessed by requesting review code 5 as a search parameter.« less

Telemedicine and telepharmacy: current status and future implications.

PubMed

Angaran, D M

1999-07-15

Uses of telemedicine are described and potential roles for pharmacists are discussed. Telemedicine has been defined as "the use of electronic information and communications technologies to provide and support health care when distance separates the participants." Technologies included in telemedicine are videoconferencing, telephones, computers, the Internet, fax, radio, and television. Telepharmacy has the same basic definition but refers to pharmaceutical care provision. Although the videotelemedicine market is expected to grow considerably, lack of reimbursement and high costs are continuing obstacles. Pharmacy is using video-conferencing for education, training, and management purposes. The telephone has changed from a dial-and-talk instrument to a multimedia access tool. Medical devices are being attached to telephone lines to provide remote monitoring and therapy, and call centers are providing medication counseling, prior authorization, refill authorization, and formulary compliance monitoring. Although the Internet has quickly become a star performer, utilization by health care lags behind that of other industries. The Internet-fueled empowerment of consumers and their expectations for speed, access, and convenience are creating more unmet expectations of the traditional health care system. Pharmacy has both organizational and individual practitioner Web sites, but it is online drugstores that are attracting most attention. Potential benefits of telemedicine include improved access to care, greater efficiency in diagnosis and treatment, higher productivity, and market positioning for the coming century. Telemedicine will tax the economic, regulatory, legal, ethical, and clinical care expertise of the entire health care system. Studies of the effectiveness, cost, and societal implications of telemedicine are needed, along with practice models and standards, training programs, and solutions to regulatory, licensing, and legal questions. Securing reimbursement for cognitive services remains a problem for telemedicine and telepharmacy. Telemedicine presents profound opportunities and challenges to pharmacy and other health care professions.

The Danish health system through an American lens.

PubMed

Davis, Karen

2002-02-01

The organization and financing of the Danish health care system was evaluated within the framework of a SWOT analysis (analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) by a panel of five members with a background in health economics. The evaluation was based on reading an extensive amount of selected documents and literature on the Danish health care system and a 1-week visit to health care authorities, providers and key persons. The present paper includes the main findings by one of the panel members. Primary care is much more accessible in Denmark than the USA. A mixed capitation-fee-for-service method of paying generalist physicians in Denmark ensures that everyone has a primary care physician and generalist physicians are responsive to providing services quickly, typically same-day appointments. An organized off-hours service ensures accessible care 24 h a day, 7 days a week. Denmark has the highest public satisfaction with health care, reflecting the value placed on accessibility of primary care. Inpatient hospital care consumes a disproportionate share of Danish health expenditures. Global hospital budgets provide little incentive for hospital or surgical productivity. Long waits for hospitalization, especially surgical procedures and cancellation of scheduled surgery, are a source of patient dissatisfaction. Women's health, patient health risk counseling and coordination of preventive and primary care are major weaknesses of the Danish health system. Patients have a choice of primary care physician within a given geographic area and may go to a hospital of their choice. However, patient surveys and feedback are underdeveloped and very little effort has been made to make services responsive to patients' preferences. While innovations in electronic prescribing are noteworthy, further development of health information technology is needed.

The Heliophysics Data Environment: Open Source, Open Systems and Open Data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Todd; Roberts, Aaron; Walker, Raymond; Thieman, James

2012-07-01

The Heliophysics Data Environment (HPDE) is a place for scientific discovery. Today the Heliophysics Data Environment is a framework of technologies, standards and services which enables the international community to collaborate more effectively in space physics research. Crafting a framework for a data environment begins with defining a model of the tasks to be performed, then defining the functional aspects and the work flow. The foundation of any data environment is an information model which defines the structure and content of the metadata necessary to perform the tasks. In the Heliophysics Data Environment the information model is the Space Physics Archive Search and Extract (SPASE) model and available resources are described by using this model. A described resource can reside anywhere on the internet which makes it possible for a national archive, mission, data center or individual researcher to be a provider. The generated metadata is shared, reviewed and harvested to enable services. Virtual Observatories use the metadata to provide community based portals. Through unique identifiers and registry services tools can quickly discover and access data available anywhere on the internet. This enables a researcher to quickly view and analyze data in a variety of settings and enhances the Heliophysics Data Environment. To illustrate the current Heliophysics Data Environment we present the design, architecture and operation of the Heliophysics framework. We then walk through a real example of using available tools to investigate the effects of the solar wind on Earth's magnetosphere.

Eurasian Reindeer Pastoralism in a Changing Climate: Indigenous Knowledge and NASA Remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maynard, N. G.; Burgess, P.; Oskal, P.; Turi, A.; Mathiesen, J. M.; Gaup, I. G. E.; Yurchak, B.; Etylin, V.; Gebelein, J.

2008-01-01

It is intended that Reindeer Mapper/EALAT will be able to provide reindeer herders with an efficient tool for managing the real-time movements and migrations of their herds through enabling improved efficiency in linking different members of the herder settlements or communities and providing real-time local, satellite or other data (e.g., ice melt in lakes and rivers, weather events), thus enabling real time adjustments to herd movements to avoid problems such as changing weather/climate conditions, freeze-thaw "lock-out" problems, or take advantage of availability of better pasturelands along migration routes. The system is being designed to incorporate local data to allow users to bring their own data into the system for analysis in addition to the data provided by the system itself. With the local information of the population, up to date environmental data and habitat characteristics, the system could generate maps depicting important features of interest for reindeer managers. One of the products derived from the planned Reindeer Mapper system will be a web-based graphic display that allows analysts to quickly pinpoint areas of interest such as those with large concentrations of reindeer and provide surrounding environmental information. The system could be automatically updated with near-real-time information such as hourly precipitation and snowfall rate and accumulation, daily surface and air temperatures, and vegetation cover conditions. The system could bring attention to the proximity of human and animal populations as part of the need for control response. A local GIS will bring these many layers together with several supporting models, showing only a straightforward graphic of the real-time situation in the field. Because the system proposed will be operating in the Internet environment, it should be virtually accessible from any network computers and wireless remote access from the field. The International Center for Reindeer Husbandry in Kautokeino, Norway, is providing regional and international coordination of and access to data sets and expertise, and will act as overall clearinghouse for EALAT information.

Georeferencing in Gnss-Challenged Environment: Integrating Uwb and Imu Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toth, C. K.; Koppanyi, Z.; Navratil, V.; Grejner-Brzezinska, D.

2017-05-01

Acquiring geospatial data in GNSS compromised environments remains a problem in mapping and positioning in general. Urban canyons, heavily vegetated areas, indoor environments represent different levels of GNSS signal availability from weak to no signal reception. Even outdoors, with multiple GNSS systems, with an ever-increasing number of satellites, there are many situations with limited or no access to GNSS signals. Independent navigation sensors, such as IMU can provide high-data rate information but their initial accuracy degrades quickly, as the measurement data drift over time unless positioning fixes are provided from another source. At The Ohio State University's Satellite Positioning and Inertial Navigation (SPIN) Laboratory, as one feasible solution, Ultra- Wideband (UWB) radio units are used to aid positioning and navigating in GNSS compromised environments, including indoor and outdoor scenarios. Here we report about experiences obtained with georeferencing a pushcart based sensor system under canopied areas. The positioning system is based on UWB and IMU sensor integration, and provides sensor platform orientation for an electromagnetic inference (EMI) sensor. Performance evaluation results are provided for various test scenarios, confirming acceptable results for applications where high accuracy is not required.

Mobile Applications for Women's Health and Midwifery Care: A Pocket Reference for the 21st Century.

PubMed

Arbour, Megan W; Stec, Melissa A

2018-05-01

Midwives and other women's health care providers are charged with providing high-quality care to women based on the most current available evidence. Quick, reliable, and accurate access to evidence-based information is essential. Numerous smartphone and mobile device applications (apps) are available to assist clinicians in providing care for women. This article discusses clinical reference apps, including those for evidence-based care guidelines, women's health care, pharmacologic reference, laboratory and diagnostic guides, as well as apps for information storage and management, electronic health records, and client education. Midwives and other clinicians are encouraged to thoughtfully integrate mobile apps into their clinical practices to improve client outcomes and clinician and client satisfaction. Although the thousands of health care apps that are available may seem daunting, this article highlights key apps that may help clinicians improve their care of women. By adding one app at a time, midwives and other women's health care providers can successfully integrate mobile apps into clinical practice. © 2018 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Universal access to HIV treatment versus universal 'test and treat': transmission, drug resistance & treatment costs.

PubMed

Wagner, Bradley G; Blower, Sally

2012-01-01

In South Africa (SA) universal access to treatment for HIV-infected individuals in need has yet to be achieved. Currently ~1 million receive treatment, but an additional 1.6 million are in need. It is being debated whether to use a universal 'test and treat' (T&T) strategy to try to eliminate HIV in SA; treatment reduces infectivity and hence transmission. Under a T&T strategy all HIV-infected individuals would receive treatment whether in need or not. This would require treating 5 million individuals almost immediately and providing treatment for several decades. We use a validated mathematical model to predict impact and costs of: (i) a universal T&T strategy and (ii) achieving universal access to treatment. Using modeling the WHO has predicted a universal T&T strategy in SA would eliminate HIV within a decade, and (after 40 years) cost ~$10 billion less than achieving universal access. In contrast, we predict a universal T&T strategy in SA could eliminate HIV, but take 40 years and cost ~$12 billion more than achieving universal access. We determine the difference in predictions is because the WHO has under-estimated survival time on treatment and ignored the risk of resistance. We predict, after 20 years, ~2 million individuals would need second-line regimens if a universal T&T strategy is implemented versus ~1.5 million if universal access is achieved. Costs need to be realistically estimated and multiple evaluation criteria used to compare 'treatment as prevention' with other prevention strategies. Before implementing a universal T&T strategy, which may not be sustainable, we recommend striving to achieve universal access to treatment as quickly as possible. We predict achieving universal access to treatment would be a very effective 'treatment as prevention' approach and bring the HIV epidemic in SA close to elimination, preventing ~4 million infections after 20 years and ~11 million after 40 years.

Preferred information sources for clinical decision making: critical care nurses' perceptions of information accessibility and usefulness.

PubMed

Marshall, Andrea P; West, Sandra H; Aitken, Leanne M

2011-12-01

Variability in clinical practice may result from the use of diverse information sources to guide clinical decisions. In routine clinical practice, nurses privilege information from colleagues over more formal information sources. It is not clear whether similar information-seeking behaviour is exhibited when critical care nurses make decisions about a specific clinical practice, where extensive practice variability exists alongside a developing research base. This study explored the preferred sources of information intensive care nurses used and their perceptions of the accessibility and usefulness of this information for making decisions in clinically uncertain situations specific to enteral feeding practice. An instrumental case study design, incorporating concurrent verbal protocols, Q methodology and focus groups, was used to determine intensive care nurses' perspectives of information use in the resolution of clinical uncertainty. A preference for information from colleagues to support clinical decisions was observed. People as information sources were considered most useful and most accessible in the clinical setting. Text and electronic information sources were seen as less accessible, mainly because of the time required to access the information within the documents. When faced with clinical uncertainty, obtaining information from colleagues allows information to be quickly accessed and applied within the context of a specific clinical presentation. Seeking information from others also provides opportunities for shared decision-making and potential validation of clinical judgment, although differing views may exacerbate clinical uncertainty. The social exchange of clinical information may meet the needs of nurses working in a complex, time-pressured environment but the extent of the evidence base for information passed through verbal communication is unclear. The perceived usefulness and accessibility of information is premised on the ease of use and access and thus the variability in information may be contributing to clinical uncertainty. Copyright ©2011 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Ubibliotheca The Spiral Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ottewell, Guy

A plan for a library with a storage level in the shape of a flat spiral is presented. The advantages of such a plan include: space saving, easy expansion of the building, an unbroken sequence of shelving, quick access to all books and freedom in the design of the library's other sectors. This plan is especially suited for the research library…

A Study about Using Internet in History Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulusoy, Kadir

2012-01-01

Internet has become an important part in the field of education as it is in every area nowadays as well. Internet has become appealing among educators and students with its easy and quick access and wide opportunities. In this study, an application of using internet in the history course was done. 160 students who were enrolled in College of…

Ovariohysterectomy in a dog by a hybrid NOTES technique

PubMed Central

Brun, Maurício V.; Silva, Marco A.M.; Mariano, Mirandolino B.; Motta, Adriana C.; Colomé, Lucas M.; Feranti, João P.S.; Pohl, Virgínia L.; Ataide, Michelli W.; Guedes, Rogério L.; Santos, Fabiane R.

2011-01-01

This report demonstrates the feasibility of an elective ovariosalpingohysterectomy by natural transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) hybrid technique in a dog. A 5-mm abdominal cannula was used in combination with a 10-mm cannula (vaginal access). The patient’s quick recovery and the absence of complications are indicative of the effectiveness of this surgery. PMID:22131580

Effects of Iconicity and Semantic Relatedness on Lexical Access in American Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosworth, Rain G.; Emmorey, Karen

2010-01-01

Iconicity is a property that pervades the lexicon of many sign languages, including American Sign Language (ASL). Iconic signs exhibit a motivated, nonarbitrary mapping between the form of the sign and its meaning. We investigated whether iconicity enhances semantic priming effects for ASL and whether iconic signs are recognized more quickly than…

Race and Rhetoric: An Analysis of College Presidents' Statements on Campus Racial Incidents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Eddie R.; Harper, Shaun R.

2017-01-01

For decades, racial incidents have routinely occurred on college campuses. But today, news about them is more quickly and widely shared because of the public's access to technology. In response, it is common for senior-level administrators to release statements about racial incidents after an institution receives widespread negative publicity.…

Victor W. Page's Early Twentieth-Century Automotive and Aviation Books: "Practical Books for Practical Men."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brockmann, R. John

1996-01-01

Discusses Victor Page, one of the first people to make a living as a technical communicator. Focuses on his 33 automotive and aviation books, popular with the public and critics, which contained information on novel technology, profuse illustrations, and easy-to-access information. States that Page published quickly, had firsthand expertise, and…

QR Codes: Taking Collections Further

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahearn, Caitlin

2014-01-01

With some thought and direction, QR (quick response) codes are a great tool to use in school libraries to enhance access to information. From March through April 2013, Caitlin Ahearn interned at Sanborn Regional High School (SRHS) under the supervision of Pam Harland. As a result of Harland's un-Deweying of the nonfiction collection at SRHS,…

Delivering Access to Library Materials and Services: Our Recipe for Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clumpner, Krista E.

2004-01-01

In the early 1990s, Northern Michigan University started distributing laptop computers to its faculty and students. Soon, a taste for technology developed and the university community craved more. Having tempted their taste buds, they quickly found that patrons were no longer satisfied with traveling to the library and asked that they bring…

Identification of Sweet Sorghum accessions with seedling cold tolerance using both lab cold germination test and field early Spring planting evaluation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Cultivars with quick seedling emergence and stand establishment at early spring cold conditions may be planted early in the same region with an extended period of plant growth and can potentially increase either grain yield, stem sugar yield, or biomass production of sorghum. Planting cultivars with...

A Quick Guide to Paravalvular Leak Closure

PubMed Central

Gafoor, Sameer; Franke, Jennifer; Bertog, Stefan; Lam, Simon; Vaskelyte, Laura; Hofmann, Ilona; Matic, Predrag

2015-01-01

Paravalvular leak (PVL) is a seldomly covered aspect of structural heart disease. However, this is a condition that frequently presents after valvular replacement. This article will cover the diagnosising and treating PVL (i.e. imaging, access, and device selection). In addition, specific aspects of aortic and mitral PVL closure will be covered in this review. PMID:29588686

Examining Alphabet Writing Fluency in Kindergarten: Exploring the Issue of Time on Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puranik, Cynthia S.; Patchan, Melissa M.; Sears, Mary M.; McMaster, Kristen L.

2017-01-01

Curriculum-based measures (CBMs) are necessary for educators to quickly assess student skill levels and monitor progress. This study examined the use of the alphabet writing fluency task, a CBM of writing, to assess handwriting fluency--that is, how well children access, retrieve, and write letter forms automatically. In the current study, the…

VastMM-Tag: Semantic Indexing and Browsing of Videos for E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Mitchell J.

2012-01-01

Quickly accessing the contents of a video is challenging for users, particularly for unstructured video, which contains no intentional shot boundaries, no chapters, and no apparent edited format. We approach this problem in the domain of lecture videos though the use of machine learning, to gather semantic information about the videos; and through…

Using Primary Sources on the Internet To Teach and Learn History. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shiroma, Deanne

The Internet enables teachers to enhance the teaching and learning of history through quick and extensive access to primary sources. Introducing and using primary sources in the history classroom will almost certainly lead to active learning and development of critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. This Digest discusses: (1) types and…

The historical foundations of prescribed burning for wildlife: a southeastern perspective

Treesearch

A. Sydney Johnson; Philip E. Hale

2002-01-01

Controlled burning has deep historical roots in the South, where the practice was quickly adopted from the Indians by early European settlers. It became used widely, primarily to improve forage conditions for free-ranging cattle and to improve visibility and access. Likewise, hunting is deeply imbedded in southern culture and was an attraction to visitors throughout...

YouTube Video Project: A "Cool" Way to Learn Communication Ethics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehman, Carol M.; DuFrene, Debbie D.; Lehman, Mark W.

2010-01-01

The millennial generation embraces new technologies as a natural way of accessing and exchanging information, staying connected, and having fun. YouTube, a video-sharing site that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips, is among the latest "cool" technologies for enjoying quick laughs, employing a wide variety of corporate activities,…

Unipept web services for metaproteomics analysis.

PubMed

Mesuere, Bart; Willems, Toon; Van der Jeugt, Felix; Devreese, Bart; Vandamme, Peter; Dawyndt, Peter

2016-06-01

Unipept is an open source web application that is designed for metaproteomics analysis with a focus on interactive datavisualization. It is underpinned by a fast index built from UniProtKB and the NCBI taxonomy that enables quick retrieval of all UniProt entries in which a given tryptic peptide occurs. Unipept version 2.4 introduced web services that provide programmatic access to the metaproteomics analysis features. This enables integration of Unipept functionality in custom applications and data processing pipelines. The web services are freely available at http://api.unipept.ugent.be and are open sourced under the MIT license. Unipept@ugent.be 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.

Multimedia Information eXchange for I-NET, Inc. at the Kennedy Space Center: A continuing study of the application of worldwideweb technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Metcalf, David

1995-01-01

Multimedia Information eXchange (MIX) is a multimedia information system that accommodates multiple data types and provides consistency across platforms. Information from all over the world can be accessed quickly and efficiently with the Internet-based system. I-NET's MIX uses the World Wide Web and Mosaic graphical user interface. Mosaic is available on all platforms used at I-NET's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) facilities. Key information system design concepts and benefits are reviewed. The MIX system also defines specific configuration and helper application parameters to ensure consistent operations across the entire organization. Guidelines and procedures for other areas of importance in information systems design are also addressed. Areas include: code of ethics, content, copyright, security, system administration, and support.

The article of the future.

PubMed

Souza, Eliana Pereira Salles de; Cabrera, Eliana Márcia Sotello; Braile, Domingo Marcolino

2010-01-01

Technological advances and the Internet have contributed to the increased disclosure and updating of knowledge and science. Scientific papers are considered the best form of disclosure of information and have been undergoing many changes, not on their way of development, but on the structure of publication. The Future paper, a name for this new structure, uses hypermediatic resources, allowing a quick, easy and organized access to these items online. The exchange of information, comments and criticisms can be performed in real time, providing agility in science disclosure. The trend for the future of documents, both from professionals or enterprises, is the "cloud computing", in which all documents will be developed and updated with the use of various equipments: computer, palm, netbook, ipad, without need to have the software installed on your computer, requiring only an Internet connection.

Aquatic toxicity information retrieval data base (AQUIRE). Data file

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

NONE

The purpose of AQUIRE is to provide scientists and managers quick access to a comprehensive, systematic, computerized compilation of aquatic toxicity data. Scientific papers published both nationally and internationally on the toxicity of chemicals to aquatic organisms and plants are collected and reviewed for AQUIRE. Independently compiled data files that meet AQUIRE parameter and quality assurance criteria are also included. Relevant toxicity test results and related test information for any individual chemicals analyzed using freshwater and marine organisms in laboratory and field conditions, are included in the database. During 1992 and early 1993, nine data updates were made to themore » AQUIRE system. AQUIRE now contains 109,338 individual aquatic toxicity test results for 5,159 chemicals, 2,429 organisms, and over 160 endpoints reviewed from 7,517 publications.« less

Parent Perception of Two Eye-Gaze Control Technology Systems in Young Children with Cerebral Palsy: Pilot Study.

PubMed

Karlsson, Petra; Wallen, Margaret

2017-01-01

Eye-gaze control technology enables people with significant physical disability to access computers for communication, play, learning and environmental control. This pilot study used a multiple case study design with repeated baseline assessment and parents' evaluations to compare two eye-gaze control technology systems to identify any differences in factors such as ease of use and impact of the systems for their young children. Five children, aged 3 to 5 years, with dyskinetic cerebral palsy, and their families participated. Overall, families were satisfied with both the Tobii PCEye Go and myGaze® eye tracker, found them easy to position and use, and children learned to operate them quickly. This technology provides young children with important opportunities for learning, play, leisure, and developing communication.

Crowdsourcing: Global search and the twisted roles of consumers and producers

PubMed Central

Bauer, Robert M.; Gegenhuber, Thomas

2015-01-01

Crowdsourcing spreads and morphs quickly, shaping areas as diverse as creating, organizing, and sharing knowledge; producing digital artifacts; providing services involving tangible assets; or monitoring and evaluating. Crowdsourcing as sourcing by means of ‘global search’ yields four types of values for sourcing actors: creative expertise, critical items, execution capacity, and bargaining power. It accesses cheap excess capacities at the work realm’s margins, channeling them toward production. Provision and utilization of excess capacities rationalize society while intimately connecting to a broader societal trend twisting consumers’ and producers’ roles: leading toward ‘working consumers’ and ‘consuming producers’ and shifting power toward the latter. Similarly, marketers using crowdsourcing’s look and feel to camouflage traditional approaches to bringing consumers under control preserve producer power. PMID:27524930

NCBI GEO: archive for functional genomics data sets—10 years on

PubMed Central

Barrett, Tanya; Troup, Dennis B.; Wilhite, Stephen E.; Ledoux, Pierre; Evangelista, Carlos; Kim, Irene F.; Tomashevsky, Maxim; Marshall, Kimberly A.; Phillippy, Katherine H.; Sherman, Patti M.; Muertter, Rolf N.; Holko, Michelle; Ayanbule, Oluwabukunmi; Yefanov, Andrey; Soboleva, Alexandra

2011-01-01

A decade ago, the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was established at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The original objective of GEO was to serve as a public repository for high-throughput gene expression data generated mostly by microarray technology. However, the research community quickly applied microarrays to non-gene-expression studies, including examination of genome copy number variation and genome-wide profiling of DNA-binding proteins. Because the GEO database was designed with a flexible structure, it was possible to quickly adapt the repository to store these data types. More recently, as the microarray community switches to next-generation sequencing technologies, GEO has again adapted to host these data sets. Today, GEO stores over 20 000 microarray- and sequence-based functional genomics studies, and continues to handle the majority of direct high-throughput data submissions from the research community. Multiple mechanisms are provided to help users effectively search, browse, download and visualize the data at the level of individual genes or entire studies. This paper describes recent database enhancements, including new search and data representation tools, as well as a brief review of how the community uses GEO data. GEO is freely accessible at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/. PMID:21097893

Mars Public Mapping Project: Public Participation in Science Research; Providing Opportunities for Kids of All Ages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, L. D.; Valderrama Graff, P.; Bandfield, J. L.; Christensen, P. R.; Klug, S. L.; Deva, B.; Capages, C.

2007-12-01

The Mars Public Mapping Project is a web-based education and public outreach tool developed by the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. This tool allows the general public to identify and map geologic features on Mars, utilizing Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) visible images, allowing public participation in authentic scientific research. In addition, participants are able to rate each image (based on a 1 to 5 star scale) to help build a catalog of some of the more appealing and interesting martian surface features. Once participants have identified observable features in an image, they are able to view a map of the global distribution of the many geologic features they just identified. This automatic feedback, through a global distribution map, allows participants to see how their answers compare to the answers of other participants. Participants check boxes "yes, no, or not sure" for each feature that is listed on the Mars Public Mapping Project web page, including surface geologic features such as gullies, sand dunes, dust devil tracks, wind streaks, lava flows, several types of craters, and layers. Each type of feature has a quick and easily accessible description and example image. When a participant moves their mouse over each example thumbnail image, a window pops up with a picture and a description of the feature. This provides a form of "on the job training" for the participants that can vary with their background level. For users who are more comfortable with Mars geology, there is also an advanced feature identification section accessible by a drop down menu. This includes additional features that may be identified, such as streamlined islands, valley networks, chaotic terrain, yardangs, and dark slope streaks. The Mars Public Mapping Project achieves several goals: 1) It engages the public in a manner that encourages active participation in scientific research and learning about geologic features and processes. 2) It helps to build a mappable database that can be used by researchers (and the public in general) to quickly access image based data that contains particular feature types. 3) It builds a searchable database of images containing specific geologic features that the public deem to be visually appealing. Other education and public outreach programs at the Mars Space Flight Facility, such as the Rock Around the World and the Mars Student Imaging Project, have shown an increase in demand for programs that allow "kids of all ages" to participate in authentic scientific research. The Mars Public Mapping Project is a broadly accessible program that continues this theme by building a set of activities that is useful for both the public and scientists.

Maternity patients' access to their electronic medical records: use and perspectives of a patient portal.

PubMed

Megan Forster, Megan; Dennison, Kerrie; Callen, Joanne; Andrew, Andrew; Westbrook, Johanna I

Patients have been able to access clinical information from their paper-based health records for a number of years. With the advent of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) access to this information can now be achieved online using a secure electronic patient portal. The purpose of this study was to investigate maternity patients' use and perceptions of a patient portal developed at the Mater Mothers' Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. A web-based patient portal, one of the first developed and deployed in Australia, was introduced on 26 June 2012. The portal was designed for maternity patients booked at Mater Mothers' Hospital, as an alternative to the paper-based Pregnancy Health Record. Through the portal, maternity patients are able to complete their hospital registration form online and obtain current health information about their pregnancy (via their EMR), as well as access a variety of support tools to use during their pregnancy such as tailored public health advice. A retrospective cross-sectional study design was employed. Usage statistics were extracted from the system for a one year period (1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013). Patients' perceptions of the portal were obtained using an online survey, accessible by maternity patients for two weeks in February 2013 (n=80). Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the data. Between July 2012 and June 2013, 10,892 maternity patients were offered a patient portal account and access to their EMR. Of those 6,518 created one (60%; 6,518/10,892) and 3,104 went on to request access to their EMR (48%; 3,104/6,518). Of these, 1,751 had their access application granted by 30 June 2013. The majority of maternity patients submitted registration forms online via the patient portal (56.7%). Patients could view their EMR multiple times: there were 671 views of the EMR, 2,781 views of appointment schedules and 135 birth preferences submitted via the EMR. Eighty survey responses were received from EMR account holders, (response rate of 8.1%; 80/985). The majority of respondents indicated they would use the portal and access their EMR for future pregnancies (86.2%; 69/80). Approximately half looked at their EMR after a visit with their care provider (51.3%); 41/80) and 37.5% (30/80) viewed their EMR before, to prepare for their visit. The majority (65.8%) thought that the EMR improved their ability to understand and recall appointments and almost half (48.1%) thought that with the EMR they were less likely to repeat pregnancy information to caregivers. This study provides the first Australian evidence of a patient portal system, tied to an EMR, working effectively in a maternity care context. It provides new evidence that portals can deliver benefits to maternity patients in terms of providing quick and easy access to current personal and general health information and support patients in their ability to recall and prepare for appointments.

Security System Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

C Language Integration Production System (CLIPS), a NASA-developed expert systems program, has enabled a security systems manufacturer to design a new generation of hardware. C.CURESystem 1 Plus, manufactured by Software House, is a software based system that is used with a variety of access control hardware at installations around the world. Users can manage large amounts of information, solve unique security problems and control entry and time scheduling. CLIPS acts as an information management tool when accessed by C.CURESystem 1 Plus. It asks questions about the hardware and when given the answer, recommends possible quick solutions by non-expert persons.

Use of new and old technologies and methods by the Alaska Volcano Observatory during the 2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, T. L.; Nye, C. J.; Eichelberger, J. C.

2006-12-01

The recent eruption of Augustine Volcano was the first significant volcanic event in Cook Inlet, Alaska since 1992. In contrast to eruptions at remote Alaskan volcanoes that mainly affect aviation, ash from previous eruptions of Augustine has affected communities surrounding Cook Inlet, home to over half of Alaska's population. The 2006 eruption validated much of AVO's advance preparation, underscored the need to quickly react when a problem or opportunity developed, and once again demonstrated that while technology provides us with wonderful tools, professional relationships, especially during times of crisis, are still important. Long-term multi-parametric instrumental monitoring and background geological and geophysical studies represent the most fundamental aspect of preparing for any eruption. Once significant unrest was detected, AVO augmented the existing real-time network with additional instrumentation including web cameras. GPS and broadband seismometers that recorded data on site were also quickly installed as their data would be crucial for post-eruption research. Prior to 2006, most of most of AVO's eruption response plans and protocols had focused on the threat to aviation rather than ground-based hazards. However, the relationships and protocols developed for the aviation threat were sufficient to be adapted to the ash fall hazard, though it is apparent that more work, both scientific and with response procedures, is needed. Similarly, protocols were quickly developed for warning of a flank- collapse induced tsunami. Information flow within the observatory was greatly facilitated by an internal web site that had been developed and refined specifically for eruption response. Because AVO is a partnership of 3 agencies (U.S. Geological Survey, University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys) with offices in both Fairbanks and Anchorage, web and internet-facing data servers provided reliable and rapid access to much of the information to each office. Information flow between the observatory and the public and emergency responders was accomplished through the AVO public web site, e-mail, faxes, public meetings, and frequent phone calls. AVO's newly renovated Operations Center in Anchorage provided a central 24/7 site to both receive and disseminate information and conduct media interviews. With selected real time data sets and hourly updates provided on the AVO public web site, many emergency responders and even private citizens tracked the eruption in near real time themselves.

Efficient burst image compression using H.265/HEVC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roodaki-Lavasani, Hoda; Lainema, Jani

2014-02-01

New imaging use cases are emerging as more powerful camera hardware is entering consumer markets. One family of such use cases is based on capturing multiple pictures instead of just one when taking a photograph. That kind of a camera operation allows e.g. selecting the most successful shot from a sequence of images, showing what happened right before or after the shot was taken or combining the shots by computational means to improve either visible characteristics of the picture (such as dynamic range or focus) or the artistic aspects of the photo (e.g. by superimposing pictures on top of each other). Considering that photographic images are typically of high resolution and quality and the fact that these kind of image bursts can consist of at least tens of individual pictures, an efficient compression algorithm is desired. However, traditional video coding approaches fail to provide the random access properties these use cases require to achieve near-instantaneous access to the pictures in the coded sequence. That feature is critical to allow users to browse the pictures in an arbitrary order or imaging algorithms to extract desired pictures from the sequence quickly. This paper proposes coding structures that provide such random access properties while achieving coding efficiency superior to existing image coders. The results indicate that using HEVC video codec with a single reference picture fixed for the whole sequence can achieve nearly as good compression as traditional IPPP coding structures. It is also shown that the selection of the reference frame can further improve the coding efficiency.

Using the STOQS Web Application for Access to in situ Oceanographic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCann, M. P.

2012-12-01

Using the STOQS Web Application for Access to in situ Oceanographic Data Mike McCann 7 August 2012 With increasing measurement and sampling capabilities of autonomous oceanographic platforms (e.g. Gliders, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Wavegliders), the need to efficiently access and visualize the data they collect is growing. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has designed and built the Spatial Temporal Oceanographic Query System (STOQS) specifically to address this issue. The need for STOQS arises from inefficiencies discovered from using CF-NetCDF point observation conventions for these data. The problem is that access efficiency decreases with decreasing dimension of CF-NetCDF data. For example, the Trajectory Common Data Model feature type has only one coordinate dimension, usually Time - positions of the trajectory (Depth, Latitude, Longitude) are stored as non-indexed record variables within the NetCDF file. If client software needs to access data between two depth values or from a bounded geographic area, then the whole data set must be read and the selection made within the client software. This is very inefficient. What is needed is a way to easily select data of interest from an archive given any number of spatial, temporal, or other constraints. Geospatial relational database technology provides this capability. The full STOQS application consists of a Postgres/PostGIS database, Mapserver, and Python-Django running on a server and Web 2.0 technology (jQuery, OpenLayers, Twitter Bootstrap) running in a modern web browser. The web application provides faceted search capabilities allowing a user to quickly drill into the data of interest. Data selection can be constrained by spatial, temporal, and depth selections as well as by parameter value and platform name. The web application layer also provides a REST (Representational State Transfer) Application Programming Interface allowing tools such as the Matlab stoqstoolbox to retrieve data directly from the database. STOQS is an open source software project built upon a framework of free and open source software and is available for anyone to use for making their data more accessible and usable. For more information please see: http://code.google.com/p/stoqs/.; In the above screen grab a user has selected the "mass_concentrtion_of_chlorophyll_in_sea_water" parameter and a time depth range that includes three weeks of AUV missions of just the upper 5 meters.

U.S. Government Open Internet Access to Sub-meter Satellite Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neigh, Christopher S. R> ; Masek, Jeffery G.; Nickeson, Jaime E.

2012-01-01

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has contracted United States commercial remote sensing companies GeoEye and Digital Globe to provide very high resolution commercial quality satellite imagery to federal/state government agencies and those projects/people who support government interests. Under NextView contract terms, those engaged in official government programs/projects can gain online access to NGA's vast global archive. Additionally, data from vendor's archives of IKONOS-2 (IK-2), OrbView-3 (OB-3), GeoEye-1 (GE-1), QuickBird-1 (QB-1), WorldView-1 (WV-1), and WorldView-2 (WV-2), sensors can also be requested under these agreements. We report here the current extent of this archive, how to gain access, and the applications of these data by Earth science investigators to improve discoverability and community use of these data. Satellite commercial quality imagery (CQI) at very high resolution (< 1 m) (here after referred to as CQI) over the past decade has become an important data source to U.S. federal, state, and local governments for many different purposes. The rapid growth of free global CQI data has been slow to disseminate to NASA Earth Science community and programs such as the Land-Cover Land-Use Change (LCLUC) program which sees potential benefit from unprecedented access. This article evolved from a workshop held on February 23rd, 2012 between representatives from NGA, NASA, and NASA LCLUC Scientists discussion on how to extend this resource to a broader license approved community. Many investigators are unaware of NGA's archive availability or find it difficult to access CQI data from NGA. Results of studies, both quality and breadth, could be improved with CQI data by combining them with other moderate to coarse resolution passive optical Earth observation remote sensing satellites, or with RADAR or LiDAR instruments to better understand Earth system dynamics at the scale of human activities. We provide the evolution of this effort, a guide for qualified user access, and describe current to potential use of these data in earth science.

Data as a Service: A Seismic Web Service Pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, E.

2016-12-01

Publishing data as a service pipeline provides an improved, dynamic approach over static data archives. A service pipeline is a collection of micro web services that each perform a specific task and expose the results of that task. Structured request/response formats allow micro web services to be chained together into a service pipeline to provide more complex results. The U.S. Geological Survey adopted service pipelines to publish seismic hazard and design data supporting both specific and generalized audiences. The seismic web service pipeline starts at source data and exposes probability and deterministic hazard curves, response spectra, risk-targeted ground motions, and seismic design provision metadata. This pipeline supports public/private organizations and individual engineers/researchers. Publishing data as a service pipeline provides a variety of benefits. Exposing the component services enables advanced users to inspect or use the data at each processing step. Exposing a composite service enables new users quick access to published data with a very low barrier to entry. Advanced users may re-use micro web services by chaining them in new ways or injecting new micros services into the pipeline. This allows the user to test hypothesis and compare their results to published results. Exposing data at each step in the pipeline enables users to review and validate the data and process more quickly and accurately. Making the source code open source, per USGS policy, further enables this transparency. Each micro service may be scaled independent of any other micro service. This ensures data remains available and timely in a cost-effective manner regardless of load. Additionally, if a new or more efficient approach to processing the data is discovered, this new approach may replace the old approach at any time, keeping the pipeline running while not affecting other micro services.

Digitise This! A Quick and Easy Remote Sensing Method to Monitor the Daily Extent of Dredge Plumes

PubMed Central

Evans, Richard D.; Murray, Kathy L.; Field, Stuart N.; Moore, James A. Y.; Shedrawi, George; Huntley, Barton G.; Fearns, Peter; Broomhall, Mark; McKinna, Lachlan I. W.; Marrable, Daniel

2012-01-01

Technological advancements in remote sensing and GIS have improved natural resource managers’ abilities to monitor large-scale disturbances. In a time where many processes are heading towards automation, this study has regressed to simple techniques to bridge a gap found in the advancement of technology. The near-daily monitoring of dredge plume extent is common practice using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery and associated algorithms to predict the total suspended solids (TSS) concentration in the surface waters originating from floods and dredge plumes. Unfortunately, these methods cannot determine the difference between dredge plume and benthic features in shallow, clear water. This case study at Barrow Island, Western Australia, uses hand digitising to demonstrate the ability of human interpretation to determine this difference with a level of confidence and compares the method to contemporary TSS methods. Hand digitising was quick, cheap and required very little training of staff to complete. Results of ANOSIM R statistics show remote sensing derived TSS provided similar spatial results if they were thresholded to at least 3 mg L−1. However, remote sensing derived TSS consistently provided false-positive readings of shallow benthic features as Plume with a threshold up to TSS of 6 mg L−1, and began providing false-negatives (excluding actual plume) at a threshold as low as 4 mg L−1. Semi-automated processes that estimate plume concentration and distinguish between plumes and shallow benthic features without the arbitrary nature of human interpretation would be preferred as a plume monitoring method. However, at this stage, the hand digitising method is very useful and is more accurate at determining plume boundaries over shallow benthic features and is accessible to all levels of management with basic training. PMID:23240055

Access Control for Mobile Assessment Systems Using ID.

PubMed

Nakayama, Masaharu; Ishii, Tadashi; Morino, Kazuma

2015-01-01

The assessment of shelters during disaster is critical to ensure the health of evacuees and prevent pandemic. In the Ishinomaki area, one of the areas most damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake, the highly organized assessment helped to successfully manage a total of 328 shelters with a total of 46,480 evacuees. The input and analysis of vast amounts of data was tedious work for staff members. However, a web-based assessment system that utilized mobile devices was thought to decrease workload and standardize the evaluation form. The necessary access of information should be controlled in order to maintain individuals' privacy. We successfully developed an access control system using IDs. By utilizing a unique numerical ID, users can access the input form or assessment table. This avoids unnecessary queries to the server, resulting in a quick response and easy availability, even with poor internet connection.

Protection of electronic health records (EHRs) in cloud.

PubMed

Alabdulatif, Abdulatif; Khalil, Ibrahim; Mai, Vu

2013-01-01

EHR technology has come into widespread use and has attracted attention in healthcare institutions as well as in research. Cloud services are used to build efficient EHR systems and obtain the greatest benefits of EHR implementation. Many issues relating to building an ideal EHR system in the cloud, especially the tradeoff between flexibility and security, have recently surfaced. The privacy of patient records in cloud platforms is still a point of contention. In this research, we are going to improve the management of access control by restricting participants' access through the use of distinct encrypted parameters for each participant in the cloud-based database. Also, we implement and improve an existing secure index search algorithm to enhance the efficiency of information control and flow through a cloud-based EHR system. At the final stage, we contribute to the design of reliable, flexible and secure access control, enabling quick access to EHR information.

Interactive Software For Astrodynamical Calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlaifer, Ronald S.; Skinner, David L.; Roberts, Phillip H.

1995-01-01

QUICK computer program provides user with facilities of sophisticated desk calculator performing scalar, vector, and matrix arithmetic; propagate conic-section orbits; determines planetary and satellite coordinates; and performs other related astrodynamic calculations within FORTRAN-like software environment. QUICK is interpreter, and no need to use compiler or linker to run QUICK code. Outputs plotted in variety of formats on variety of terminals. Written in RATFOR.

Policy reconciliation for access control in dynamic cross-enterprise collaborations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preuveneers, D.; Joosen, W.; Ilie-Zudor, E.

2018-03-01

In dynamic cross-enterprise collaborations, different enterprises form a - possibly temporary - business relationship. To integrate their business processes, enterprises may need to grant each other limited access to their information systems. Authentication and authorization are key to secure information handling. However, access control policies often rely on non-standardized attributes to describe the roles and permissions of their employees which convolutes cross-organizational authorization when business relationships evolve quickly. Our framework addresses the managerial overhead of continuous updates to access control policies for enterprise information systems to accommodate disparate attribute usage. By inferring attribute relationships, our framework facilitates attribute and policy reconciliation, and automatically aligns dynamic entitlements during the evaluation of authorization decisions. We validate our framework with a Industry 4.0 motivating scenario on networked production where such dynamic cross-enterprise collaborations are quintessential. The evaluation reveals the capabilities and performance of our framework, and illustrates the feasibility of liberating the security administrator from manually provisioning and aligning attributes, and verifying the consistency of access control policies for cross-enterprise collaborations.

Structure, function and five basic needs of the global health research system

PubMed Central

Rudan, Igor; Sridhar, Devi

2016-01-01

Background Two major initiatives that were set up to support and co–ordinate global health research efforts have been largely discontinued in recent years: the Global Forum for Health Research and World Health Organization's Department for Research Policy and Cooperation. These developments provide an interesting case study into the factors that contribute to the sustainability of initiatives to support and co–ordinate global health research in the 21st century. Methods We reviewed the history of attempts to govern, support or co–ordinate research in global health. Moreover, we studied the changes and shifts in funding flows attributed to global health research. This allowed us to map the structure of the global health research system, as it has evolved under the increased funding contributions of the past decade. Bearing in mind its structure, core functions and dynamic nature, we proposed a framework on how to effectively support the system to increase its efficiency. Results Based on our framework, which charted the structure and function of the global health research system and exposed places and roles for many stakeholders within the system, five basic needs emerged: (i) to co–ordinate funding among donors more effectively; (ii) to prioritize among many research ideas; (iii) to quickly recognize results of successful research; (iv) to ensure broad and rapid dissemination of results and their accessibility; and (v) to evaluate return on investments in health research. Conclusion The global health research system has evolved rapidly and spontaneously. It has not been optimally efficient, but it is possible to identify solutions that could improve this. There are already examples of effective responses for the need of prioritization of research questions (eg, the CHNRI method), quick recognition of important research (eg, systems used by editors of the leading journals) and rapid and broadly accessible publication of the new knowledge (eg, PLoS One journal as an example). It is still necessary to develop tools that could assist donors to co–ordinate funding and ensure more equity between areas in the provided support, and to evaluate the value for money invested in health research. PMID:26401270

Choosing iPad Apps with a Purpose: Aligning Skills and Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Selma

2014-01-01

With the number of apps available today, browsing the iTunes store can become overwhelming for any teacher. A teacher can quickly try free apps, but to have full access, cost is often involved. Purchasing numerous apps can be expensive and time consuming and, most important, may not produce an outcome of acquiring tools that are well aligned with…

Stumbling at the First Step: Efficiency Implications of Poor Performance in the Foundational First Five Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crouch, Luis; Merseth, Katherine A.

2017-01-01

This paper highlights patterns in school enrollment indicators that affect the efficiency and effectiveness of education systems in a set of low-income countries: those that have expanded access quickly in the last decade or two, but have not yet absorbed that expansion efficiently. Although the patterns in these indicators are observable in the…

Adventures with Text and beyond: Popular Culture--The New Literacy Challenge for English Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Page, Melissa A.

2012-01-01

The classroom dynamic has become a competition of whose information is more important: the quickly accessed and popular digital texts or the perhaps less popular print texts. Whether or not teachers or school systems sanction the reading or teaching of popular culture texts in the classroom, students are reading--are even bombarded with--messages…

The Presidency of the United States. the Young Oxford Companion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pious, Richard M.

Arranged alphabetically for quick and easy access, this book is a one-stop guide to the U.S. presidency from its beginnings at the Constitutional Convention through its evolution to the modern presidency. Included in the book is information on all the presidents and vice presidents of the United States as well as selected First Ladies, powers of…

Generation of NEP heliocentric trajectory data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horsewood, J. L.; Brice, K. B.

1972-01-01

A study, designed to generate representative nuclear electric propulsion data for rendezvous missions to the comet Encke using the variational calculus program HILTOP, is presented. Other purposes of the study include a comparison of the HILTOP data with equivalent data generated with QUICKTOP program and to propose approaches for storing and subsequently accessing the optimum trajectory and performance data in the QUICKLY program.

The anterolateral acromial approach for fractures of the proximal humerus.

PubMed

Gardner, Michael J; Boraiah, Sreevathsa; Helfet, David L; Lorich, Dean G

2008-02-01

Displaced and unstable fractures of the proximal humerus are notoriously difficult to manage. Successful surgical treatment requires finding the appropriate balance between adequate exposure for reduction and rigid fixation and minimizing soft tissue dissection. The anterolateral acromial approach was developed to allow less invasive treatment of proximal humerus fractures. The plane of the avascular anterior deltoid raphe is utilized, and the axillary nerve is identified and protected. Anterior dissection near the critical blood supply is avoided, substantial muscle retraction is minimized, and the lateral plating zone is directly accessed. Over a 4-year period, 52 patients with acute displaced fractures of the proximal humerus were treated with the anterolateral acromial approach and either a locking plate or an intramedullary nail. Twenty-three patients were evaluated clinically at a minimum follow-up of 1 year (average, 28 months) by clinical examination for range of motion and nerve function and a QuickDASH score. There were no axillary nerve deficits postoperatively related to the approach, and the average QuickDASH score was 25.2 (0, best; 100, worst). This approach allowed direct access to the lateral fracture planes for fracture reduction and plate placement or safe nail and interlocking screw placement.

Where's My Data - WMD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quach, William L.; Sesplaukis, Tadas; Owen-Mankovich, Kyran J.; Nakamura, Lori L.

2012-01-01

WMD provides a centralized interface to access data stored in the Mission Data Processing and Control System (MPCS) GDS (Ground Data Systems) databases during MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) Testbeds and ATLO (Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations) test sessions. The MSL project organizes its data based on venue (Testbed, ATLO, Ops), with each venue's data stored on a separate database, making it cumbersome for users to access data across the various venues. WMD allows sessions to be retrieved through a Web-based search using several criteria: host name, session start date, or session ID number. Sessions matching the search criteria will be displayed and users can then select a session to obtain and analyze the associated data. The uniqueness of this software comes from its collection of data retrieval and analysis features provided through a single interface. This allows users to obtain their data and perform the necessary analysis without having to worry about where and how to get the data, which may be stored in various locations. Additionally, this software is a Web application that only requires a standard browser without additional plug-ins, providing a cross-platform, lightweight solution for users to retrieve and analyze their data. This software solves the problem of efficiently and easily finding and retrieving data from thousands of MSL Testbed and ATLO sessions. WMD allows the user to retrieve their session in as little as one mouse click, and then to quickly retrieve additional data associated with the session.

Predicting Consumer Effort in Finding and Paying for Health Care: Expert Interviews and Claims Data Analysis.

PubMed

Long, Sandra; Monsen, Karen A; Pieczkiewicz, David; Wolfson, Julian; Khairat, Saif

2017-10-12

For consumers to accept and use a health care information system, it must be easy to use, and the consumer must perceive it as being free from effort. Finding health care providers and paying for care are tasks that must be done to access treatment. These tasks require effort on the part of the consumer and can be frustrating when the goal of the consumer is primarily to receive treatments for better health. The aim of this study was to determine the factors that result in consumer effort when finding accessible health care. Having an understanding of these factors will help define requirements when designing health information systems. A panel of 12 subject matter experts was consulted and the data from 60 million medical claims were used to determine the factors contributing to effort. Approximately 60 million claims were processed by the health care insurance organization in a 12-month duration with the population defined. Over 292 million diagnoses from claims were used to validate the panel input. The results of the study showed that the number of people in the consumer's household, number of visits to providers outside the consumer's insurance network, number of adjusted and denied medical claims, and number of consumer inquiries are a proxy for the level of effort in finding and paying for care. The effort level, so measured and weighted per expert panel recommendations, differed by diagnosis. This study provides an understanding of how consumers must put forth effort when engaging with a health care system to access care. For higher satisfaction and acceptance results, health care payers ideally will design and develop systems that facilitate an understanding of how to avoid denied claims, educate on the payment of claims to avoid adjustments, and quickly find providers of affordable care. ©Sandra Long, Karen A. Monsen, David Pieczkiewicz, Julian Wolfson, Saif Khairat. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (http://medinform.jmir.org), 12.10.2017.

Modern Data Center Services Supporting Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varner, J. D.; Cartwright, J.; McLean, S. J.; Boucher, J.; Neufeld, D.; LaRocque, J.; Fischman, D.; McQuinn, E.; Fugett, C.

2011-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) World Data Center for Geophysics and Marine Geology provides scientific stewardship, products and services for geophysical data, including bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, seismic reflection, data derived from sediment and rock samples, as well as historical natural hazards data (tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes). Although NGDC has long made many of its datasets available through map and other web services, it has now developed a second generation of services to improve the discovery and access to data. These new services use off-the-shelf commercial and open source software, and take advantage of modern JavaScript and web application frameworks. Services are accessible using both RESTful and SOAP queries as well as Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard protocols such as WMS, WFS, WCS, and KML. These new map services (implemented using ESRI ArcGIS Server) are finer-grained than their predecessors, feature improved cartography, and offer dramatic speed improvements through the use of map caches. Using standards-based interfaces allows customers to incorporate the services without having to coordinate with the provider. Providing fine-grained services increases flexibility for customers building custom applications. The Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping program and Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning program are two examples of national initiatives that require common data inventories from multiple sources and benefit from these modern data services. NGDC is also consuming its own services, providing a set of new browser-based mapping applications which allow the user to quickly visualize and search for data. One example is a new interactive mapping application to search and display information about historical natural hazards. NGDC continues to increase the amount of its data holdings that are accessible and is augmenting the capabilities with modern web application frameworks such as Groovy and Grails. Data discovery is being improved and simplified by leveraging ISO metadata standards along with ESRI Geoportal Server.

Brave New World: Data Intensive Science with SDSS and the VO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thakar, A. R.; Szalay, A. S.; O'Mullane, W.; Nieto-Santisteban, M.; Budavari, T.; Li, N.; Carliles, S.; Haridas, V.; Malik, T.; Gray, J.

2004-12-01

With the advent of digital archives and the VO, astronomy is quickly changing from a data-hungry to a data-intensive science. Local and specialized access to data will remain the most direct and efficient way to get data out of individual archives, especially if you know what you are looking for. However, the enormous sizes of the upcoming archives will preclude this type of access for most institutions, and will not allow researchers to tap the vast potential for discovery in cross-matching and comparing data between different archives. The VO makes this type of interoperability and distributed data access possible by adopting industry standards for data access (SQL) and data interchange (SOAP/XML) with platform independence (Web services). As a sneak preview of this brave new world where astronomers may need to become SQL warriors, we present a look at VO-enabled access to catalog data in the SDSS Catalog Archive Server (CAS): CasJobs - a workbench environment that allows arbitrarily complex SQL queries and your own personal database (MyDB) that you can share with collaborators; OpenSkyQuery - an IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) compliant federation of multiple archives (OpenSkyNodes) that currently links nearly 20 catalogs and allows cross-match queries (in ADQL - Astronomical Data Query Language) between them; Spectrum and Filter Profile Web services that provide access to an open database of spectra (registered users may add their own spectra); and VO-enabled Mirage - a Java visualizatiion tool developed at Bell Labs and enhanced at JHU that allows side-by-side comparison of SDSS catalog and FITS image data. Anticipating the next generation of Petabyte archives like LSST by the end of the decade, we are developing a parallel cross-match engine for all-sky cross-matches between large surveys, along with a 100-Terabyte data intensive science laboratory with high-speed parallel data access.

Models of Technology Management at the Community College: The Role of the Chief Information Officer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, Scott; Simer, Lauren; Spaniol, Lee

2011-01-01

Community colleges provide a wide range of educational services to very diverse groups of students. For that reason, the variety and flexibility of services provided can be critical. In addition, quickly changing needs result in quickly changing system requirements. In this chapter, community college CIOs speak to their roles, focusing on the…

IDEA Fiscal Monitoring and Support Activities 2011-2012 Quick Reference Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regional Resource Center Program, 2011

2011-01-01

This Quick Reference Document is being distributed by the Regional Resource Center Program ARRA/Fiscal Priority Team to provide RRCP state liaisons and other (Technical Assistance) TA providers with a summary of critical fiscal monitoring and support activities they may be involved in during calendar years 2011 and 2012. Like other documents in…

Information persistence using XML database technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, Thomas A.; Lipa, Brian E. G.; Macera, Anthony R.; Staskevich, Gennady R.

2005-05-01

The Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) Information Management (IM) services provide information exchange and persistence capabilities that support tailored, dynamic, and timely access to required information, enabling near real-time planning, control, and execution for DoD decision making. JBI IM services will be built on a substrate of network centric core enterprise services and when transitioned, will establish an interoperable information space that aggregates, integrates, fuses, and intelligently disseminates relevant information to support effective warfighter business processes. This virtual information space provides individual users with information tailored to their specific functional responsibilities and provides a highly tailored repository of, or access to, information that is designed to support a specific Community of Interest (COI), geographic area or mission. Critical to effective operation of JBI IM services is the implementation of repositories, where data, represented as information, is represented and persisted for quick and easy retrieval. This paper will address information representation, persistence and retrieval using existing database technologies to manage structured data in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format as well as unstructured data in an IM services-oriented environment. Three basic categories of database technologies will be compared and contrasted: Relational, XML-Enabled, and Native XML. These technologies have diverse properties such as maturity, performance, query language specifications, indexing, and retrieval methods. We will describe our application of these evolving technologies within the context of a JBI Reference Implementation (RI) by providing some hopefully insightful anecdotes and lessons learned along the way. This paper will also outline future directions, promising technologies and emerging COTS products that can offer more powerful information management representations, better persistence mechanisms and improved retrieval techniques.

Discovering Astronomy: An Astro 101 e-book

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shawl, Stephen J.; Byrd, Gene; Deustua, Susana E.; LoPresto, Michael C.

2016-01-01

Discovering Astronomy, now available in its 6th edition as an eText, has many advantages and features for your students. We have partnered with etextink.com and WebAssign.net to produce an affordable set of cost-saving options for your students. Also available is the Discovering Astronomy Activity Manual, which provides students with an active-learning experience.Our etext is device independent and thus accessible through any web browser. Americans with Disabilities Act compatibility provides access for all students. Hotlinks to outside sites provide further information for interested students. Lecture demonstration videos of important concepts, made specifically for this new edition, are embedded within the text as appropriate. Students can highlight text, take notes, and bookmark locations within the text. Important terms are linked to the glossary. Search capabilities allow students to easily find what they want.Instructors can interact with their students directly through the etext once the class roster has been provided. For example, instructors can embed assignments into their students' etext and add their own notes and updates, which are immediately visible to their students.Updates can be quickly made by us as new findings become available. For example, updates from New Horizons were added at the time of the closest approach to Pluto, and an update on the recent announcement of current water on Mars was added the day of the announcement.We will present results of our own experience with college and high school students' use of Discovering Astronomy in online courses.Details of the book, a sample chapter, and other information are available at discoveringastronomy.weebly.com.

Developing Toolsets for AirBorne Data (TAD): Overview of Design Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, L.; Perez, J.; Chen, G.; Benson, A.; Peeters, M. C.

2013-12-01

NASA has conducted airborne tropospheric chemistry studies for about three decades. These field campaigns have generated a great wealth of observations, including a wide range of the trace gases and aerosol properties. Even though the spatial and temporal coverage is limited, the aircraft data offer high resolution and comprehensive simultaneous coverage of many variables, e.g. ozone precursors, intermediate photochemical species, and photochemical products. The recent NASA Earth Venture Program has generated an unprecedented amount of aircraft observations in terms of the sheer number of measurements and data volume. The ASDC Toolset for Airborne Data (TAD) is being designed to meet the user community needs for aircraft data for scientific research on climate change and air quality relevant issues, particularly: 1) Provide timely access to a broad user community, 2) Provide an intuitive user interface to facilitate quick discovery of the variables and data, 3) Provide data products and tools to facilitate model assessment activities, e.g., merge files and data subsetting capabilities, 4) Provide simple utility 'calculators', e.g., unit conversion and aerosol size distribution processing, and 5) Provide Web Coverage Service capable tools to enhance the data usability. The general strategy and design of TAD will be presented.

The International Glaciological Society: offering opportunity to publish in high quality, open access journals and to attend several targeted symposia and workshops every year.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnusson, M. M.; MacAyeal, D. R.

2017-12-01

The International Glaciological Society (IGS) was founded in 1936 to provide a focus for individuals interested in practical and scientific aspects of snow and ice. At the start of 2016 all IGS publications, the Journal of Glaciology (impact factor 3.643) and topically oriented Annals of Glaciology (impact factor 2.349), became `Gold Open Access'. Author publication charges (APCs) are also competitive because the IGS partners with Cambridge University Press (CUP), and scientific editing and review is quick and in tune with what authors value. In addition to publishing, the IGS organizes and facilitates several International Symposia a year on trending topics proposed by the scientific community (often associated with topical issues of the Annals of Glaciology) as well as many branch meetings, workshops and summer training schools for students. The international symposia are located in diverse areas, recently including Nepal, France, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland and Beijing. Often our meetings coincide with opportunities for travel experience, such as visiting Tibet or hiking the Annapurna circuit in Nepal. Membership in the IGS offers good services and value, including: 10% discount on author processing charges (APCs), special registration rates for IGS symposia and workshops, belonging to an old and established learned society with worldwide membership and access to an extended peer group.

The new ALICE DQM client: a web access to ROOT-based objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Haller, B.; Carena, F.; Carena, W.; Chapeland, S.; Chibante Barroso, V.; Costa, F.; Delort, C.; Dénes, E.; Diviá, R.; Fuchs, U.; Niedziela, J.; Simonetti, G.; Soós, C.; Telesca, A.; Vande Vyvre, P.; Wegrzynek, A.

2015-12-01

A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) is the heavy-ion detector designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The online Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) plays an essential role in the experiment operation by providing shifters with immediate feedback on the data being recorded in order to quickly identify and overcome problems. An immediate access to the DQM results is needed not only by shifters in the control room but also by detector experts worldwide. As a consequence, a new web application has been developed to dynamically display and manipulate the ROOT-based objects produced by the DQM system in a flexible and user friendly interface. The architecture and design of the tool, its main features and the technologies that were used, both on the server and the client side, are described. In particular, we detail how we took advantage of the most recent ROOT JavaScript I/O and web server library to give interactive access to ROOT objects stored in a database. We describe as well the use of modern web techniques and packages such as AJAX, DHTMLX and jQuery, which has been instrumental in the successful implementation of a reactive and efficient application. We finally present the resulting application and how code quality was ensured. We conclude with a roadmap for future technical and functional developments.

New orientation and accessibility option for persons with visual impairment: transportation applications for remote infrared audible signage.

PubMed

Crandall, William; Bentzen, Billie Louise; Myers, Linda; Brabyn, John

2001-05-01

BACKGROUND: For a blind or visually impaired person, a vital prerequisite to accessing any feature of the built environment is being able to find this feature. Braille signs, even where available, do not replace the functions of print signage because they cannot be read from a distance. Remotely readable infrared signs utilise spoken infrared message transmissions to label key environmental features, so that a blind person with a suitable receiver can locate and identify them from a distance. METHODS: Three problems that are among the most challenging and dangerous faced by blind travellers are negotiating complex transit stations, locating bus stops and safely and efficiently crossing light-controlled intersections. We report the results of human factors studies using a remote infrared audible sign system (RIAS), Talking Signs(R), in these critical tasks, examining issues such as the amount of training needed to use the system, its impact on performance and safety, benefits for different population subgroups and user opinions of its value. RESULTS: Results are presented in the form of both objective performance measures and in subjects' ratings of the usefulness of the system in performing these tasks. Findings are that blind people can quickly and easily learn to use remote infrared audible signage effectively and that its use improves travel safety, efficiency and independence.? CONCLUSIONS: The technology provides equal access to a wide variety of public facilities.

The IUE Science Operations Ground System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, Ronald E.; Arquilla, Richard

1994-01-01

The International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) Science Operations System provides full realtime operations capabilities and support to the operations staff and astronomer users. The components of this very diverse and extremely flexible hardware and software system have played a major role in maintaining the scientific efficiency and productivity of the IUE. The software provides the staff and user with all the tools necessary for pre-visit and real-time planning and operations analysis for any day of the year. Examples of such tools include the effects of spacecraft constraints on target availability, maneuver times between targets, availability of guide stars, target identification, coordinate transforms, e-mail transfer of Observatory forms and messages, and quick-look analysis of image data. Most of this extensive software package can also be accessed remotely by individual users for information, scheduling of shifts, pre-visit planning, and actual observing program execution. Astronomers, with a modest investment in hardware and software, may establish remote observing sites. We currently have over 20 such sites in our remote observers' network.

An enhanced cluster analysis program with bootstrap significance testing for ecological community analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

McKenna, J.E.

2003-01-01

The biosphere is filled with complex living patterns and important questions about biodiversity and community and ecosystem ecology are concerned with structure and function of multispecies systems that are responsible for those patterns. Cluster analysis identifies discrete groups within multivariate data and is an effective method of coping with these complexities, but often suffers from subjective identification of groups. The bootstrap testing method greatly improves objective significance determination for cluster analysis. The BOOTCLUS program makes cluster analysis that reliably identifies real patterns within a data set more accessible and easier to use than previously available programs. A variety of analysis options and rapid re-analysis provide a means to quickly evaluate several aspects of a data set. Interpretation is influenced by sampling design and a priori designation of samples into replicate groups, and ultimately relies on the researcher's knowledge of the organisms and their environment. However, the BOOTCLUS program provides reliable, objectively determined groupings of multivariate data.

TomoBank: a tomographic data repository for computational x-ray science

DOE PAGES

De Carlo, Francesco; Gürsoy, Doğa; Ching, Daniel J.; ...

2018-02-08

There is a widening gap between the fast advancement of computational methods for tomographic reconstruction and their successful implementation in production software at various synchrotron facilities. This is due in part to the lack of readily available instrument datasets and phantoms representative of real materials for validation and comparison of new numerical methods. Recent advancements in detector technology made sub-second and multi-energy tomographic data collection possible [1], but also increased the demand to develop new reconstruction methods able to handle in-situ [2] and dynamic systems [3] that can be quickly incorporated in beamline production software [4]. The X-ray Tomography Datamore » Bank, tomoBank, provides a repository of experimental and simulated datasets with the aim to foster collaboration among computational scientists, beamline scientists, and experimentalists and to accelerate the development and implementation of tomographic reconstruction methods for synchrotron facility production software by providing easy access to challenging dataset and their descriptors.« less

Avatar DNA Nanohybrid System in Chip-on-a-Phone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Dae-Hwan; Han, Chang Jo; Shul, Yong-Gun; Choy, Jin-Ho

2014-05-01

Long admired for informational role and recognition function in multidisciplinary science, DNA nanohybrids have been emerging as ideal materials for molecular nanotechnology and genetic information code. Here, we designed an optical machine-readable DNA icon on microarray, Avatar DNA, for automatic identification and data capture such as Quick Response and ColorZip codes. Avatar icon is made of telepathic DNA-DNA hybrids inscribed on chips, which can be identified by camera of smartphone with application software. Information encoded in base-sequences can be accessed by connecting an off-line icon to an on-line web-server network to provide message, index, or URL from database library. Avatar DNA is then converged with nano-bio-info-cogno science: each building block stands for inorganic nanosheets, nucleotides, digits, and pixels. This convergence could address item-level identification that strengthens supply-chain security for drug counterfeits. It can, therefore, provide molecular-level vision through mobile network to coordinate and integrate data management channels for visual detection and recording.

The India Local Initiatives Program: a model for expanding reproductive and child health services.

PubMed

Paxman, John M; Sayeed, Abu; Buxbaum, Ann; Huber, Sallie Craig; Stover, Charles

2005-09-01

The India Local Initiatives Program adapted a model used in Indonesia and Bangladesh to implement the government's reproductive and child health strategy. From 1999 to 2003, three Indian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) provided services for 784,000 people in four northern states. The program established health committees in 620 villages, recruited and trained 1,850 community health volunteers, and added 232 sites to extend government services. Using three strategies--demand creation, increased access to services, and local capacity building--the NGOs increased contraceptive-use rates by 78 percent, on average; child immunizations by 67 percent; and antenatal care by 78 percent among the populations served. Community resources--such as local health personnel, community-supplied clinic sites, and community drug funds--added 40 cents to every dollar provided by donors. This model proved to be a suitable platform upon which to build health-care service delivery and create behavioral change, and the NGOs quickly found ways to sustain and expand services.

Avatar DNA Nanohybrid System in Chip-on-a-Phone

PubMed Central

Park, Dae-Hwan; Han, Chang Jo; Shul, Yong-Gun; Choy, Jin-Ho

2014-01-01

Long admired for informational role and recognition function in multidisciplinary science, DNA nanohybrids have been emerging as ideal materials for molecular nanotechnology and genetic information code. Here, we designed an optical machine-readable DNA icon on microarray, Avatar DNA, for automatic identification and data capture such as Quick Response and ColorZip codes. Avatar icon is made of telepathic DNA-DNA hybrids inscribed on chips, which can be identified by camera of smartphone with application software. Information encoded in base-sequences can be accessed by connecting an off-line icon to an on-line web-server network to provide message, index, or URL from database library. Avatar DNA is then converged with nano-bio-info-cogno science: each building block stands for inorganic nanosheets, nucleotides, digits, and pixels. This convergence could address item-level identification that strengthens supply-chain security for drug counterfeits. It can, therefore, provide molecular-level vision through mobile network to coordinate and integrate data management channels for visual detection and recording. PMID:24824876

The UCSC Genome Browser: What Every Molecular Biologist Should Know

PubMed Central

Mangan, Mary E.; Williams, Jennifer M.; Kuhn, Robert M.; Lathe, Warren C.

2014-01-01

Electronic data resources can enable molecular biologists to quickly get information from around the world that a decade ago would have been buried in papers scattered throughout the library. The ability to access, query, and display these data make benchwork much more efficient and drive new discoveries. Increasingly, mastery of software resources and corresponding data repositories is required to fully explore the volume of data generated in biomedical and agricultural research, because only small amounts of data are actually found in traditional publications. The UCSC Genome Browser provides a wealth of data and tools that advance understanding of genomic context for many species, enable detailed analysis of data, and provide the ability to interrogate regions of interest across disparate data sets from a wide variety of sources. Researchers can also supplement the standard display with their own data to query and share this with others. Effective use of these resources has become crucial to biological research today, and this unit describes some practical applications of the UCSC Genome Browser. PMID:24984850

Small planetary mission plan: Report to Congress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This document outlines NASA's small planetary projects plan within the context of overall agency planning. In particular, this plan is consistent with Vision 21: The NASA Strategic Plan, and the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) Strategic Plan. Small planetary projects address focused scientific objectives using a limited number of mature instruments, and are designed to require little or no new technology development. Small missions can be implemented by university and industry partnerships in coordination with a NASA Center to use the unique services the agency provides. The timeframe for small missions is consistent with academic degree programs, which makes them an excellent training ground for graduate students and post-doctoral candidates. Because small missions can be conducted relatively quickly and inexpensively, they provide greater opportunity for increased access to space. In addition, small missions contribute to sustaining a vital scientific community by increasing the available opportunities for direct investigator involvement from just a few projects in a career to many.

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Hydrogen Drive

Science.gov Websites

, contact Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition. Download QuickTime Video QuickTime (.mov ) Download Windows Media Video Windows Media (.wmv) Video Download Help Text version See more videos provided

An Affordable Microsurgical Training System for a Beginning Neurosurgeon: How to Realize the Self-Training Laboratory.

PubMed

Chung, Sang-Bong; Ryu, Jiwook; Chung, Yeongu; Lee, Sung Ho; Choi, Seok Keun

2017-09-01

To provide detailed information about how to realize a self-training laboratory with cost-effective microsurgical instruments, especially pertinent for the novice trainee. Our training model is designed to allow the practice of the microsurgery skills in an efficient and cost-effective manner. A used stereoscopic microscope is prepared for microsurgical training. A sufficient working distance for microsurgical practice is obtained by attaching an auxiliary objective lens. The minimum instrument list includes 2 jeweler's forceps, iris scissors, and alligator clips. The iris scissors and alligator clip provide good alternatives to micro-scissors and microvascular clamp. The short time needed to set up the microscope and suture the gauze with micro-forceps makes the training model suitable for daily practice. It takes about 15 minutes to suture 10 neighboring fibers of the gauze with 10-0 nylon; thus, training can be completed more quickly. We have developed an inexpensive and efficient micro-anastomosis training system using a stereoscopic microscope and minimal micro-instruments. Especially useful for novice trainees, this system provides high accessibility for microsurgical training. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Wolfram technologies as an integrated scalable platform for interactive learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaurov, Vitaliy

2012-02-01

We rely on technology profoundly with the prospect of even greater integration in the future. Well known challenges in education are a technology-inadequate curriculum and many software platforms that are difficult to scale or interconnect. We'll review an integrated technology, much of it free, that addresses these issues for individuals and small schools as well as for universities. Topics include: Mathematica, a programming environment that offers a diverse range of functionality; natural language programming for getting started quickly and accessing data from Wolfram|Alpha; quick and easy construction of interactive courseware and scientific applications; partnering with publishers to create interactive e-textbooks; course assistant apps for mobile platforms; the computable document format (CDF); teacher-student and student-student collaboration on interactive projects and web publishing at the Wolfram Demonstrations site.

High-resolution soil moisture mapping in Afghanistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendrickx, Jan M. H.; Harrison, J. Bruce J.; Borchers, Brian; Kelley, Julie R.; Howington, Stacy; Ballard, Jerry

2011-06-01

Soil moisture conditions have an impact upon virtually all aspects of Army activities and are increasingly affecting its systems and operations. Soil moisture conditions affect operational mobility, detection of landmines and unexploded ordinance, natural material penetration/excavation, military engineering activities, blowing dust and sand, watershed responses, and flooding. This study further explores a method for high-resolution (2.7 m) soil moisture mapping using remote satellite optical imagery that is readily available from Landsat and QuickBird. The soil moisture estimations are needed for the evaluation of IED sensors using the Countermine Simulation Testbed in regions where access is difficult or impossible. The method has been tested in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, using a Landsat7 image and a QuickBird image of April 23 and 24, 2009, respectively. In previous work it was found that Landsat soil moisture can be predicted from the visual and near infra-red Landsat bands1-4. Since QuickBird bands 1-4 are almost identical to Landsat bands 1- 4, a Landsat soil moisture map can be downscaled using QuickBird bands 1-4. However, using this global approach for downscaling from Landsat to QuickBird scale yielded a small number of pixels with erroneous soil moisture values. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine how the quality of the downscaled soil moisture maps can be improved by using a data stratification approach for the development of downscaling regression equations for each landscape class. It was found that stratification results in a reliable downscaled soil moisture map with a spatial resolution of 2.7 m.

Evidence of effectiveness of health care professionals using handheld computers: a scoping review of systematic reviews.

PubMed

Mickan, Sharon; Tilson, Julie K; Atherton, Helen; Roberts, Nia Wyn; Heneghan, Carl

2013-10-28

Handheld computers and mobile devices provide instant access to vast amounts and types of useful information for health care professionals. Their reduced size and increased processing speed has led to rapid adoption in health care. Thus, it is important to identify whether handheld computers are actually effective in clinical practice. A scoping review of systematic reviews was designed to provide a quick overview of the documented evidence of effectiveness for health care professionals using handheld computers in their clinical work. A detailed search, sensitive for systematic reviews was applied for Cochrane, Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), Global Health, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. All outcomes that demonstrated effectiveness in clinical practice were included. Classroom learning and patient use of handheld computers were excluded. Quality was assessed using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) tool. A previously published conceptual framework was used as the basis for dual data extraction. Reported outcomes were summarized according to the primary function of the handheld computer. Five systematic reviews met the inclusion and quality criteria. Together, they reviewed 138 unique primary studies. Most reviewed descriptive intervention studies, where physicians, pharmacists, or medical students used personal digital assistants. Effectiveness was demonstrated across four distinct functions of handheld computers: patient documentation, patient care, information seeking, and professional work patterns. Within each of these functions, a range of positive outcomes were reported using both objective and self-report measures. The use of handheld computers improved patient documentation through more complete recording, fewer documentation errors, and increased efficiency. Handheld computers provided easy access to clinical decision support systems and patient management systems, which improved decision making for patient care. Handheld computers saved time and gave earlier access to new information. There were also reports that handheld computers enhanced work patterns and efficiency. This scoping review summarizes the secondary evidence for effectiveness of handheld computers and mhealth. It provides a snapshot of effective use by health care professionals across four key functions. We identified evidence to suggest that handheld computers provide easy and timely access to information and enable accurate and complete documentation. Further, they can give health care professionals instant access to evidence-based decision support and patient management systems to improve clinical decision making. Finally, there is evidence that handheld computers allow health professionals to be more efficient in their work practices. It is anticipated that this evidence will guide clinicians and managers in implementing handheld computers in clinical practice and in designing future research.

EPA Recovery Mapper

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The EPA Recovery Mapper is an Internet interactive mapping application that allows users to discover information about every American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) award that EPA has funded for six programs. By integrating data reported by the recipients of Recovery Act funding and data created by EPA, this application delivers a level of transparency and public accessibility to users interested in EPA's use of Recovery Act monies. The application is relatively easy to use and builds on the same mapping model as Google, Bing, MapQuest and other commonly used mapping interfaces. EPA Recovery Mapper tracks each award made by each program and gives basic Quick Facts information for each award including award name, location, award date, dollar amounts and more. Data Summaries for each EPA program or for each state are provided displaying dollars for Total Awarded, Total Received (Paid), and Total Jobs This Quarter by Recovery for the latest quarter of data released by Recovery.gov. The data are reported to the government and EPA four times a year by the award recipients. The latest quarterly report will always be displayed in the EPA Recovery Mapper. In addition, the application provides many details about each award. Users will learn more about how to access and interpret these data later in this document. Data shown in the EPA Recovery Mapper are derived from information reported back to FederalReporting.gov from the recipients of Recovery Act funding. EPA

Research and evaluation of biomass resources/conversion/utilization systems. Biomass allocation model. Volume 1: Test and appendices A & B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stringer, R. P.; Ahn, Y. K.; Chen, H. T.; Helm, R. W.; Nelson, E. T.; Shields, K. J.

1981-08-01

A biomass allocation model was developed to show the most profitable combination of biomass feedstocks, thermochemical conversion processes, and fuel products to serve the seasonal conditions in a regional market. This optimization model provides a tool for quickly calculating which of a large number of potential biomass missions is the most profitable mission. Other components of the system serve as a convenient storage and retrieval mechanism for biomass marketing and thermochemical conversion processing data. The system can be accessed through the use of a computer terminal, or it could be adapted to a microprocessor. A User's Manual for the system is included. Biomass derived fuels included in the data base are the following: medium Btu gas, low Btu gas, substitute natural gas, ammonia, methanol, electricity, gasoline, and fuel oil.

Increasing the usefulness of Shuttle with SPACEHAB

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stone, Barbara A.; Rossi, David A.

1992-08-01

SPACEHAB is a pressurized laboratory, approximately 10 feet long and 13 feet in diameter, which fits in the forward position of the Shuttle payload bay and connects to the crew compartment through the Orbiter airlock. SPACEHAB modules may contain up to 61 standard middeck lockers, providing 1100 cubic feet of pressurized work space. SPACEHAB'S capacity offers crew-tended access to the microgravity environment for experimentation, technology development, and small-scale production. The modules are designed to facilitate the user's ability to quickly and inexpensively develop and integrate a microgravity payload. Payloads are typically integrated into the SPACEHAB module in standard SPACEHAB lockers or SPACEHAB racks. Lockers are designed to offer identical user interfaces as standard Space Shuttle middeck lockers. SPACEHAB racks are interchangeable with Space Station Freedom racks, allowing hardware to be qualified for early station use.

Heliophysics Data and Modeling Research Using VSPO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, D. Aaron; Hesse, Michael; Cornwell, Carl

2007-01-01

The primary advantage of Virtual Observatories in scientific research is efficiency: rapid searches for and access to data in convenient forms makes it possible to explore scientific questions without spending days or weeks on ancilary tasks. The Virtual Space Physics Observatory provides a general portal to Heliophysics data for this task. Here we will illustrate the advantages of the VO approach by examining specific geomagnetically active times and tracing the activity through the Sun-Earth system. In addition to previous and additional data sources, we will demonstrate an extension of the capabilities to allow searching for model run results from the range of CCMC models. This approach allows the user to quickly compare models and observations at a qualitative level; considerably more work will be needed to develop more seamless connections to data streams and the equivalent numerical output from simulations.

Unraveling the genetic driving forces enabling antibiotic resistance at the single cell level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bos, Julia

Bacteria are champions at finding ways to quickly respond and adapt to environments like the human gut, known as the epicentre of antibiotic resistance. How do they do it? Combining molecular biology tools to microfluidic and fluorescence microscopy technologies, we monitor the behavior of bacteria at the single cell level in the presence of non-toxic doses of antibiotics. By tracking the chromosome dynamics of Escherichia coli cells upon antibiotic treatment, we examine the changes in the number, localization and content of the chromosome copies within one cell compartment or between adjacent cells. I will discuss how our work pictures the bacterial genomic plasticity as a driving force in evolution and how it provides access to the mechanisms controlling the subtle balance between genetic diversity and stability in the development of antibiotic resistance.

Towards effective interactive three-dimensional colour postprocessing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, B. C.; Hajjar, J. F.; Abel, J. F.

1986-01-01

Recommendations for the development of effective three-dimensional, graphical color postprocessing are made. First, the evaluation of large, complex numerical models demands that a postprocessor be highly interactive. A menu of available functions should be provided and these operations should be performed quickly so that a sense of continuity and spontaneity exists during the post-processing session. Second, an agenda for three-dimensional color postprocessing is proposed. A postprocessor must be versatile with respect to application and basic algorithms must be designed so that they are flexible. A complete selection of tools is necessary to allow arbitrary specification of views, extraction of qualitative information, and access to detailed quantitative and problem information. Finally, full use of advanced display hardware is necessary if interactivity is to be maximized and effective postprocessing of today's numerical simulations is to be achieved.

Aquatic toxicity information retrieval data base: A technical support document. (Revised July 1992)

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

Not Available

The AQUIRE (AQUatic toxicity Information REtrieval) database was established in 1981 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), Environmental Research Laboratory-Duluth (ERL-D). The purpose of AQUIRE is to provide quick access to a comprehensive, systematic, computerized compilation of aquatic toxic effects data. As of July 1992, AQUIRE consists of over 98,300 individual test results on computer file. These tests contain information for 5,500 chemicals and 2,300 organisms, extracted from over 6,300 publications. In addition, the ERL-D data file, prepared by the University of Wisconsin-Superior is now included in AQUIRE. The data file consists of acute toxicity test resultsmore » for the effects of 525 organic chemicals to fathead minnow. All AQUIRE data entries have been subjected to established quality assurance procedures.« less

Single-session manualized ego state therapy (EST) for combat stress injury, PTSD, and ASD, Part 2: the procedure.

PubMed

Barabasz, Arreed F; Barabasz, Marianne; Watkins, John G

2012-01-01

An abbreviated description of our single-session 5- to 6-hour procedure is provided. In contrast to trauma reframing approaches, such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT) or traditional psychoanalytic interventions, our manualized procedure rapidly demystifies subconscious processes, making them accessible and understandable by the patient. The therapist's supportive ego strength is integrated into the intense repeated emotional and physiological releases of the traumatized ego states. The abreactive component of this 5-phase procedure exhausts the bound-up psychological and physiological reactions but also serves to quickly overcome the trauma and to restructure the personality. The patient becomes empowered to release the trauma memories and to emerge with the ability to be adaptive, assertive, giving, strong, and able to express anger appropriately yet be caring with family/friends.

Telemetry and Communication IP Video Player

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

OFarrell, Zachary L.

2011-01-01

Aegis Video Player is the name of the video over IP system for the Telemetry and Communications group of the Launch Services Program. Aegis' purpose is to display video streamed over a network connection to be viewed during launches. To accomplish this task, a VLC ActiveX plug-in was used in C# to provide the basic capabilities of video streaming. The program was then customized to be used during launches. The VLC plug-in can be configured programmatically to display a single stream, but for this project multiple streams needed to be accessed. To accomplish this, an easy to use, informative menu system was added to the program to enable users to quickly switch between videos. Other features were added to make the player more useful, such as watching multiple videos and watching a video in full screen.

Boosting standard order sets utilization through clinical decision support.

PubMed

Li, Haomin; Zhang, Yinsheng; Cheng, Haixia; Lu, Xudong; Duan, Huilong

2013-01-01

Well-designed standard order sets have the potential to integrate and coordinate care by communicating best practices through multiple disciplines, levels of care, and services. However, there are several challenges which certainly affected the benefits expected from standard order sets. To boost standard order sets utilization, a problem-oriented knowledge delivery solution was proposed in this study to facilitate access of standard order sets and evaluation of its treatment effect. In this solution, standard order sets were created along with diagnostic rule sets which can trigger a CDS-based reminder to help clinician quickly discovery hidden clinical problems and corresponding standard order sets during ordering. Those rule set also provide indicators for targeted evaluation of standard order sets during treatment. A prototype system was developed based on this solution and will be presented at Medinfo 2013.

Lunar Mapping and Modeling On-the-Go: A mobile framework for viewing and interacting with large geospatial datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, G.; Kim, R.; Bui, B.; Sadaqathullah, S.; Law, E.; Malhotra, S.

2012-12-01

The Lunar Mapping and Modeling Portal (LMMP, https://www.lmmp.nasa.gov/) is a collaboration between four NASA centers, JPL, Marshall, Goddard, and Ames, along with the USGS and US Army to provide a centralized geospatial repository for storing processed lunar data collected from the Apollo missions to the latest data acquired by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). We offer various scientific and visualization tools to analyze rock and crater densities, lighting maps, thermal measurements, mineral concentrations, slope hazards, and digital elevation maps with the intention of serving not only scientists and lunar mission planners, but also the general public. The project has pioneered in leveraging new technologies and embracing new computing paradigms to create a system that is sophisticated, secure, robust, and scalable all the while being easy to use, streamlined, and modular. We have led innovations through the use of a hybrid cloud infrastructure, authentication through various sources, and utilizing an in-house GIS framework, TWMS (TiledWMS) as well as the commercial ArcGIS product from ESRI. On the client end, we also provide a Flash GUI framework as well as REST web services to interact with the portal. We have also developed a visualization framework on mobile devices, specifically Apple's iOS, which allows anyone from anywhere to interact with LMMP. At the most basic level, the framework allows users to browse LMMP's entire catalog of over 600 data imagery products ranging from global basemaps to LRO's Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images that provide details of up to .5 meters/pixel. Users are able to view map metadata and can zoom in and out as well as pan around the entire lunar surface with the appropriate basemap. They can arbitrarily stack the maps and images on top of each other to show a layered view of the surface with layer transparency adjusted to suit the user's desired look. Once the user has selected a combination of layers, he can also bookmark those layers for quick access in subsequent sessions. A search tool is also provided to allow users to quickly find points of interests on the moon and to view the auxiliary data associated with that feature. More advanced features include the ability to interact with the data. Using the services provided by the portal, users will be able to log in and access the same scientific analysis tools provided on the web site including measuring between two points, generating subsets, and running other analysis tools, all by using a customized touch interface that are immediately familiar to users of these smart mobile devices. Users can also access their own storage on the portal and view or send the data to other users. Finally, there are features that will utilize functionality that can only be enabled by mobile devices. This includes the use of the gyroscopes and motion sensors to provide a haptic interface visualize lunar data in 3D, on the device as well as potentially on a large screen. The mobile framework that we have developed for LMMP provides a glimpse of what is possible in visualizing and manipulating large geospatial data on small portable devices. While the framework is currently tuned to our portal, we hope that we can generalize the tool to use data sources from any type of GIS services.

OpenSearch (ECHO-ESIP) & REST API for Earth Science Data Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, A.; Cechini, M.; Pilone, D.

2010-12-01

This presentation will provide a brief technical overview of OpenSearch, the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Federated Search framework, and the REST architecture; discuss NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) ClearingHOuse’s (ECHO) implementation lessons learned; and demonstrate the simplified usage of these technologies. SOAP, as a framework for web service communication has numerous advantages for Enterprise applications and Java/C# type programming languages. As a technical solution, SOAP has been a reliable framework on top of which many applications have been successfully developed and deployed. However, as interest grows for quick development cycles and more intriguing “mashups,” the SOAP API loses its appeal. Lightweight and simple are the vogue characteristics that are sought after. Enter the REST API architecture and OpenSearch format. Both of these items provide a new path for application development addressing some of the issues unresolved by SOAP. ECHO has made available all of its discovery, order submission, and data management services through a publicly accessible SOAP API. This interface is utilized by a variety of ECHO client and data partners to provide valuable capabilities to end users. As ECHO interacted with current and potential partners looking to develop Earth Science tools utilizing ECHO, it became apparent that the development overhead required to interact with the SOAP API was a growing barrier to entry. ECHO acknowledged the technical issues that were being uncovered by its partner community and chose to provide two new interfaces for interacting with the ECHO metadata catalog. The first interface is built upon the OpenSearch format and ESIP Federated Search framework. Leveraging these two items, a client (ECHO-ESIP) was developed with a focus on simplified searching and results presentation. The second interface is built upon the Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture. Leveraging the REST architecture, a new API has been made available that will provide access to the entire SOAP API suite of services. The results of these development activities has not only positioned to engage in the thriving world of mashup applications, but also provided an excellent real-world case study of how to successfully leverage these emerging technologies.

Inquiring Informationists: A Qualitative Exploration of Our Role.

PubMed

Robison, Rex R; Ryan, Mary E; Cooper, I Diane

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to explore the impact of an informationist program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library and to provide a basis for further program assessment. In 2001 the NIH Library began its informationist program, where librarians with training in both biomedicine and information science work alongside researchers. The goal of the program is to facilitate researchers' access to and usage of information resources. METHODS: The researchers used qualitative interviews with key informants to characterize the current informationist services of user groups. Subjects were selected to capture a variety of activities that would show patterns of how the program assists the researchers of various NIH groups. Following the interviews, the authors extracted recurring and significant themes from the subjects' comments. RESULTS: Interview subjects provided their views on the informationists' skills, impact, and team participation. Research results documented that informationists helped find resources, provided instruction, and worked as part of the research team. The NIH groups currently using this service value their informationists' knowledge of library resources and their ability to access information needs quickly. The informationists' skills in finding information save the researchers time, increase the efficiency of the research team, and complement the contributions of other team members. Training by informationists was found useful. Informationist services led to increased self-reported library use, albeit in some cases this use was entirely via the informationist. CONCLUSIONS: Informationists saved researchers time by obtaining requested information, finding esoteric or unfamiliar resources, and providing related training. These activities appeared to be facilitated by the acceptance of the informationist as part of the research team. This exploratory study provides background that should be useful in future, more extensive evaluations.

Uncoordinated MAC for Adaptive Multi Beam Directional Networks: Analysis and Evaluation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

control (MAC) policies for emerging systems that are equipped with fully digital antenna arrays which are capable of adaptive multi-beam directional...Adaptive Beam- forming, Multibeam, Directional Networking, Random Access, Smart Antennas I. INTRODUCTION Fully digital beamforming antenna arrays that...are capable of adaptive multi-beam communications are quickly becoming a reality. These antenna arrays allow users to form multiple simultaneous

Final Environmental Assessment for Aircraft Maintenance Operations Center

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

short-term emissions during construction of new facilities, demolition of existing buildings, and removal of existing asphalt /concrete. There would...Repair: The existing asphalt road accessing Building 1934 would be repaired in June 2014. It is anticipated that this project would qualify for a CatEx...removal of existing asphalt /concrete. Minimal ambient air impacts from localized short-term emissions that would quickly dissipate away from the

Technical Modification Within the Healthcare Industry: Improving Both the Efficacy of the National Drug Code Carrier and the Accessibility of Electronic Health Records to Reduce Adverse Drug Events

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

with an EHR .................................................. 97 C. SWOT ANALYSIS OF USING QR CODES WITH THE NDC AND WITH EHRS...96 Figure 41. SWOT analysis ................................................................................... 99 xiii LIST OF...Coordinator for Health Information Technology OTC Over-the-Counter PHI Personal Health Information QR Quick Response SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses

Interdisciplinary glossary — particle accelerators and medicine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dmitrieva, V. V.; Dyubkov, V. S.; Nikitaev, V. G.; Ulin, S. E.

2016-02-01

A general concept of a new interdisciplinary glossary, which includes particle accelerator terminology used in medicine, as well as relevant medical concepts, is presented. Its structure and usage rules are described. An example, illustrating the quickly searching technique of relevant information in this Glossary, is considered. A website address, where one can get an access to the Glossary, is specified. Glossary can be refined and supplemented.

Fast massive preventive security and information communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akopian, David; Chen, Philip; Miryakar, Susheel; Kumar, Abhinav

2008-04-01

We present a fast massive information communication system for data collection from distributive sources such as cell phone users. As a very important application one can mention preventive notification systems when timely notification and evidence communication may help to improve safety and security through wide public involvement by ensuring easy-to-access and easy-to-communicate information systems. The technology significantly simplifies the response to the events and will help e.g. special agencies to gather crucial information in time and respond as quickly as possible. Cellular phones are nowadays affordable for most of the residents and became a common personal accessory. The paper describes several ways to design such systems including existing internet access capabilities of cell phones or downloadable specialized software. We provide examples of such designs. The main idea is in structuring information in predetermined way and communicating data through a centralized gate-server which will automatically process information and forward it to a proper destination. The gate-server eliminates a need in knowing contact data and specific local community infrastructure. All the cell phones will have self-localizing capability according to FCC E911 mandate, thus the communicated information can be further tagged automatically by location and time information.

How Sensors Might Help Define the External Exposome.

PubMed

Loh, Miranda; Sarigiannis, Dimosthenis; Gotti, Alberto; Karakitsios, Spyros; Pronk, Anjoeka; Kuijpers, Eelco; Annesi-Maesano, Isabella; Baiz, Nour; Madureira, Joana; Oliveira Fernandes, Eduardo; Jerrett, Michael; Cherrie, John W

2017-04-18

The advent of the exposome concept, the advancement of mobile technology, sensors, and the "internet of things" bring exciting opportunities to exposure science. Smartphone apps, wireless devices, the downsizing of monitoring technologies, along with lower costs for such equipment makes it possible for various aspects of exposure to be measured more easily and frequently. We discuss possibilities and lay out several criteria for using smart technologies for external exposome studies. Smart technologies are evolving quickly, and while they provide great promise for advancing exposure science, many are still in developmental stages and their use in epidemiology and risk studies must be carefully considered. The most useable technologies for exposure studies at this time relate to gathering exposure-factor data, such as location and activities. Development of some environmental sensors (e.g., for some air pollutants, noise, UV) is moving towards making the use of these more reliable and accessible to research studies. The possibility of accessing such an unprecedented amount of personal data also comes with various limitations and challenges, which are discussed. The advantage of improving the collection of long term exposure factor data is that this can be combined with more "traditional" measurement data to model exposures to numerous environmental factors.

How Sensors Might Help Define the External Exposome

PubMed Central

Loh, Miranda; Sarigiannis, Dimosthenis; Gotti, Alberto; Karakitsios, Spyros; Pronk, Anjoeka; Kuijpers, Eelco; Annesi-Maesano, Isabella; Baiz, Nour; Madureira, Joana; Oliveira Fernandes, Eduardo; Jerrett, Michael; Cherrie, John W.

2017-01-01

The advent of the exposome concept, the advancement of mobile technology, sensors, and the “internet of things” bring exciting opportunities to exposure science. Smartphone apps, wireless devices, the downsizing of monitoring technologies, along with lower costs for such equipment makes it possible for various aspects of exposure to be measured more easily and frequently. We discuss possibilities and lay out several criteria for using smart technologies for external exposome studies. Smart technologies are evolving quickly, and while they provide great promise for advancing exposure science, many are still in developmental stages and their use in epidemiology and risk studies must be carefully considered. The most useable technologies for exposure studies at this time relate to gathering exposure-factor data, such as location and activities. Development of some environmental sensors (e.g., for some air pollutants, noise, UV) is moving towards making the use of these more reliable and accessible to research studies. The possibility of accessing such an unprecedented amount of personal data also comes with various limitations and challenges, which are discussed. The advantage of improving the collection of long term exposure factor data is that this can be combined with more “traditional” measurement data to model exposures to numerous environmental factors. PMID:28420222

Changing knowledge perspective in a changing world: The Adriatic multidisciplinary TDS approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergamasco, Andrea; Carniel, Sandro; Nativi, Stefano; Signell, Richard P.; Benetazzo, Alvise; Falcieri, Francesco M.; Bonaldo, Davide; Minuzzo, Tiziano; Sclavo, Mauro

2013-04-01

The use and exploitation of the marine environment in recent years has been increasingly high, therefore calling for the need of a better description, monitoring and understanding of its behavior. However, marine scientists and managers often spend too much time in accessing and reformatting data instead of focusing on discovering new knowledge from the processes observed and data acquired. There is therefore the need to make more efficient our approach to data mining, especially in a world where rapid climate change imposes rapid and quick choices. In this context, it is mandatory to explore ways and possibilities to make large amounts of distributed data usable in an efficient and easy way, an effort that requires standardized data protocols, web services and standards-based tools. Following the US-IOOS approach, which has been adopted in many oceanographic and meteorological sectors, we present a CNR experience in the direction of setting up a national Italian IOOS framework (at the moment confined at the Adriatic Sea environment), using the THREDDS (THematic Real-time Environmental Distributed Data Services) Data Server (TDS). A TDS is a middleware designed to fill the gap between data providers and data users, and provides services allowing data users to find the data sets pertaining to their scientific needs, to access, visualize and use them in an easy way, without the need of downloading files to the local workspace. In order to achieve this results, it is necessary that the data providers make their data available in a standard form that the TDS understands, and with sufficient metadata so that the data can be read and searched for in a standard way. The TDS core is a NetCDF- Java Library implementing a Common Data Model (CDM), as developed by Unidata (http://www.unidata.ucar.edu), allowing the access to "array-based" scientific data. Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant NetCDF files can be read directly with no modification, while non-compliant files can be modified to meet appropriate metadata requirements. Once standardized in the CDM, the TDS makes datasets available through a series of web services such as OPeNDAP or Open Geospatial Consortium Web Coverage Service (WCS), allowing the data users to easily obtain small subsets from large datasets, and to quickly visualize their content by using tools such as GODIVA2 or Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). In addition, an ISO metadata service is available through the TDS that can be harvested by catalogue broker services (e.g. GI-cat) to enable distributed search across federated data servers. Example of TDS datasets from oceanographic evolutions (currents, waves, sediments...) will be described and discussed, while some examples can be accessed directly to the Venice site http://tds.ve.ismar.cnr.it:8080/thredds/catalog.html (Bergamasco et al., 2012) also within the framework of RITMARE Project. References Bergamasco A., Benetazzo A., Carniel S., Falcieri F., Minuzzo T., Signell R.P. and M. Sclavo, 2012. From interoperability to knowledge discovery using large model datasets in the marine environment: the THREDDS Data Server example. Advances in Oceanography and Limnology, 3(1), 41-50. DOI:10.1080/19475721.2012.669637

Design of a Lunar Quick-Attach Mechanism to Hummer Vehicle Mounting Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grismore, David A.

2010-01-01

This report presents my work experiences while I was an intern with NASA (National Aeronautic and Space Administration) in the Spring of2010 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida as a member of the NASA USRP (Undergraduate Student Research Program) program. I worked in the Surface Systems (NE-S) group during the internship. Within NE-S, two ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) contract engineers, A.J. Nick and Jason Schuler, had developed a "Quick-Attach" mechanism for the Chariot Rover, the next generation lunar rover. My project was to design, analyze, and possibly fabricate a mounting interface between their "Quick-Attach" and a Hummer vehicle. This interface was needed because it would increase their capabilities to test the Quick Attach and its various attachments, as they do not have access to a Chariot Rover at KSC. I utilized both Pro Engineer, a 3D CAD software package, and a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) known as a FAROarm to collect data and create my design. I relied on hand calculations and the Mechanica analysis tool within Pro Engineer to perform stress analysis on the design. After finishing the design, I began working on creating professional level CAD drawings and issuing them into the KSC design database known as DDMS before the end of the internship.

Applying science and strategy to operating room workforce management.

PubMed

Butler, Victoria; Clinton, Christopher; Sagi, Harsha K; Kenney, Robert; Barsoum, Wael K

2012-01-01

The traditional means of planning nurse staffing for operating rooms are either poorly translated to the setting or do not provide decision makers with a platform to defend their needs, especially in an era of health care reform. The surgical operations department of the Cleveland Clinic initiated a quality improvement project aimed at applying a scientific method to operating room staffing. One goal was to provide a defensible plan for allocating direct caregiver positions. A second goal was to provide a quick and easy way for nurse managers and directors to track positions and graphically depict the effect of vacancies and orientation on their staffing budgets. Using an objective, scientific method allows position requests to be approved quickly and allows managers to feel much more comfortable functioning in a "lean" mode because they know needed positions will be approved quickly. Managers and directors also have found that graphically depicting numbers of vacant positions, as well as staff in orientation, could quickly relate a story visually rather than getting "bogged down" in narrative (often losing finance administrators along the way).

The Neotoma Paleoecology Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grimm, E. C.; Ashworth, A. C.; Barnosky, A. D.; Betancourt, J. L.; Bills, B.; Booth, R.; Blois, J.; Charles, D. F.; Graham, R. W.; Goring, S. J.; Hausmann, S.; Smith, A. J.; Williams, J. W.; Buckland, P.

2015-12-01

The Neotoma Paleoecology Database (www.neotomadb.org) is a multiproxy, open-access, relational database that includes fossil data for the past 5 million years (the late Neogene and Quaternary Periods). Modern distributional data for various organisms are also being made available for calibration and paleoecological analyses. The project is a collaborative effort among individuals from more than 20 institutions worldwide, including domain scientists representing a spectrum of Pliocene-Quaternary fossil data types, as well as experts in information technology. Working groups are active for diatoms, insects, ostracodes, pollen and plant macroscopic remains, testate amoebae, rodent middens, vertebrates, age models, geochemistry and taphonomy. Groups are also active in developing online tools for data analyses and for developing modules for teaching at different levels. A key design concept of NeotomaDB is that stewards for various data types are able to remotely upload and manage data. Cooperatives for different kinds of paleo data, or from different regions, can appoint their own stewards. Over the past year, much progress has been made on development of the steward software-interface that will enable this capability. The steward interface uses web services that provide access to the database. More generally, these web services enable remote programmatic access to the database, which both desktop and web applications can use and which provide real-time access to the most current data. Use of these services can alleviate the need to download the entire database, which can be out-of-date as soon as new data are entered. In general, the Neotoma web services deliver data either from an entire table or from the results of a view. Upon request, new web services can be quickly generated. Future developments will likely expand the spatial and temporal dimensions of the database. NeotomaDB is open to receiving new datasets and stewards from the global Quaternary community. Research is supported by NSF EAR-0622349.

Accessing Information on the Mars Exploration Rovers Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walton, J. D.; Schreiner, J. A.

2005-12-01

In January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission successfully deployed two robotic geologists - Spirit and Opportunity - to opposite sides of the red planet. Onboard each rover is an array of cameras and scientific instruments that send data back to Earth, where ground-based systems process and store the information. During the height of the mission, a team of about 250 scientists and engineers worked around the clock to analyze the collected data, determine a strategy and activities for the next day and then carefully compose the command sequences that would instruct the rovers in how to perform their tasks. The scientists and engineers had to work closely together to balance the science objectives with the engineering constraints so that the mission achieved its goals safely and quickly. To accomplish this coordinated effort, they adhered to a tightly orchestrated schedule of meetings and processes. To keep on time, it was critical that all team members were aware of what was happening, knew how much time they had to complete their tasks, and could easily access the information they need to do their jobs. Computer scientists and software engineers at NASA Ames Research Center worked closely with the mission managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to create applications that support the mission. One such application, the Collaborative Information Portal (CIP), helps mission personnel perform their daily tasks, whether they work inside mission control or the science areas at JPL, or in their homes, schools, or offices. With a three-tiered, service-oriented architecture (SOA) - client, middleware, and data repository - built using Java and commercial software, CIP provides secure access to mission schedules and to data and images transmitted from the Mars rovers. This services-based approach proved highly effective for building distributed, flexible applications, and is forming the basis for the design of future mission software systems. Almost two years after the landings on Mars, the rovers are still going strong, and CIP continues to provide data access to mission personnel.

Accessing Suomi NPP OMPS Products Through the GES DISC Online Data Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, J. E.; Wei, J. C.; Garasimov, I.; Vollmer, B.

2017-12-01

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is the primary archive of the latest versions of atmospheric composition data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) mission. OMPS consists of three spectrometers: a Nadir Mapper (300-420 nm) with 50×50 km2 resolution and 2600 km wide swath, a Nadir Profiler (250-310 nm) with 250×250 km2 footprint, and a three-slit Limb Profiler (290-1000 nm) making 3 vertical profiles spaced about 250 km apart with 1-2 km vertical resolution up to 65 km altitude. OMPS measures primarily ozone, both total column and vertical profiles, but also includes measurements of NO2 and SO2 total and tropospheric columns, aerosol extinction profiles. Also available from OMPS are the Level-1B calibrated and geolocated radiances. All data products are generated at the OMPS Science Investigator Processing System (SIPS) at NASA/GSFC. This presentation will provide an overview of the OMPS products available at the GES DISC archive, as well as demonstrate the various data services provided by the GES DISC. Traditionally users have accessed data by downloading data files using anonymous FTP. Although one may still download the full OMPS data products from the archive (using HTTPS instead), the GES DISC now also offers online data services that allow users to not have to physically download the full data files to their desktop computer. Users can access the data through a desktop client tool (such as IDL, Matlab or Panoply) using OPeNDAP. Other data services include file subsetters (spatially, temporally, and/or by variable), as well as data visualization and exploration services for users to preview or quickly analyze the data. Since TOMS and EOS Aura data products are also available from the GES DISC archive, these can be easily accessed and compared with the OMPS data.

ATACseqQC: a Bioconductor package for post-alignment quality assessment of ATAC-seq data.

PubMed

Ou, Jianhong; Liu, Haibo; Yu, Jun; Kelliher, Michelle A; Castilla, Lucio H; Lawson, Nathan D; Zhu, Lihua Julie

2018-03-01

ATAC-seq (Assays for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing) is a recently developed technique for genome-wide analysis of chromatin accessibility. Compared to earlier methods for assaying chromatin accessibility, ATAC-seq is faster and easier to perform, does not require cross-linking, has higher signal to noise ratio, and can be performed on small cell numbers. However, to ensure a successful ATAC-seq experiment, step-by-step quality assurance processes, including both wet lab quality control and in silico quality assessment, are essential. While several tools have been developed or adopted for assessing read quality, identifying nucleosome occupancy and accessible regions from ATAC-seq data, none of the tools provide a comprehensive set of functionalities for preprocessing and quality assessment of aligned ATAC-seq datasets. We have developed a Bioconductor package, ATACseqQC, for easily generating various diagnostic plots to help researchers quickly assess the quality of their ATAC-seq data. In addition, this package contains functions to preprocess aligned ATAC-seq data for subsequent peak calling. Here we demonstrate the utilities of our package using 25 publicly available ATAC-seq datasets from four studies. We also provide guidelines on what the diagnostic plots should look like for an ideal ATAC-seq dataset. This software package has been used successfully for preprocessing and assessing several in-house and public ATAC-seq datasets. Diagnostic plots generated by this package will facilitate the quality assessment of ATAC-seq data, and help researchers to evaluate their own ATAC-seq experiments as well as select high-quality ATAC-seq datasets from public repositories such as GEO to avoid generating hypotheses or drawing conclusions from low-quality ATAC-seq experiments. The software, source code, and documentation are freely available as a Bioconductor package at https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ATACseqQC.html .

A review of Grey and academic literature of evaluation guidance relevant to public health interventions.

PubMed

Denford, Sarah; Abraham, Charles; Callaghan, Margaret; Aighton, Peter; De Vocht, Frank; Arris, Steven

2017-09-12

Public Health evaluation is essential to understanding what does and does not work, and robust demonstration of effectiveness may be crucial to securing future funding. Despite this, programs are often implemented with poor, incomplete or no evaluation. Public health practitioners are frequently required to provide evidence for the effectiveness of their services; thus, there is a growing need for evaluation guidance on how to evaluate public health programs. The aim of this study is to identify accessible high-quality, evaluation guidance, available to researchers and practitioners and to catalogue, summarise and categorise the content of a subset of accessible, quality guides to evaluation. We systematically reviewed grey and academic literature for documents providing support for evaluation of complex health interventions. Searches were conducted January to March 2015, and included academic databases, internet search engines, and consultations with academic and practicing public health experts. Data were extracted by two authors and sent to the authors of the guidance documents for comments. Our initial search identified 402 unique documents that were screened to identify those that were (1) developed by or for a national or international organization (2) freely available to all (3) published during or after 2000 (4) specific to public health. This yielded 98 documents from 43 organisations. Of these, 48 were reviewed in detail. This generated a detailed catalogue of quality evaluation guidance. The content included in documents covers 37 facets of evaluation. A wide range of guidance on evaluation of public health initiatives is available. Time and knowledge constraints may mean that busy practitioners find it challenging to access the most, up-to-date, relevant and useful guidance. This review presents links to and reviews of 48 quality guides to evaluation as well as categorising their content. This facilitates quick and each access to multiple selected sources of specific guidance.

A Complete Image Management and Communications Network for the Neuroradiology Service at Georgetown University Hospital

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horii, Steven C.; Muraki, Alan; Mallon-Ingeholm, Mary L.; Mun, Seong K.; Clark, Letitia; Schellinger, Dieter

1989-05-01

A complete image management and communications system has been installed at Georgetown University Hospital (GUH). The network is based on the A T & T CommView System. In the Neuroradiology Division, this comprehensive network supports a multiscreen workstation with access to multiple imaging modalities such as CT and MRI from both the hospital and a remote imaging center. In addition, the radiologist can access these images from various workstations located throughout the hospital as well as from remote sites such as the home. Among the radiology services supported by the network, neuroradiology has the greatest need for such a system with extensive daily requirements involving the remote imaging center and on-line consultation around the clock. By providing neuroradiology with all available communication links, the radiologist can monitor, diagnose, and consult. The remote site has a subsystem capable of acquiring images and transmitting them over a high speed T1 data circuit. The GUH neuroradiologist can view these images on the neuro workstation or any of the workstations available in the Hospital. Fast and easy access to the images allows a radiologist to monitor multiple examinations as well as to utilize the workstation for diagnosis. To provide the neuroradiologist quick access to images at all times, a PC-based Results Viewing Station (RVS) has been placed in a doctor's home. Images may be sent to the RVS, or the user may request images from the central database at the hospital. Images can be viewed at home either as they are transmitted, or following transfer of a whole study. The efficiency and effectiveness of the system's capabilities with special regard to remote and teleradiology (RVS) operations have been studied for the neuroradiology service. This paper will discuss the current clinical acceptance and use, problems in implementation, and ways these difficulties are being surmounted.

2013 Vehicle Theft Prevention Quick Reference Guide for the Law Enforcement Community

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-08-01

"This and future versions of the Vehicle TheftPrevention Quick Reference Guide for the Law Enforcement Community will provide comprehensive information for vehicle lines. The parts-marking requirements have been : extended to include: : all passe...

A Quality-Control-Oriented Database for a Mesoscale Meteorological Observation Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lussana, C.; Ranci, M.; Uboldi, F.

2012-04-01

In the operational context of a local weather service, data accessibility and quality related issues must be managed by taking into account a wide set of user needs. This work describes the structure and the operational choices made for the operational implementation of a database system storing data from highly automated observing stations, metadata and information on data quality. Lombardy's environmental protection agency, ARPA Lombardia, manages a highly automated mesoscale meteorological network. A Quality Assurance System (QAS) ensures that reliable observational information is collected and disseminated to the users. The weather unit in ARPA Lombardia, at the same time an important QAS component and an intensive data user, has developed a database specifically aimed to: 1) providing quick access to data for operational activities and 2) ensuring data quality for real-time applications, by means of an Automatic Data Quality Control (ADQC) procedure. Quantities stored in the archive include hourly aggregated observations of: precipitation amount, temperature, wind, relative humidity, pressure, global and net solar radiation. The ADQC performs several independent tests on raw data and compares their results in a decision-making procedure. An important ADQC component is the Spatial Consistency Test based on Optimal Interpolation. Interpolated and Cross-Validation analysis values are also stored in the database, providing further information to human operators and useful estimates in case of missing data. The technical solution adopted is based on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php) system, constituting an open source environment suitable for both development and operational practice. The ADQC procedure itself is performed by R scripts directly interacting with the MySQL database. Users and network managers can access the database by using a set of web-based Php applications.

Estimating Discharge and Nonpoint Source Nitrate Loading to Streams From Three End-Member Pathways Using High-Frequency Water Quality Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Matthew P.; Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Hood, Krista; Terziotti, Silvia; Wolock, David M.

2017-12-01

The myriad hydrologic and biogeochemical processes taking place in watersheds occurring across space and time are integrated and reflected in the quantity and quality of water in streams and rivers. Collection of high-frequency water quality data with sensors in surface waters provides new opportunities to disentangle these processes and quantify sources and transport of water and solutes in the coupled groundwater-surface water system. A new approach for separating the streamflow hydrograph into three components was developed and coupled with high-frequency nitrate data to estimate time-variable nitrate loads from chemically dilute quick flow, chemically concentrated quick flow, and slowflow groundwater end-member pathways for periods of up to 2 years in a groundwater-dominated and a quick-flow-dominated stream in central Wisconsin, using only streamflow and in-stream water quality data. The dilute and concentrated quick flow end-members were distinguished using high-frequency specific conductance data. Results indicate that dilute quick flow contributed less than 5% of the nitrate load at both sites, whereas 89 ± 8% of the nitrate load at the groundwater-dominated stream was from slowflow groundwater, and 84 ± 25% of the nitrate load at the quick-flow-dominated stream was from concentrated quick flow. Concentrated quick flow nitrate concentrations varied seasonally at both sites, with peak concentrations in the winter that were 2-3 times greater than minimum concentrations during the growing season. Application of this approach provides an opportunity to assess stream vulnerability to nonpoint source nitrate loading and expected stream responses to current or changing conditions and practices in watersheds.

Thermal Protection System Imagery Inspection Management System -TIIMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goza, Sharon; Melendrez, David L.; Henningan, Marsha; LaBasse, Daniel; Smith, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

TIIMS is used during the inspection phases of every mission to provide quick visual feedback, detailed inspection data, and determination to the mission management team. This system consists of a visual Web page interface, an SQL database, and a graphical image generator. These combine to allow a user to ascertain quickly the status of the inspection process, and current determination of any problem zones. The TIIMS system allows inspection engineers to enter their determinations into a database and to link pertinent images and video to those database entries. The database then assigns criteria to each zone and tile, and via query, sends the information to a graphical image generation program. Using the official TIPS database tile positions and sizes, the graphical image generation program creates images of the current status of the orbiter, coloring zones, and tiles based on a predefined key code. These images are then displayed on a Web page using customized JAVA scripts to display the appropriate zone of the orbiter based on the location of the user's cursor. The close-up graphic and database entry for that particular zone can then be seen by selecting the zone. This page contains links into the database to access the images used by the inspection engineer when they make the determination entered into the database. Status for the inspection zones changes as determinations are refined and shown by the appropriate color code.

[CIRRNET® - learning from errors, a success story].

PubMed

Frank, O; Hochreutener, M; Wiederkehr, P; Staender, S

2012-06-01

CIRRNET® is the network of local error-reporting systems of the Swiss Patient Safety Foundation. The network has been running since 2006 together with the Swiss Society for Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation (SGAR), and network participants currently include 39 healthcare institutions from all four different language regions of Switzerland. Further institutions can join at any time. Local error reports in CIRRNET® are bundled at a supraregional level, categorised in accordance with the WHO classification, and analysed by medical experts. The CIRRNET® database offers a solid pool of data with error reports from a wide range of medical specialist's areas and provides the basis for identifying relevant problem areas in patient safety. These problem areas are then processed in cooperation with specialists with extremely varied areas of expertise, and recommendations for avoiding these errors are developed by changing care processes (Quick-Alerts®). Having been approved by medical associations and professional medical societies, Quick-Alerts® are widely supported and well accepted in professional circles. The CIRRNET® database also enables any affiliated CIRRNET® participant to access all error reports in the 'closed user area' of the CIRRNET® homepage and to use these error reports for in-house training. A healthcare institution does not have to make every mistake itself - it can learn from the errors of others, compare notes with other healthcare institutions, and use existing knowledge to advance its own patient safety.

Q.U.E.S.T. An Interactive Earth Science Study Tool: Connecting Real Students to Digital Libraries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, A.; Danowski, D.; Brindisi, C.; Sandvol, C.; Seber, D.

2001-05-01

Quick Use Earth Study Tool (QUEST) is an experimental educational interface to the Cornell University's Geoscience Information System (http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu). The information system currently includes more than 100 geographic, geologic, and geophysical data sets along with World Wide Web based interactive mapping tools for data display and analysis. The system is GIS based and accessible via any web browser that support Java applets. QUEST is the companion module that has been developed to assist educators who wish to use these data to their fullest potential, providing tutorials, sample exercises, and suggested projects. Clearly, students learn best when they engage in the practice of science. One means to accomplish this is to have students access primary scientific data. Our experience suggests that a structured exploration of original data sets enhances student learning. For this reason we have selected a subset of Cornell's available geoscience data, and have designed a series of activities that allow students to explore dynamic Earth processes. Currently, these data include the ISC seismicity catalog, volcanism data from the Smithsonian Institution, and digital topography from the USGS and NOAA. The QUEST interface allows students to query the data sets based on a variety of criteria (e.g., earthquakes can be sorted by date, magnitude, depth, and location), or perform computations on data (e.g., sea level can be interactively mapped at any elevation on the DEM). Because the system is GIS-based, multiple data sets can be displayed simultaneously in order for users to examine the spatial relationships between geological features. Users can zoom in to regions of interest, and a map history window keeps track of student work so that comparisons are easily made. QUEST is accompanied by a Teacher's Manual to assist teachers in extracting the most information from the available data and tools. Through these efforts we hope to provide teachers and students with access to a wide variety of data applicable to problems in Earth science, along with the ability to easily display and analyze multiple data types--thus providing all users with access to state-of-the-art information.

The OrbitOutlook Data Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czajkowski, M.; Shilliday, A.; LoFaso, N.; Dipon, A.; Van Brackle, D.

2016-09-01

In this paper, we describe and depict the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s OrbitOutlook Data Archive (OODA) architecture. OODA is the infrastructure that DARPA's OrbitOutlook program has developed to integrate diverse data from various academic, commercial, government, and amateur space situational awareness (SSA) telescopes. At the heart of the OODA system is its world model - a distributed data store built to quickly query big data quantities of information spread out across multiple processing nodes and data centers. The world model applies a multi-index approach where each index is a distinct view on the data. This allows for analysts and analytics (algorithms) to access information through queries with a variety of terms that may be of interest to them. Our indices include: a structured global-graph view of knowledge, a keyword search of data content, an object-characteristic range search, and a geospatial-temporal orientation of spatially located data. In addition, the world model applies a federated approach by connecting to existing databases and integrating them into one single interface as a "one-stop shopping place" to access SSA information. In addition to the world model, OODA provides a processing platform for various analysts to explore and analytics to execute upon this data. Analytic algorithms can use OODA to take raw data and build information from it. They can store these products back into the world model, allowing analysts to gain situational awareness with this information. Analysts in turn would help decision makers use this knowledge to address a wide range of SSA problems. OODA is designed to make it easy for software developers who build graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and algorithms to quickly get started with working with this data. This is done through a multi-language software development kit that includes multiple application program interfaces (APIs) and a data model with SSA concepts and terms such as: space observation, observable, measurable, metadata, track, space object, catalog, expectation, and maneuver.

Environmental Information Management For Data Discovery and Access System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giriprakash, P.

2011-01-01

Mercury is a federated metadata harvesting, search and retrieval tool based on both open source software and software developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was originally developed for NASA, and the Mercury development consortium now includes funding from NASA, USGS, and DOE. A major new version of Mercury was developed during 2007 and released in early 2008. This new version provides orders of magnitude improvements in search speed, support for additional metadata formats, integration with Google Maps for spatial queries, support for RSS delivery of search results, and ready customization to meet the needs of the multiple projects which use Mercury. For the end users, Mercury provides a single portal to very quickly search for data and information contained in disparate data management systems. It collects metadata and key data from contributing project servers distributed around the world and builds a centralized index. The Mercury search interfaces then allow ! the users to perform simple, fielded, spatial and temporal searches across these metadata sources. This centralized repository of metadata with distributed data sources provides extremely fast search results to the user, while allowing data providers to advertise the availability of their data and maintain complete control and ownership of that data.

Using ZFIN: Data Types, Organization, and Retrieval.

PubMed

Van Slyke, Ceri E; Bradford, Yvonne M; Howe, Douglas G; Fashena, David S; Ramachandran, Sridhar; Ruzicka, Leyla

2018-01-01

The Zebrafish Model Organism Database (ZFIN; zfin.org) was established in 1994 as the primary genetic and genomic resource for the zebrafish research community. Some of the earliest records in ZFIN were for people and laboratories. Since that time, services and data types provided by ZFIN have grown considerably. Today, ZFIN provides the official nomenclature for zebrafish genes, mutants, and transgenics and curates many data types including gene expression, phenotypes, Gene Ontology, models of human disease, orthology, knockdown reagents, transgenic constructs, and antibodies. Ontologies are used throughout ZFIN to structure these expertly curated data. An integrated genome browser provides genomic context for genes, transgenics, mutants, and knockdown reagents. ZFIN also supports a community wiki where the research community can post new antibody records and research protocols. Data in ZFIN are accessible via web pages, download files, and the ZebrafishMine (zebrafishmine.org), an installation of the InterMine data warehousing software. Searching for data at ZFIN utilizes both parameterized search forms and a single box search for searching or browsing data quickly. This chapter aims to describe the primary ZFIN data and services, and provide insight into how to use and interpret ZFIN searches, data, and web pages.

The Small Bodies Imager Browser --- finding asteroid and comet images without pain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmer, E.; Sykes, M.; Davis, D.; Neese, C.

2014-07-01

To facilitate accessing and downloading spatially resolved imagery of asteroids and comets in the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS), we have created the Small Bodies Image Browser. It is a HTML5 webpage that runs inside a standard web browser needing no installation (http://sbn.psi.edu/sbib/). The volume of data returned by spacecraft missions has grown substantially over the last decade. While this wealth of data provides scientists with ample support for research, it has greatly increased the difficulty of managing, accessing and processing these data. Further, the complexity necessary for a long-term archive results in an architecture that is efficient for computers, but not user friendly. The Small Bodies Image Browser (SBIB) is tied into the PDS archive of the Small Bodies Asteroid Subnode hosted at the Planetary Science Institute [1]. Currently, the tool contains the entire repository of the Dawn mission's encounter with Vesta [2], and we will be adding other datasets in the future. For Vesta, this includes both the level 1A and 1B images for the Framing Camera (FC) and the level 1B spectral cubes from the Visual and Infrared (VIR) spectrometer, providing over 30,000 individual images. A key strength of the tool is providing quick and easy access of these data. The tool allows for searches based on clicking on a map or typing in coordinates. The SBIB can show an entire mission phase (such as cycle 7 of the Low Altitude Mapping Orbit) and the associated footprints, as well as search by image name. It can focus the search by mission phase, resolution or instrument. Imagery archived in the PDS are generally provided by missions in a single or narrow range of formats. To enhance the value and usability of this data to researchers, SBIB makes these available in these original formats as well as PNG, JPEG and ArcGIS compatible ISIS cubes [3]. Additionally, we provide header files for the VIR cubes so they can be read into ENVI without additional processing. Finally, we also provide both camera-based and map-projected products with geometric data embedded for use within ArcGIS and ISIS. We use the Gaskell shape model for terrain projections [4]. There are several other outstanding data analysis tools that have access to asteroid and comet data: JAsteroid (a derivative of JMARS [5]) and the Applied Physics Laboratory's Small Body Mapping Tool [6]. The SBIB has specifically focused on providing data in the easiest manner possible rather than trying to be an analytical tool.

Mobile medical image retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duc, Samuel; Depeursinge, Adrien; Eggel, Ivan; Müller, Henning

2011-03-01

Images are an integral part of medical practice for diagnosis, treatment planning and teaching. Image retrieval has gained in importance mainly as a research domain over the past 20 years. Both textual and visual retrieval of images are essential. In the process of mobile devices becoming reliable and having a functionality equaling that of formerly desktop clients, mobile computing has gained ground and many applications have been explored. This creates a new field of mobile information search & access and in this context images can play an important role as they often allow understanding complex scenarios much quicker and easier than free text. Mobile information retrieval in general has skyrocketed over the past year with many new applications and tools being developed and all sorts of interfaces being adapted to mobile clients. This article describes constraints of an information retrieval system including visual and textual information retrieval from the medical literature of BioMedCentral and of the RSNA journals Radiology and Radiographics. Solutions for mobile data access with an example on an iPhone in a web-based environment are presented as iPhones are frequently used and the operating system is bound to become the most frequent smartphone operating system in 2011. A web-based scenario was chosen to allow for a use by other smart phone platforms such as Android as well. Constraints of small screens and navigation with touch screens are taken into account in the development of the application. A hybrid choice had to be taken to allow for taking pictures with the cell phone camera and upload them for visual similarity search as most producers of smart phones block this functionality to web applications. Mobile information access and in particular access to images can be surprisingly efficient and effective on smaller screens. Images can be read on screen much faster and relevance of documents can be identified quickly through the use of images contained in the text. Problems with the many, often incompatible mobile platforms were discovered and are listed in the text. Mobile information access is a quickly growing domain and the constraints of mobile access also need to be taken into account for image retrieval. The demonstrated access to the medical literature is most relevant as the medical literature and their images are clearly the largest knowledge source in the medical field.

A Quick Reference on Magnesium.

PubMed

Bateman, Shane W

2017-03-01

This article serves as a quick reference on the distribution, handling, and supplementation of magnesium. It also lists the manifestations and causes of magnesium deficit and provides criteria for the diagnosis of a magnesium deficit. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cloud BioLinux: pre-configured and on-demand bioinformatics computing for the genomics community.

PubMed

Krampis, Konstantinos; Booth, Tim; Chapman, Brad; Tiwari, Bela; Bicak, Mesude; Field, Dawn; Nelson, Karen E

2012-03-19

A steep drop in the cost of next-generation sequencing during recent years has made the technology affordable to the majority of researchers, but downstream bioinformatic analysis still poses a resource bottleneck for smaller laboratories and institutes that do not have access to substantial computational resources. Sequencing instruments are typically bundled with only the minimal processing and storage capacity required for data capture during sequencing runs. Given the scale of sequence datasets, scientific value cannot be obtained from acquiring a sequencer unless it is accompanied by an equal investment in informatics infrastructure. Cloud BioLinux is a publicly accessible Virtual Machine (VM) that enables scientists to quickly provision on-demand infrastructures for high-performance bioinformatics computing using cloud platforms. Users have instant access to a range of pre-configured command line and graphical software applications, including a full-featured desktop interface, documentation and over 135 bioinformatics packages for applications including sequence alignment, clustering, assembly, display, editing, and phylogeny. Each tool's functionality is fully described in the documentation directly accessible from the graphical interface of the VM. Besides the Amazon EC2 cloud, we have started instances of Cloud BioLinux on a private Eucalyptus cloud installed at the J. Craig Venter Institute, and demonstrated access to the bioinformatic tools interface through a remote connection to EC2 instances from a local desktop computer. Documentation for using Cloud BioLinux on EC2 is available from our project website, while a Eucalyptus cloud image and VirtualBox Appliance is also publicly available for download and use by researchers with access to private clouds. Cloud BioLinux provides a platform for developing bioinformatics infrastructures on the cloud. An automated and configurable process builds Virtual Machines, allowing the development of highly customized versions from a shared code base. This shared community toolkit enables application specific analysis platforms on the cloud by minimizing the effort required to prepare and maintain them.

Cloud BioLinux: pre-configured and on-demand bioinformatics computing for the genomics community

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background A steep drop in the cost of next-generation sequencing during recent years has made the technology affordable to the majority of researchers, but downstream bioinformatic analysis still poses a resource bottleneck for smaller laboratories and institutes that do not have access to substantial computational resources. Sequencing instruments are typically bundled with only the minimal processing and storage capacity required for data capture during sequencing runs. Given the scale of sequence datasets, scientific value cannot be obtained from acquiring a sequencer unless it is accompanied by an equal investment in informatics infrastructure. Results Cloud BioLinux is a publicly accessible Virtual Machine (VM) that enables scientists to quickly provision on-demand infrastructures for high-performance bioinformatics computing using cloud platforms. Users have instant access to a range of pre-configured command line and graphical software applications, including a full-featured desktop interface, documentation and over 135 bioinformatics packages for applications including sequence alignment, clustering, assembly, display, editing, and phylogeny. Each tool's functionality is fully described in the documentation directly accessible from the graphical interface of the VM. Besides the Amazon EC2 cloud, we have started instances of Cloud BioLinux on a private Eucalyptus cloud installed at the J. Craig Venter Institute, and demonstrated access to the bioinformatic tools interface through a remote connection to EC2 instances from a local desktop computer. Documentation for using Cloud BioLinux on EC2 is available from our project website, while a Eucalyptus cloud image and VirtualBox Appliance is also publicly available for download and use by researchers with access to private clouds. Conclusions Cloud BioLinux provides a platform for developing bioinformatics infrastructures on the cloud. An automated and configurable process builds Virtual Machines, allowing the development of highly customized versions from a shared code base. This shared community toolkit enables application specific analysis platforms on the cloud by minimizing the effort required to prepare and maintain them. PMID:22429538

Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness of the QuickDASH in Patients With Upper Limb Amputation.

PubMed

Resnik, Linda; Borgia, Matthew

2015-09-01

To examine the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the shortened version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) questionnaire in persons with upper limb amputation. Cross-sectional and longitudinal. Three sites participating in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Home Study of the DEKA Arm. A convenience sample of upper limb amputees (N=44). Training with a multifunction upper limb prosthesis. Multiple outcome measures including the QuickDASH were administered twice within 1 week, and for a subset of 20 persons, after completion of in-laboratory training with the DEKA Arm. Scale alphas and intraclass correlation coefficient type 3,1 (ICC3,1) were used to examine reliability. Minimum detectable change (MDC) scores were calculated. Analyses of variance, comparing QuickDASH scores by the amount of prosthetic use and amputation level, were used for known-group validity analyses with alpha set at .05. Pairwise correlations between QuickDASH and other measures were used to examine concurrent validity. Responsiveness was measured by effect size (ES) and standardized response mean (SRM). QuickDASH alpha was .83, and ICC was .87 (95% confidence interval, .77-.93). MDC at the 95% confidence level (MDC95%) was 17.4. Full- or part-time prosthesis users had better QuickDASH scores compared with nonprosthesis users (P=.021), as did those with more distal amputations at both baseline (P=.042) and with the DEKA Arm (P=.024). The QuickDASH was correlated with concurrent measures of activity limitation as expected. The ES and SRM after training with the DEKA Arm were 0.6. This study provides evidence of reliability and validity of the QuickDASH in persons with upper limb amputation. Results provide preliminary evidence of responsiveness to prosthetic device type/training. Further research with a larger sample is needed to confirm results. Copyright © 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trends in biomedical informatics: most cited topics from recent years

PubMed Central

Kim, Hyeon-Eui; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Kim, Jihoon

2011-01-01

Biomedical informatics is a young, highly interdisciplinary field that is evolving quickly. It is important to know which published topics in generalist biomedical informatics journals elicit the most interest from the scientific community, and whether this interest changes over time, so that journals can better serve their readers. It is also important to understand whether free access to biomedical informatics articles impacts their citation rates in a significant way, so authors can make informed decisions about unlock fees, and journal owners and publishers understand the implications of open access. The topics and JAMIA articles from years 2009 and 2010 that have been most cited according to the Web of Science are described. To better understand the effects of free access in article dissemination, the number of citations per month after publication for articles published in 2009 versus 2010 was compared, since there was a significant change in free access to JAMIA articles between those years. Results suggest that there is a positive association between free access and citation rate for JAMIA articles. PMID:22180873

The impact of expired and empty quick-relief asthma inhalers: The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's Asthma Inhaler Design Survey.

PubMed

Storms, William W; Tringale, Mike; Ferro, Thomas J

2015-01-01

Despite the available treatments, asthma remains a serious illness, with a considerable socioeconomic burden associated with a high number of unscheduled visits to the emergency department (ED). Poor adherence and inadequate inhaler technique are contributing factors to poor asthma management and control. The Asthma Inhaler Design Survey assessed the behaviors, attitudes, needs, and preferences of patients with asthma and their caregivers with regard to quick-relief inhaler usage and device design. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America invited 19,157 adult patients and parents of children with asthma to take part in an online survey that focused on previous asthma diagnosis, symptom severity, and quick-relief and controller medication use. Opinions were also collected. Data from 590 respondents (366 adults; 224 children) were included in the final analysis. Relief inhalers were needed and found to be past the expiration date by 284 of 561 (50.6%) and relief inhalers were found to be empty by 270 of 560 (48.2%). Of the empty inhaler group, 28 of 270 (10.4%) had to visit the ED for treatment, 18 of 270 (6.7%) missed work or school for an unscheduled physician office visit, and 54 of 270 (20%) went without treatment. Although 78.5% indicated that they had at least two quick-relief inhalers nearby, these were not always easily accessible. Few respondents (194/578 [33.6%]) indicated that they and/or their child were very confident that they were using their inhaler properly, even though the majority had received some instruction. When asked what they would do to improve satisfaction with their quick-relief inhalers, 173 of 558 (31%) responded that they would add a dose counter. Unnecessary health care utilization and avoidable loss of time at work or school were associated with the lack of full availability of properly functioning quick-relief inhalers when needed. Adding a dose counter was the most frequently cited response for improving satisfaction with quick-relief inhalers. Confidence about proper inhaler use was low, despite previous instruction.

Quick-Reaction Report on the Audit of ReCoupment Actions on Medicine Payments to Uniformed Services Treatment Facilities.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-07-21

OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL QUICK-REACTION REPORT ON THE AUDIT OF RECOUPMENT ACTIONS ON MEDICARE PAYMENTS TO UNIFORMED SERVICES TREATMENT...Quick-Reaction Report on the Audit of Recoupment Actions on Medicare Payments to Uniformed Services Treatment Facilities (Report No. 93-150) We are...Inspectors General will provide a joint report to the congressional committees that requested the audit . The courtesies extended to the audit staff

MESAFace, a graphical interface to analyze the MESA output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannotti, M.; Wise, M.; Mohammed, A.

2013-04-01

MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) has become very popular among astrophysicists as a powerful and reliable code to simulate stellar evolution. Analyzing the output data thoroughly may, however, present some challenges and be rather time-consuming. Here we describe MESAFace, a graphical and dynamical interface which provides an intuitive, efficient and quick way to analyze the MESA output. Catalogue identifier: AEOQ_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEOQ_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.html No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 19165 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 6300592 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Mathematica. Computer: Any computer capable of running Mathematica. Operating system: Any capable of running Mathematica. Tested on Linux, Mac, Windows XP, Windows 7. RAM: Recommended 2 Gigabytes or more. Supplementary material: Additional test data files are available. Classification: 1.7, 14. Nature of problem: Find a way to quickly and thoroughly analyze the output of a MESA run, including all the profiles, and have an efficient method to produce graphical representations of the data. Solution method: We created two scripts (to be run consecutively). The first one downloads all the data from a MESA run and organizes the profiles in order of age. All the files are saved as tables or arrays of tables which can then be accessed very quickly by Mathematica. The second script uses the Manipulate function to create a graphical interface which allows the user to choose what to plot from a set of menus and buttons. The information shown is updated in real time. The user can access very quickly all the data from the run under examination and visualize it with plots and tables. Unusual features: Moving the slides in certain regions may cause an error message. This happens when Mathematica is asked to read nonexistent data. The error message, however, disappears when the slides are moved back. This issue does not preclude the good functioning of the interface. Additional comments: The program uses the dynamical capabilities of Mathematica. When the program is opened, Mathematica prompts the user to “Enable Dynamics”. It is necessary to accept before proceeding. Running time: Depends on the size of the data downloaded, on where the data are stored (hard-drive or web), and on the speed of the computer or network connection. In general, downloading the data may take from a minute to several minutes. Loading directly from the web is slower. For example, downloading a 200 MB data folder (a total of 102 files) with a dual-core Intel laptop, P8700, 2 GB of RAM, at 2.53 GHz took about a minute from the hard-drive and about 23 min from the web (with a basic home wireless connection).

OlyMPUS - The Ontology-based Metadata Portal for Unified Semantics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffer, E.; Gleason, J. L.

2015-12-01

The Ontology-based Metadata Portal for Unified Semantics (OlyMPUS), funded by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office Advanced Information Systems Technology program, is an end-to-end system designed to support data consumers and data providers, enabling the latter to register their data sets and provision them with the semantically rich metadata that drives the Ontology-Driven Interactive Search Environment for Earth Sciences (ODISEES). OlyMPUS leverages the semantics and reasoning capabilities of ODISEES to provide data producers with a semi-automated interface for producing the semantically rich metadata needed to support ODISEES' data discovery and access services. It integrates the ODISEES metadata search system with multiple NASA data delivery tools to enable data consumers to create customized data sets for download to their computers, or for NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility registered users, directly to NAS storage resources for access by applications running on NAS supercomputers. A core function of NASA's Earth Science Division is research and analysis that uses the full spectrum of data products available in NASA archives. Scientists need to perform complex analyses that identify correlations and non-obvious relationships across all types of Earth System phenomena. Comprehensive analytics are hindered, however, by the fact that many Earth science data products are disparate and hard to synthesize. Variations in how data are collected, processed, gridded, and stored, create challenges for data interoperability and synthesis, which are exacerbated by the sheer volume of available data. Robust, semantically rich metadata can support tools for data discovery and facilitate machine-to-machine transactions with services such as data subsetting, regridding, and reformatting. Such capabilities are critical to enabling the research activities integral to NASA's strategic plans. However, as metadata requirements increase and competing standards emerge, metadata provisioning becomes increasingly burdensome to data producers. The OlyMPUS system helps data providers produce semantically rich metadata, making their data more accessible to data consumers, and helps data consumers quickly discover and download the right data for their research.

Development of the AFRL Aircrew Perfomance and Protection Data Bank

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

Growth model and statistical model of hypobaric chamber simulations. It offers a quick and readily accessible online DCS risk assessment tool for...are used for the DCS prediction instead of the original model. ADRAC is based on more than 20 years of hypobaric chamber studies using human...prediction based on the combined Bubble Growth model and statistical model of hypobaric chamber simulations was integrated into the Data Bank. It

Agile Airmen: Developing the Capacity to Quickly Create Innovative Ideas

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-23

economic growth.26 In contrast, a 2008 statistical analysis finds a high correlation to economic growth. Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann studied... Hanushek and Woessmann analysis identified STEM leaders as vital to America‟s long-term prosperity, but having quality teachers who can teach STEM...accessed November 10, 2010). 27 Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, "Do Better Schools Lead to More Growth? Cognitive Skills, Economic Outcomes

Liver Rapid Reference Set Application: Hiro Yamada - Wako (2011) — EDRN Public Portal

Cancer.gov

Measure clinical effectiveness of AFP-L3 and DCP for early detection of HCC in patient samples collected prospectively during surveillance. However since such samples are not readily available in the USA the reference set samples are well characterized and studied, gaining access to these samples will allow Wako to quickly measure clinical effectiveness of AFP-L3 and DCP in detecting early HCC.

Designing and Implementing a Clinician Workstation

PubMed Central

Tape, Thomas G.; Campbell, James R.

1993-01-01

We describe a simple approach to designing and quickly implementing a clinician workstation that helps practitioners access a variety of information resources. Using easy-to-use graphical tools, we installed a pilot workstation in our clinics. We were able to accommodate most of our users' needs and have a functional workstation installed in two months. This is the first step of an evolutionary process moving from separate tasks to full application integration.

Counterinsurgency and the Mexican Drug War

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-26

organized crime and government quickly began to unravel in 2000 when Vicente Fox was elected the first non-PRI affiliated President of Mexico since 1924...due to fighting between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, President Fox ordered 700 soldiers and federal police into the city. 7 Despite their best...Drug Lords are Taken Down: Notorious Cruelty , accessed at: http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/mexican-drug-lords-are-taken

Web site access statistics and delivery of research results

Treesearch

Daniel L. Schmoldt; Matthew F. Winn; Philip A. Araman

1998-01-01

For the past 2-1/2 years, our Research Work Unit (RWU) has been operating a Web site (http://www.se4702.forprod.vt.edu). The site became operational in October 1995. In the beginning, it was primarily designed to stake out a piece of the Internet with our name and our RWU’s organizational mission. Quickly, it became apparent to us, however, that our user community...

On Cybersecurity, Crowdsourcing, and Social Cyber-Attack

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

gahran_1_android- app - android -phone-apple-s- app - store?_s=PM:TECH. Accessed January 9, 2013. DR. REBECCA GOOLSBY is a Program Officer with the Office of Naval...legitimate messages, and understand how quickly mobile apps and text services can disseminate false information. Authorities and volunteers must develop...inflammatory information and disinfor- mation. Like the conflicts sparked by Guttenberg’s invention, significant real-world impacts of a more troubled

Quick action clamp

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calco, Frank S. (Inventor)

1991-01-01

A quick release toggle clamp that utilizes a spring that requires a deliberate positive action for disengagement is presented. The clamp has a sliding bolt that provides a latching mechanism. The bolt is moved by a handle that tends to remain in an engaged position while under tension.

Quick wins connected vehicles deployment scenario : a grassroots approach to safer roads, greater mobility, and cleaner air.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

The Quick Wins Connected Vehicles deployment scenario provides stakeholders from planners, to operators, to manufacturers, to policymakers with a defensible path towards the deployment of Connected Vehicles technologies over the next half-dec...

Reducing the cost of dietary assessment: self-completed recall and analysis of nutrition for use with children (SCRAN24).

PubMed

Foster, E; Hawkins, A; Delve, J; Adamson, A J

2014-01-01

Self-Completed Recall and Analysis of Nutrition (scran24) is a prototype computerised 24-h recall system for use with 11-16 year olds. It is based on the Multiple Pass 24-h Recall method and includes prompts and checks throughout the system for forgotten food items. The development of scran24 was informed by an extensive literature review, a series of focus groups and usability testing. The first stage of the recall is a quick list where the user is asked to input all the foods and drinks they remember consuming the previous day. The quick list is structured into meals and snacks. Once the quick list is complete, additional information is collected on each food to determine food type and to obtain an estimate of portion size using digital images of food. Foods are located within the system using a free text search, which is linked to the information entered into the quick list. A time is assigned to each eating occasion using drag and drop onto a timeline. The system prompts the user if no foods or drinks have been consumed within a 3-h time frame, or if fewer than three drinks have been consumed throughout the day. The food composition code and weight (g) of all items selected are automatically allocated and stored. Nutritional information can be generated automatically via the scran24 companion Access database. scran24 was very well received by young people and was relatively quick to complete. The accuracy and precision was close to that of similar computer-based systems currently used in dietary studies. © 2013 The Authors Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics © 2013 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Cloud storage based mobile assessment facility for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder using integrated signal processing algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balbin, Jessie R.; Pinugu, Jasmine Nadja J.; Basco, Abigail Joy S.; Cabanada, Myla B.; Gonzales, Patrisha Melrose V.; Marasigan, Juan Carlos C.

2017-06-01

The research aims to build a tool in assessing patients for post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The parameters used are heart rate, skin conductivity, and facial gestures. Facial gestures are recorded using OpenFace, an open-source face recognition program that uses facial action units in to track facial movements. Heart rate and skin conductivity is measured through sensors operated using Raspberry Pi. Results are stored in a database for easy and quick access. Databases to be used are uploaded to a cloud platform so that doctors have direct access to the data. This research aims to analyze these parameters and give accurate assessment of the patient.

Web Content Accessibility of Consumer Health Information Web Sites for People with Disabilities: A Cross Sectional Evaluation

PubMed Central

Parmanto, Bambang

2004-01-01

Background The World Wide Web (WWW) has become an increasingly essential resource for health information consumers. The ability to obtain accurate medical information online quickly, conveniently and privately provides health consumers with the opportunity to make informed decisions and participate actively in their personal care. Little is known, however, about whether the content of this online health information is equally accessible to people with disabilities who must rely on special devices or technologies to process online information due to their visual, hearing, mobility, or cognitive limitations. Objective To construct a framework for an automated Web accessibility evaluation; to evaluate the state of accessibility of consumer health information Web sites; and to investigate the possible relationships between accessibility and other features of the Web sites, including function, popularity and importance. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional study of the state of accessibility of health information Web sites to people with disabilities. We selected 108 consumer health information Web sites from the directory service of a Web search engine. A measurement framework was constructed to automatically measure the level of Web Accessibility Barriers (WAB) of Web sites following Web accessibility specifications. We investigated whether there was a difference between WAB scores across various functional categories of the Web sites, and also evaluated the correlation between the WAB and Alexa traffic rank and Google Page Rank of the Web sites. Results We found that none of the Web sites we looked at are completely accessible to people with disabilities, i.e., there were no sites that had no violation of Web accessibility rules. However, governmental and educational health information Web sites do exhibit better Web accessibility than the other categories of Web sites (P < 0.001). We also found that the correlation between the WAB score and the popularity of a Web site is statistically significant (r = 0.28, P < 0.05), although there is no correlation between the WAB score and the importance of the Web sites (r = 0.15, P = 0.111). Conclusions Evaluation of health information Web sites shows that no Web site scrupulously abides by Web accessibility specifications, even for entities mandated under relevant laws and regulations. Government and education Web sites show better performance than Web sites among other categories. Accessibility of a Web site may have a positive impact on its popularity in general. However, the Web accessibility of a Web site may not have a significant relationship with its importance on the Web. PMID:15249268

Water, sanitation and hygiene in Jordan's healthcare facilities.

PubMed

Khader, Yousef Saleh

2017-08-14

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine water availability, sanitation and hygiene (WSH) services, and healthcare waste management in Jordan healthcare facilities. Design/methodology/approach In total, 19 hospitals (15 public and four private) were selected. The WSH services were assessed in hospitals using the WSH in health facilities assessment tool developed for this purpose. Findings All hospitals (100 percent) had a safe water source and most (84.2 percent) had functional water sources to provide enough water for users' needs. All hospitals had appropriate and sufficient gender separated toilets in the wards and 84.2 percent had the same in outpatient settings. Overall, 84.2 percent had sufficient and functioning handwashing basins with soap and water, and 79.0 percent had sufficient showers. Healthcare waste management was appropriately practiced in all hospitals. Practical implications Jordan hospital managers achieved major achievements providing access to drinking water and improved sanitation. However, there are still areas that need improvements, such as providing toilets for patients with special needs, establishing handwashing basins with water and soap near toilets, toilet maintenance and providing sufficient trolleys for collecting hazardous waste. Efforts are needed to integrate WSH service policies with existing national policies on environmental health in health facilities, establish national standards and targets for the various healthcare facilities to increase access and improve services. Originality/value There are limited WSH data on healthcare facilities and targets for basic coverage in healthcare facilities are also lacking. A new assessment tool was developed to generate core WSH indicators and to assess WSH services in Jordan's healthcare facilities. This tool can be used by a non-WSH specialist to quickly assess healthcare facility-related WSH services and sanitary hazards in other countries. This tool identified some areas that need improvements.

Increasing the Impact of High-Resolution Lidar Topography Through Online Data Access and Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, C. J.; Nandigam, V.; Baru, C.; Arrowsmith, R.

2013-12-01

Topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology are revolutionizing the way we study the Earth's surface and overlying vegetation. These data, collected from satellite, airborne, tripod, or mobile-mounted scanners have emerged as a fundamental tool for research on topics including earthquake hazards, hillslope processes, and cyrosphere change. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded OpenTopography (OT) Facility (http://www.opentopography.org) is a web-based system designed to democratize access to earth science-oriented lidar topography data. OT provides free, online access to lidar data in a number of forms, including the point cloud and associated geospatial-processing tools for customized analysis. The point cloud data are co-located with on-demand processing tools to generate digital elevation models, and derived products and visualizations which allow users to quickly access data in a format appropriate for their scientific application. The OT system is built using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that leverages cyberinfrastructure resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego to allow users, regardless of expertise, to access these massive lidar datasets and derived raster data products for use in research and teaching. OT hosts over 600 billion lidar returns covering more than 120,000 km2. These data are provided by a variety of partners under joint agreements and memoranda of understanding with OT. Partners include national facilities such as the NSF-funded National Center for Airborne Lidar Mapping (NCALM), as well as non-governmental organizations and local, state, and federal agencies. OT has become a hub for high-resolution topography resources. Datasets hosted by other organizations, as well as lidar-specific software, can be registered into the OT catalog, providing users a 'one-stop shop' for such information. OT is also a partner on the NASA Lidar Access System (NLAS) project, collaborative research funded by the NASA ACCESS program, that makes NASA airborne and space based laser altimetry data (GLAS and LVIS) available through OT using federated web services. With several thousand active users, OT is an excellent example of a cyberinfrastructure-based airborne science data system that is enabling access to challenging data for research, education and outreach. OT has demonstrated that by democratizing access to lidar topography, the impact of these expensive research datasets is greatly increased, through reused in research, education, and commercial applications beyond their original scope. This presentation will highlight the OT system and lessons learned during its development. We will also highlight ongoing work related to creation of a more flexible and scalable high-performance environment for processing of large datasets; creation of a 'pluggable' infrastructure for third-party programs and algorithms to be run against the OT data holdings; and interoperability of OT with other earth science data systems.

Towards systems genetic analyses in barley: Integration of phenotypic, expression and genotype data into GeneNetwork.

PubMed

Druka, Arnis; Druka, Ilze; Centeno, Arthur G; Li, Hongqiang; Sun, Zhaohui; Thomas, William T B; Bonar, Nicola; Steffenson, Brian J; Ullrich, Steven E; Kleinhofs, Andris; Wise, Roger P; Close, Timothy J; Potokina, Elena; Luo, Zewei; Wagner, Carola; Schweizer, Günther F; Marshall, David F; Kearsey, Michael J; Williams, Robert W; Waugh, Robbie

2008-11-18

A typical genetical genomics experiment results in four separate data sets; genotype, gene expression, higher-order phenotypic data and metadata that describe the protocols, processing and the array platform. Used in concert, these data sets provide the opportunity to perform genetic analysis at a systems level. Their predictive power is largely determined by the gene expression dataset where tens of millions of data points can be generated using currently available mRNA profiling technologies. Such large, multidimensional data sets often have value beyond that extracted during their initial analysis and interpretation, particularly if conducted on widely distributed reference genetic materials. Besides quality and scale, access to the data is of primary importance as accessibility potentially allows the extraction of considerable added value from the same primary dataset by the wider research community. Although the number of genetical genomics experiments in different plant species is rapidly increasing, none to date has been presented in a form that allows quick and efficient on-line testing for possible associations between genes, loci and traits of interest by an entire research community. Using a reference population of 150 recombinant doubled haploid barley lines we generated novel phenotypic, mRNA abundance and SNP-based genotyping data sets, added them to a considerable volume of legacy trait data and entered them into the GeneNetwork http://www.genenetwork.org. GeneNetwork is a unified on-line analytical environment that enables the user to test genetic hypotheses about how component traits, such as mRNA abundance, may interact to condition more complex biological phenotypes (higher-order traits). Here we describe these barley data sets and demonstrate some of the functionalities GeneNetwork provides as an easily accessible and integrated analytical environment for exploring them. By integrating barley genotypic, phenotypic and mRNA abundance data sets directly within GeneNetwork's analytical environment we provide simple web access to the data for the research community. In this environment, a combination of correlation analysis and linkage mapping provides the potential to identify and substantiate gene targets for saturation mapping and positional cloning. By integrating datasets from an unsequenced crop plant (barley) in a database that has been designed for an animal model species (mouse) with a well established genome sequence, we prove the importance of the concept and practice of modular development and interoperability of software engineering for biological data sets.

OpenTopography: Enabling Online Access to High-Resolution Lidar Topography Data and Processing Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, Christopher; Nandigam, Viswanath; Baru, Chaitan; Arrowsmith, J. Ramon

2013-04-01

High-resolution topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology are revolutionizing the way we study the Earth's surface and overlying vegetation. These data, collected from airborne, tripod, or mobile-mounted scanners have emerged as a fundamental tool for research on topics ranging from earthquake hazards to hillslope processes. Lidar data provide a digital representation of the earth's surface at a resolution sufficient to appropriately capture the processes that contribute to landscape evolution. The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded OpenTopography Facility (http://www.opentopography.org) is a web-based system designed to democratize access to earth science-oriented lidar topography data. OpenTopography provides free, online access to lidar data in a number of forms, including the raw point cloud and associated geospatial-processing tools for customized analysis. The point cloud data are co-located with on-demand processing tools to generate digital elevation models, and derived products and visualizations which allow users to quickly access data in a format appropriate for their scientific application. The OpenTopography system is built using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) that leverages cyberinfrastructure resources at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego to allow users, regardless of expertise level, to access these massive lidar datasets and derived products for use in research and teaching. OpenTopography hosts over 500 billion lidar returns covering 85,000 km2. These data are all in the public domain and are provided by a variety of partners under joint agreements and memoranda of understanding with OpenTopography. Partners include national facilities such as the NSF-funded National Center for Airborne Lidar Mapping (NCALM), as well as non-governmental organizations and local, state, and federal agencies. OpenTopography has become a hub for high-resolution topography resources. Datasets hosted by other organizations, as well as lidar-specific software, can be registered into the OpenTopography catalog, providing users a "one-stop shop" for such information. With several thousand active users, OpenTopography is an excellent example of a mature Spatial Data Infrastructure system that is enabling access to challenging data for research, education and outreach. Ongoing OpenTopography design and development work includes the archive and publication of datasets using digital object identifiers (DOIs); creation of a more flexible and scalable high-performance environment for processing of large datasets; expanded support for satellite and terrestrial lidar; and creation of a "pluggable" infrastructure for third-party programs and algorithms. OpenTopography has successfully created a facility for sharing lidar data. In the project's next phase, we are working to enable equally easy and successful sharing of services for processing and analysis of these data.

Merging Social Networking Environments and Formal Learning Environments to Support and Facilitate Interprofessional Instruction

PubMed Central

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-01-01

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context. PMID:20165519

Physical probing of cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rehfeldt, Florian; Schmidt, Christoph F.

2017-11-01

In the last two decades, it has become evident that the mechanical properties of the microenvironment of biological cells are as important as traditional biochemical cues for the control of cellular behavior and fate. The field of cell and matrix mechanics is quickly growing and so is the development of the experimental approaches used to study active and passive mechanical properties of cells and their surroundings. Within this topical review we will provide a brief overview, on the one hand, over how cellular mechanics can be probed physically, how different geometries allow access to different cellular properties, and, on the other hand, how forces are generated in cells and transmitted to the extracellular environment. We will describe the following experimental techniques: atomic force microscopy, traction force microscopy, magnetic tweezers, optical stretcher and optical tweezers pointing out both their advantages and limitations. Finally, we give an outlook on the future of the physical probing of cells.

Development of the Subaru-Mitaka-Okayama-Kiso Archive System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baba, Hajime; Yasuda, Naoki; Ichikawa, Shin-Ichi; Yagi, Masafumi; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Takata, Tadafumi; Horaguchi, Toshihiro; Taga, Masatoshi; Watanabe, Masaru; Ozawa, Tomohiko; Hamabe, Masaru

We have developed the Subaru-Mitaka-Okayama-Kiso-Archive (SMOKA) public science archive system which provides access to the data of the Subaru Telescope, the 188 cm telescope at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, and the 105 cm Schmidt telescope at Kiso Observatory/University of Tokyo. SMOKA is the successor of the MOKA3 system. The user can browse the Quick-Look Images, Header Information (HDI) and the ASCII Table Extension (ATE) of each frame from the search result table. A request for data can be submitted in a simple manner. The system is developed with Java Servlet for the back-end, and Java Server Pages (JSP) for content display. The advantage of JSP's is the separation of the front-end presentation from the middle- and back-end tiers which led to an efficient development of the system. The SMOKA homepage is available at SMOKA

Very Low Abundance Single-Cell Transcript Quantification with 5-Plex ddPCRTM Assays.

PubMed

Karlin-Neumann, George; Zhang, Bin; Litterst, Claudia

2018-01-01

Gene expression studies have provided one of the most accessible windows for understanding the molecular basis of cell and tissue phenotypes and how these change in response to stimuli. Current PCR-based and next generation sequencing methods offer great versatility in allowing the focused study of the roles of small numbers of genes or comprehensive profiling of the entire transcriptome of a sample at one time. Marrying of these approaches to various cell sorting technologies has recently enabled the profiling of expression in single cells, thereby increasing the resolution and sensitivity and strengthening the inferences from observed expression levels and changes. This chapter presents a quick and efficient 1-day workflow for sorting single cells with a small laboratory cell-sorter followed by an ultrahigh sensitivity, multiplexed digital PCR method for quantitative tracking of changes in 5-10 genes per single cell.

OpenKIM - Building a Knowledgebase of Interatomic Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bierbaum, Matthew; Tadmor, Ellad; Elliott, Ryan; Wennblom, Trevor; Alemi, Alexander; Chen, Yan-Jiun; Karls, Daniel; Ludvik, Adam; Sethna, James

2014-03-01

The Knowledgebase of Interatomic Models (KIM) is an effort by the computational materials community to provide a standard interface for the development, characterization, and use of interatomic potentials. The KIM project has developed an API between simulation codes and interatomic models written in several different languages including C, Fortran, and Python. This interface is already supported in popular simulation environments such as LAMMPS and ASE, giving quick access to over a hundred compatible potentials that have been contributed so far. To compare and characterize models, we have developed a computational processing pipeline which automatically runs a series of tests for each model in the system, such as phonon dispersion relations and elastic constant calculations. To view the data from these tests, we created a rich set of interactive visualization tools located online. Finally, we created a Web repository to store and share these potentials, tests, and visualizations which can be found at https://openkim.org along with futher information.

Nutrition in conflict situations.

PubMed

Egal, Florence

2006-08-01

High prevalence of malnutrition is often linked to conflict situations. Conflicts affect local livelihoods, impair productive activities and limit access to safe foods and basic services. Strategies to protect and promote nutrition of affected households and communities must be based on an understanding of this impact. While nutrition rehabilitation and food aid are clearly essential to preserve lives in the short run, they cannot provide lasting solutions. Impaired nutritional status ultimately reflects livelihood degradation but anthropometric indicators cannot be used to target timely interventions. They should be combined with simple indicators of food consumption which react more quickly to both crisis and relief/rehabilitation interventions. Local institutions should be encouraged to share information and build causality models of malnutrition for the main vulnerable livelihood groups as a basis for an integrated response. A communication component will systematically be needed to allow people to make informed decisions in a context with which they are often not familiar.

Design reflowable digital book template

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasetya, Didik Dwi; Widiyaningtyas, Triyanna; Arifin, M. Zainal; Wahyu Sakti G., I.

2017-09-01

Electronic books (e-books or digital books) increasingly in demand and continue to grow in the form of future books. One of the standard format electronic books that potential is EPUB (electronic publication) published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). This digital book has major advantages are able to provide interactive and reflowable content, which are not found in another book format, such as PDF. Reflowable content allows the book can be accessed through a variety of reader device, like desktop and mobile with a fit and comfort view. However, because the generating process of an EPUB digital book is not as easy a PDF, so this format is less popular. Therefore, in order to help overcome the existing problems, this paper develops digital reflowable text book templates to support electronic learning, especially in Indonesia. This template can be used by anyone to produce a standard digital book quickly and easily without requiring additional specialized knowledge.

Trustworthy information sharing for biosecurity incident management - The AU2EU project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zic, John

2013-10-01

Managing sensitive information between partners collaborating to address an exotic disease outbreak is crucial in preserving the medical, economic and social well-being of the affected population (whether it is human, animal or plant). Further, the ability to respond quickly to the outbreak by providing real-time, interactive access to shared (collaborative) information will minimise the impact of an outbreak. The sharing of information must be done carefully, with agreement between the partners and enforced by specific protocols. This paper presents an overview of a new joint project between EU partners and AU partners, total value of around €8.64 million, which is examining the issue of authentication and authorisation required to ensure that collaborative information in such situations is kept within the control of the collaborating partners and that accidental (or deliberate) release to unauthorised partners can be mitigated.

[Challenges in acute paediatric medicine].

PubMed

Moll, Henriette A

2016-01-01

A big drop in the number of severe infections has resulted in less experience in recognising a seriously ill child. The challenge is finding a safe and effective balance between high-quality expertise and quickly accessible care, while avoiding over-diagnosis. There are a number of tools available to aid recognition of a seriously ill child and to avoid delay in diagnostic procedures and treatment: the use of a validated paediatric triage system, validated decision rules and guidelines, listening carefully to the parents ('my child's illness is different this time'), the clinical intuition of the experienced paediatrician and the provision of good 'safety net' advice to parents concerning the alarm signals and when they should contact a care provider. Experienced paediatricians should be at the forefront in the evaluation of the acutely ill child in order to teach their younger colleagues the importance of various alarm signals and the role played by clinical intuition.

Method and apparatus for active tamper indicating device using optical time-domain reflectometry

DOEpatents

Smith, D. Barton; Muhs, Jeffrey D.; Pickett, Chris A.; Earl, D. Duncan

1999-01-01

An optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) launches pulses of light into a link or a system of multiplexed links and records the waveform of pulses reflected by the seals in the link(s). If a seal is opened, the link of cables will become a discontinuous transmitter of the light pulses and the OTDR can immediately detect that a seal has been opened. By analyzing the waveform, the OTDR can also quickly determine which seal(s) were opened. In this way the invention functions as a system of active seals. The invention is intended for applications that require long-term surveillance of a large number of closures. It provides immediate tamper detection, allows for periodic access to secured closures, and can be configured for many different distributions of closures. It can monitor closures in indoor and outdoor locations and it can monitor containers or groups of containers located many kilometers apart.

Aquatic Toxicity Information Retrieval Data Base (ACQUIRE). Data file

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

Not Available

The purpose of Acquire is to provide scientists and managers quick access to a comprehensive, systematic, computerized compilation of aquatic toxicity data. Scientific papers published both nationally and internationally on the toxicity of chemicals to aquatic organisms and plants are collected and reviewed for ACQUIRE. Independently compiled data files that meet ACQUIRE parameter and quality assurance criteria are also included. Selected toxicity test results and related testing information for any individual chemical from laboratory and field aquatic toxicity effects are included for tests with freshwater and marine organisms. The total number of data records in ACQUIRE is now over 105,300.more » This includes data from 6000 references, for 5200 chemicals and 2400 test species. A major data file, Acute Toxicity of Organic Chemicals (ATOC), has been incorporated into ACQUIRE. The ATOC file contains laboratory acute test data on 525 organic chemicals using juvenile fathead minnows.« less

OverPlotter: A Utility for Herschel Data Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, L.; Mei, Y.; Schulz, B.

2008-08-01

The OverPlotter utility is a GUI tool written in Java to support interactive data processing (DP) and analysis for the Herschel Space Observatory within the framework of the Herschel Common Science System (HCSS)(Wieprecht et al 2004). The tool expands upon the capabilities of the TableViewer (Zhang & Schulz 2005), providing now also the means to create additional overlays of several X/Y scatter plots within the same display area. These layers can be scaled and panned, either individually, or together as one graph. Visual comparison of data with different origins and units becomes much easier. The number of available layers is not limited, except by computer memory and performance. Presentation images can be easily created by adding annotations, labeling layers and setting colors. The tool will be very helpful especially in the early phases of Herschel data analysis, when a quick access to contents of data products is important.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Curriculum Provided Through Transmedia Books for Increasing Students' Knowledge and Interest in Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ponners, Pamela Jones

Transmedia books are new and emerging technologies which are beginning to be used in current classrooms. Transmedia books are a traditional printed book that uses multiple media though the use of Quick Response (QR) codes and augmented reality (AR) triggers to access web-based technology. Using the transmedia book Skills That Engage Me students in kindergarten through second grade engage in curriculum designed to introduce science skills and careers. Using the modified Draw-a-Scientist Test (mDAST), observations and interviews, researchers analyzed pre and post data to describe changes students have about science and scientists. Future study may include the development and validation of a new instrument, Draw a Science Student, and examining the mDAST checklist with the intention of updating the parameters of what is considered positive and negative in relationship with work a scientist conducts.

Redesigning care at the Flinders Medical Centre: clinical process redesign using "lean thinking".

PubMed

Ben-Tovim, David I; Bassham, Jane E; Bennett, Denise M; Dougherty, Melissa L; Martin, Margaret A; O'Neill, Susan J; Sincock, Jackie L; Szwarcbord, Michael G

2008-03-17

*The Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) Redesigning Care program began in November 2003; it is a hospital-wide process improvement program applying an approach called "lean thinking" (developed in the manufacturing sector) to health care. *To date, the FMC has involved hundreds of staff from all areas of the hospital in a wide variety of process redesign activities. *The initial focus of the program was on improving the flow of patients through the emergency department, but the program quickly spread to involve the redesign of managing medical and surgical patients throughout the hospital, and to improving major support services. *The program has fallen into three main phases, each of which is described in this article: "getting the knowledge"; "stabilising high-volume flows"; and "standardising and sustaining". *Results to date show that the Redesigning Care program has enabled the hospital to provide safer and more accessible care during a period of growth in demand.

Merging social networking environments and formal learning environments to support and facilitate interprofessional instruction.

PubMed

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-04-28

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context.

Assessing Strategies Against Gambiense Sleeping Sickness Through Mathematical Modeling

PubMed Central

Rock, Kat S; Ndeffo-Mbah, Martial L; Castaño, Soledad; Palmer, Cody; Pandey, Abhishek; Atkins, Katherine E; Ndung’u, Joseph M; Hollingsworth, T Déirdre; Galvani, Alison; Bever, Caitlin; Chitnis, Nakul; Keeling, Matt J

2018-01-01

Abstract Background Control of gambiense sleeping sickness relies predominantly on passive and active screening of people, followed by treatment. Methods Mathematical modeling explores the potential of 3 complementary interventions in high- and low-transmission settings. Results Intervention strategies that included vector control are predicted to halt transmission most quickly. Targeted active screening, with better and more focused coverage, and enhanced passive surveillance, with improved access to diagnosis and treatment, are both estimated to avert many new infections but, when used alone, are unlikely to halt transmission before 2030 in high-risk settings. Conclusions There was general model consensus in the ranking of the 3 complementary interventions studied, although with discrepancies between the quantitative predictions due to differing epidemiological assumptions within the models. While these predictions provide generic insights into improving control, the most effective strategy in any situation depends on the specific epidemiology in the region and the associated costs. PMID:29860287