Artificial Intelligence and Educational Technology: A Natural Synergy. Extended Abstract.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCalla, Gordon I.

Educational technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are natural partners in the development of environments to support human learning. Designing systems with the characteristics of a rich learning environment is the long term goal of research in intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). Building these characteristics into a system is extremely…

Bringing Academics on Board: Encouraging Institution-Wide Diffusion of e-Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birch, Dawn; Burnett, Bruce

2009-01-01

Rapid advances in educational and information communications technology (ICT) have encouraged some educators to move beyond traditional face to face and distance education correspondence modes toward a rich, technology mediated e-learning environment. Ready access to multimedia at the desktop has provided the opportunity for educators to develop…

Educational Online Technologies in Blended Tertiary Environments: A Review of Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuapawa, Kimberley N.

2013-01-01

This is a review of the literature surrounding five popular media-rich educational online technologies (EOTs) currently being used by educationalists to support blended learning within tertiary environments. This review considers the following EOTs: 1) connective media, 2) interactive gaming, 3) virtual worlds, 4) web conferencing and 5) learning…

Citizen Science as a REAL Environment for Authentic Scientific Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Nathan J.; Scott, Siri; Strauss, Andrea Lorek; Nippolt, Pamela L.; Oberhauser, Karen S.; Blair, Robert B.

2014-01-01

Citizen science projects can serve as constructivist learning environments for programming focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for youth. Attributes of "rich environments for active learning" (REALs) provide a framework for design of Extension STEM learning environments. Guiding principles and design strategies…

Problem Solving in Technology Rich Contexts: Mathematics Sense Making in Out-of-School Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowrie, Tom

2005-01-01

This investigation describes the way in which a case study participant (aged 7) represented, posed and solved problems in a technology game-based environment. The out-of-school problem-solving context placed numeracy demands on the participant that were more complex and sophisticated than the type of mathematics experiences he encountered in…

Teaching without a Blackboard and Chalk: Conflicting Attitudes towards Using ICTs in Higher Education Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tummons, Jonathan; Fournier, Cathy; Kits, Olga; MacLeod, Anna

2016-01-01

This article, derived from a three-year ethnography of distributed medical education provision in a Canadian university, explores the ways in which information and communication technologies are used by teachers and students in their everyday work within technologically rich teaching environments. The environments being researched are two…

Experiences and Challenges of International Students in Technology-Rich Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Habib, Laurence; Johannesen, Monica; Øgrim, Leikny

2014-01-01

This article presents a study of international students and their use of technology in a Scandinavian institution of Higher Education. A special emphasis is placed on patterns of use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) that is available to all the study programmes at the institution. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is used as a theoretical approach…

Making It Rich and Personal: Crafting an Institutional Personal Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Su; Davis, Hugh C.

2011-01-01

Many of the communities interested in learning and teaching technologies within higher education now accept the view that a conception of personal learning environments provides the most realistic and workable perspective of learners' interactions with and use of technology. This view may not be reflected in the behaviour of those parts of a…

Making Connections.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garbe, Edward

1998-01-01

Discusses enhancing a college's competitive position by offering technological capabilities to its students, including the planning process and wiring installation issues to be considered. Highlights two examples concerning building the wiring infrastructure to support multipurpose, technology-rich learning environments. (GR)

Models for Building Knowledge in a Technology-Rich Setting: Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKinnon, Gregory R.; Aylward, M. Lynn

2009-01-01

Technology offers promising opportunities for creating new types of classroom learning environments. This paper describes three technology models used by teacher education interns: electronic portfolios, negotiative concept mapping, cognote-supported electronic discussions. As implemented in the current study, these models invoke graduated…

Enacting Classroom Inquiry: Theorizing Teachers' Conceptions of Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Scott; Songer, Nancy Butler

2008-01-01

Translating written curricular materials into rich, complex, learning environments is an undertheorized area in science education. This study examines two critical cases of teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum focused on the development of complex reasoning around biodiversity for fifth graders. Two elements emerged that significantly…

ICT Teachers' Professional Growth Viewed in Terms of Perceptions about Teaching and Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cakir, Recep; Yildirim, Soner

2013-01-01

Technology integration into the classroom has a major role in creating rich learning and teaching environments. It is obvious that the success of the effective use of technology in classrooms highly depends on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teachers who are responsible for integrating technology and mentoring other teachers in…

The Effect of Highly Scaffolded versus General Instruction on Students' Exploratory Behavior and Arousal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blikstein, Paulo; Gomes, July Silveira; Akiba, Henrique Teruo; Schneider, Bertrand

2017-01-01

Technology is changing the way students interact with knowledge, and open-ended activities are one of the main types of tasks that students engage with in technology-rich environments. However, the amount of guidance needed to promote learning in these environments remains unknown. We explore this issue by focusing on the effects of step-by-step…

News Almost dry but never dull: ASE 2014 EuroPhysicsFun shows physics to Europe Institute of Physics for Africa (IOPfA) South Sudan Report October 2013 Celebrating the centenary of x-ray diffraction The Niels Bohr Institute—an EPS Historical Site Nordic Research Symposium on Science Education (NFSUN) 2014: inquiry-based science education in technology-rich environments Physics World Cup 2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-03-01

Almost dry but never dull: ASE 2014 EuroPhysicsFun shows physics to Europe Institute of Physics for Africa (IOPfA) South Sudan Report October 2013 Celebrating the centenary of x-ray diffraction The Niels Bohr Institute—an EPS Historical Site Nordic Research Symposium on Science Education (NFSUN) 2014: inquiry-based science education in technology-rich environments Physics World Cup 2013

Group Work in a Technology-Rich Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Penner, Nikolai; Schulze, Mathias

2010-01-01

This paper addresses several components of successful language-learning methodologies--group work, task-based instruction, and wireless computer technologies--and examines how the interplay of these three was perceived by students in a second-year university foreign-language course. The technology component of our learning design plays a central…

Strategic Planning for Educational Technology Initiatives in PK-12 Lutheran Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muth, Nicole

2012-01-01

Technology rich learning environments provide the potential for engaging, relevant, and personalized curricula that prepare students for 21st century careers. However, a lack of strategic planning by educators results in available technology not being used to its fullest potential. Several educational organizations have published guidelines for…

Using MSN Money to Perform Financial Ratio Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, H. Christine

2010-01-01

In today's information technology world, real time financial data is readily available via many financial websites, such as MSN Money, Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, etc. The incorporation of computer technology in finance classes has become more popular than ever in this information technology rich environment. Mediated classrooms have rapidly…

Exploring Students Acceptance of E-Learning Using Technology Acceptance Model in Jordanian Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Adwan, Amer; Al-Adwan, Ahmad; Smedley, Jo

2013-01-01

Today's rapid changing world highlights the influence and impact of technology in all aspects of learning life. Higher Education institutions in developed Western countries believe that these developments offer rich opportunities to embed technological innovations within the learning environment. This places developing countries, striving to be…

The Brink of Change: Gender in Technology-Rich Collaborative Learning Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, Jessica; Puntambekar, Sadhana

2004-12-01

This study was designed to contribute to a small but growing body of knowledge on the influence of gender in technology-rich collaborative learning environments. The study examined middle school students' attitudes towards using computers and working in groups during scientific inquiry. Students' attitudes towards technology and group work were analyzed using questionnaires. To add depth to the findings from the survey research, the role of gender was also investigated through the analysis of student conversations in the context of two activities: exploring science information on a hypertext text and conducting hands-on investigations. The data suggest that not only are girls and boys are similar with regard to attitudes about computers and group work, but that during collaborative learning activities, girls may actually participate more actively and persistently regardless of the nature of the task.

Infusing Technology to Enhance Science Lessons: Prospective Teachers as Action Researchers Learning to Teach for Conceptual Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spaid, M. Randall

Today's high school students have grown up in technology-rich environments with video games, personal computers, instant communications, and Internet access. These students are naturally more interested and involved in a technology-infused classroom. Emerging technologies change the teacher's role in the classroom. Professional teachers need to…

The development and piloting of electronic standardized measures on nursing work: combining engineering and nursing knowledge.

PubMed

Bragadóttir, Helga; Gunnarsdóttir, Sigrún; Ingason, Helgi T

2013-05-01

This paper describes the development and piloting of electronic standardized measures on nursing work (e-SMNW) for rich data gathering on the work and work environment of registered nurses (RNs) and practical nurses (PNs). Efficient and valid methods are needed to measure nursing work to enhance the optimal use of the nursing workforce for safe patient care. The study combined human factors engineering (HFE) and nursing knowledge to develop electronic standardized measures for observational studies on nursing work in acute care. The work and work environment of RNs and PNs in acute care medical and surgical inpatient units was successfully measured using e-SMNW. With predetermined items of work activities and influencing factors in the work of nurses, and full use of computer technology, multi-layered rich standardized data were gathered, analysed and displayed. The combination of nursing knowledge, HFE and computer technology enables observational data collection for a rich picture of the complex work of nursing. Information collected by standardized and multi-layered measures makes it easier to identify potential improvements, with regard to influencing factors and management of the work and work environment of nurses. Further use of computer technology in health services research is encouraged. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Mobile Technology: The Foundation for an Engaged and Secure Campus Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapel, Edward

2008-01-01

Montclair State University, a public New Jersey institution with more than 17,000 students enrolled, has harnessed the cell phone and cellular broadband technology to foster a stronger sense of community and provide students with a safe, secure, and rich learning environment. This paper discusses the potential for new technologies to foster…

From Pipe Dream to Reality: Creating a Technology-Rich School Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crafton, John A.

1998-01-01

Methuen Public Schools, Massachusetts, has become a wired school system with computers in every classroom, Internet access, and state-of-the-art mixed-media. Five citizens who work in the technology industry formed a steering committee to drive the project. A long-term partnership with a private vendor, Lucent Technologies, addresses the…

How Might the Use of Technology in Formative Assessment Support Changes in Mathematics Teaching?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsher, Shai; Yerushalmy, Michal; Chazan, Daniel

2016-01-01

Technological developments make it feasible to assess students' mathematics work automatically when students are working in rich digital environments and thus offer important affordances for assessment in the service of instruction. In this article, we illustrate how these technological advances might be harnessed to support the work of teachers…

Voices from Networked Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brownlee-Conyers, Jean; Kraber, Brenda

1996-01-01

In 1994, the Glenview (Illinois) Public Schools created three technology-rich educational environments (TREEs) that use alternative teaching and learning methods through networked communication technologies. Each setting consists of three teachers and about 75 heterogeneously grouped students (ages 9-12) who work collaboratively to solve problems…

Promoting Students' Problem Solving Skills and Knowledge of STEM Concepts in a Data-Rich Learning Environment: Using Online Data as a Tool for Teaching about Renewable Energy Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thurmond, Brandi

This study sought to compare a data-rich learning (DRL) environment that utilized online data as a tool for teaching about renewable energy technologies (RET) to a lecture-based learning environment to determine the impact of the learning environment on students' knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) concepts related to renewable energy technologies and students' problem solving skills. Two purposefully selected Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science teachers were included in the study. Each teacher taught one class about RET in a lecture-based environment (control) and another class in a DRL environment (treatment), for a total of four classes of students (n=128). This study utilized a quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest, control-group design. The initial hypothesis that the treatment group would have a significant gain in knowledge of STEM concepts related to RET and be better able to solve problems when compared to the control group was not supported by the data. Although students in the DRL environment had a significant gain in knowledge after instruction, posttest score comparisons of the control and treatment groups revealed no significant differences between the groups. Further, no significant differences were noted in students' problem solving abilities as measured by scores on a problem-based activity and self-reported abilities on a reflective questionnaire. This suggests that the DRL environment is at least as effective as the lecture-based learning environment in teaching AP Environmental Science students about RET and fostering the development of problem solving skills. As this was a small scale study, further research is needed to provide information about effectiveness of DRL environments in promoting students' knowledge of STEM concepts and problem-solving skills.

The Impact of Rich Media Presentations on a Distributed Learning Environment: Engagement and Satisfaction of Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Havice, Pamela A.; Davis, Taurean T.; Foxx, Kerry W.; Havice, William L.

2010-01-01

The digital revolution has ushered in a generation shaped by the integration of emerging communication technology into everyday life, including today's traditional-aged college students. While research on how this generation utilizes technology is prevalent, research and reflection on the effective integration of technology into the learning…

An A+ Teaching Model for Serving K-12 Gifted Students in a Technologically Rich Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maynard, Brandi

2012-01-01

Experts in the field have had a difficult time finding a conclusive set of attributes of high-quality gifted teachers using collaborative technology. The purpose of this multiple, exploratory case study was to examine the views of selected educators regarding the teacher characteristics and technology most relevant to the development of shared…

Students' Experiences and Expectations of Technologies: An Australian Study Designed to Inform Planning and Development Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gosper, Maree; Malfroy, Janne; McKenzie, Jo

2013-01-01

The pace of technological change accompanied by an evolution in social, work-based and study behaviours and norms poses particular challenges for universities as they strive to develop high quality and sustainable technology-rich learning environments. Maintaining currency with the latest advances is resource intensive, hence the costs incurred in…

Design of the Technology-Rich Classroom Practices and Facilities Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Angela C.

2013-01-01

It is widely recognized that technology in the classroom has the potential to transform education at every stage from Pre-K, to K-12, to Higher Education and Adult Education. Using the Digital Teaching Platform as an exemplar of 21st Century classroom instruction style, the author offers an overview of classroom technology and its effects on…

A Cross-Cultural Validation of the Technology-Rich Outcomes-Focused Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) in Turkey and the USA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welch, Anita G.; Cakir, Mustafa; Peterson, Claudette M.; Ray, Chris M.

2012-01-01

Background: Studies exploring the relationship between students' achievement and the quality of the classroom learning environments have shown that there is a strong relationship between these two concepts. Learning environment instruments are constantly being revised and updated, including for use in different cultures, which requires continued…

Creating widely accessible spatial interfaces: mobile VR for managing persistent pain.

PubMed

Schroeder, David; Korsakov, Fedor; Jolton, Joseph; Keefe, Francis J; Haley, Alex; Keefe, Daniel F

2013-01-01

Using widely accessible VR technologies, researchers have implemented a series of multimodal spatial interfaces and virtual environments. The results demonstrate the degree to which we can now use low-cost (for example, mobile-phone based) VR environments to create rich virtual experiences involving motion sensing, physiological inputs, stereoscopic imagery, sound, and haptic feedback. Adapting spatial interfaces to these new platforms can open up exciting application areas for VR. In this case, the application area was in-home VR therapy for patients suffering from persistent pain (for example, arthritis and cancer pain). For such therapy to be successful, a rich spatial interface and rich visual aesthetic are particularly important. So, an interdisciplinary team with expertise in technology, design, meditation, and the psychology of pain collaborated to iteratively develop and evaluate several prototype systems. The video at http://youtu.be/mMPE7itReds demonstrates how the sine wave fitting responds to walking motions, for a walking-in-place application.

Location-Based Learning through Augmented Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chou, Te-Lien; Chanlin, Lih-Juan

2014-01-01

A context-aware and mixed-reality exploring tool cannot only effectively provide an information-rich environment to users, but also allows them to quickly utilize useful resources and enhance environment awareness. This study integrates Augmented Reality (AR) technology into smartphones to create a stimulating learning experience at a university…

"Disruptive Technologies", "Pedagogical Innovation": What's New? Findings from an In-Depth Study of Students' Use and Perception of Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conole, Grainne; de Laat, Maarten; Dillon, Teresa; Darby, Jonathan

2008-01-01

The paper describes the findings from a study of students' use and experience of technologies. A series of in-depth case studies were carried out across four subject disciplines, with data collected via survey, audio logs and interviews. The findings suggest that students are immersed in a rich, technology-enhanced learning environment and that…

Q & A with Ed Tech Leaders: Interview with John R. Savery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fulgham, Susan M.; Shaughnessy, Michael F.

2014-01-01

John R. Savery is Professor of Education and Director of Instructional Services at the University of Akron. His research and teaching interests focus on problem-based learning and technology-rich learning environments. As Director he supports faculty integration of instructional technology across the spectrum, from traditional classrooms to…

Motivating School Teachers to Learn: Can ICT Add Value?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carneiro, Roberto

2006-01-01

The article summarises the main findings from a study on school teachers who enrolled on a technology-rich graduate training programme. It features the impact of a distance education environment, strongly supported with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), on the motivation profiles of student teachers and the acquisition of…

Trading Places: When Teachers Utilize Student Expertise in Technology-Intensive Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ringstaff, Cathy; And Others

Utilizing self-report data from 32 elementary and secondary teachers, this longitudinal, qualitative study examines the role shifts of both teachers and students as they adapted to teaching and learning in educational, technology-rich, Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow environments. At first, teachers in these instructionally innovative classrooms…

From the Laboratory to the Classroom: A Technology-Intensive Curriculum for Functions and Graphs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magidson, Susan

1992-01-01

Addresses the challenges, risks, and rewards of teaching about linear functions in a technology-rich environment from a constructivist perspective. Describes an algebra class designed for junior high school students that focuses of the representations and real-world applications of linear functions. (MDH)

Integrating Augmented Reality Technology to Enhance Children's Learning in Marine Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Su-Ju; Liu, Ying-Chieh

2015-01-01

Marine education comprises rich and multifaceted issues. Raising general awareness of marine environments and issues demands the development of new learning materials. This study adapts concepts from digital game-based learning to design an innovative marine learning program integrating augmented reality (AR) technology for lower grade primary…

Leadership's Use of Educational Technologies in U.S. Botanic Gardens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Ginger Virginia

2014-01-01

Botanic gardens are rich informational environments that exhibit ideas in limited increments due to constraints of time and physical layout. This study addressed a gap in research about experiences and issues of botanic gardens leaders related to implementing educational technologies. Educational theorists Dewey, Kolb, and Bandura provided the…

Storytelling: An Ancient Human Technology and Critical-Creative Pedagogy for Transformative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalogeras, Stavroula

2013-01-01

In the era of e-learning, student-centered approaches and constructivists learning environments are critical success factors. The inherent interactivity of the Internet and the emotional engagement of story can lead to transformative learning experiences in media rich environments. This paper focuses on Web-Based Transmedia Storytelling…

Changes in Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Technology-Rich Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dwyer, David C.; And Others

1991-01-01

The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) project is a flexible consortium of researchers, educators, students, and parents who have worked collaboratively to create and study innovative learning environments since 1985. ACOT classrooms are true multimedia environments where students move from competitive work patterns toward collaborative ones. (10…

Ariadne's Thread: Using Social Presence Indices to Distinguish Learning Events in Face-to-Face and ICT-Rich Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baskin, Colin; Henderson, Michael

2005-01-01

Drawing on ancient Greek mythology, this article traces the learning experiences of 164 pre-service education students as they make the transition from a conventional face-to-face (f-2-f) learning environment to an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) rich setting. Influenced by Social Presence Theory (Short, Williams & Christie,…

Self-Regulated Learning in a TELE at the Universite de Technologie de Compiegne: An Analysis from Multiple Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trigano, Philippe

2006-01-01

Self-regulation has become a very important topic in the field of learning and instruction. At the same time, the introduction of new technologies in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has made it possible to create rich Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments (TELEs) with multiple affordances for supporting…

Globalization and Mobilization of Earth Science Education with GeoBrain Geospatial Web Service Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, M.; di, L.

2005-12-01

The needs for Earth science education to prepare students as globally-trained geoscience workforce increase tremendously with globalization of the economy. However, current academic programs often have difficulties in providing students world-view training or experiences with global context due to lack of resources and suitable teaching technology. This paper presents a NASA funded project with insights and solutions to this problem. The project aims to establish a geospatial data-rich learning and research environment that enable the students, faculty and researchers from institutes all over the world easily accessing, analyzing and modeling with the huge amount of NASA EOS data just like they possess those vast resources locally at their desktops. With the environment, classroom demonstration and training for students to deal with global climate and environment issues for any part of the world are possible in any classroom with Internet connection. Globalization and mobilization of Earth science education can be truly realized through the environment. This project, named as NASA EOS Higher Education Alliance: Mobilization of NASA EOS Data and Information through Web Services and Knowledge Management Technologies for Higher Education Teaching and Research, is built on profound technology and infrastructure foundations including web service technology, NASA EOS data resources, and open interoperability standards. An open, distributed, standard compliant, interoperable web-based system, called GeoBrain, is being developed by this project to provide a data-rich on-line learning and research environment. The system allows users to dynamically and collaboratively develop interoperable, web-executable geospatial process and analysis modules and models, and run them on-line against any part of the peta-byte archives for getting back the customized information products rather than raw data. The system makes a data-rich globally-capable Earth science learning and research environment, backed by NASA EOS data and computing resources that are unavailable to students and professors before, available to them at their desktops free of charge. In order to efficiently integrate this new environment into Earth science education and research, a NASA EOS Higher Education Alliance (NEHEA) is formed. The core members of NEHEA consist of the GeoBrain development team led by LAITS at George Mason University and a group of Earth science educators selected from an open RFP process. NEHEA is an open and free alliance. NEHEA welcomes Earth science educators around the world to join as associate members. NEHEA promotes international research and education collaborations in Earth science. NEHEA core members will provide technical support to NEHEA associate members for incorporating the data-rich learning environment into their teaching and research activities. The responsibilities of NEHEA education members include using the system in their research and teaching, providing feedback and requirements to the development team, exchanging information on the utilization of the system capabilities, participating in the system development, and developing new curriculums and research around the environment provided by GeoBrain.

Authentic Learning for Pre-Service Teachers in a Technology-Rich Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Latham, Gloria; Carr, Nicky

2012-01-01

This paper shares the findings from a three year Participatory Action Research Study around the selection, implementation and effectiveness of educational technologies for enhancing learning in a Teacher Education subject for second year pre-service primary teachers. The innovative Project-Based subject is described using a critical lens. The…

An Approach to Scoring Collaboration in Online Game Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scoular, Claire; Care, Esther; Awwal, Nafisa

2017-01-01

With technological advances, it is now possible to use games to capture information-rich behaviours that reveal processes by which players interact and solve problems. Recent problem-based games have been designed to assess and record detailed interactions between the problem solver and the game environment, and thereby capture salient solution…

Structural Relationships of Environments, Individuals, and Learning Outcomes in Korean Online University Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Keol; Kang, Minseok; Park, Sung Youl

2016-01-01

This study examines relationships of instructional environments, learner traits, and learning outcomes in the context of an online university course in Korea which has an advanced information technology background and rich e-learning experiences. However, the educational heritage of the country adheres to directive instruction with little…

Promoting Positive Academic Dispositions Using a Web-Based PBL Environment: The GlobalEd 2 Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Scott W.; Lawless, Kimberly A.; Boyer, Mark A.

2013-01-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional design approach for promoting student learning, understanding and knowledge development in context rich settings. Previous PBL research has primarily focused on face-to-face learning environments, but current technologies afford PBL designers the opportunities to create online, virtual, PBL…

A Theoretical Framework and Model towards Media-Rich Social Presence Design Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elwood, Susan; McCaleb, Karen; Fernandez, Mary; Keengwe, Jared

2014-01-01

Educators are seeing rapid developments in online instruction with regard to not only available technologies, but also in design and teaching practices. Developing and maintaining social presence in an online environment is paramount to the success of a learning environment. This article touches upon some historical perspectives of social presence…

Language Students Learning to Manage Complex Pedagogic Situations in a Technology-Rich Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tumelius, Riikka; Kuure, Leena

2017-01-01

Being a language teacher in the modern world requires sensitivity to complexity, which may pose challenges for student teachers and teachers in the field accustomed to classroom-based learning and teaching. This study examines how language students are managing complex pedagogic situations in a technologyrich environment while exploring new ways…

SCALE(ing)-UP Teaching: A Case Study of Student Motivation in an Undergraduate Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chittum, Jessica R.; McConnell, Kathryne Drezek; Sible, Jill

2017-01-01

Teaching large classes is increasingly common; thus, demand for effective large-class pedagogy is rising. One method, titled "SCALE-UP" (Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs), is intended for large classes and involves collaborative, active learning in a technology-rich and student-centered environment.…

The Confidence and Competence in Information and Communication Technologies of Practitioners, Parents and Young Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aubrey, Carol; Dahl, Sarah

2014-01-01

A review of evidence on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the early years was commissioned by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. Views of practitioners, parents and children were obtained and practitioner ICT audits completed. Most young children grow up in media-rich digital environments in…

Media Rich, Resource Poor: Practical Work in an Impractical Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Vliet, Emma; Deacon, Andrew

2004-01-01

Film and media courses appear well placed to exploit technology convergence in exposing students both to practical skills and to theoretical concepts. For the University of Cape Town's (UCT) large film and media studies courses, it is impractical simply to use the technology of professionals as this would typically be too expensive to purchase and…

Observing Children When Using Computers with a Focus on Their Self-Esteem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatzigianni, Maria; Margetts, Kay

2010-01-01

Children are born into a rich technological environment and by the time they attend preschool they already have accumulated a wide variety of technological experiences, skills and knowledge. This paper reports on part of a project undertaken in Melbourne, Australia, which had as a primary aim to explore the existence or not of a relationship…

Communication Problems Resolved through Portal Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruse, Tom; Skul, Jeanne; Vaassen, Anne

2005-01-01

Loras College is a technology rich campus with a ubiquitous learning environment and about 1800 laptops in the hands of students, faculty, and staff. With a focus on the incorporation of technology into the curriculum the laptop program has been embraced by the campus since its inception in the fall of 2000. In 2003 a new campus strategic plan…

Teaching Science in a Technology-Rich Environment: The Impact of Three Innovative Tools on Secondary Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felt, Wallace A.

2011-01-01

This qualitative case study of a rural high school examines the impact of technology tools on secondary science classrooms. Specifically, document cameras, student response systems, and probeware are examined for their affect in instructional practices in science classrooms where they are used. Observational data, student surveys, and teacher…

Technology-Rich Learning Environments in Elementary and Secondary Schools: An Interactive Study of Physical Settings and Educational Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuebing, Susan; And Others

This paper reviews an ongoing study on the physical settings of education with technology at the elementary and high school levels. The study, which is multi-disciplinary in nature, is based in sites in the process of change in teaching strategies, using learning technology as a catalyst for this change to take place. The focus of the study is on…

An Application of the TROFLEI in Secondary-School Science Classes in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koul, Rekha Bhan; Fisher, D. L.; Shaw, Toni

2011-01-01

Background and purpose: The present study reports on the findings of a study conducted in New Zealand using the actual and preferred forms of a classroom environment instrument, the Technology-Rich Outcomes-focussed Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) and three affective outcome scales. Main aims of this study were to validate the instrument…

Students' Perceptions and Behaviour in Technology-Rich Classroom and Multi-Media Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Junfeng; Yu, Huiju; Gong, Chaohua; Chen, Nian-Shing

2017-01-01

Kurt Lewin proposed the field theory which stated that our behaviour was a result of both our personality and our environment. Based on this theory, it could be deduced that teacher's teaching behavior was a result of both teacher's personality and classroom environment. Considering the challenges of pedagogy transformation and the modest use of…

Watching, Creating and Achieving: Creative Technologies as a Conduit for Learning in the Early Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Susan; Howell, Jennifer

2012-01-01

This paper describes the use of robotics in an Early Years classroom as a tool to aid the development of technological skills in a creative environment rich with literacy and numeracy opportunities. The pilot project illustrates how a three-phase process can result in the development of: (1) emergent literacy and numeracy, (2) digital access for…

Mentoring Student Teachers Into The Profession: Intentionally Creating a Culture of Inquiry in the Context of Media and Technology Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobsen, Michele; Friesen, Sharon; Clifford, Pat

2004-01-01

What is the nature of onsite and online mentoring which enables student teachers to design inquiry-based, technology rich learning experiences? In this case study, faculty and expert teachers worked with fifteen student teachers during an elementary school practicum. An online intelligent design environment supported the development of a community…

Tweeting as a Tool for Learning Science: The Credibility of Student-Produced Knowledge Content in Educational Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swensen, Kaja Vembe; Silseth, Kenneth; Krange, Ingeborg

2014-01-01

In this paper, we will present and discuss data from a research project called MIRACLE, in which high school students learned about energy and energy transformation in a technology-rich learning environment. This learning environment spanned across a classroom, a science center, and an online platform specially designed to support coherence across…

Making Web3D Less Scary: Toward Easy-to-Use Web3D e-Learning Content Development Tools for Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Byl, Penny

2009-01-01

Penny de Byl argues that one of the biggest challenges facing educators today is the integration of rich and immersive three-dimensional environments with existing teaching and learning materials. To empower educators with the ability to embrace emerging Web3D technologies, the Advanced Learning and Immersive Virtual Environment (ALIVE) research…

Design, System, Value: The Role of Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking Capabilities in Technology Education, as Perceived by Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schooner, Patrick; Nordlöf, Charlotta; Klasander, Claes; Hallström, Jonas

2017-01-01

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) defines its views on necessary skills for 21st century citizenship and life-long learning, advocating a generic skillset of literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving in technology-rich environments. Other sources also include critical thinking as a vital 21st Century skill.…

Teacher Perception of Project-Based Learning in a Technology-Infused Secondary School Culture: A Critical Cine-Ethnographic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gratch, Jonathan

2012-01-01

Project-based learning has long been used in the educational realm as it emphasis a student-centered strategy which promotes meaning, enriched learning that enhances inquiry and problem-solving skills in a rich, authentic environment. The relevance and authentic design of projects may further be enhanced by the use of technology in the classroom.…

Beyond Performance Data: Improving Student Help Seeking by Collecting and Displaying Influential Data in an Online Middle-School Science Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daley, Samantha G.; Hillaire, Garron; Sutherland, LeeAnn M.

2016-01-01

Technology makes possible abundant new opportunities to capture and display data in online learning environments. We describe here an example of using these opportunities to improve students' use of the rich supports available in online learning environments. We describe an example of a blended learning experience that uses an online inquiry-based…

Application of methane fermentation technology into organic wastes in closed agricultural system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endo, Ryosuke; Kitaya, Yoshiaki

Sustainable and recycling-based systems are required in space agriculture which takes place in an enclosed environment. Methane fermentation is one of the most major biomass conversion technologies, because (1) it provides a renewable energy source as biogas including methane, suitable for energy production, (2) the nutrient-rich solids left after digestion can be used as compost for agriculture. In this study, the effect of the application of methane fermentation technology into space agriculture on the material and energy cycle was investigated.

Describing functional requirements for knowledge sharing communities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garrett, Sandra; Caldwell, Barrett

2002-01-01

Human collaboration in distributed knowledge sharing groups depends on the functionality of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support performance. Since many of these dynamic environments are constrained by time limits, knowledge must be shared efficiently by adapting the level of information detail to the specific situation. This paper focuses on the process of knowledge and context sharing with and without mediation by ICT, as well as issues to be resolved when determining appropriate ICT channels. Both technology-rich and non-technology examples are discussed.

Learning Design and Inquiry in Australian History Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, Kay

2012-01-01

Global and digital connectivity transform Australian classrooms by creating rich environments for inquiry learning. Developing inquiry learning in this Information Communication Technology (ICT) context is an Australian educational goal. Recently the Australian Curriculum reform and the Digital Education Revolution has become a catalyst for…

An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship between Media Richness and Managerial Information Processing

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-07-01

engineers use technology to design optimal information systems that will provide clear, correct data to help managers solve current problems (Keen...is in a changing environment (Hedberg and Jonsson, 1978; Mowshowitz, 1976; Hedberg, 1981; Hedberg, Nystrom, and Starbuck , 1976). Technology based...organizations learn and unlearn." In P. C. Nystrom, and W. H. Starbuck (eds.), Handbook of Organizational Design, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific

Outsourcing Information Technology and the Insider Threat

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-03-01

the insider threat. However, “are of little value for examining complex social relationships or intricate patterns of interaction ” (Marshall and...As the previous section indicated, U.S. relations with the rest of the world will have some bearing over the social interactions , trends, and psyches...advances that bring economic and social issues into focus in a media rich environment. Technology trends have given organizations the ability to

Children as Codesigners of New Technologies: Valuing the Imagination to Transform What Is Possible

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Druin, Allison

2010-01-01

The technological complexity and richness of a child's environment today is far beyond what any adults today experienced when they were growing up. For example, no adult today knows what it is like to be a four-year-old using his or her first iPhone app or Webkinz account. Therefore, we seek ways to understand what children need in today's new…

Agoraphobia and the Modern Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dron, Jon; Anderson, Terry

2014-01-01

Read/write social technologies enable rich pedagogies that centre on sharing and constructing content but have two notable weaknesses. Firstly, beyond the safe, nurturing environment of closed groups, students participating in more or less public network- or set-oriented communities may be insecure in their knowledge and skills, leading to…

GIS Enabled PBl Pedagogy: The Effects on Students' Learning in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Yan; Laxman, Kumar

2009-01-01

In efforts aimed at acquainting learners with "how to learn" skills rather than static content knowledge, more student centric instructional approaches are being increasingly adopted in informing curriculum design and delivery. Technology-rich problem solving environments offer great promise in scaffolding and facilitating…

Design Issues for Technology-Enhanced Formal Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Class, Barbara; Schneider, Daniel K.

2014-01-01

This research concerns the design, implementation and evaluation of a blended training course for interpreter trainers. Some of the complex issues pertaining to professional development in a rich web-based learner-centered environment are addressed. Findings confirm a socio-constructivist design within which participants developed the expected…

Constructing Virtual Worlds: Tracing the Historical Development of Learner Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barab, Sasha A.; Hay, Kenneth E.; Barnett, Michael; Squire, Kurt

2001-01-01

Explored learning and instruction within a technology-rich, collaborative, participatory learning environment by tracking the emergence of shared understanding and products through student and teacher practices. Found that becoming knowledgeably skillful with respect to a particular practice or concept is a multigenerational process, evolving in…

Extending the Pedagogy of Mobility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hedberg, John G.

2014-01-01

Direct student experience of the real organism, object, place or environment is recognised by teachers as having powerful potential for high-quality learning. Mobile technologies offer a way for students to capture their authentic learning experiences, but rendering this rich experience into explicit and highly situated learning contexts for…

The Five Central Psychological Challenges Facing Effective Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terras, Melody M.; Ramsay, Judith

2012-01-01

Web 2.0 technology not only offers the opportunity of massively parallel interconnected networks that support the provision of information and communication anytime and anywhere but also offers immense opportunities for collaboration and sharing of user-generated content. This information-rich environment may support both formal and informal…

Creating a Rich Learning Environment for Remote Postgraduate Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lonie, Anne-Louise; Andrews, Trish

2009-01-01

At Rangelands Australia, a centre in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management at the University of Queensland, we have recently trialled virtual classroom technology for the delivery of postgraduate support courses. We wanted to explore the capacity of this learning modality to provide collaborative, interactive, synchronous learning…

Expanding Learning Opportunities with Transmedia Practices: "Inanimate Alice" as an Exemplar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleming, Laura

2013-01-01

The proliferation of digital and networking technologies enables us to rethink, restructure, and redefine teaching and learning. Transmedia storytelling takes advantage of the rapid convergence of media and allows teachers and learners to participate in rich virtual (and physical) environments that have been shown to foster students' real…

Understanding Decision Making in Teachers' Curriculum Design Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boschman, Ferry; McKenney, Susan; Voogt, Joke

2014-01-01

The goal of this study was to reach a better understanding of the intuitive decisions teachers make when designing a technology-rich learning environment. A multiple case-study design was employed to examine what kinds of factors (external priorities, existing orientations or practical concerns) influence design interactions of teams of…

Heart Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madden, Sandra R.; Gonzales, Alicia C.

2017-01-01

It is not every day that a former student greets a teacher with, "Your course changed my life." The authors are the professor and student of the transformative course. Alicia Gonzales wanted to understand how to work with students to co-construct an environment where persistent problem solving in a technologically rich classroom was the…

Enhancing children's health through digital story.

PubMed

Wyatt, Tami H; Hauenstein, Emily

2008-01-01

Stories in all of their many forms, including books, plays, skits, movies, poems, and songs, appeal to individuals of all ages but especially the young. Children are easily engaged in stories, and today's generation of children, the millennium generation, demands interactive, multimedia-rich environments. Story as a teaching and learning technique is pervasive in the classroom but is infrequently used to promote health. Because of advancing technology, it is possible to create interactive digital storytelling programs that teach children health topics. Using digital storytelling in an interactive environment to promote health has not been tested, but there is empirical support for using story in health education and interactive technology to promote health. This article briefly reviews the literature and discusses how technology and storytelling can be joined to promote positive health outcomes.

Accidental Discovery of Information on the User-Defined Social Web: A Mixed-Method Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Chi-Jung

2012-01-01

Frequently interacting with other people or working in an information-rich environment can foster the "accidental discovery of information" (ADI) (Erdelez, 2000; McCay-Peet & Toms, 2010). With the increasing adoption of social web technologies, online user-participation communities and user-generated content have provided users the…

Educators and Operations: A Prioritized Approach to Support 21st Century Needs with Limited Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babuca, Pamela; Meade, Kelly

2012-01-01

Today's educators are passionate about shifting the standard classroom towards technology rich, collaborative spaces that support multiple types of learning environments (e.g. individual; peer-to-peer; problem based; hands-on; student-centered). On the other hand, facilities planners are challenged to create solutions within existing, restrictive…

Designing a Marketing Analytics Course for the Digital Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xia; Burns, Alvin C.

2018-01-01

Marketing analytics is receiving great attention because of evolving technology and the radical changes in the marketing environment. This study aims to assist the design and implementation of a marketing analytics course. We assembled a rich data set from four sources: business executives, 400 employers' job postings, one million tweets about…

Evaluation of Scalable Applications of Information Technology to On-Campus Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Harry R.; Sommer, Barbara; Maher, Michael; Acredolo, Curt; Ho, Arnold; Falk, Richard

The University of California, Davis, is transforming large general education courses in a cost-effective way that maintains high academic standards in the face of rising student enrollments. Two multi-year pilot projects have demonstrated the feasibility of using rich online learning environments to reduce the dependence on formal lectures. This…

Youth, Technology, and DIY: Developing Participatory Competencies in Creative Media Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kafai, Yasmin B.; Peppler, Kylie A.

2011-01-01

In this article, the authors draw on findings from several recent studies, particularly the work on the new media-rich programming environment, Scratch, to demonstrate that contemporary youth communities move fluidly across blurry boundaries to engage in both new media literacies and computer literacies in their do-it-yourself (DIY) activities.…

Primary School Teachers' Views on the Preparation and Usage of Authentic Material

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bedir, Gülay; Özbek, Özlem Yesim

2016-01-01

The students of primary school, secondary school, high school and university confront a vast array of stimulants along with the developing technology in their daily lives. With the classroom environment's lack of rich stimulus, it is difficult to get the students' attention using traditional teaching methods. If teachers choose both technological…

Knowledge Maps for E-Literacy in ICT-Rich Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taha, Ahmed

2005-01-01

The Web-based information and communication technology (w-ICT) has become a powerful means for delivery and dissemination of digitised information among the emerging virtual learning and business communities. The w-ICT has engendered a growing cybersphere paradigm to accommodate a huge mass of e-resources cast over the Web. Such abundance of…

How Do High School Students Prefer to Learn?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Leila A.; Angnakoon, Putthachat

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine learning preference--the match between learners and learning methods--and students' information behaviour in technology-rich information environments. The major question asked was: How will high school students' information behaviour differ by gender and academic interests? A total of 88 students (37 girls,…

Design Thinking in Elementary Students' Collaborative Lamp Designing Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kangas, Kaiju; Seitamaa-Hakkarainen, Pirita; Hakkarainen, Kai

2013-01-01

Design and Technology education is potentially a rich environment for successful learning, if the management of the whole design process is emphasised, and students' design thinking is promoted. The aim of the present study was to unfold the collaborative design process of one team of elementary students, in order to understand their multimodal…

Understanding Adults' Strong Problem-Solving Skills Based on PIAAC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hämäläinen, Raija; De Wever, Bram; Nissinen, Kari; Cincinnato, Sebastiano

2017-01-01

Purpose: Research has shown that the problem-solving skills of adults with a vocational education and training (VET) background in technology-rich environments (TREs) are often inadequate. However, some adults with a VET background do have sound problem-solving skills. The present study aims to provide insight into the socio-demographic,…

The Virtual School Library: Gateway to the Information Superhighway.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhlthau, Carol Collier, Ed.; And Others

This book is a compilation of 14 articles that present a wide range of perspectives on providing access to vast networks of information resources and enabling students to learn in an information-rich environment. The articles, arranged in four parts--overview of important technologies comprising the virtual library, learning in the electronic…

Terrain Modelling for Immersive Visualization for the Mars Exploration Rovers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, J.; Hartman, F.; Cooper, B.; Maxwell, S.; Yen, J.; Morrison, J.

2004-01-01

Immersive environments are being used to support mission operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This technology contributed to the Mars Pathfinder Mission in planning sorties for the Sojourner rover and is being used for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. The stereo imagery captured by the rovers is used to create 3D terrain models, which can be viewed from any angle, to provide a powerful and information rich immersive visualization experience. These technologies contributed heavily to both the mission success and the phenomenal level of public outreach achieved by Mars Pathfinder and MER. This paper will review the utilization of terrain modelling for immersive environments in support of MER.

Hospital Nurses' Work Activity in a Technology-Rich Environment: A Triangulated Quality Improvement Assessment.

PubMed

Higgins, Linda W; Shovel, Judith A; Bilderback, Andrew L; Lorenz, Holly L; Martin, Susan C; Rogers, Debra J; Minnier, Tamra E

The aim of this project was to describe hospital nurses' work activity through observations, nurses' perceptions of time spent on tasks, and electronic health record time stamps. Nurses' attitudes toward technology and patients' perceptions and satisfaction with nurses' time at the bedside were also examined. Activities most frequently observed included documenting in and reviewing the electronic health record. Nurses' perceptions of time differed significantly from observations, and most patients rated their satisfaction with nursing time as excellent or good.

Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Ada (Trademark) Technology (2nd) Held at Hampton, Virginia on March 27, 28, 1984.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-01

evaluation of powerful support environments are essential if we are to maximize Lanauage Definition the productivity of programmers. CENVTACS provided...quality Policy and Objectives Ada support environment which includes a rich set of powerful tools (in addition to a compiler) The DOD has established Ada...to be easy to learn and easy to use. It will be powerful , efficient, and The MAPSE Command Language (MCL) friendly. This paper describes how these

Risk, mobility or population size? Drivers of technological richness among contact-period western North American hunter-gatherers.

PubMed

Collard, Mark; Buchanan, Briggs; O'Brien, Michael J; Scholnick, Jonathan

2013-11-19

Identifying factors that influence technological evolution in small-scale societies is important for understanding human evolution. There have been a number of attempts to identify factors that influence the evolution of food-getting technology, but little work has examined the factors that affect the evolution of other technologies. Here, we focus on variation in technological richness (total number of material items and techniques) among recent hunter-gatherers from western North America and test three hypotheses: (i) technological richness is affected by environmental risk, (ii) population size is the primary determinant of technological richness, and (iii) technological richness is constrained by residential mobility. We found technological richness to be correlated with a proxy for environmental risk-mean rainfall for the driest month-in the manner predicted by the risk hypothesis. Support for the hypothesis persisted when we controlled for shared history and intergroup contact. We found no evidence that technological richness is affected by population size or residential mobility. These results have important implications for unravelling the complexities of technological evolution.

Risk, mobility or population size? Drivers of technological richness among contact-period western North American hunter–gatherers

PubMed Central

Collard, Mark; Buchanan, Briggs; O'Brien, Michael J.; Scholnick, Jonathan

2013-01-01

Identifying factors that influence technological evolution in small-scale societies is important for understanding human evolution. There have been a number of attempts to identify factors that influence the evolution of food-getting technology, but little work has examined the factors that affect the evolution of other technologies. Here, we focus on variation in technological richness (total number of material items and techniques) among recent hunter–gatherers from western North America and test three hypotheses: (i) technological richness is affected by environmental risk, (ii) population size is the primary determinant of technological richness, and (iii) technological richness is constrained by residential mobility. We found technological richness to be correlated with a proxy for environmental risk—mean rainfall for the driest month—in the manner predicted by the risk hypothesis. Support for the hypothesis persisted when we controlled for shared history and intergroup contact. We found no evidence that technological richness is affected by population size or residential mobility. These results have important implications for unravelling the complexities of technological evolution. PMID:24101622

Using Student Response Systems to Increase Motivation, Learning, and Knowledge Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radosevich, David J.; Salomon, Roger; Radosevich, Deirdre M.; Kahn, Patricia

2008-01-01

Student response system (SRS) technology is one of many tools available to help instructors create a rich and productive learning environment. David J. Radosevich, Roger Salomon, Deirdre M. Radosevich, and Patricia Kahn describe a study designed to measure the effect of an SRS on student interest and retention. Two sections of an undergraduate…

Models of Power and the Deletion of Participation in a Classroom Literacy Event

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Gloria E.

2012-01-01

This article uses the analytic lens of power relations and models of power to examine how the participation of two students in an urban US eighth-grade English language arts class was symbolically and literally deleted. The researcher asks why do some students fail despite being placed in a technologically rich educational environment that…

Learning by Preparing to Teach: Fostering Self-Regulatory Processes and Achievement during Complex Mathematics Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muis, Krista R.; Psaradellis, Cynthia; Chevrier, Marianne; Di Leo, Ivana; Lajoie, Susanne P.

2016-01-01

We developed an intervention based on the learning by teaching paradigm to foster self-regulatory processes and better learning outcomes during complex mathematics problem solving in a technology-rich learning environment. Seventy-eight elementary students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: learning by preparing to teach, or learning for…

Socio-Demographic and Practice-Oriented Factors Related to Proficiency in Problem Solving: A Lifelong Learning Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desjardins, Richard; Ederer, Peer

2015-01-01

This article explores the relative importance of different socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors that are related to proficiency in problem solving in technology-rich environments (PSTREs) and by extension may be related to complex problem solving (CPS). The empirical analysis focuses on the proficiency measurements of PSTRE made…

HLM in Cluster-Randomised Trials--Measuring Efficacy across Diverse Populations of Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hegedus, Stephen; Tapper, John; Dalton, Sara; Sloane, Finbarr

2013-01-01

We describe the application of Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) in a cluster-randomised study to examine learning algebraic concepts and procedures in an innovative, technology-rich environment in the US. HLM is applied to measure the impact of such treatment on learning and on contextual variables. We provide a detailed description of such…

Graduate Student Preference for Instructor Feedback in MBA Distance Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Morgan

2011-01-01

Distance education is an accepted delivery option for education at all levels today. In this environment, education is delivered via one of many course management platforms (CMP), which support a variety of technologies. This provides a great opportunity to apply and test the various facets of Media Richness Theory. This paper describes the result…

Transformational Leadership & Professional Development for Digitally Rich Learning Environments: A Case Study of the Galileo Educational Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobsen, Michele; Clifford, Pat; Friesen, Sharon

The Galileo Educational Network is an innovative educational reform initiative that brings learning to learners. Expert teachers work alongside teachers and students in schools to create new images of engaged learning, technology integration and professional development. This case study is based on the nine schools involved with Galileo in…

The Effect of Precommitment on Student Achievement within a Technology-Rich Project-Based Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hao, Qiang; Branch, Robert Maribe; Jensen, Lucas

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effects of precommitment on college students' goal setting and academic performance, and students' attitude towards precommitment-related activities. Precommitment refers to a procedure in which students set up learning goals, possibly with a time limit at the beginning of a learning phase, then report the comparison…

PIAAC Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments: A Conceptual Framework. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 36

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rouet, Jean-Francois; Betrancourt, Mirelle; Britt, M. Anne; Bromme, Rainer; Graesser, Arthur C.; Kulikowich, Jonna M.; Leu, Donald J.; Ueno, Naoki; van Oostendorp, Herre

2009-01-01

Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations for the purposes of monitoring how well prepared they are for the challenges of the new information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework developed for the assessment of problem solving in…

Massively Multiplayer Online Games as a Sandbox for Leadership: The Relationship between in and out of Game Leadership Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendoza, Sean Henry Veloria

2014-01-01

Given society's increasingly technology centric play and workplace environment, Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs) can be an excellent sandbox to develop future leaders of teams, which are the lifeblood of any organization. MMOs like World of WarCraft provide rich immersive experiences that allow leaders and followers the ability to create…

Aero-space plane figures of merit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunt, James L.; Martin, John G.

1992-01-01

The design environment of the aerospace plane is variable rich, intricately networked and sensitivity intensive. To achieve a viable design necessitates addressing three principal elements: knowledge of the 'figures of merit' and their relationships, the synthesis procedure, and the synergistic integration of advanced technologies across the discipline spectrum. This paper focuses on the 'figures of merit' that create the design of an aerospace plane.

CARDS: A blueprint and environment for domain-specific software reuse

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallnau, Kurt C.; Solderitsch, Anne Costa; Smotherman, Catherine

1992-01-01

CARDS (Central Archive for Reusable Defense Software) exploits advances in domain analysis and domain modeling to identify, specify, develop, archive, retrieve, understand, and reuse domain-specific software components. An important element of CARDS is to provide visibility into the domain model artifacts produced by, and services provided by, commercial computer-aided software engineering (CASE) technology. The use of commercial CASE technology is important to provide rich, robust support for the varied roles involved in a reuse process. We refer to this kind of use of knowledge representation systems as supporting 'knowledge-based integration.'

Modelling Technology for Building Fire Scene with Virtual Geographic Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Y.; Zhao, L.; Wei, M.; Zhang, H.; Liu, W.

2017-09-01

Building fire is a risky activity that can lead to disaster and massive destruction. The management and disposal of building fire has always attracted much interest from researchers. Integrated Virtual Geographic Environment (VGE) is a good choice for building fire safety management and emergency decisions, in which a more real and rich fire process can be computed and obtained dynamically, and the results of fire simulations and analyses can be much more accurate as well. To modelling building fire scene with VGE, the application requirements and modelling objective of building fire scene were analysed in this paper. Then, the four core elements of modelling building fire scene (the building space environment, the fire event, the indoor Fire Extinguishing System (FES) and the indoor crowd) were implemented, and the relationship between the elements was discussed also. Finally, with the theory and framework of VGE, the technology of building fire scene system with VGE was designed within the data environment, the model environment, the expression environment, and the collaborative environment as well. The functions and key techniques in each environment are also analysed, which may provide a reference for further development and other research on VGE.

GLOBE Program's Data and Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Memarsadeghi, N.; Overoye, D.; Lewis, C.; Butler, D. M.; Ramapriyan, H.

2016-12-01

"The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is an international science and education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment" (www.globe.gov ). GLOBE Program has a rich community of students, teachers, scientists, trainers, country coordinators, and alumni across the world, technologically spanning both high- and low-end users. There are 117 GLOBE participating countries from around the world. GLOBE's Science data protocols and educational material span atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, soil (pedosphere), and Earth as a System scientific areas (http://www.globe.gov/do-globe/globe-teachers-guide). GLOBE's Data and Information System (DIS), when first introduced in 1995, was a cutting edge system that was well-received and innovative for its time. However, internet-based technologies have changed dramatically since then. Projects to modernize and evolve the GLOBE DIS started in 2010, resulting in today's GLOBE DIS. The current GLOBE DIS is now built upon the latest information technologies and is engaging and supporting the user community with advanced tools and services to further the goals of the GLOBE Program. GLOBE DIS consists of over 20 years of observation and training data, a rich set of software systems and applications for data entry, visualization, and analysis, as well as tools for training users in various science data protocols and enabling collaborations among members of the international user community. We present the existing GLOBE DIS, application technologies, and lessons learned for their operations, development, sustaining engineering, and data management practices. Examples of GLOBE DIS technologies include Liferay System for integrated user and content management, a Postgress/PostGIS database, Ruby on Rails for Data Entry systems, and OpenGeo for Visualization system.

Empowering Prospective Teachers to Become Active Sense-Makers: Multimodal Modeling of the Seasons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Mi Song

2015-10-01

Situating science concepts in concrete and authentic contexts, using information and communications technologies, including multimodal modeling tools, is important for promoting the development of higher-order thinking skills in learners. However, teachers often struggle to integrate emergent multimodal models into a technology-rich informal learning environment. Our design-based research co-designs and develops engaging, immersive, and interactive informal learning activities called "Embodied Modeling-Mediated Activities" (EMMA) to support not only Singaporean learners' deep learning of astronomy but also the capacity of teachers. As part of the research on EMMA, this case study describes two prospective teachers' co-design processes involving multimodal models for teaching and learning the concept of the seasons in a technology-rich informal learning setting. Our study uncovers four prominent themes emerging from our data concerning the contextualized nature of learning and teaching involving multimodal models in informal learning contexts: (1) promoting communication and emerging questions, (2) offering affordances through limitations, (3) explaining one concept involving multiple concepts, and (4) integrating teaching and learning experiences. This study has an implication for the development of a pedagogical framework for teaching and learning in technology-enhanced learning environments—that is empowering teachers to become active sense-makers using multimodal models.

Bridging Individual Experiences to Organizational Knowledge: The Remodeling of a National Learning Resources Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jih, Huecyhing Janice; Lin, Yenjen; Wu, Szuchien Sofia

The K-12 Gas Station is a national World Wide Web site in Taiwan that serves as the educational portal that provides teachers, parents, pupils, and public communities with rich content for all subject matters in grades K-12. The K-12 Gas Station plays a critical role in the efforts to build up a technology-based learning environment to help…

Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

OECD Publishing (NJ3), 2012

2012-01-01

A basic level of literacy and numeracy is essential for full participation in modern societies. While very few people in most of the advanced countries could be regarded as illiterate or innumerate, recent studies have shown that there are, in fact, significant numbers of people with poor skills, and that low levels of skills are associated with…

''History of Theatre'' Web Sites: A Brief History of the Writing Process in a High School ESL Language Arts Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parks, Susan; Huot, Diane; Hamers, Josiane; Lemonnier, France H.

2005-01-01

This article reports on how Quebec Francophone high school students, enrolled in a program which featured an environment rich in information and communication technologies (ICTs), appropriated the writing process over a four-year period (Grades 7-10) in the context of their ESL language arts courses. Data for the study were obtained using…

Situated cognition and cognitive apprenticeship: a model for teaching and learning clinical skills in a technologically rich and authentic learning environment.

PubMed

Woolley, Norman N; Jarvis, Yvonne

2007-01-01

The acquisition of a range of diverse clinical skills is a central feature of the pre-registration nursing curriculum. Prior to exposure to clinical practice, it is essential that learners have the opportunity to practise and develop such skills in a safe and controlled environment under the direction and supervision of clinical experts. However, the competing demands of the HE nursing curriculum coupled with an increased number of learners have resulted in a reduced emphasis on traditional apprenticeship learning. This paper presents an alternative model for clinical skills teaching that draws upon the principles of cognitive apprenticeship [Collins, A., Brown, J.S., Newman, S., 1989. Cognitive Apprenticeship: teaching the crafts of reading, writing and mathematics. In: Resnick, L.B. (Ed.) Knowing. Learning and Instruction: Essays in Honor of Robert Glaser. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey, pp. 453-494] and situated cognition within a technologically rich and authentic learning environment. It will show how high quality DVD materials illustrating clinical skills performed by expert practitioners have been produced and used in conjunction with CCTV and digital recording technologies to support learning within a pedagogic framework appropriate to skills acquisition. It is argued that this model not only better prepares the student for the time they will spend in the practice setting, but also lays the foundation for the development of a clinically competent practitioner with the requisite physical and cognitive skills who is fit for purpose [UKCC, 1999. Fitness for Practice: The UKCC Commission for Nursing and Midwifery Education. United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing Midwifery and Health Visiting, London].

Teachers as Co-Designers of Technology-Rich Learning Activities for Early Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cviko, Amina; McKenney, Susan; Voogt, Joke

2015-01-01

Although kindergarten teachers often struggle with implementing technology, they are rarely involved in co-designing technology-rich learning activities. This study involved teachers in the co-design of technology-rich learning activities and sought to explore implementation and pupil learning outcomes. A case-study method was used to investigate:…

Hypersonic airbreathing vehicle conceptual design (focus on aero-space plane)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunt, James L.; Martin, John G.

1989-01-01

The airbreathing single stage to orbit (SSTO) vehicle design environment is variable-rich, intricately networked and sensitivity intensive. As such, it represents a tremondous technology challenge. Creating a viable design will require sophisticated configuration/synthesis and the synergistic integration of advanced technologies across the discipline spectrum. In design exercises, reductions in the fuel weight-fraction requirements projected for an orbital vehicle concept can result from improvements in aerodynamics/controls, propulsion efficiencies and trajectory optimization; also, gains in the fuel weight-fraction achievable for such a concept can result from improvements in structural design, heat management techniques, and material properties. As these technology advances take place, closure on a viable vehicle design will be realizable.

Review of modern low emissions combustion technologies for aero gas turbine engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yize; Sun, Xiaoxiao; Sethi, Vishal; Nalianda, Devaiah; Li, Yi-Guang; Wang, Lu

2017-10-01

Pollutant emissions from aircraft in the vicinity of airports and at altitude are of great public concern due to their impact on environment and human health. The legislations aimed at limiting aircraft emissions have become more stringent over the past few decades. This has resulted in an urgent need to develop low emissions combustors in order to meet legislative requirements and reduce the impact of civil aviation on the environment. This article provides a comprehensive review of low emissions combustion technologies for modern aero gas turbines. The review considers current high Technologies Readiness Level (TRL) technologies including Rich-Burn Quick-quench Lean-burn (RQL), Double Annular Combustor (DAC), Twin Annular Premixing Swirler combustors (TAPS), Lean Direct Injection (LDI). It further reviews some of the advanced technologies at lower TRL. These include NASA multi-point LDI, Lean Premixed Prevaporised (LPP), Axially Staged Combustors (ASC) and Variable Geometry Combustors (VGC). The focus of the review is placed on working principles, a review of the key technologies (includes the key technology features, methods of realising the technology, associated technology advantages and design challenges, progress in development), technology application and emissions mitigation potential. The article concludes the technology review by providing a technology evaluation matrix based on a number of combustion performance criteria including altitude relight auto-ignition flashback, combustion stability, combustion efficiency, pressure loss, size and weight, liner life and exit temperature distribution.

Novel methodology to examine cognitive and experiential factors in language development: combining eye-tracking and LENA technology

PubMed Central

Odean, Rosalie; Nazareth, Alina; Pruden, Shannon M.

2015-01-01

Developmental systems theory posits that development cannot be segmented by influences acting in isolation, but should be studied through a scientific lens that highlights the complex interactions between these forces over time (Overton, 2013a). This poses a unique challenge for developmental psychologists studying complex processes like language development. In this paper, we advocate for the combining of highly sophisticated data collection technologies in an effort to move toward a more systemic approach to studying language development. We investigate the efficiency and appropriateness of combining eye-tracking technology and the LENA (Language Environment Analysis) system, an automated language analysis tool, in an effort to explore the relation between language processing in early development, and external dynamic influences like parent and educator language input in the home and school environments. Eye-tracking allows us to study language processing via eye movement analysis; these eye movements have been linked to both conscious and unconscious cognitive processing, and thus provide one means of evaluating cognitive processes underlying language development that does not require the use of subjective parent reports or checklists. The LENA system, on the other hand, provides automated language output that describes a child’s language-rich environment. In combination, these technologies provide critical information not only about a child’s language processing abilities but also about the complexity of the child’s language environment. Thus, when used in conjunction these technologies allow researchers to explore the nature of interacting systems involved in language development. PMID:26379591

An application of the TROFLEI in secondary-school science classes in New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhan Koul, Rekha; Fisher, D. L.; Shaw, Toni

2011-07-01

Background and purpose: The present study reports on the findings of a study conducted in New Zealand using the actual and preferred forms of a classroom environment instrument, the Technology-Rich Outcomes-focussed Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) and three affective outcome scales. Main aims of this study were to validate the instrument for use in New Zealand; to investigate differences between students' perceptions of (a) actual and preferred learning environments, (b) year levels and (c) gender; and to investigate associations between science classroom learning environment, attitude and self-efficacy. Sample TROFLEI was administered to 1027 high-school students from 30 classes. Design and method The 80-item TROFLEI assesses 10 classroom environment dimensions: student cohesiveness, teacher support, involvement, investigation, task orientation, cooperation, equity, differentiation, computer usage and young adult ethos. The three affective outcome scales used in the study are attitude to subject, attitude to computers and academic efficacy. Results The validity and reliability of the TROFLEI and three affective outcome scales for use in New Zealand were established. Differences in actual and preferred scores confirmed that students participating in the study sought better learning environments. Female students generally perceived their technology-related learning environment more positively. Year-13 students had consistently higher means for most (8 out of 13) of the learning environment dimensions. Statistically significant associations were found between the scales of TROLFLEI and three affective outcome scales. Conclusions The results of this study assist us in understanding the psychosocial learning environments in New Zealand in a technology-supported classroom and to determine its effectiveness in terms of selected learner outcomes.

A Genetic Algorithm Approach to Motion Sensor Placement in Smart Environments.

PubMed

Thomas, Brian L; Crandall, Aaron S; Cook, Diane J

2016-04-01

Smart environments and ubiquitous computing technologies hold great promise for a wide range of real world applications. The medical community is particularly interested in high quality measurement of activities of daily living. With accurate computer modeling of older adults, decision support tools may be built to assist care providers. One aspect of effectively deploying these technologies is determining where the sensors should be placed in the home to effectively support these end goals. This work introduces and evaluates a set of approaches for generating sensor layouts in the home. These approaches range from the gold standard of human intuition-based placement to more advanced search algorithms, including Hill Climbing and Genetic Algorithms. The generated layouts are evaluated based on their ability to detect activities while minimizing the number of needed sensors. Sensor-rich environments can provide valuable insights about adults as they go about their lives. These sensors, once in place, provide information on daily behavior that can facilitate an aging-in-place approach to health care.

A Genetic Algorithm Approach to Motion Sensor Placement in Smart Environments

PubMed Central

Thomas, Brian L.; Crandall, Aaron S.; Cook, Diane J.

2016-01-01

Smart environments and ubiquitous computing technologies hold great promise for a wide range of real world applications. The medical community is particularly interested in high quality measurement of activities of daily living. With accurate computer modeling of older adults, decision support tools may be built to assist care providers. One aspect of effectively deploying these technologies is determining where the sensors should be placed in the home to effectively support these end goals. This work introduces and evaluates a set of approaches for generating sensor layouts in the home. These approaches range from the gold standard of human intuition-based placement to more advanced search algorithms, including Hill Climbing and Genetic Algorithms. The generated layouts are evaluated based on their ability to detect activities while minimizing the number of needed sensors. Sensor-rich environments can provide valuable insights about adults as they go about their lives. These sensors, once in place, provide information on daily behavior that can facilitate an aging-in-place approach to health care. PMID:27453810

Social Environment and Sexual Risk-Taking among Gay and Transgender African American Youth

PubMed Central

Stevens, Robin; Bernadini, Stephen; Jemmott, John B.

2014-01-01

More prevention effort is required as the HIV epidemic increases among gay and transgender African American youth. Using ecological systems theory and an integrative model of behaviour change, this study examines the sexual behaviour of gay and transgender African American young people as embedded within the unique social and structural environments affecting this population. Also examined is the important role played by mobile technology in the social and sexual lives of individuals. Seven focus groups were conducted with 54 African American young adults in a northeastern U.S. city. The findings provide a rich examination of the social and sexual lives of gay and transgender African American youth, focusing on the social environment and the impact of the environment on sexual risk behaviour. PMID:23889233

A cross-cultural validation of the Technology-Rich Outcomes-Focused Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) in Turkey and the USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welch, Anita G.; Cakir, Mustafa; Peterson, Claudette M.; Ray, Chris M.

2012-04-01

Background . Studies exploring the relationship between students' achievement and the quality of the classroom learning environments have shown that there is a strong relationship between these two concepts. Learning environment instruments are constantly being revised and updated, including for use in different cultures, which requires continued validation efforts. Purpose The purpose of this study was to establish cross-cultural reliability and validity of the Technology-Rich Outcomes-Focused Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) in both Turkey and the USA. Sample Approximately 980 students attending grades 9-12 in Turkey and 130 students attending grades 9-12 in the USA participated in the study. Design and method Scale reliability analyses and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed separately for Turkish and US participants for both actual and preferred responses to each scale to confirm the structure of the TROFLEI across these two distinct samples. Results Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients, ranging from α = 0.820 to 0.931 for Turkish participants and from α = 0.778 to 0.939 for US participants, indicated that all scales have satisfactory internal consistency for both samples. Confirmatory factor analyses resulted in evidence of adequate model fit across both samples for both actual and preferred responses, with the root mean square error of approximation ranging from 0.052 to 0.057 and the comparative fit index ranging from 0.920 to 0.982. Conclusions This study provides initial evidence that the TROFLEI is valid for use in both the Turkish and US high-school populations (grades 9-12). However, the psychometric properties should be examined further with different populations, such as middle-school students (grades 6-8).

Rasch measurement of self-regulated learning in an information and communication technology (ICT)-rich environment.

PubMed

Njiru, Joseph N; Waugh, Russell F

2007-01-01

This report describes how a linear scale of self-regulated learning in an ICT-rich environment was created by analysing student data using the Rasch measurement model. A person convenience sample of (N = 409) university students in Western Australia was used. The stem-item sample was initially 41, answered in two perspectives ("I aim for this" and "I actually do this"), and reduced to 16 that fitted the measurement model to form a unidimensional scale. Items for motivation (extrinsic rewards, intrinsic rewards, and social rewards), academic goals (fear of performing poorly) (but not standards), self-learning beliefs (ability and interest), task management (strategies and time management) (but not cooperative learning), Volition (action control (but not environmental control), and self-evaluation (cognitive self-evaluation and metacognition) fitted the measurement model. The proportion of observed variance considered true was 0.90. A new instrument is proposed to handle the conceptually valid but non-fitting items. Characteristics of high self-regulated learners are measured.

Immersive telepresence system using high-resolution omnidirectional movies and a locomotion interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikeda, Sei; Sato, Tomokazu; Kanbara, Masayuki; Yokoya, Naokazu

2004-05-01

Technology that enables users to experience a remote site virtually is called telepresence. A telepresence system using real environment images is expected to be used in the field of entertainment, medicine, education and so on. This paper describes a novel telepresence system which enables users to walk through a photorealistic virtualized environment by actual walking. To realize such a system, a wide-angle high-resolution movie is projected on an immersive multi-screen display to present users the virtualized environments and a treadmill is controlled according to detected user's locomotion. In this study, we use an omnidirectional multi-camera system to acquire images real outdoor scene. The proposed system provides users with rich sense of walking in a remote site.

Molecular evolution and expression of oxygen transport genes in livebearing fishes (Poeciliidae) from hydrogen sulfide rich springs.

PubMed

Barts, Nicholas; Greenway, Ryan; Passow, Courtney N; Arias-Rodriguez, Lenin; Kelley, Joanna L; Tobler, Michael

2018-04-01

Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) is a natural toxicant in some aquatic environments that has diverse molecular targets. It binds to oxygen transport proteins, rendering them non-functional by reducing oxygen-binding affinity. Hence, organisms permanently inhabiting H 2 S-rich environments are predicted to exhibit adaptive modifications to compensate for the reduced capacity to transport oxygen. We investigated 10 lineages of fish of the family Poeciliidae that have colonized freshwater springs rich in H 2 S-along with related lineages from non-sulfidic environments-to test hypotheses about the expression and evolution of oxygen transport genes in a phylogenetic context. We predicted shifts in the expression of and signatures of positive selection on oxygen transport genes upon colonization of H 2 S-rich habitats. Our analyses indicated significant shifts in gene expression for multiple hemoglobin genes in lineages that have colonized H 2 S-rich environments, and three hemoglobin genes exhibited relaxed selection in sulfidic compared to non-sulfidic lineages. However, neither changes in gene expression nor signatures of selection were consistent among all lineages in H 2 S-rich environments. Oxygen transport genes may consequently be predictable targets of selection during adaptation to sulfidic environments, but changes in gene expression and molecular evolution of oxygen transport genes in H 2 S-rich environments are not necessarily repeatable across replicated lineages.

Time, space and technology in radiotherapy departments: how do these factors impact on patients' experiences of radiotherapy?

PubMed

Merchant, S; O'Connor, M; Halkett, G

2017-03-01

Radiation therapists (RTs) plan and deliver radiotherapy treatment for patients diagnosed with cancer. They need to communicate regularly with their patients and may have a role to play in reducing patient anxiety and distress. The objectives were to explore how the environment of radiotherapy departments supports or inhibits communication generally and information giving and supportive care provision in particular. An ethnographic approach was used to gather rich descriptive data through observations and interviews conducted in two Australian radiotherapy centres. Time, space and a technology driven culture was found to negatively affect the quality of interaction that occurred between RTs and their patients. This research has shown design/modification of spaces is needed in the radiotherapy environment to reflect a patient care centred culture and to enhance opportunities for RTs to provide supportive care for their patients. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prolonged Hospital Discharge for Children with Technology Dependency: A Source of Health Care Disparities.

PubMed

Sobotka, Sarah A; Agrawal, Rishi K; Msall, Michael E

2017-10-01

Children with ventilator assistance have been supported in living at home since 1981 when parental advocacy ushered in a change to Medicaid policy. As the population of children who use medical technology such as long-term ventilation increases, we must critically evaluate our systems for preparing families for home life. Discharge delays persist in the modern era because of fragmentation between hospital and home systems. These discharge delays result in children spending time in less developmentally rich environments, further exacerbating the health and development disparities of children with complex disabilities. In this article, we discuss the complication of hospital discharge and how it contributes to health and developmental disparities. We also describe a hospital-to-home transitional care model, which presents a home-like environment to provide developmental support while focusing on parental training, home nursing, and public-funding arrangements. [Pediatr Ann. 2017;46(10):e365-e370.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Literacy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments among U.S. Adults: Results from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2012. First Look. NCES 2014-008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Madeline; Finnegan, Robert; Mohadjer, Leyla; Krenzke, Tom; Hogan, Jacquie

2013-01-01

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a cyclical, large scale study of adult skills and life experience focusing on education and employment that was developed and organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the United States, the study was conducted in 2011-12 with a…

Teacher Educators as Learners: Enabling Learning while Developing Innovative Practice in ICT-Rich Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reading, Chris; Doyle, Helen

2013-01-01

It's time for teachers to consider themselves as learners in ICT-rich learning environments and to become more aware of factors that enable their learning in such environments. The notion of teachers as learners in ICT-rich environments is not new but the focus is usually on school teachers and formal professional development, rather than teachers…

Technology and application of 3D tunnel information monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Changqing; Deng, Hongliang; Chen, Ge; Wang, Simiao; Guo, Yang; Wu, Shenglin

2015-12-01

It is very necessary that Implement information monitoring and dynamic construction because of Complex geological environment and lack of basic information in the process of tunnel construction. The monitoring results show that 3 d laser scanning technology and information management system has important theoretical significance and application value to ensure the safety of tunnel construction, rich construction theory and technology. It can be known in real time the deformation information and the construction information in near tunnel workplace and the whole tunnel section in real time. In the meantime, it can be known the deformation regularity in the tunnel excavation process and the early warning and forecasting in the form of graphic and data. In order to determine the reasonable time and provide basis for supporting parameters and lining.

The application of network teaching in applied optics teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Huifu; Piao, Mingxu; Li, Lin; Liu, Dongmei

2017-08-01

Network technology has become a creative tool of changing human productivity, the rapid development of it has brought profound changes to our learning, working and life. Network technology has many advantages such as rich contents, various forms, convenient retrieval, timely communication and efficient combination of resources. Network information resources have become the new education resources, get more and more application in the education, has now become the teaching and learning tools. Network teaching enriches the teaching contents, changes teaching process from the traditional knowledge explanation into the new teaching process by establishing situation, independence and cooperation in the network technology platform. The teacher's role has shifted from teaching in classroom to how to guide students to learn better. Network environment only provides a good platform for the teaching, we can get a better teaching effect only by constantly improve the teaching content. Changchun university of science and technology introduced a BB teaching platform, on the platform, the whole optical classroom teaching and the classroom teaching can be improved. Teachers make assignments online, students learn independently offline or the group learned cooperatively, this expands the time and space of teaching. Teachers use hypertext form related knowledge of applied optics, rich cases and learning resources, set up the network interactive platform, homework submission system, message board, etc. The teaching platform simulated the learning interest of students and strengthens the interaction in the teaching.

Context-dependent interactions and the regulation of species richness in freshwater fish.

PubMed

MacDougall, Andrew S; Harvey, Eric; McCune, Jenny L; Nilsson, Karin A; Bennett, Joseph; Firn, Jennifer; Bartley, Timothy; Grace, James B; Kelly, Jocelyn; Tunney, Tyler D; McMeans, Bailey; Matsuzaki, Shin-Ichiro S; Kadoya, Taku; Esch, Ellen; Cazelles, Kevin; Lester, Nigel; McCann, Kevin S

2018-03-06

Species richness is regulated by a complex network of scale-dependent processes. This complexity can obscure the influence of limiting species interactions, making it difficult to determine if abiotic or biotic drivers are more predominant regulators of richness. Using integrative modeling of freshwater fish richness from 721 lakes along an 11 o latitudinal gradient, we find negative interactions to be a relatively minor independent predictor of species richness in lakes despite the widespread presence of predators. Instead, interaction effects, when detectable among major functional groups and 231 species pairs, were strong, often positive, but contextually dependent on environment. These results are consistent with the idea that negative interactions internally structure lake communities but do not consistently 'scale-up' to regulate richness independently of the environment. The importance of environment for interaction outcomes and its role in the regulation of species richness highlights the potential sensitivity of fish communities to the environmental changes affecting lakes globally.

Context-dependent interactions and the regulation of species richness in freshwater fish

USGS Publications Warehouse

MacDougall, Andrew S.; Harvey, Eric; McCune, Jenny L.; Nilsson, Karin A.; Bennett, Joseph; Firn, Jennifer; Bartley, Timothy; Grace, James B.; Kelly, Jocelyn; Tunney, Tyler D.; McMeans, Bailey; Matsuzaki, Shin-Ichiro S.; Kadoya, Taku; Esch, Ellen; Cazelles, Kevin; Lester, Nigel; McCann, Kevin S.

2018-01-01

Species richness is regulated by a complex network of scale-dependent processes. This complexity can obscure the influence of limiting species interactions, making it difficult to determine if abiotic or biotic drivers are more predominant regulators of richness. Using integrative modeling of freshwater fish richness from 721 lakes along an 11olatitudinal gradient, we find negative interactions to be a relatively minor independent predictor of species richness in lakes despite the widespread presence of predators. Instead, interaction effects, when detectable among major functional groups and 231 species pairs, were strong, often positive, but contextually dependent on environment. These results are consistent with the idea that negative interactions internally structure lake communities but do not consistently ‘scale-up’ to regulate richness independently of the environment. The importance of environment for interaction outcomes and its role in the regulation of species richness highlights the potential sensitivity of fish communities to the environmental changes affecting lakes globally.

An Internet of Things Approach to Electrical Power Monitoring and Outage Reporting

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

Koch, Daniel B

The so-called Internet of Things concept has captured much attention recently as ordinary devices are connected to the Internet for monitoring and control purposes. One enabling technology is the proliferation of low-cost, single board computers with built-in network interfaces. Some of these are capable of hosting full-fledged operating systems that provide rich programming environments. Taken together, these features enable inexpensive solutions for even traditional tasks such as the one presented here for electrical power monitoring and outage reporting.

Basic Principles of Health Economics Applied - How to Assess if Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation is Worth the Investment.

PubMed

Brunn, Matthias; Durand-Zaleski, Isabelle

2013-08-01

This article attempts to present some highlights from the rich economic literature pertaining to interventional cardiology and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). There are currently more questions than answers, not surprisingly given the pace of technological change in interventional cardiology. For clinicians who work in a strictly regulated environment and have limited control over their use of medical technologies, this article will hopefully shed some light on the motives for policy decisions. For clinicians who make decisions on the resources used to treat their patients, it aims to provide the means of looking for evidence that will allow for informed decisions from both clinical and economic perspectives.

Web-Accessible Scientific Workflow System for Performance Monitoring

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

Roelof Versteeg; Roelof Versteeg; Trevor Rowe

2006-03-01

We describe the design and implementation of a web accessible scientific workflow system for environmental monitoring. This workflow environment integrates distributed, automated data acquisition with server side data management and information visualization through flexible browser based data access tools. Component technologies include a rich browser-based client (using dynamic Javascript and HTML/CSS) for data selection, a back-end server which uses PHP for data processing, user management, and result delivery, and third party applications which are invoked by the back-end using webservices. This environment allows for reproducible, transparent result generation by a diverse user base. It has been implemented for several monitoringmore » systems with different degrees of complexity.« less

A Water Rich Mars Surface Mission Scenario

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, Stephen J.; Andrews, Alida; Joosten, B. Kent; Watts, Kevin

2017-01-01

In an on-going effort to make human Mars missions more affordable and sustainable, NASA continues to investigate the innovative leveraging of technological advances in conjunction with the use of accessible Martian resources directly applicable to these missions. One of the resources with the broadest utility for human missions is water. Many past studies of human Mars missions assumed a complete lack of water derivable from local sources. However, recent advances in our understanding of the Martian environment provides growing evidence that Mars may be more "water rich" than previously suspected. This is based on data indicating that substantial quantities of water are mixed with surface regolith, bound in minerals located at or near the surface, and buried in large glacier-like forms. This paper describes an assessment of what could be done in a "water rich" human Mars mission scenario. A description of what is meant by "water rich" in this context is provided, including a quantification of the water that would be used by crews in this scenario. The different types of potential feedstock that could be used to generate these quantities of water are described, drawing on the most recently available assessments of data being returned from Mars. This paper specifically focuses on sources that appear to be buried quantities of water ice. (An assessment of other potential feedstock materials is documented in another paper.) Technologies and processes currently used in terrestrial Polar Regions are reviewed. One process with a long history of use on Earth and with potential application on Mars - the Rodriguez Well - is described and results of an analysis simulating the performance of such a well on Mars are presented. These results indicate that a Rodriguez Well capable of producing the quantities of water identified for a "water rich" human mission are within the capabilities assumed to be available on the Martian surface, as envisioned in other comparable Evolvable Mars Campaign assessments. The paper concludes by capturing additional findings and describing additional simulations and tests that should be conducted to better characterize the performance of the identified terrestrial technologies for accessing subsurface ice, as well as the Rodriguez Well, under Mars environmental conditions.

A Water Rich Mars Surface Mission Scenario

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, Stephen J.; Andrews, Alida; Joosten, B. Kent; Watts, Kevin

2017-01-01

In an on-going effort to make human Mars missions more affordable and sustainable, NASA continues to investigate the innovative leveraging of technological advances in conjunction with the use of accessible Martian resources directly applicable to these missions. One of the resources with the broadest utility for human missions is water. Many past studies of human Mars missions assumed a complete lack of water derivable from local sources. However, recent advances in our understanding of the Martian environment provides growing evidence that Mars may be more "water rich" than previously suspected. This is based on data indicating that substantial quantities of water are mixed with surface regolith, bound in minerals located at or near the surface, and buried in large glacier-like forms. This paper describes an assessment of what could be done in a "water rich" human Mars mission scenario. A description of what is meant by "water rich" in this context is provided, including a quantification of the water that would be used by crews in this scenario. The different types of potential feedstock that could be used to generate these quantities of water are described, drawing on the most recently available assessments of data being returned from Mars. This paper specifically focuses on sources that appear to be buried quantities of water ice. (An assessment of other potential feedstock materials is documented in another paper.) Technologies and processes currently used in terrestrial polar regions is reviewed. One process with a long history of use on Earth and with potential application on Mars - the Rodriguez Well - is described and results of an analysis simulating the performance of such a well on Mars are presented. These results indicate that a Rodriguez Well capable of producing the quantities of water identified for a "water rich" human mission are within the capabilities assumed to be available on the Martian surface, as envisioned in other comparable Evolvable Mars Campaign assessments. The paper concludes by capturing additional findings and describing additional simulations and tests that should be conducted to better characterize the performance of the identified terrestrial technologies for accessing subsurface ice, as well as the Rodriguez Well, under Mars environmental conditions.

Improvements to the Ontology-based Metadata Portal for Unified Semantics (OlyMPUS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linsinbigler, M. A.; Gleason, J. L.; Huffer, E.

2016-12-01

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 Earth Science data consumers and data providers, enabling the latter to register data sets and provision them with the semantically rich metadata that drives the Ontology-Driven Interactive Search Environment for Earth Sciences (ODISEES). OlyMPUS complements the ODISEES' data discovery system with an intelligent tool to enable data producers to auto-generate semantically enhanced metadata and upload it to the metadata repository that drives ODISEES. Like ODISEES, the OlyMPUS metadata provisioning tool leverages robust semantics, a NoSQL database and query engine, an automated reasoning engine that performs first- and second-order deductive inferencing, and uses a controlled vocabulary to support data interoperability and automated analytics. The ODISEES data discovery portal leverages this metadata to provide a seamless data discovery and access experience for data consumers who are interested in comparing and contrasting the multiple Earth science data products available across NASA data centers. Olympus will support scientists' services and tools for performing complex analyses and identifying correlations and non-obvious relationships across all types of Earth System phenomena using the full spectrum of NASA Earth Science data available. By providing an intelligent discovery portal that supplies users - both human users and machines - with detailed information about data products, their contents and their structure, ODISEES will reduce the level of effort required to identify and prepare large volumes of data for analysis. This poster will explain how OlyMPUS leverages deductive reasoning and other technologies to create an integrated environment for generating and exploiting semantically rich metadata.

New Proof-of-Concept in Viral Inactivation: Virucidal Efficacy of 405 nm Light Against Feline Calicivirus as a Model for Norovirus Decontamination.

PubMed

Tomb, Rachael M; Maclean, Michelle; Coia, John E; Graham, Elizabeth; McDonald, Michael; Atreya, Chintamani D; MacGregor, Scott J; Anderson, John G

2017-06-01

The requirement for novel decontamination technologies for use in hospitals is ever present. One such system uses 405 nm visible light to inactivate microorganisms via ROS-generated oxidative damage. Although effective for bacterial and fungal inactivation, little is known about the virucidal effects of 405 nm light. Norovirus (NoV) gastroenteritis outbreaks often occur in the clinical setting, and this study was designed to investigate potential inactivation effects of 405 nm light on the NoV surrogate, feline calicivirus (FCV). FCV was exposed to 405 nm light whilst suspended in minimal and organically-rich media to establish the virucidal efficacy and the effect biologically-relevant material may play in viral susceptibility. Antiviral activity was successfully demonstrated with a 4 Log 10 (99.99%) reduction in infectivity when suspended in minimal media evident after a dose of 2.8 kJ cm -2 . FCV exposed in artificial faeces, artificial saliva, blood plasma and other organically rich media exhibited an equivalent level of inactivation using between 50-85% less dose of the light, indicating enhanced inactivation when the virus is present in organically-rich biologically-relevant media. Further research in this area could aid in the development of 405 nm light technology for effective NoV decontamination within the hospital environment.

Changing classroom designs: Easy; Changing instructors' pedagogies: Not so easy...

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lasry, Nathaniel; Charles, Elizabeth; Whittaker, Chris; Dedic, Helena; Rosenfield, Steven

2013-01-01

Technology-rich student-centered classrooms such as SCALE-UP and TEAL are designed to actively engage students. We examine what happens when instructors adopt the classroom but not the pedagogy that goes with it. We measure the effect of using socio-technological spaces on students' conceptual change and compare learning gains made in groups using different pedagogies (active learning vs. conventional instruction). We also correlate instructors' self-reported instructional approach (teacher-centered, student-centered) with their classes' normalized FCI gains. We find that technology-rich spaces are only effective when implemented with student-centered active pedagogies. In their absence, the technology-rich classroom is not significantly different from conventional teacher-centered classrooms. We also find that instructors' self-reported perception of student-centeredness accounts for a large fraction of the variance (r2 = 0.83) in their class' average normalized gain. Adopting student-centered pedagogies appears to be a necessary condition for the effective use of technology-rich spaces. However, adopting a new pedagogy seems more difficult than adopting new technology.

Strong species-environment feedback shapes plant community assembly along environmental gradients.

PubMed

Jiang, Jiang; Deangelis, Donald L

2013-10-01

An aim of community ecology is to understand the patterns of competing species assembly along environmental gradients. All species interact with their environments. However, theories of community assembly have seldom taken into account the effects of species that are able to engineer the environment. In this modeling study, we integrate the species' engineering trait together with processes of immigration and local dispersal into a theory of community assembly. We quantify the species' engineering trait as the degree to which it can move the local environment away from its baseline state towards the optimum state of the species (species-environment feedback). We find that, in the presence of immigration from a regional pool, strong feedback can increase local species richness; however, in the absence of continual immigration, species richness is a declining function of the strength of species-environment feedback. This shift from a negative effect of engineering strength on species richness to a positive effect, as immigration rate increases, is clearer when there is spatial heterogeneity in the form of a gradient in environmental conditions than when the environment is homogeneous or it is randomly heterogeneous. Increasing the scale over which local dispersal occurs can facilitate species richness when there is no species-environment feedback or when the feedback is weak. However, increases in the spatial scale of dispersal can reduce species richness when the species-environment feedback is strong. These results expand the theoretical basis for understanding the effects of the strength of species-environment feedback on community assembly.

Strong species-environment feedback shapes plant community assembly along environmental gradients

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jiang, Jiang; DeAngelis, Donald L.

2013-01-01

An aim of community ecology is to understand the patterns of competing species assembly along environmental gradients. All species interact with their environments. However, theories of community assembly have seldom taken into account the effects of species that are able to engineer the environment. In this modeling study, we integrate the species' engineering trait together with processes of immigration and local dispersal into a theory of community assembly. We quantify the species' engineering trait as the degree to which it can move the local environment away from its baseline state towards the optimum state of the species (species-environment feedback). We find that, in the presence of immigration from a regional pool, strong feedback can increase local species richness; however, in the absence of continual immigration, species richness is a declining function of the strength of species-environment feedback. This shift from a negative effect of engineering strength on species richness to a positive effect, as immigration rate increases, is clearer when there is spatial heterogeneity in the form of a gradient in environmental conditions than when the environment is homogeneous or it is randomly heterogeneous. Increasing the scale over which local dispersal occurs can facilitate species richness when there is no species-environment feedback or when the feedback is weak. However, increases in the spatial scale of dispersal can reduce species richness when the species-environment feedback is strong. These results expand the theoretical basis for understanding the effects of the strength of species-environment feedback on community assembly.

Multifuel evaluation of rich/quench/lean combustor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Notardonato, J. J.; Novick, A. S.; Troth, D. L.

1982-01-01

The fuel flexible combustor technology was developed for application to the Model 570-K industrial gas turbine engine. The technology, to achieve emission goals, emphasizes dry NOx reduction methods. Due to the high levels of fuel-bound nitrogen (FBN), control of NOx can be effected through a staged combustor with a rich initial combustion zone. A rich/quench/lean variable geometry combustor utilizes the technology presented to achieve low NOx from alternate fuels containing FBN. The results focus on emissions and durability for multifuel operation.

Technology-Rich Schools Up Close

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Barbara B.; Schrum, Lynne

2013-01-01

This article observes that schools that use technology well have key commonalities, including a project-based curriculum and supportive, distributed leadership. The authors' research into tech-rich schools revealed that schools used three strategies to integrate technology successfully. They did so by establishing the vision and culture,…

Children as codesigners of new technologies: valuing the imagination to transform what is possible.

PubMed

Druin, Allison

2010-01-01

The technological complexity and richness of a child's environment today is far beyond what any adults today experienced when they were growing up. For example, no adult today knows what it is like to be a four-year-old using his or her first iPhone app or Webkinz account. Therefore, we seek ways to understand what children need in today's new technologies even without ourselves being children. Since 1999, young people ages seven to eleven have been the author's partners in codesigning new educational technologies at the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Lab. This work has helped inform who children are--what matters to them, what technologies need to be changed, and what needs to be built for the future. This work uses cooperative inquiry, a set of codesign methods that can enable adults and children to share their ideas while minimizing the differences in age and communication styles. This article describes low-tech methods for brainstorming, offering feedback, and supporting creative change in technology prototype designs. Examples of technologies are discussed and insights from children shared.

Smart home-based health platform for behavioral monitoring and alteration of diabetes patients.

PubMed

Helal, Abdelsalam; Cook, Diane J; Schmalz, Mark

2009-01-01

Researchers and medical practitioners have long sought the ability to continuously and automatically monitor patients beyond the confines of a doctor's office. We describe a smart home monitoring and analysis platform that facilitates the automatic gathering of rich databases of behavioral information in a manner that is transparent to the patient. Collected information will be automatically or manually analyzed and reported to the caregivers and may be interpreted for behavioral modification in the patient. Our health platform consists of five technology layers. The architecture is designed to be flexible, extensible, and transparent, to support plug-and-play operation of new devices and components, and to provide remote monitoring and programming opportunities. The smart home-based health platform technologies have been tested in two physical smart environments. Data that are collected in these implemented physical layers are processed and analyzed by our activity recognition and chewing classification algorithms. All of these components have yielded accurate analyses for subjects in the smart environment test beds. This work represents an important first step in the field of smart environment-based health monitoring and assistance. The architecture can be used to monitor the activity, diet, and exercise compliance of diabetes patients and evaluate the effects of alternative medicine and behavior regimens. We believe these technologies are essential for providing accessible, low-cost health assistance in an individual's own home and for providing the best possible quality of life for individuals with diabetes. © Diabetes Technology Society

Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the school and home language environments of preschool-aged children with ASD.

PubMed

Burgess, Sloane; Audet, Lisa; Harjusola-Webb, Sanna

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research was to begin to characterize and compare the school and home language environments of 10 preschool-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Naturalistic language samples were collected from each child, utilizing Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) digital voice recorder technology, at 3-month intervals over the course of one year. LENA software was used to identify 15-min segments of each sample that represented the highest number of adult words used during interactions with each child for all school and home language samples. Selected segments were transcribed and analyzed using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT). LENA data was utilized to evaluate quantitative characteristics of the school and home language environments and SALT data was utilized to evaluate quantitative and qualitative characteristics of language environment. Results revealed many similarities in home and school language environments including the degree of semantic richness, and complexity of adult language, types of utterances, and pragmatic functions of utterances used by adults during interactions with child participants. Study implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. The reader will be able to, (1) describe how two language sampling technologies can be utilized together to collect and analyze language samples, (2) describe characteristics of the school and home language environments of young children with ASD, and (3) identify environmental factors that may lead to more positive expressive language outcomes of young children with ASD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Physicality in Rich Programming Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Allison S.; Schunn, Christian D.; Flot, Jesse; Shoop, Robin

2013-01-01

Computer science proficiency continues to grow in importance, while the number of students entering computer science-related fields declines. Many rich programming environments have been created to motivate student interest and expertise in computer science. In the current study, we investigated whether a recently created environment, Robot…

Using Modern Technologies to Capture and Share Indigenous Astronomical Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakata, Martin; Hamacher, Duane W.; Warren, John; Byrne, Alex; Pagnucco, Maurice; Harley, Ross; Venugopal, Srikumar; Thorpe, Kirsten; Neville, Richard; Bolt, Reuben

2014-06-01

Indigenous Knowledge is important for Indigenous communities across the globe and for the advancement of our general scientific knowledge. In particular, Indigenous astronomical knowledge integrates many aspects of Indigenous Knowledge, including seasonal calendars, navigation, food economics, law, ceremony, and social structure. Capturing, managing, and disseminating this knowledge in the digital environment poses a number of challenges, which we aim to address using a collaborative project emerging between experts in the higher education, library, archive and industry sectors. Using Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope and Rich Interactive Narratives technologies, we propose to develop software, media design, and archival management solutions to allow Indigenous communities to share their astronomical knowledge with the world on their terms and in a culturally sensitive manner.

Restoration in Its Natural Context: How Ecological Momentary Assessment Can Advance Restoration Research

PubMed Central

Beute, Femke; de Kort, Yvonne; IJsselsteijn, Wijnand

2016-01-01

More and more people use self-tracking technologies to track their psychological states, physiology, and behaviors to gain a better understanding of themselves or to achieve a certain goal. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) also offers an excellent opportunity for restorative environments research, which examines how our physical environment (especially nature) can positively influence health and wellbeing. It enables investigating restorative health effects in everyday life, providing not only high ecological validity but also opportunities to study in more detail the dynamic processes playing out over time on recovery, thereby bridging the gap between laboratory (i.e., short-term effects) and epidemiological (long-term effects) research. We have identified four main areas in which self-tracking could help advance restoration research: (1) capturing a rich set of environment types and restorative characteristics; (2) distinguishing intra-individual from inter-individual effects; (3) bridging the gap between laboratory and epidemiological research; and (4) advancing theoretical insights by measuring a more broad range of effects in everyday life. This paper briefly introduces restorative environments research, then reviews the state of the art of self-tracking technologies and methodologies, discusses how these can be implemented to advance restoration research, and presents some examples of pioneering work in this area. PMID:27089352

First description of underwater acoustic diversity in three temperate ponds.

PubMed

Desjonquères, Camille; Rybak, Fanny; Depraetere, Marion; Gasc, Amandine; Le Viol, Isabelle; Pavoine, Sandrine; Sueur, Jérôme

2015-01-01

The past decade has produced an increased ecological interest in sonic environments, or soundscapes. However, despite this rise in interest and technological improvements that allow for long-term acoustic surveys in various environments, some habitats' soundscapes remain to be explored. Ponds, and more generally freshwater habitats, are one of these acoustically unexplored environments. Here we undertook the first long term acoustic monitoring of three temperate ponds in France. By aural and visual inspection of a selection of recordings, we identified 48 different sound types, and according to the rarefaction curves we calculated, more sound types are likely present in one of the three ponds. The richness of sound types varied significantly across ponds. Surprisingly, there was no pond-to-pond daily consistency of sound type richness variation; each pond had its own daily patterns of activity. We also explored the possibility of using six acoustic diversity indices to conduct rapid biodiversity assessments in temperate ponds. We found that all indices were sensitive to the background noise as estimated through correlations with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, we determined that the AR index could be a good candidate to measure acoustic diversities using partial correlations with the SNR as a control variable. Yet, research is still required to automatically compute the SNR in order to apply this index on a large data set of recordings. The results showed that these three temperate ponds host a high level of acoustic diversity in which the soundscapes were variable not only between but also within the ponds. The sources producing this diversity of sounds and the drivers of difference in daily song type richness variation both require further investigation. Such research would yield insights into the biodiversity and ecology of temperate ponds.

Advanced turbine study. [airfoil coling in rocket turbines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

Experiments to determine the available increase in turbine horsepower achieved by increasing turbine inlet temperature over a range of 1800 to 2600 R, while applying current gas turbine airfoil cling technology are discussed. Four cases of rocket turbine operating conditions were investigated. Two of the cases used O2/H2 propellant, one with a fuel flowrate of 160 pps, the other 80 pps. Two cases used O2/CH4 propellant, each having different fuel flowrates, pressure ratios, and inlet pressures. Film cooling was found to be the required scheme for these rocket turbine applications because of the high heat flux environments. Conventional convective or impingement cooling, used in jet engines, is inadequate in a rocket turbine environment because of the resulting high temperature gradients in the airfoil wall, causing high strains and low cyclic life. The hydrogen-rich turbine environment experienced a loss, or no gain, in delivered horsepower as turbine inlet temperature was increased at constant airfoil life. The effects of film cooling with regard to reduced flow available for turbine work, dilution of mainstream gas temperature and cooling reentry losses, offset the relatively low specific work capability of hydrogen when increasing turbine inlet temperature over the 1800 to 2600 R range. However, the methane-rich environment experienced an increase in delivered horsepower as turbine inlet temperature was increased at constant airfoil life. The results of a materials survey and heat transfer and durability analysis are discussed.

Teachers' Perceptions of Factors Affecting the Educational Use of ICT in Technology-Rich Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badia, Antoni; Meneses, Julio; Sigales, Carles

2013-01-01

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence teachers' decision-making regarding the educational use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in technology-rich classrooms. Method: We collected data from 278 teachers in Catalonia (Spain) working in eight primary and secondary education schools…

Mobile learning in resource-constrained environments: a case study of medical education.

PubMed

Pimmer, Christoph; Linxen, Sebastian; Gröhbiel, Urs; Jha, Anil Kumar; Burg, Günter

2013-05-01

The achievement of the millennium development goals may be facilitated by the use of information and communication technology in medical and health education. This study intended to explore the use and impact of educational technology in medical education in resource-constrained environments. A multiple case study was conducted in two Nepalese teaching hospitals. The data were analysed using activity theory as an analytical basis. There was little evidence for formal e-learning, but the findings indicate that students and residents adopted mobile technologies, such as mobile phones and small laptops, as cultural tools for surprisingly rich 'informal' learning in a very short time. These tools allowed learners to enhance (a) situated learning, by immediately connecting virtual information sources to their situated experiences; (b) cross-contextual learning by documenting situated experiences in the form of images and videos and re-using the material for later reflection and discussion and (c) engagement with educational content in social network communities. By placing the students and residents at the centre of the new learning activities, this development has begun to affect the overall educational system. Leveraging these tools is closely linked to the development of broad media literacy, including awareness of ethical and privacy issues.

A Survey of Titan Balloon Concepts and Technology Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Jeffery L.

2011-01-01

This paper surveys the options for, and technology status of, balloon vehicles to explore Saturn's moon Titan. A significant amount of Titan balloon concept thinking and technology development has been performed in recent years, particularly following the spectacular results from the descent and landing of the Huygens probe and remote sensing observations by the Cassini spacecraft. There is widespread recognition that a balloon vehicle on the next Titan mission could provide an outstanding and unmatched capability for in situ exploration on a global scale. The rich variety of revealed science targets has combined with a highly favorable Titan flight environment to yield a wide diversity of proposed balloon concepts. The paper presents a conceptual framework for thinking about balloon vehicle design choices and uses it to analyze various Titan options. The result is a list of recommended Titan balloon vehicle concepts that could perform a variety of science missions, along with their projected performance metrics. Recent technology developments for these balloon concepts are discussed to provide context for an assessment of outstanding risk areas and technological maturity. The paper concludes with suggestions for technology investments needed to achieve flight readiness.

VITAL & the KNFEA: Adult Literacy in Print-Rich and Print-Poor Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malone, Dennis L.

A study compared and contrasted two adult literacy programs. The first, in Monroe County, Indiana, designated as a "print-rich" environment, is called Volunteers in Tutoring Adult Learners (VITAL); and the second, in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG), designated a "print-poor" environment is called Kaugel…

CaseWorld™: Interactive, media rich, multidisciplinary case based learning.

PubMed

Gillham, David; Tucker, Katie; Parker, Steve; Wright, Victoria; Kargillis, Christina

2015-11-01

Nurse educators are challenged to keep up with highly specialised clinical practice, emerging research evidence, regulation requirements and rapidly changing information technology while teaching very large numbers of diverse students in a resource constrained environment. This complex setting provides the context for the CaseWorld project, which aims to simulate those aspects of clinical practice that can be represented by e-learning. This paper describes the development, implementation and evaluation of CaseWorld, a simulated learning environment that supports case based learning. CaseWorld provides nursing students with the opportunity to view unfolding authentic cases presented in a rich multimedia context. The first round of comprehensive summative evaluation of CaseWorld is discussed in the context of earlier formative evaluation, reference group input and strategies for integration of CaseWorld with subject content. This discussion highlights the unique approach taken in this project that involved simultaneous prototype development and large scale implementation, thereby necessitating strong emphasis on staff development, uptake and engagement. The lessons learned provide an interesting basis for further discussion of broad content sharing across disciplines and universities, and the contribution that local innovations can make to global education advancement. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Website Interactivity on Online Retail Shopping Behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Islam, Hafizul

Motivations to engage in retail online shopping can include both utilitarian and hedonic shopping dimensions. To cater to these consumers, online retailers can create a cognitively and esthetically rich shopping environment, through sophisticated levels of interactive web utilities and features, offering not only utilitarian benefits and attributes but also providing hedonic benefits of enjoyment. Since the effect of interactive websites has proven to stimulate online consumer’s perceptions, this study presumes that websites with multimedia rich interactive utilities and features can influence online consumers’ shopping motivations and entice them to modify or even transform their original shopping predispositions by providing them with attractive and enhanced interactive features and controls, thus generating a positive attitude towards products and services offered by the retailer. This study seeks to explore the effects of Web interactivity on online consumer behavior through an attitudinal model of technology acceptance.

CrowdHEALTH: Holistic Health Records and Big Data Analytics for Health Policy Making and Personalized Health.

PubMed

Kyriazis, Dimosthenis; Autexier, Serge; Brondino, Iván; Boniface, Michael; Donat, Lucas; Engen, Vegard; Fernandez, Rafael; Jimenez-Peris, Ricardo; Jordan, Blanca; Jurak, Gregor; Kiourtis, Athanasios; Kosmidis, Thanos; Lustrek, Mitja; Maglogiannis, Ilias; Mantas, John; Martinez, Antonio; Mavrogiorgou, Argyro; Menychtas, Andreas; Montandon, Lydia; Nechifor, Cosmin-Septimiu; Nifakos, Sokratis; Papageorgiou, Alexandra; Patino-Martinez, Marta; Perez, Manuel; Plagianakos, Vassilis; Stanimirovic, Dalibor; Starc, Gregor; Tomson, Tanja; Torelli, Francesco; Traver-Salcedo, Vicente; Vassilacopoulos, George; Wajid, Usman

2017-01-01

Today's rich digital information environment is characterized by the multitude of data sources providing information that has not yet reached its full potential in eHealth. The aim of the presented approach, namely CrowdHEALTH, is to introduce a new paradigm of Holistic Health Records (HHRs) that include all health determinants. HHRs are transformed into HHRs clusters capturing the clinical, social and human context of population segments and as a result collective knowledge for different factors. The proposed approach also seamlessly integrates big data technologies across the complete data path, providing of Data as a Service (DaaS) to the health ecosystem stakeholders, as well as to policy makers towards a "health in all policies" approach. Cross-domain co-creation of policies is feasible through a rich toolkit, being provided on top of the DaaS, incorporating mechanisms for causal and risk analysis, and for the compilation of predictions.

Regional and local species richness in an insular environment: Serpentine plants in California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harrison, S.; Safford, H.D.; Grace, J.B.; Viers, J.H.; Davies, K.F.

2006-01-01

We asked how the richness of the specialized (endemic) flora of serpentine rock outcrops in California varies at both the regional and local scales. Our study had two goals: first, to test whether endemic richness is affected by spatial habitat structure (e.g., regional serpentine area, local serpentine outcrop area, regional and local measures of outcrop isolation), and second, to conduct this test in the context of a broader assessment of environmental influences (e.g., climate, soils, vegetation, disturbance) and historical influences (e.g., geologic age, geographic province) on local and regional species richness. We measured endemic and total richness and environmental variables in 109 serpentine sites (1000-m2 paired plots) in 78 serpentine-containing regions of the state. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to simultaneously relate regional richness to regionalscale predictors, and local richness to both local-scale and regional-scale predictors. Our model for serpentine endemics explained 66% of the variation in local endemic richness based on local environment (vegetation, soils, rock cover) and on regional endemic richness. It explained 73% of the variation in regional endemic richness based on regional environment (climate and productivity), historical factors (geologic age and geographic province), and spatial structure (regional total area of serpentine, the only significant spatial variable in our analysis). We did not find a strong influence of spatial structure on species richness. However, we were able to distinguish local vs. regional influences on species richness to a novel extent, despite the existence of correlations between local and regional conditions. ?? 2006 by the Ecological Society of America.

Performance characteristics of zinc-rich coatings applied to carbon steel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paton, W. J.

1973-01-01

A program was conducted to evaluate the performance of topcoated and untopcoated zinc-rich coatings. Sacrificial coatings of this type are required for protecting carbon steel structures from the aggressive KSC sea coast environment. A total of 59 commercially available zinc-rich coatings and 47 topcoated materials were exposed for an 18-month period. Test panels were placed in special racks placed approximately 30.5 m (100 feet) above the high tide line at the KSC Corrosion Test Site. Laboratory tests to determine the temperature resistance, abrasion resistance, and adhesion of the untopcoated zinc-rich coatings were also performed. It has been concluded that: (1) The inorganic types of zinc-rich coatings are far superior to the organic types in the KSC environment. (2) Organic zinc-rich coatings applied at 0.1 - 0.15 mm (4-6 mils) film thickness provide better corrosion protection than when applied at the manufacturers' recommended nominal film thickness of .08 mm (3 mils). (3) Topcoats are not necessary, or even desirable, when used in conjunction with zinc-rich coatings in the KSC environment. (4) Some types of inorganic zinc-rich coatings require an extended outdoor weathering period in order to obtain adequate mechanical properties. and (5) A properly formulated inorganic zinc-rich coating is not affected by a 24-hour thermal exposure to 400 C (752 F).

Rich burn combustor technology at Pratt and Whitney

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohmann, Robert P.; Rosfjord, T. J.

1992-01-01

The topics covered include the following: near term objectives; rich burn quick quench combustor (RBQC); RBQC critical technology areas; cylindrical RBQQ combustor rig; modular RBQQ combustor; cylindrical rig objectives; quench zone mixing; noneffusive cooled liner; variable geometry requirements; and sector combustor rig.

Phase-shift, stimuli-responsive drug carriers for targeted delivery

PubMed Central

O’Neill, Brian E; Rapoport, Natalya

2011-01-01

The intersection of particles and directed energy is a rich source of novel and useful technology that is only recently being realized for medicine. One of the most promising applications is directed drug delivery. This review focuses on phase-shift nanoparticles (that is, particles of submicron size) as well as micron-scale particles whose action depends on an external-energy triggered, first-order phase shift from a liquid to gas state of either the particle itself or of the surrounding medium. These particles have tremendous potential for actively disrupting their environment for altering transport properties and unloading drugs. This review covers in detail ultrasound and laser-activated phase-shift nano- and micro-particles and their use in drug delivery. Phase-shift based drug-delivery mechanisms and competing technologies are discussed. PMID:22059114

Analysis of Low-Biomass Microbial Communities in the Deep Biosphere.

PubMed

Morono, Y; Inagaki, F

2016-01-01

Over the past few decades, the subseafloor biosphere has been explored by scientific ocean drilling to depths of about 2.5km below the seafloor. Although organic-rich anaerobic sedimentary habitats in the ocean margins harbor large numbers of microbial cells, microbial populations in ultraoligotrophic aerobic sedimentary habitats in the open ocean gyres are several orders of magnitude less abundant. Despite advances in cultivation-independent molecular ecological techniques, exploring the low-biomass environment remains technologically challenging, especially in the deep subseafloor biosphere. Reviewing the historical background of deep-biosphere analytical methods, the importance of obtaining clean samples and tracing contamination, as well as methods for detecting microbial life, technological aspects of molecular microbiology, and detecting subseafloor metabolic activity will be discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Ti and Co based biomaterials processed via laser based additive manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahasrabudhe, Himanshu

Titanium and Cobalt based metallic materials are currently the most ideal materials for load-bearing metallic bio medical applications. However, the long term tribological degradation of these materials still remains a problem that needs a solution. To improve the tribological performance of these two metallic systems, three different research approaches were adapted, stemming out four different research projects. First, the simplicity of laser gas nitriding was utilized with a modern LENS(TM) technology to form an in situ nitride rich later in titanium substrate material. This nitride rich composite coating improved the hardness by as much as fifteen times and reduced the wear rate by more than a magnitude. The leaching of metallic ions during wear was also reduced by four times. In the second research project, a mixture of titanium and silicon were processed on a titanium substrate in a nitrogen rich environment. The results of this reactive, in situ additive manufacturing process were Ti-Si-Nitride coatings that were harder than the titanium substrate by more than twenty times. These coatings also reduced the wear rate by more than two magnitudes. In the third research approach, composites of CoCrMo alloy and Calcium phosphate (CaP) bio ceramic were processed using LENS(TM) based additive manufacturing. These composites were effective in reducing the wear in the CoCrMo alloy by more than three times as well as reduce the leaching of cobalt and chromium ions during wear. The novel composite materials were found to develop a tribofilm during wear. In the final project, a combination of hard nitride coating and addition of CaP bioceramic was investigated by processing a mixture of Ti6Al4V alloy and CaP in a nitrogen rich environment using the LENS(TM) technology. The resultant Ti64-CaP-Nitride coatings significantly reduced the wear damage on the substrate. There was also a drastic reduction in the metal ions leached during wear. The results indicate that the three tested approaches for reducing the wear damage in Ti and Co based were successful. These approaches and the associated research investigations could pave the way for future work in alleviating wear and corrosion related damage, especially via the additive manufacturing route.

Fluorine-Rich Planetary Environments as Possible Habitats for Life

PubMed Central

Budisa, Nediljko; Kubyshkin, Vladimir; Schulze-Makuch, Dirk

2014-01-01

In polar aprotic organic solvents, fluorine might be an element of choice for life that uses selected fluorinated building blocks as monomers of choice for self-assembling of its catalytic polymers. Organofluorine compounds are extremely rare in the chemistry of life as we know it. Biomolecules, when fluorinated such as peptides or proteins, exhibit a “fluorous effect”, i.e., they are fluorophilic (neither hydrophilic nor lipophilic). Such polymers, capable of creating self-sorting assemblies, resist denaturation by organic solvents by exclusion of fluorocarbon side chains from the organic phase. Fluorous cores consist of a compact interior, which is shielded from the surrounding solvent. Thus, we can anticipate that fluorine-containing “teflon”-like or “non-sticking” building blocks might be monomers of choice for the synthesis of organized polymeric structures in fluorine-rich planetary environments. Although no fluorine-rich planetary environment is known, theoretical considerations might help us to define chemistries that might support life in such environments. For example, one scenario is that all molecular oxygen may be used up by oxidation reactions on a planetary surface and fluorine gas could be released from F-rich magma later in the history of a planetary body to result in a fluorine-rich planetary environment. PMID:25370378

Exometabolomics and MSI: deconstructing how cells interact to transform their small molecule environment.

PubMed

Silva, Leslie P; Northen, Trent R

2015-08-01

Metabolism is at the heart of many biotechnologies from biofuels to medical diagnostics. Metabolomic methods that provide glimpses into cellular metabolism have rapidly developed into a critical component of the biotechnological development process. Most metabolomics methods have focused on what is happening inside the cell. Equally important are the biochemical transformations of the cell, and their effect on other cells and their environment; the exometabolome. Exometabolomics is therefore gaining popularity as a robust approach for obtaining rich phenotypic data, and being used in bioprocessing and biofuel development. Mass spectrometry imaging approaches, including several nanotechnologies, provide complimentary information by localizing metabolic processes within complex biological matrices. Together, the two technologies can provide new insights into the metabolism and interactions of cells. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Dust grains and gas in the circumstellar envelopes around luminous red giant stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zuckerman, B.; Dyck, H. M.

1986-01-01

Far-infrared color-color diagrams have been constructed for over 100 of the brightest evolved stars in the IRAS Point Source Catalog. The diagrams are used to deduce average values of the dust grain emissivity index (p) between 12 and 100 microns. Grains in C-rich and O-rich environments have similar values of p between 12 and 25 microns and between 60 and 100 microns, but between 25 and 60 microns p is larger by approximately 0.4 for the O-rich stars. Dust grains in envelopes around S-type stars seem to have 25 to 60 micron emissivities more nearly like grains in O-rich rather than C-rich environments. CO and HCN emissions from various stars are used to reclassify several stars as oxygen or carbon rich.

Secure data exchange between intelligent devices and computing centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naqvi, Syed; Riguidel, Michel

2005-03-01

The advent of reliable spontaneous networking technologies (commonly known as wireless ad-hoc networks) has ostensibly raised stakes for the conception of computing intensive environments using intelligent devices as their interface with the external world. These smart devices are used as data gateways for the computing units. These devices are employed in highly volatile environments where the secure exchange of data between these devices and their computing centers is of paramount importance. Moreover, their mission critical applications require dependable measures against the attacks like denial of service (DoS), eavesdropping, masquerading, etc. In this paper, we propose a mechanism to assure reliable data exchange between an intelligent environment composed of smart devices and distributed computing units collectively called 'computational grid'. The notion of infosphere is used to define a digital space made up of a persistent and a volatile asset in an often indefinite geographical space. We study different infospheres and present general evolutions and issues in the security of such technology-rich and intelligent environments. It is beyond any doubt that these environments will likely face a proliferation of users, applications, networked devices, and their interactions on a scale never experienced before. It would be better to build in the ability to uniformly deal with these systems. As a solution, we propose a concept of virtualization of security services. We try to solve the difficult problems of implementation and maintenance of trust on the one hand, and those of security management in heterogeneous infrastructure on the other hand.

Blending problem-based learning with Web technology positively impacts student learning outcomes in acid-base physiology.

PubMed

Taradi, Suncana Kukolja; Taradi, Milan; Radic, Kresimir; Pokrajac, Niksa

2005-03-01

World Wide Web (Web)-based learning (WBL), problem-based learning (PBL), and collaborative learning are at present the most powerful educational options in higher education. A blended (hybrid) course combines traditional face-to-face and WBL approaches in an educational environment that is nonspecific as to time and place. To provide educational services for an undergraduate second-year elective course in acid-base physiology, a rich, student-centered educational Web-environment designed to support PBL was created by using Web Course Tools courseware. The course is designed to require students to work in small collaborative groups using problem solving activities to develop topic understanding. The aim of the study was to identify the impact of the blended WBL-PBL-collaborative learning environment on student learning outcomes. Student test scores and satisfaction survey results from a blended WBL-PBL-based test group (n = 37) were compared with a control group whose instructional opportunities were from a traditional in-class PBL model (n = 84). WBL students scored significantly (t = 3.3952; P = 0.0009) better on the final acid-base physiology examination and expressed a positive attitude to the new learning environment in the satisfaction survey. Expressed in terms of a difference effect, the mean of the treated group (WBL) is at the 76th percentile of the untreated (face-to-face) group, which stands for a "medium" effect size. Thus student progress in the blended WBL-PBL collaborative environment was positively affected by the use of technology.

Nuclear micro-probe analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana leaves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ager, F. J.; Ynsa, M. D.; Domínguez-Solís, J. R.; López-Martín, M. C.; Gotor, C.; Romero, L. C.

2003-09-01

Phytoremediation is a cost-effective plant-based approach for remediation of soils and waters which takes advantage of the remarkable ability of some plants to concentrate elements and compounds from the environment and to metabolize various molecules in their tissues, such as toxic heavy metals and organic pollutants. Nowadays, phytoremediation technology is becoming of paramount importance when environmental decontamination is concerned, due to the emerging knowledge of its physiological and molecular mechanisms and the new biological and engineering strategies designed to optimize and improve it. In addition, the feasibility of using plants for environmental cleanup has been confirmed by many different trials around the world. Arabidopsis thaliana plants can be used for basic studies to improve the technology on phytoremediation. Making use of nuclear microscopy techniques, in this paper we study leaves of wild type and transgenic A. thaliana plants grown in a cadmium-rich environment under different conditions. Micro-PIXE, RBS and SEM analyses, performed on the scanning proton micro-probe at the CNA in Seville (Spain), prove that cadmium is preferentially sequestered in the central region of epidermal trichome and allow comparing the effects of genetic modifications.

A Novel Software Platform Extending Advances in Monitoring Technologies to On-demand Decision Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ormerod, R.; Scholl, M.

2017-12-01

Rapid evolution is occurring in the monitoring and assessment of air emissions and their impacts. The development of next generation lower cost sensor technologies creates the potential for much more intensive and far-reaching monitoring networks that provide spatially rich data. While much attention at present is being directed at the types and performance characteristics of sensor technologies, it is important also that the full potential of rich data sources be realized. Parallel to sensor developments, software platforms to display and manage data in real time are increasingly common adjuncts to sensor networks. However, the full value of data can be realized by extending platform capabilities to include complex scientific functions that are integrated into an action-oriented management framework. Depending on the purpose and nature of a monitoring network, there will be a variety of potential uses of the data or its derivatives, for example: statistical analysis for policy development, event analysis, real-time issue management including emergency response and complaints, and predictive management. Moving these functions into an on-demand, optionally mobile, environment greatly increases the value and accessibility of the data. Increased interplay between monitoring data and decision-making in an operational environment is optimised by a system that is designed with equal weight on technical robustness and user experience. A system now being used by several regulatory agencies and a larger number of industries in the US, Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia has been developed to provide a wide range of on-demand decision-support in addition to the basic data collection, display and management that most platforms offer. With stable multi-year operation, the platform, known as Envirosuite, is assisting organisations to both reduce operating costs and improve environmental performance. Some current examples of its application across a range of applications for regulatory and industry organisations is described and demonstrated.

Toward equality of biodiversity knowledge through technology transfer.

PubMed

Böhm, Monika; Collen, Ben

2015-10-01

To help stem the continuing decline of biodiversity, effective transfer of technology from resource-rich to biodiversity-rich countries is required. Biodiversity technology as defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a complex term, encompassing a wide variety of activities and interest groups. As yet, there is no robust framework by which to monitor the extent to which technology transfer might benefit biodiversity. We devised a definition of biodiversity technology and a framework for the monitoring of technology transfer between CBD signatories. Biodiversity technology within the scope of the CBD encompasses hard and soft technologies that are relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, or make use of genetic resources, and that relate to all aspects of the CBD, with a particular focus on technology transfer from resource-rich to biodiversity-rich countries. Our proposed framework introduces technology transfer as a response indicator: technology transfer is increased to stem pressures on biodiversity. We suggest an initial approach of tracking technology flow between countries; charting this flow is likely to be a one-to-many relationship (i.e., the flow of a specific technology from one country to multiple countries). Future developments should then focus on integrating biodiversity technology transfer into the current pressure-state-response indicator framework favored by the CBD (i.e., measuring the influence of technology transfer on changes in state and pressure variables). Structured national reporting is important to obtaining metrics relevant to technology and knowledge transfer. Interim measures, that can be used to assess biodiversity technology or knowledge status while more in-depth indicators are being developed, include the number of species inventories, threatened species lists, or national red lists; databases on publications and project funding may provide measures of international cooperation. Such a pragmatic approach, followed by rigorous testing of specific technology transfer metrics submitted by CBD signatories in a standardized manner may in turn improve the focus of future targets on technology transfer for biodiversity conservation. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Is Variety the Spice of Life? An Experimental Investigation into the Effects of Species Richness on Self-Reported Mental Well-Being.

PubMed

Wolf, Lukas J; Zu Ermgassen, Sophus; Balmford, Andrew; White, Mathew; Weinstein, Netta

2017-01-01

Losses in biodiversity and trends toward urbanisation have reduced people's contact with biodiverse nature, yet the consequences for mental well-being are not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that greater plant and animal species richness in isolation causes an improvement in mental well-being. To do so, the present research experimentally manipulated species richness and assessed widely-used indicators of mental well-being. Participants viewed short videos of either high or low tree (Study 1) or bird (Study 2) species richness and reported on positive (i.e., vitality, positive affect) and negative (i.e., anxiety) indicators of mental well-being. Building on Study 1, Study 2 included an urban environment as a reference treatment and explored the role of giving participants information on the presented environment. We find that, in line with expectations, watching videos containing greater species richness consistently leads to higher mental well-being. We discuss findings in light of the importance of connecting people to biodiverse environments.

Factors affecting secondary science teachers' appraisal and adoption of technology-rich project-based learning environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luehmann, April Lynn

We are learning much about how to design project-based curriculum that leverages technology, but we know less about the everyday needs of teachers and the implicit and explicit factors that influence their curriculum adoption decisions. Given that teachers are the gatekeepers of their classrooms, it is essential that designers and reformers understand the criteria teachers use to support their judgments regarding the appraisal and adoption of innovative curricula if they wish to see widespread use of their designs. Toward this end, this dissertation examines the perceptions of teachers as they appraise and consider the adoption of one innovative, technology-rich, project-based curriculum. Thirty secondary science teachers in Indiana were recruited. This study took place in two phases. During the first phase, data consisted of teachers' comments in the form of "think aloud's" and observations as teachers interacted with an Internet-based science program: Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment. Through an examination of these data, six implicit factors were identified: Trust, Identity, Self-Efficacy, Process Goals, Situational Constraints, and Contextual Idiosyncrasies. Examination of the content related to these categories suggests that curricular adoption is not simply an academic process but is also a personal one. Also, trust between the teacher and both the change facilitator and the innovation plays an influential role. Data collected during the second phase included item analysis of factors that emerged during semi structured interviews and rated by the teachers in terms of their importance in influencing their adoption of the WISE-water quality program. Teacher identified factors were collapsed into 26 explicit factors and analyzed using cluster analysis, resulting in five clusters of teacher profiles: Logistically Focused, Subject-Matter Focused, Scaffolded Optimists, Accountability Focused, and Pedagogically Savvy. This study reveals that factors affecting teachers' decision-making processes extend beyond those of which they are consciously aware. Additionally, there is no one set of factors important to all teachers. Instead, different groups of teachers have different concerns and therefore different needs. A central contribution of this study is the identification of cross-cutting concerns. Additionally, this study provides practical implications for both designers and change agents interested in facilitating technology-infused curricular innovations.

Fostering Technology-Rich Service-Learning Experiences between School Librarians and Teacher Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Craig E.; Dousay, Tonia; Kvenild, Cassandra; Meredith, Tamara

2015-01-01

School libraries are untapped resources for fieldwork by preservice teachers. Many school librarians have expertise in pedagogy and standards-based curriculum development, both for information literacy and for technology integration. By forging partnerships with teacher-preparation programs, school librarians can provide fieldwork sites rich in…

The Earth's magnetosphere as a sample of the plasma universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Faelthammar, Carl-Gunne

1986-01-01

Plasma processes in the Earth's neighborhood determine the environmental conditions under which space-based equipment for science or technology must operate. These processes are peculiar to a state of matter that is rare on Earth but dominates the universe as whole. The physical, and especially the electrodynamic, properties of this state of matter is still far from well understood. By fortunate circumstances, the magnetosphere-ionosphere system of the Earth provides a rich sample of widely different plasma populations, and, even more importantly, it is the site of a remarkable variety of plasma processes. In different combinations such processes must be important throughout the universe, which is overwhelmingly dominated by matter in the plasma state. Therefore, observations and experiments in the near-Earth plasma serve a multitude of purposes. They will not only (1) clarify the dynamics of the space environment but also (2) widen the understanding of matter, (3) form a basis for interpretating remote observations of astrophysical objects, thereby even (4) help to reconstruct events that led to the evolution of the solar system. Last but not least they will (5) provide know-how required for adapting space-based technology to the plasma environment. Such observations and experiments will require a close mutual interplay between science and technology.

Microalgae: a robust "green bio-bridge" between energy and environment.

PubMed

Chen, Yimin; Xu, Changan; Vaidyanathan, Seetharaman

2018-05-01

Microalgae are a potential candidate for biofuel production and environmental treatment because of their specific characteristics (e.g. fast growth, carbon neutral, and rich lipid accumulations). However, several primary bottlenecks still exist in current technologies, including low biomass conversion efficiency, bio-invasion from the external environment, limited or costly nutrient sources, and high energy and capital input for harvest, and stalling its industrial progression. Coupling biofuel production with environmental treatment renders microalgae a more feasible feedstock. This review focuses on microalgae biotechnologies for both bioenergy generation and environmental treatment (e.g. CO 2 sequestration and wastewater reclamation). Different intelligent technologies have been developed, especially during the last decade, to eliminate the bottlenecks, including mixotrophic/heterotrophic cultivation, immobilization, and co-cultivation. It has been realized that any single purpose for the cultivation of microalgae is not an economically feasible option. Combinations of applications in biorefineries are gradually reckoned to be necessary as it provides more economically feasible and environmentally sustainable operations. This presents microalgae as a special niche occupier linking the fields of energy and environmental sciences and technologies. The integrated application of microalgae is also proven by most of the life-cycle analysis studies. This study summarizes the latest development of primary microalgal biotechnologies in the two areas that will bring researchers a comprehensive view towards industrialization with an economic perspective.

Measuring user experience in digital gaming: theoretical and methodological issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takatalo, Jari; Häkkinen, Jukka; Kaistinen, Jyrki; Nyman, Göte

2007-01-01

There are innumerable concepts, terms and definitions for user experience. Few of them have a solid empirical foundation. In trying to understand user experience in interactive technologies such as computer games and virtual environments, reliable and valid concepts are needed for measuring relevant user reactions and experiences. Here we present our approach to create both theoretically and methodologically sound methods for quantification of the rich user experience in different digital environments. Our approach is based on the idea that the experience received from a content presented with a specific technology is always a result of a complex psychological interpretation process, which components should be understood. The main aim of our approach is to grasp the complex and multivariate nature of the experience and make it measurable. We will present our two basic measurement frameworks, which have been developed and tested in large data set (n=2182). The 15 measurement scales extracted from these models are applied to digital gaming with a head-mounted display and a table-top display. The results show how it is possible to map between experience, technology variables and the background of the user (e.g., gender). This approach can help to optimize, for example, the contents for specific viewing devices or viewing situations.

Vocabulary Development at Home: A Multimedia Elaborated Picture Supporting Parent-Toddler Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gremmen, M. C.; Molenaar, I.; Teepe, R. C.

2016-01-01

Some children enter elementary school with large vocabulary delays, which negatively influence their later school performance. A rich home language environment can support vocabulary development through frequent high-quality parent-toddler interaction. Elaborated picture home activities can support this rich home language environment. This study…

Mapping Literacy-Rich Environments: Geospatial Perspectives on Literacy and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jocson, Korina M.; Thorne-Wallington, Elizabeth

2013-01-01

Background: Literacy-rich environments (LREs) reflect characteristics such as abundance of materials, daily literacy routine, and layout conducive for reading and writing. Shifting from previous conceptualizations, LREs are not confined to schools but are ubiquitous in formal and informal educational settings; they include libraries, museums,…

On Curating Multimodal Sensory Data for Health and Wellness Platforms

PubMed Central

Amin, Muhammad Bilal; Banos, Oresti; Khan, Wajahat Ali; Muhammad Bilal, Hafiz Syed; Gong, Jinhyuk; Bui, Dinh-Mao; Cho, Soung Ho; Hussain, Shujaat; Ali, Taqdir; Akhtar, Usman; Chung, Tae Choong; Lee, Sungyoung

2016-01-01

In recent years, the focus of healthcare and wellness technologies has shown a significant shift towards personal vital signs devices. The technology has evolved from smartphone-based wellness applications to fitness bands and smartwatches. The novelty of these devices is the accumulation of activity data as their users go about their daily life routine. However, these implementations are device specific and lack the ability to incorporate multimodal data sources. Data accumulated in their usage does not offer rich contextual information that is adequate for providing a holistic view of a user’s lifelog. As a result, making decisions and generating recommendations based on this data are single dimensional. In this paper, we present our Data Curation Framework (DCF) which is device independent and accumulates a user’s sensory data from multimodal data sources in real time. DCF curates the context of this accumulated data over the user’s lifelog. DCF provides rule-based anomaly detection over this context-rich lifelog in real time. To provide computation and persistence over the large volume of sensory data, DCF utilizes the distributed and ubiquitous environment of the cloud platform. DCF has been evaluated for its performance, correctness, ability to detect complex anomalies, and management support for a large volume of sensory data. PMID:27355955

Method of coating an iron-based article

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

Magdefrau, Neal; Beals, James T.; Sun, Ellen Y.

A method of coating an iron-based article includes a first heating step of heating a substrate that includes an iron-based material in the presence of an aluminum source material and halide diffusion activator. The heating is conducted in a substantially non-oxidizing environment, to cause the formation of an aluminum-rich layer in the iron-based material. In a second heating step, the substrate that has the aluminum-rich layer is heated in an oxidizing environment to oxidize the aluminum in the aluminum-rich layer.

Reimagining the microscope in the 21(st) century using the scalable adaptive graphics environment.

PubMed

Mateevitsi, Victor; Patel, Tushar; Leigh, Jason; Levy, Bruce

2015-01-01

Whole-slide imaging (WSI), while technologically mature, remains in the early adopter phase of the technology adoption lifecycle. One reason for this current situation is that current methods of visualizing and using WSI closely follow long-existing workflows for glass slides. We set out to "reimagine" the digital microscope in the era of cloud computing by combining WSI with the rich collaborative environment of the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE). SAGE is a cross-platform, open-source visualization and collaboration tool that enables users to access, display and share a variety of data-intensive information, in a variety of resolutions and formats, from multiple sources, on display walls of arbitrary size. A prototype of a WSI viewer app in the SAGE environment was created. While not full featured, it enabled the testing of our hypothesis that these technologies could be blended together to change the essential nature of how microscopic images are utilized for patient care, medical education, and research. Using the newly created WSI viewer app, demonstration scenarios were created in the patient care and medical education scenarios. This included a live demonstration of a pathology consultation at the International Academy of Digital Pathology meeting in Boston in November 2014. SAGE is well suited to display, manipulate and collaborate using WSIs, along with other images and data, for a variety of purposes. It goes beyond how glass slides and current WSI viewers are being used today, changing the nature of digital pathology in the process. A fully developed WSI viewer app within SAGE has the potential to encourage the wider adoption of WSI throughout pathology.

Reimagining the microscope in the 21st century using the scalable adaptive graphics environment

PubMed Central

Mateevitsi, Victor; Patel, Tushar; Leigh, Jason; Levy, Bruce

2015-01-01

Background: Whole-slide imaging (WSI), while technologically mature, remains in the early adopter phase of the technology adoption lifecycle. One reason for this current situation is that current methods of visualizing and using WSI closely follow long-existing workflows for glass slides. We set out to “reimagine” the digital microscope in the era of cloud computing by combining WSI with the rich collaborative environment of the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE). SAGE is a cross-platform, open-source visualization and collaboration tool that enables users to access, display and share a variety of data-intensive information, in a variety of resolutions and formats, from multiple sources, on display walls of arbitrary size. Methods: A prototype of a WSI viewer app in the SAGE environment was created. While not full featured, it enabled the testing of our hypothesis that these technologies could be blended together to change the essential nature of how microscopic images are utilized for patient care, medical education, and research. Results: Using the newly created WSI viewer app, demonstration scenarios were created in the patient care and medical education scenarios. This included a live demonstration of a pathology consultation at the International Academy of Digital Pathology meeting in Boston in November 2014. Conclusions: SAGE is well suited to display, manipulate and collaborate using WSIs, along with other images and data, for a variety of purposes. It goes beyond how glass slides and current WSI viewers are being used today, changing the nature of digital pathology in the process. A fully developed WSI viewer app within SAGE has the potential to encourage the wider adoption of WSI throughout pathology. PMID:26110092

Nanofluidic interfaces in microfluidic networks

DOE PAGES

Millet, Larry J.; Doktycz, Mitchel John; Retterer, Scott T.

2015-09-24

The integration of nano- and microfluidic technologies enables the construction of tunable interfaces to physical and biological systems across relevant length scales. The ability to perform chemical manipulations of miniscule sample volumes is greatly enhanced through these technologies and extends the ability to manipulate and sample the local fluidic environments at subcellular, cellular and community or tissue scales. Here we describe the development of a flexible surface micromachining process for the creation of nanofluidic channel arrays integrated within SU-8 microfluidic networks. The use of a semi-porous, silicon rich, silicon nitride structural layer allows rapid release of the sacrificial silicon dioxidemore » during the nanochannel fabrication. Nanochannel openings that form the interface to biological samples are customized using focused ion beam milling. The compatibility of these interfaces with on-chip microbial culture is demonstrated.« less

The Innovation Hyperlab: a Physical and Curriculum Framework for Fostering Innovation From Grade School to Grad School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagg, Randall

2014-03-01

A versatile laboratory for open innovation has been created in a former auto-shop-instruction building adjacent to Gateway High School in the Aurora Public Schools district in Colorado. We have equipped this 2500 square foot space with resources to support fifty-two technologies, such as mechanical design, electronics, optics, and nanotechnology. Correspondingly, we are developing a web site to provide modular instruction around each of these technologies. The goal is to enable collaborations of secondary school students, university students, teachers, professors, and industry partners in an environment richly supported by both physical and educational resources. An Innovation Academy is currently in progress in the lab with projects such as surgery in zero-G and using music to script the motion of actuator arrays in robots and rehabilitation devices.

Infrastructure for collaborative science and societal applications in the Columbia River estuary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baptista, António M.; Seaton, Charles; Wilkin, Michael P.; Riseman, Sarah F.; Needoba, Joseph A.; Maier, David; Turner, Paul J.; Kärnä, Tuomas; Lopez, Jesse E.; Herfort, Lydie; Megler, V. M.; McNeil, Craig; Crump, Byron C.; Peterson, Tawnya D.; Spitz, Yvette H.; Simon, Holly M.

2015-12-01

To meet societal needs, modern estuarine science needs to be interdisciplinary and collaborative, combine discovery with hypotheses testing, and be responsive to issues facing both regional and global stakeholders. Such an approach is best conducted with the benefit of data-rich environments, where information from sensors and models is openly accessible within convenient timeframes. Here, we introduce the operational infrastructure of one such data-rich environment, a collaboratory created to support (a) interdisciplinary research in the Columbia River estuary by the multi-institutional team of investigators of the Science and Technology Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction and (b) the integration of scientific knowledge into regional decision making. Core components of the operational infrastructure are an observation network, a modeling system and a cyber-infrastructure, each of which is described. The observation network is anchored on an extensive array of long-term stations, many of them interdisciplinary, and is complemented by on-demand deployment of temporary stations and mobile platforms, often in coordinated field campaigns. The modeling system is based on finiteelement unstructured-grid codes and includes operational and process-oriented simulations of circulation, sediments and ecosystem processes. The flow of information is managed through a dedicated cyber-infrastructure, conversant with regional and national observing systems.

Different source image fusion based on FPGA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Xiao; Piao, Yan

2016-03-01

The fusion technology of video image is to make the video obtained by different image sensors complementary to each other by some technical means, so as to obtain the video information which is rich in information and suitable for the human eye system. Infrared cameras in harsh environments such as when smoke, fog and low light situations penetrating power, but the ability to obtain the details of the image is poor, does not meet the human visual system. Single visible light imaging can be rich in detail, high resolution images and for the visual system, but the visible image easily affected by the external environment. Infrared image and visible image fusion process involved in the video image fusion algorithm complexity and high calculation capacity, have occupied more memory resources, high clock rate requirements, such as software, c ++, c, etc. to achieve more, but based on Hardware platform less. In this paper, based on the imaging characteristics of infrared images and visible light images, the software and hardware are combined to obtain the registration parameters through software matlab, and the gray level weighted average method is used to implement the hardware platform. Information fusion, and finally the fusion image can achieve the goal of effectively improving the acquisition of information to increase the amount of information in the image.

Partitioning sources of variation in vertebrate species richness

USGS Publications Warehouse

Boone, R.B.; Krohn, W.B.

2000-01-01

Aim: To explore biogeographic patterns of terrestrial vertebrates in Maine, USA using techniques that would describe local and spatial correlations with the environment. Location: Maine, USA. Methods: We delineated the ranges within Maine (86,156 km2) of 275 species using literature and expert review. Ranges were combined into species richness maps, and compared to geomorphology, climate, and woody plant distributions. Methods were adapted that compared richness of all vertebrate classes to each environmental correlate, rather than assessing a single explanatory theory. We partitioned variation in species richness into components using tree and multiple linear regression. Methods were used that allowed for useful comparisons between tree and linear regression results. For both methods we partitioned variation into broad-scale (spatially autocorrelated) and fine-scale (spatially uncorrelated) explained and unexplained components. By partitioning variance, and using both tree and linear regression in analyses, we explored the degree of variation in species richness for each vertebrate group that Could be explained by the relative contribution of each environmental variable. Results: In tree regression, climate variation explained richness better (92% of mean deviance explained for all species) than woody plant variation (87%) and geomorphology (86%). Reptiles were highly correlated with environmental variation (93%), followed by mammals, amphibians, and birds (each with 84-82% deviance explained). In multiple linear regression, climate was most closely associated with total vertebrate richness (78%), followed by woody plants (67%) and geomorphology (56%). Again, reptiles were closely correlated with the environment (95%), followed by mammals (73%), amphibians (63%) and birds (57%). Main conclusions: Comparing variation explained using tree and multiple linear regression quantified the importance of nonlinear relationships and local interactions between species richness and environmental variation, identifying the importance of linear relationships between reptiles and the environment, and nonlinear relationships between birds and woody plants, for example. Conservation planners should capture climatic variation in broad-scale designs; temperatures may shift during climate change, but the underlying correlations between the environment and species richness will presumably remain.

Bench-to-bedside review: Humanism in pediatric critical care medicine – a leadership challenge

PubMed Central

Kissoon, Niranjan

2005-01-01

A humanistic approach to leadership is especially important in the case of children in the technology-rich intensive care unit (ICU) environment. Leaders should create a humanistic milieu in which the needs of critically ill children, their families and staff are never overlooked. Humanistic leaders are tactful, accessible, approachable and versatile, and have a sense of humour. Humanness in the ICU environment has many faces and poses a challenge to many in leadership positions. Humanistic leaders treat others as they hope they will become. They are constantly questioning themselves, seeking awareness of themselves and others, but most importantly they are constantly learning and evolving. Ultimately, humanistic leadership creates an ICU culture that supports all, is conducive to enriching lives, and is sensitive to the needs of patients and their families. PMID:16137386

Recent developments in virtual experience design and production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, Scott S.

1995-03-01

Today, the media of VR and Telepresence are in their infancy and the emphasis is still on technology and engineering. But, it is not the hardware people might use that will determine whether VR becomes a powerful medium--instead, it will be the experiences that they are able to have that will drive its acceptance and impact. A critical challenge in the elaboration of these telepresence capabilities will be the development of environments that are as unpredictable and rich in interconnected processes as an actual location or experience. This paper will describe the recent development of several Virtual Experiences including: `Menagerie', an immersive Virtual Environment inhabited by virtual characters designed to respond to and interact with its users; and `The Virtual Brewery', an immersive public VR installation that provides multiple levels of interaction in an artistic interpretation of the brewing process.

Digital Technology in Teaching International Business: Is a Tradeoff between Richness and Reach Required?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wymbs, Cliff; Kijne, Hugo

2003-01-01

This analysis extends the traditional marketing tradeoffs between richness (depth of knowledge) and reach (geographic area coverage) to the emerging technology-mediated education industry, and then specifically evaluates their effect on the teaching of international business. It asserts that interactive learning, particularly as it applies to team…

Preparing School Administrators to Lead Technology Rich Professional Learning Communities in the Digital Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Branch, Mary Grace

2011-01-01

This study explores the coaching experiences of educational administrators in an attempt to gain greater understanding of how they develop the necessary skills to implement, lead, and support technology rich professional learning communities (PLCs). Participants came from a mix of urban, rural, and suburban school districts. Using semi-structured…

Teaching science in a technology rich environment: Probeware's effect on student attitude and achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zelmanowicz, Marc

Purpose The use of technology in the science classroom has been a major part of the initiative toward increasing student attitude and achievement in Science, Technology, Education and Math [STEM] education in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the use of probeware in a high school science living environment classroom impacts student attitude towards science and/or student achievement on standards-based assessments. This study sought to answer the following quantitative questions with a qualitative component: To what extent does the use of probeware in a high school level living environment course influence student attitudes toward science compared to students who are not using probeware? What is the impact, if any, on student achievement in a living environment course, as measured by New York State Living Environment Regents [NYSLER] exam grades, between students who use probeware and students who do not? Is there a significant difference between the two groups with regard to achieving mastery on the NYSLER exam? Sample The participants in the study were Living Environment students of a suburban high school outside of New York City. Methods The quasiexperimental study examined the effects of the replacement of traditional scientific equipment with probeware on student attitude and achievement in a living environment classroom. Student attitude was measured by the modified Attitude Toward Science Inventory [mATSI] and student achievement was measured by the New York State Living Environment Regents [NSLER] Exam. Descriptive statistics, ANCOVA and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to answer the research questions in this study. A qualitative component was included to enhance the understanding of the quantitative analysis. Major Findings Through this study, results demonstrated a statistically significant impact of probeware on student attitude, but did not show a statistically significant impact of probeware on student achievement or achievement of mastery; The qualitative component confirmed that probeware positively impact student attitude and achievement. With regards to achievement, the qualitative interviews contradicted the quantitative analysis. Significance Results from this study add to the body of research that probeware can impact student attitude towards science education.

Collaborative Visualization Project: shared-technology learning environments for science learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pea, Roy D.; Gomez, Louis M.

1993-01-01

Project-enhanced science learning (PESL) provides students with opportunities for `cognitive apprenticeships' in authentic scientific inquiry using computers for data-collection and analysis. Student teams work on projects with teacher guidance to develop and apply their understanding of science concepts and skills. We are applying advanced computing and communications technologies to augment and transform PESL at-a-distance (beyond the boundaries of the individual school), which is limited today to asynchronous, text-only networking and unsuitable for collaborative science learning involving shared access to multimedia resources such as data, graphs, tables, pictures, and audio-video communication. Our work creates user technology (a Collaborative Science Workbench providing PESL design support and shared synchronous document views, program, and data access; a Science Learning Resource Directory for easy access to resources including two-way video links to collaborators, mentors, museum exhibits, media-rich resources such as scientific visualization graphics), and refine enabling technologies (audiovisual and shared-data telephony, networking) for this PESL niche. We characterize participation scenarios for using these resources and we discuss national networked access to science education expertise.

Combustion devices technology team - An overview and status of STME-related activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, P. K.; Croteau-Gillespie, Margie

1992-01-01

The Consortium for CFD applications in propulsion technology has been formed at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. The combustion devices technology team is one of the three teams that constitute the Consortium. While generally aiming to advance combustion devices technology for rocket propulsion, the team's efforts for the last 1 and 1/2 years have been focused on issues relating to the Space Transportation Main Engine (STME) nozzle. The nozzle design uses hydrogen-rich turbine exhaust to cool the wall in a film/dump scheme. This method of cooling presents challenges and associated risks for the nozzle designers and the engine/vehicle integrators. Within the nozzle itself, a key concern is the ability to effectively and efficiently film cool the wall. From the National Launch System vehicle base standpoint, there are concerns with dumping combustible gases at the nozzle exit and their potential adverse effects on the base thermal environment. The Combustion Team has developed and is implementing plans to use validated CFD tools to aid in risk mitigation for both areas.

Monitoring of Crew Activity with FAMOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolf, L.; Cajochen, C.; Bromundt, V.

2007-10-01

The success of long duration space missions, such as manned missions to Mars, depends on high and sustained levels of vigilance and performance of astronauts and operators working in the technology rich environment of a spacecraft. Experiment 'Monitoring of Crew Activity with FAMOS' was set up to obtain operational experience with complimentary methods / technologies to assess the alertness / sleepiness status of selected AustroMars crewmembers on a daily basis. We applied a neurobehavioral test battery consisting of 1) Karolinska Sleepiness Scale KSS, 2) Karolinska Drowsiness Test KDT, 3) Psychomotor Vigilance Task PVT, combined with 4) left eye video recordings with an early prototype of the FAMOS Fatigue Monitoring System headset currently being developed by Sowoon Technologies (CH), and 5) Actiwatches that were worn continuously. A test battery required approximately 15 minutes and was repeated up to 4 times daily by 2 to 4 subjects. Here we present the data analysis of methods 1, 2, 3, and 5, while data analysis of method 4 is still in progress.

A network-based distributed, media-rich computing and information environment

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

Phillips, R.L.

1995-12-31

Sunrise is a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) project started in October 1993. It is intended to be a prototype National Information Infrastructure development project. A main focus of Sunrise is to tie together enabling technologies (networking, object-oriented distributed computing, graphical interfaces, security, multi-media technologies, and data-mining technologies) with several specific applications. A diverse set of application areas was chosen to ensure that the solutions developed in the project are as generic as possible. Some of the application areas are materials modeling, medical records and image analysis, transportation simulations, and K-12 education. This paper provides a description of Sunrise andmore » a view of the architecture and objectives of this evolving project. The primary objectives of Sunrise are three-fold: (1) To develop common information-enabling tools for advanced scientific research and its applications to industry; (2) To enhance the capabilities of important research programs at the Laboratory; (3) To define a new way of collaboration between computer science and industrially-relevant research.« less

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.

Hydration and leaching characteristics of cement pastes made from electroplating sludge

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

Chen, Ying-Liang; Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Rd., Tainan City 70101, Taiwan; Ko, Ming-Sheng

2011-06-15

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hydration and leaching characteristics of the pastes of belite-rich cements made from electroplating sludge. The compressive strength of the pastes cured for 1, 3, 7, 28, and 90 days was determined, and the condensation of silicate anions in hydrates was examined with the {sup 29}Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology. The leachabilities of the electroplating sludge and the hardened pastes were studied with the multiple toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (MTCLP) and the tank leaching test (NEN 7345), respectively. The results showed that the electroplating sludge continued to leach heavy metals, includingmore » nickel, copper, and zinc, and posed a serious threat to the environment. The belite-rich cement made from the electroplating sludge was abundant in hydraulic {beta}-dicalcium silicate, and it performed well with regard to compressive-strength development when properly blended with ordinary Portland cements. The blended cement containing up to 40% the belite-rich cement can still satisfy the compressive-strength requirements of ASTM standards, and the pastes cured for 90 days had comparable compressive strength to an ordinary Portland cement paste. It was also found that the later hydration reaction of the blended cements was relatively more active, and high fractions of belite-rich cement increased the chain length of silicate hydrates. In addition, by converting the sludge into belite-rich cements, the heavy metals became stable in the hardened cement pastes. This study thus indicates a viable alternative approach to dealing with heavy metal bearing wastes, and the resulting products show good compressive strength and heavy-metal stability.« less

Is Variety the Spice of Life? An Experimental Investigation into the Effects of Species Richness on Self-Reported Mental Well-Being

PubMed Central

zu Ermgassen, Sophus; Balmford, Andrew; White, Mathew; Weinstein, Netta

2017-01-01

Losses in biodiversity and trends toward urbanisation have reduced people’s contact with biodiverse nature, yet the consequences for mental well-being are not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that greater plant and animal species richness in isolation causes an improvement in mental well-being. To do so, the present research experimentally manipulated species richness and assessed widely-used indicators of mental well-being. Participants viewed short videos of either high or low tree (Study 1) or bird (Study 2) species richness and reported on positive (i.e., vitality, positive affect) and negative (i.e., anxiety) indicators of mental well-being. Building on Study 1, Study 2 included an urban environment as a reference treatment and explored the role of giving participants information on the presented environment. We find that, in line with expectations, watching videos containing greater species richness consistently leads to higher mental well-being. We discuss findings in light of the importance of connecting people to biodiverse environments. PMID:28107417

Density functional study of carbon vacancies in titanium carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Råsander, Mikael; Hugosson, Håkan W.; Delin, Anna

2018-01-01

It is well established that TiC contains carbon vacancies not only in carbon-deficient environments but also in carbon-rich environments. We have performed density functional calculations of the vacancy formation energy in TiC for C- as well as Ti-rich conditions using several different approximations to the exchange-correlation functional, and also carefully considering the nature and thermodynamics of the carbon reference state, as well as the effect of varying growth conditions. We find that the formation of carbon vacancies is clearly favorable under Ti-rich conditions, whereas it is slightly energetically unfavorable under C-rich conditions. Furthermore, we find that the relaxations of the atoms close to the vacancy site are rather long-ranged, and that these relaxations contribute significantly to the stabilization of the vacancy. Since carbon vacancies in TiC are also experimentally observed in carbon-rich environments, we conclude that kinetics may play an important role. This conclusion is consistent with the experimentally observed high activation energies and sluggish diffusion of vacancies in TiC, effectively causing a freezing in of the vacancies.

What Matters Most when Students and Teachers Use Interactive Whiteboards in Mathematics Classrooms?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McQuillan, Kimberley; Northcote, Maria; Beamish, Peter

2012-01-01

Teachers are encouraged to immerse their students in rich and engaging learning environments (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). One teaching tool that can facilitate the creation of rich learning environments is the interactive whiteboard (IWB) (Baker, 2009). When teaching mathematics, the varied representational aspects of IWBs can…

Adaptive Practice: Next Generation Evidence-Based Practice in Digital Environments.

PubMed

Kennedy, Margaret Ann

2016-01-01

Evidence-based practice in nursing is considered foundational to safe, competent care. To date, rigid traditional perceptions of what constitutes 'evidence' have constrained the recognition and use of practice-based evidence and the exploitation of novel forms of evidence from data rich environments. Advancements such as the conceptualization of clinical intelligence, the prevalence of increasingly sophisticated digital health information systems, and the advancement of the Big Data phenomenon have converged to generate a new contemporary context. In today's dynamic data-rich environments, clinicians have new sources of valid evidence, and need a new paradigm supporting clinical practice that is adaptive to information generated by diverse electronic sources. This opinion paper presents adaptive practice as the next generation of evidence-based practice in contemporary evidence-rich environments and provides recommendations for the next phase of evolution.

Bioaccumulation of Vanadium by Vanadium-Resistant Bacteria Isolated from the Intestine of Ascidia sydneiensis samea.

PubMed

Romaidi; Ueki, Tatsuya

2016-06-01

Isolation of naturally occurring bacterial strains from metal-rich environments has gained popularity due to the growing need for bioremediation technologies. In this study, we found that the vanadium concentration in the intestine of the vanadium-rich ascidian Ascidia sydneiensis samea could reach 0.67 mM, and thus, we isolated vanadium-resistant bacteria from the intestinal contents and determined the ability of each bacterial strain to accumulate vanadium and other heavy metals. Nine strains of vanadium-resistant bacteria were successfully isolated, of which two strains, V-RA-4 and S-RA-6, accumulated vanadium at a higher rate than did the other strains. The maximum vanadium absorption by these bacteria was achieved at pH 3, and intracellular accumulation was the predominant mechanism. Each strain strongly accumulated copper and cobalt ions, but accumulation of nickel and molybdate ions was relatively low. These bacterial strains can be applied to protocols for bioremediation of vanadium and heavy metal toxicity.

CliniSpace: a multiperson 3D online immersive training environment accessible through a browser.

PubMed

Dev, Parvati; Heinrichs, W LeRoy; Youngblood, Patricia

2011-01-01

Immersive online medical environments, with dynamic virtual patients, have been shown to be effective for scenario-based learning (1). However, ease of use and ease of access have been barriers to their use. We used feedback from prior evaluation of these projects to design and develop CliniSpace. To improve usability, we retained the richness of prior virtual environments but modified the user interface. To improve access, we used a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) approach to present a richly immersive 3D environment within a web browser.

Usability and Accessibility of eBay by Screen Reader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buzzi, Maria Claudia; Buzzi, Marina; Leporini, Barbara; Akhter, Fahim

The evolution of Information and Communication Technology and the rapid growth of the Internet have fuelled a great diffusion of eCommerce websites. Usually these sites have complex layouts crowded with active elements, and thus are difficult to navigate via screen reader. Interactive environments should be properly designed and delivered to everyone, including the blind, who usually use screen readers to interact with their computers. In this paper we investigate the interaction of blind users with eBay, a popular eCommerce website, and discuss how using the W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) suite could improve the user experience when navigating via screen reader.

Preparing Content-Rich Learning Environments with VPython and Excel, Controlled by Visual Basic for Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prayaga, Chandra

2008-01-01

A simple interface between VPython and Microsoft (MS) Office products such as Word and Excel, controlled by Visual Basic for Applications, is described. The interface allows the preparation of content-rich, interactive learning environments by taking advantage of the three-dimensional (3D) visualization capabilities of VPython and the GUI…

European Research on life in extreme environments, setting up research priorities and coordinating the community: the CAREX project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rettberg, P.; Ellis-Evans, C.; Prieur, D.; Loreto, F.; Walter, N.; Le Bris, N.; Elster, J.; Amils, R.; Marteinsson, V.

2008-09-01

Life in Extreme Environments is an emerging area of research in which Europe has considerable expertise but a relatively fragmented research infrastructure. The science of such environments has enormous relevance for our knowledge of the diversity and environmental limits of microbial, plant and animal life and the novel strategies employed for survival and growth. Such studies are essential in understanding how life established on the early Earth and in assessing the possibilities for life on other planetary bodies. These environments are also a rich source of novel exploitable compounds. At the European level, there is a need for better coordination of life in extreme environments research, the FP7-funded CAREX project aims to address this need by developing a clearly identifiable, dynamic and durable community. Establishing this community will encourage greater interdisciplinarity and increasing knowledge of extreme environments. It will provide a target for young career scientists and allow a more focussed dialogue with other science areas, with funding agencies, with industrial groups and with international organisations outside Europe. CAREX will last for three years and with a wide scope covering microbial life, plant adaptation and animal adaptation to various marine, polar, terrestrial extreme environments as well as outer space. CAREX's outputs will include a strategic roadmap for European life in extreme environments research (including enabling technologies), diverse opportunities for knowledge transfer, standardisation of methodologies, encouragement and support for early career scientists and a network of links to relevant organisations. These deliverables together with improved community networking, supported by newsletters, promotional leaflets, a series of science publications and an interactive web portal, will help consolidate the community and its identity. Outcomes will be facilitated through science/technology workshops, diverse forums, field/laboratory protocol intercomparisons, a summer school and individual grants to facilitate knowledge transfer. CAREX has evolved with the key players from the highly successful ESF "Investigating Life in Extreme Environments" initiative. For more information: www.carex-eu.org

Preventing Electromagnetic Pulse Irradiation Damage on Testis Using Selenium-rich Cordyceps Fungi. A Preclinical Study in Young Male Mice.

PubMed

Miao, Xia; Wang, Yafeng; Lang, Haiyang; Lin, Yanyun; Guo, Qiyan; Yang, Mingjuan; Guo, Juan; Zhang, Yanjun; Zhang, Jie; Liu, Junye; Liu, Yaning; Zeng, Lihua; Guo, Guozhen

2017-02-01

Networked 21st century society, globalization, and communications technologies are paralleled by the rise of electromagnetic energy intensity in our environments and the growing pressure of the environtome on human biology and health. The latter is the entire complement of environmental factors, including the electromagnetic energy and the technologies that generate them, enacting on the digital citizen in the new century. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) irradiation might have serious damaging effects not only on electronic equipment but also in the whole organism and reproductive health, through nonthermal effects and oxidative stress. We sought to determine whether EMP exposure (1) induces biological damage on reproductive health and (2) the extent to which selenium-rich Cordyceps fungi (daily coadministration) offer protection on the testicles and spermatozoa. In a preclinical randomized study, 3-week-old male BALB/c mice were repeatedly exposed to EMP (peak intensity 200 kV/m, pulse edge 3.5 ns, pulse width 15 ns, 0.1 Hz, and 400 pulses/day) 5 days per week for four consecutive weeks, with or without coadministration of daily selenium-rich Cordyceps fungi (100 mg/kg). Testicular index and spermatozoa formation were measured at baseline and 1, 7, 14, 28, and 60 day time points after EMP exposure. The group without Cordyceps cotreatment displayed decreased spermatozoa formation, shrunk seminiferous tubule diameters, and diminished antioxidative capacity at 28 and 60 days after exposure (p < 0.05). The Cordyceps daily cotreatment alleviated the testicular damage by EMP exposure, increased spermatozoa formation, and reduced apoptotic spermatogenic cells. These observations warrant further preclinical and clinical studies as an innovative approach for potential protection against electromagnetic radiation in the current age of networked society and digital citizenship.

Public Education and Outreach Through Full-Dome Video Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollock, John

2009-03-01

My long-term goal is to enhance public understanding of complex systems that can be best demonstrated through richly detailed computer graphic animation displayed with full-dome video technology. My current focus is on health science advances that focus on regenerative medicine, which helps the body heal itself. Such topics facilitate science learning and health literacy. My team develops multi-media presentations that bring the scientific and medical advances to the public through immersive high-definition video animation. Implicit in treating the topics of regenerative medicine will be the need to address stem cell biology. The topics are clarified and presented from a platform of facts and balanced ethical consideration. The production process includes communicating scientific information about the excitement and importance of stem cell research. Principles of function are emphasized over specific facts or terminology by focusing on a limited, but fundamental set of concepts. To achieve this, visually rich, biologically accurate 3D computer graphic environments are created to illustrate the cells, tissues and organs of interest. A suite of films are produced, and evaluated in pre- post-surveys assessing attitudes, knowledge and learning. Each film uses engaging interactive demonstrations to illustrate biological functions, the things that go wrong due to disease and disability, and the remedy provided by regenerative medicine. While the images are rich and detailed, the language is accessible and appropriate to the audience. The digital, high-definition video is also re-edited for presentation in other ``flat screen'' formats, increasing our distribution potential. Show content is also presented in an interactive web space (www.sepa.duq.edu) with complementing teacher resource guides and student workbooks and companion video games.

Extraction of rubidium from natural resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ertan, Bengü

2017-04-01

Rubidium is a rare alkali metal in the first group of periodic table. It has some exclusive properties like softness, ductility, malleability, strong chemical and photo-emissive activity, low melting point, easy ionization. So it is used many of applications such that optical and laser technology, electronics, telecommunications, biomedical, space technology, academic research especially quantum mechanics-based computing devices. Attention of rubidium in relation to its uses will increase in the near future. Rubidium does not have any mineral that is the main component. It is produced as minor quantities from lithium or cesium-rich minerals and natural brines. However, there are a few researches on the extraction of rubidium from mine tailings. It is difficult extraction or concentration of rubidium from these resources. Because they require a series of physical and chemical treatments and cost expensive. Efficient, cheap and friendly of environment methods for the recovery of this metal are being investigated.

ALDO: A radiation-tolerant, low-noise, adjustable low drop-out linear regulator in 0.35 μm CMOS technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carniti, P.; Cassina, L.; Gotti, C.; Maino, M.; Pessina, G.

2016-07-01

In this work we present ALDO, an adjustable low drop-out linear regulator designed in AMS 0.35 μm CMOS technology. It is specifically tailored for use in the upgraded LHCb RICH detector in order to improve the power supply noise for the front end readout chip (CLARO). ALDO is designed with radiation-tolerant solutions such as an all-MOS band-gap voltage reference and layout techniques aiming to make it able to operate in harsh environments like High Energy Physics accelerators. It is capable of driving up to 200 mA while keeping an adequate power supply filtering capability in a very wide frequency range from 10 Hz up to 100 MHz. This property allows us to suppress the noise and high frequency spikes that could be generated by a DC/DC regulator, for example. ALDO also shows a very low noise of 11.6 μV RMS in the same frequency range. Its output is protected with over-current and short detection circuits for a safe integration in tightly packed environments. Design solutions and measurements of the first prototype are presented.

Past, Present, and Future Technologies for Oral Delivery of Therapeutic Proteins

PubMed Central

SINGH, RAJESH; SINGH, SHAILESH; LILLARD, JAMES W.

2015-01-01

Biological drugs are usually complex proteins and cannot be orally delivered due to problems related to degradation in the acidic and protease-rich environment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The high molecular weight of these drugs often results in poor absorption into the periphery when administered orally. The most common route of administration for these therapeutic proteins is injection. Most of these proteins have short serum half-lives and need to be administered frequently or in high doses to be effective. So, difficulties in the administration of protein-based drugs provides the motivation for developing drug delivery systems (DDSs) capable of maintaining therapeutic drug levels without side effects as well as traversing the deleterious mucosal environment. Employing a polymer as an entrapment matrix is a common feature among the different types of systems currently being pursued for protein delivery. Protein release from these matrices can occur through various mechanisms, such as diffusion through or erosion of the polymer matrix, and sometimes a combination of both. Encapsulation of proteins in liposomes has also been a widely investigated technology for protein delivery. All of these systems have merit and our worthy of pursuit. PMID:17918721

SAME4HPC: A Promising Approach in Building a Scalable and Mobile Environment for High-Performance Computing

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

Karthik, Rajasekar

2014-01-01

In this paper, an architecture for building Scalable And Mobile Environment For High-Performance Computing with spatial capabilities called SAME4HPC is described using cutting-edge technologies and standards such as Node.js, HTML5, ECMAScript 6, and PostgreSQL 9.4. Mobile devices are increasingly becoming powerful enough to run high-performance apps. At the same time, there exist a significant number of low-end and older devices that rely heavily on the server or the cloud infrastructure to do the heavy lifting. Our architecture aims to support both of these types of devices to provide high-performance and rich user experience. A cloud infrastructure consisting of OpenStack withmore » Ubuntu, GeoServer, and high-performance JavaScript frameworks are some of the key open-source and industry standard practices that has been adopted in this architecture.« less

Agile lensing-based non-contact liquid level optical sensor for extreme environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reza, Syed Azer; Riza, Nabeel A.

2010-09-01

To the best of the author's knowledge, demonstrated is the first opto-fluidic technology- based sensor for detection of liquid levels. An opto-fluidic Electronically Controlled Variable Focus Lens (ECVFL) is used to change the spatial intensity profile of the low power optical beam falling on the liquid surface. By observing, tuning and measuring the liquid surface reflected intensity profile to reach its smallest size, the liquid level is determined through a beam spot size versus ECVFL focal length calibration table. Using a 50 μW 632.8 nm laser wavelength liquid illuminating beam, a proof-of-concept sensor is tested using engine oil, vegetable oil, and detergent fluid with measured liquid levels over a 75 cm range. This non-contact Radio Frequency (RF) modulation-free sensor is particularly suited for hazardous fluids in window-accessed sealed containers including liquid carrying vessels in Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) rich environments.

Nursing Outcomes Classification implementation projects across the care continuum.

PubMed

Moorhead, S; Clarke, M; Willits, M; Tomsha, K A

1998-06-01

The health care environment in which nurses deliver care is experiencing constant change characterized by decreased lengths of stay in acute care settings, increased use of technology, increasing emphasis on computerized patient records and care planning options, increasing markets dominated by managed care, and an emphasis on outcomes rather than process. These changes dictate that nursing as a profession ensures that the work of nursing is visible in this health care environment and included in the data used to make health policy decisions. This article describes the rich history of a Midwestern hospital's use of standardized nursing languages for the last 25 years. Currently this facility is in the process of implementing the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC). Four projects are described that illustrate the ways nurses can use this language with diagnoses from the North American Nursing Diagnoses Association (NANDA) and interventions from the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC).

Blended learning in K-12 mathematics and science instruction -- An exploratory study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Jason

Blended learning has developed into a hot topic in education over the past several years. Flipped classrooms, online learning environments, and the use of technology to deliver educational content using rich media continue to garner national attention. While generally well accepted and researched in post-secondary education, not much research has focused on blended learning in elementary, middle, and high schools. This thesis is an exploratory study to begin to determine if students and teachers like blended learning and whether or not it affects the amount of time they spend in math and science. Standardized achievement test data were also analyzed to determine if blended learning had any effect on test scores. Based on student and teacher surveys, this population seems to like blended learning and to work more efficiently in this environment. There is no evidence from this study to support any effect on student achievement.

Evaluation of Attractive Toxic Sugar Bait (ATSB) - Barrier for Control of Vector and Nuisance Mosquitoes and Its Effect on Non-target Organisms in Sub-tropical Environments in Florida

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

species does not frequently feed on humans but is considered the enzoonotic reservoir for EEE. Targeting this species development and resting habitats ...readily available sugar sources. However, we demonstrate that even in highly competitive sugar rich envi- ronments many vector and nuisance species ...effective control of anophelines in non-arid environments which suggest that even in highly competitive sugar rich environments this

Recycle technology for recovering resources and products from waste printed circuit boards.

PubMed

Li, Jia; Lu, Hongzhou; Guo, Jie; Xu, Zhenming; Zhou, Yaohe

2007-03-15

The printed circuit board (PCB) contains nearly 28% metals that are abundant non-ferrous metals such as Cu, Al, Sn, etc. The purity of precious metals in PCBs is more than 10 times higher than that of rich-content minerals. Therefore, recycling of PCBs is an important subject not only from the treatment of waste but also from the recovery of valuable materials. Chemical and mechanical methods are two traditional recycling processes for waste PCBs. However, the prospect of chemical methods will be limited since the emission of toxic liquid or gas brings secondary pollution to the environment during the process. Mechanical processes, such as shape separation, jigging, density-based separation, and electrostatic separation have been widely utilized in the recycling industry. But, recycling of waste PCBs is only beginning. In this study, a total of 400 kg of waste PCBs was processed by a recycle technology without negative impact to the environment. The technology contained mechanical two-step crushing, corona electrostatic separating, and recovery. The results indicated that (i) two-step crushing was an effect process to strip metals from base plates completely; (ii) the size of particles between 0.6 and 1.2 mm was suitable for corona electrostatic separating during industrial application; and (iii) the nonmetal of waste PCBs attained 80% weight of a kind of nonmetallic plate that expanded the applying prospect of waste nonmetallic materials.

Binary Format for Scene (BIFS): combining MPEG-4 media to build rich multimedia services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Signes, Julien

1998-12-01

In this paper, we analyze the design concepts and some technical details behind the MPEG-4 standard, particularly the scene description layer, commonly known as the Binary Format for Scene (BIFS). We show how MPEG-4 may ease multimedia proliferation by offering a unique, optimized multimedia platform. Lastly, we analyze the potential of the technology for creating rich multimedia applications on various networks and platforms. An e-commerce application example is detailed, highlighting the benefits of the technology. Compression results show how rich applications may be built even on very low bit rate connections.

Palaeo-precipitation is a major determinant of palm species richness patterns across Madagascar: a tropical biodiversity hotspot

PubMed Central

Rakotoarinivo, Mijoro; Blach-Overgaard, Anne; Baker, William J.; Dransfield, John; Moat, Justin; Svenning, Jens-Christian

2013-01-01

The distribution of rainforest in many regions across the Earth was strongly affected by Pleistocene ice ages. However, the extent to which these dynamics are still important for modern-day biodiversity patterns within tropical biodiversity hotspots has not been assessed. We employ a comprehensive dataset of Madagascan palms (Arecaceae) and climate reconstructions from the last glacial maximum (LGM; 21 000 years ago) to assess the relative role of modern environment and LGM climate in explaining geographical species richness patterns in this major tropical biodiversity hotspot. We found that palaeoclimate exerted a strong influence on palm species richness patterns, with richness peaking in areas with higher LGM precipitation relative to present-day even after controlling for modern environment, in particular in northeastern Madagascar, consistent with the persistence of tropical rainforest during the LGM primarily in this region. Our results provide evidence that diversity patterns in the World's most biodiverse regions may be shaped by long-term climate history as well as contemporary environment. PMID:23427173

Copahue Volcano: A Modern Terrestrial Analog for the Opportunity Landing Site?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varekamp, Johan C.

2004-10-01

The Opportunity Rover on Mars encountered an environment that contained grey hematite (specularite) and jarosite, with structures indicative of flowing water. Less firm evidence suggests the presence of gypsum as well, and the environment is overall rich in S, Cl, and Br (NASA news releases, 2004). Such a suite of minerals may form from an iron- and sulfate-rich brine, either through evaporation, cooling or changes in redox conditions (see Hynek et al. [2002] and Christensen et al. [2001], for a discussion of the extent and possible origins of the Mars hematite deposits). On Earth, such an association of minerals is not very common, but is found in alteration zones with fumarolic activity in some volcanic craters. The condensation or dissolution in meteoric waters of S-rich volcanic gases creates acid fluids in the surficial environment that leach rock-forming elements (RFEs) from the surrounding rocks, forming large, bleached areas of mineralizations of hematite, cristobalite, and gypsum, occasionally with zones rich in alunite or jarosite.

NASA Lewis Research Center lean-, rich-burn materials test burner rig

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stearns, C. A.; Robinson, R. C.

1994-01-01

The lean-, rich-burn materials test burner rig at NASA LeRC is used to evaluate the high temperature environmental durability of aerospace materials. The rig burns jet fuel and pressurized air, and sample materials can be subjected to both lean-burn and rich-burn environments. As part of NASA's Enabling Propulsion Materials (EPM) program, an existing rig was adapted to simulate the rich-burn quick-quench lean-burn (RQL) combustor concept which is being considered for the HSCT (high speed civil transport) aircraft. RQL materials requirements exceed that of current superalloys, thus ceramic matrix composites (CMC's) emerged as the leading candidate materials. The performance of these materials in the quasi reducing environment of the rich-burn section of the RQL is of fundamental importance to materials development. This rig was developed to conduct such studies, and its operation and capabilities are described.

Characterization of individual complex particles in urban atmospheric environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, K.; Takii, T.; Tomiyasu, B.; Nihei, Y.

2006-07-01

The origins of carrier particles of complex particles (iron-rich particles) collected from the urban atmospheric environment near to road traffic and a railroad were investigated from the detailed surface information using FE-SEM/EDS and TOF-SIMS analyses. From the FE-SEM/EDS analyses, the iron-rich particles were classified into two typical types (spherical type and non-spherical type). From the TOF-SIMS measurements, the characteristic secondary ions of spherical type of iron-rich particles were 23Na + and 39K +. The minor components of non-spherical type were Al, Ca and Ba. On the other hand, we carried out TOF-SIMS measurement to materials of rail origin and brake origin. From the comparison of these spectra pattern, it seemed that the spherical type of iron-rich particles was emitted from the rail origin. We concluded that the origin of non-spherical type of iron-rich particles were brake pad of vehicles.

Richness and abundance of the cardini group of Drosophila (Diptera, Drosophilidae) in the Caatinga and Atlantic Forest biomes in northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Rohde, Cláudia; Silva, Diva Maria Izabel O; Oliveira, Geórgia F; Monteiro, Liv S; Montes, Martín A; Garcia, Ana Cristina L

2014-12-01

Brazil has a high diversity of flies of the genus Drosophila, and part of this richness is represented by the cardini group. We analyzed the fluctuations in the richness and abundance of this group, in environments that had never previously been studied in the northeastern region of Brazil. Among the 28,204 drosophilids sampled, 1,294 belonged to the cardini group and were represented by D. polymorpha, D. cardini, D. neocardini and D. cardinoides. Occurrences of D. neocardini and D. cardinoides were registered for the first time in the Caatinga. In this biome, D. cardini stood out as having the highest abundance, and D. polymorpha was not observed. In the coastal Atlantic Forest, D. cardini was not registered, but D. polymorpha was found in all the localities investigated. Mangrove swamps were the environment with the lowest abundance and richness of the cardini group. The High-altitude Forest presented the highest richness of this group. We suggest that the high abundance of D. polymorpha in the High-altitude Forest and in the coastal Atlantic Forest may be a reflection of the historical relationship between these two environments.

Richness and abundance of the cardini group of Drosophila (Diptera, Drosophilidae) in the Caatinga and Atlantic Forest biomes in northeastern Brazil.

PubMed

Rohde, Cláudia; Silva, Diva Maria Izabel O; Oliveira, Geórgia F; Monteiro, Liv S; Montes, Martín A; Garcia, Ana Cristina L

2014-11-11

Brazil has a high diversity of flies of the genus Drosophila, and part of this richness is represented by the cardini group. We analyzed the fluctuations in the richness and abundance of this group, in environments that had never previously been studied in the northeastern region of Brazil. Among the 28,204 drosophilids sampled, 1,294 belonged to the cardini group and were represented by D. polymorpha, D. cardini, D. neocardini and D. cardinoides. Occurrences of D. neocardini and D. cardinoides were registered for the first time in the Caatinga. In this biome, D. cardini stood out as having the highest abundance, and D. polymorpha was not observed. In the coastal Atlantic Forest, D. cardini was not registered, but D. polymorpha was found in all the localities investigated. Mangrove swamps were the environment with the lowest abundance and richness of the cardini group. The High-altitude Forest presented the highest richness of this group. We suggest that the high abundance of D. polymorpha in the High-altitude Forest and in the coastal Atlantic Forest may be a reflection of the historical relationship between these two environments.

Stability of anthocyanin-rich w/o/w-emulsions designed for intestinal release in gastrointestinal environment.

PubMed

Frank, Kerstin; Walz, Elke; Gräf, Volker; Greiner, Ralf; Köhler, Karsten; Schuchmann, Heike Petra

2012-12-01

Anthocyanins belong to the most important hydrophilic plant pigments. Outside their natural environment, these molecules are extremely unstable. Encapsulating them in submicron-sized containers is one possibility to stabilize them for the use in bioactivity studies or functional foods. The containers have to be designed for a target release in the human gastrointestinal system. In this contribution, an anthocyanin-rich bilberry extract was encapsulated in the inner aqueous phase of water-in-oil-in-water-double emulsions. The physical stability as well as the release of free fatty acids and encapsulated, bioactive substances from the emulsions during an in vitro gastrointestinal passage were investigated. The focus was on the influence of emulsion microstructural parameters (for example, inner and outer droplet size, disperse phase content) and required additives (emulsifier systems), respectively. It could be shown that it is possible to stabilize anthocyanins in the inner phase of double emulsions. The release rate of free fatty acids during incubation was independent of the emulsifier used. However, the exterior (O/W)-emulsifier has an impact on the stability of multiple emulsions in gastrointestinal environment and, thus, the location of release. Long-chained emulsifiers like whey proteins are most suitable to transport a maximum amount of bioactive substances to the effective location, being the small intestine for anthocyanins. In addition, it was shown that the dominating release mechanism for entrapped matter was coalescence of the interior W(1) -droplets with the surrounding W(2) -phase. © 2012 Institute of Process Engineering in Life Science I: Food Process Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

FUEL RICH SULFUR CAPTURE IN A COMBUSTION ENVIRONMENT

EPA Science Inventory

A refractory-lined, natural gas furnace was used to study fuel rich sulfur capture reactions of calcium sorbents under typical combustion conditions. The fuel rich sulfur species H2S and COS were monitored in a near-continuous fashion using a gas chromatograph equipped with a fl...

Nutrition and Physical Performance in Military Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-12-01

6 4.0 Adaptations to fat -rich diets ............................................................................... 7 5.0 M icronutrients and...dense, fat -rich, i.e carbohydrate-poor, diet may be possible although the time course and extent of adaptation mu3t be clarified before such a diet can be...anorexia which can result in insufficient energy and/or carbohydrate intake to maintain optimal physical peeformance. Cold environments are usually

Pre-Packaging Preschool Literacy: What Drives Early Childhood Teachers to Use Commercially Produced Phonics Programs in Prior to School Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Stacey; Torr, Jane; Cologon, Kathy

2014-01-01

Language-rich environments are key to overall quality in early childhood settings, including frequent child-staff interactions around picture books and dramatic play. In a language-rich environment, explicit teaching of literacy concepts, such as phonics, is embedded in authentic and meaningful situations where alphabet letters and sounds are…

A Case Study on Using Prediction Markets as a Rich Environment for Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckley, Patrick; Garvey, John; McGrath, Fergal

2011-01-01

In this paper, prediction markets are presented as an innovative pedagogical tool which can be used to create a Rich Environment for Active Learning (REAL). Prediction markets are designed to make forecasts about specific future events by using a market mechanism to aggregate the information held by a large group of traders about that event into a…

Proscene: A feature-rich framework for interactive environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charalambos, Jean Pierre

We introduce Proscene, a feature-rich, open-source framework for interactive environments. The design of Proscene comprises a three-layered onion-like software architecture, promoting different possible development scenarios. The framework innermost layer decouples user gesture parsing from user-defined actions. The in-between layer implements a feature-rich set of widely-used motion actions allowing the selection and manipulation of objects, including the scene viewpoint. The outermost layer exposes those features as a Processing library. The results have shown the feasibility of our approach together with the simplicity and flexibility of the Proscene framework API.

Investigating Variation in Teaching with Technology-Rich Intervention: What Matters in Teaching and Teacher Training at Scale?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Margaret Breslin

2009-01-01

A main question this dissertation addresses is: what variation in teaching and teacher training matter? This question is examined within a specific but important context: the scale-up of a technology-rich intervention focused on the algebra strand of 8th grade mathematics. I conducted a multi-level case study by gathering and analyzing data at…

Hydration and leaching characteristics of cement pastes made from electroplating sludge.

PubMed

Chen, Ying-Liang; Ko, Ming-Sheng; Lai, Yi-Chieh; Chang, Juu-En

2011-06-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hydration and leaching characteristics of the pastes of belite-rich cements made from electroplating sludge. The compressive strength of the pastes cured for 1, 3, 7, 28, and 90 days was determined, and the condensation of silicate anions in hydrates was examined with the (29)Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology. The leachabilities of the electroplating sludge and the hardened pastes were studied with the multiple toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (MTCLP) and the tank leaching test (NEN 7345), respectively. The results showed that the electroplating sludge continued to leach heavy metals, including nickel, copper, and zinc, and posed a serious threat to the environment. The belite-rich cement made from the electroplating sludge was abundant in hydraulic β-dicalcium silicate, and it performed well with regard to compressive-strength development when properly blended with ordinary Portland cements. The blended cement containing up to 40% the belite-rich cement can still satisfy the compressive-strength requirements of ASTM standards, and the pastes cured for 90 days had comparable compressive strength to an ordinary Portland cement paste. It was also found that the later hydration reaction of the blended cements was relatively more active, and high fractions of belite-rich cement increased the chain length of silicate hydrates. In addition, by converting the sludge into belite-rich cements, the heavy metals became stable in the hardened cement pastes. This study thus indicates a viable alternative approach to dealing with heavy metal bearing wastes, and the resulting products show good compressive strength and heavy-metal stability. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of tryptophan-rich breakfast and light exposure during the daytime on melatonin secretion at night.

PubMed

Fukushige, Haruna; Fukuda, Yumi; Tanaka, Mizuho; Inami, Kaoru; Wada, Kai; Tsumura, Yuki; Kondo, Masayuki; Harada, Tetsuo; Wakamura, Tomoko; Morita, Takeshi

2014-11-19

The purpose of the present study is to investigate effects of tryptophan intake and light exposure on melatonin secretion and sleep by modifying tryptophan ingestion at breakfast and light exposure during the daytime, and measuring sleep quality (by using actigraphy and the OSA sleep inventory) and melatonin secretion at night. Thirty three male University students (mean ± SD age: 22 ± 3.1 years) completed the experiments lasting 5 days and 4 nights. The subjects were randomly divided into four groups: Poor*Dim (n = 10), meaning a tryptophan-poor breakfast (55 mg/meal) in the morning and dim light environment (<50 lx) during the daytime; Rich*Dim (n = 7), tryptophan-rich breakfast (476 mg/meal) and dim light environment; Poor*Bright (n = 9), tryptophan-poor breakfast and bright light environment (>5,000 lx); and Rich*Bright (n = 7), tryptophan-rich breakfast and bright light. Saliva melatonin concentrations on the fourth day were significantly lower than on the first day in the Poor*Dim group, whereas they were higher on the fourth day in the Rich*Bright group. Creatinine-adjusted melatonin in urine showed the same direction as saliva melatonin concentrations. These results indicate that the combination of a tryptophan-rich breakfast and bright light exposure during the daytime could promote melatonin secretion at night; further, the observations that the Rich*Bright group had higher melatonin concentrations than the Rich*Dim group, despite no significant differences being observed between the Poor*Dim and Rich*Dim groups nor the Poor*Bright and Rich*Bright groups, suggest that bright light exposure in the daytime is an important contributor to raised melatonin levels in the evening. This study is the first to report the quantitative effects of changed tryptophan intake at breakfast combined with daytime light exposure on melatonin secretion and sleep quality. Evening saliva melatonin secretion changed significantly and indicated that a tryptophan-rich breakfast and bright light exposure during the daytime promoted melatonin secretion at this time.

Virtual patients: practical advice for clinical authors using Labyrinth.

PubMed

Begg, Michael

2010-09-01

Labyrinth is a tool originally developed in the University of Edinburgh's Learning Technology Section for authoring and delivering branching case scenarios. The scenarios can incorporate game-informed elements such as scoring, randomising, avatars and counters. Labyrinth has grown more popular internationally since a version of the build was made available on the open source network Source Forge. This paper offers help and advice for clinical educators interested in creating cases. Labyrinth is increasingly recognised as a tool offering great potential for delivering cases that promote rich, situated learning opportunities for learners. There are, however, significant challenges to generating such cases, not least of which is the challenge for potential authors in approaching the process of constructing narrative-rich, context-sensitive cases in an unfamiliar authoring environment. This paper offers a brief overview of the principles informing Labyrinth cases (game-informed learning), and offers some practical advice to better prepare educators with little or no prior experience. Labyrinth has continued to grow and develop, from its roots as a research and development environment to one that is optimised for use by non-technical clinical educators. The process becomes increasingly iterative and better informed as the teaching community push the software further. The positive implications of providing practical advice and concept insight to new case authors is that it ideally leads to a broader base of users who will inform future iterations of the software. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2010.

Oxygenic photosynthesis as a protection mechanism for cyanobacteria against iron-encrustation in environments with high Fe2+ concentrations

PubMed Central

Ionescu, Danny; Buchmann, Bettina; Heim, Christine; Häusler, Stefan; de Beer, Dirk; Polerecky, Lubos

2014-01-01

If O2 is available at circumneutral pH, Fe2+ is rapidly oxidized to Fe3+, which precipitates as FeO(OH). Neutrophilic iron oxidizing bacteria have evolved mechanisms to prevent self-encrustation in iron. Hitherto, no mechanism has been proposed for cyanobacteria from Fe2+-rich environments; these produce O2 but are seldom found encrusted in iron. We used two sets of illuminated reactors connected to two groundwater aquifers with different Fe2+ concentrations (0.9 μM vs. 26 μM) in the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL), Sweden. Cyanobacterial biofilms developed in all reactors and were phylogenetically different between the reactors. Unexpectedly, cyanobacteria growing in the Fe2+-poor reactors were encrusted in iron, whereas those in the Fe2+-rich reactors were not. In-situ microsensor measurements showed that O2 concentrations and pH near the surface of the cyanobacterial biofilms from the Fe2+-rich reactors were much higher than in the overlying water. This was not the case for the biofilms growing at low Fe2+ concentrations. Measurements with enrichment cultures showed that cyanobacteria from the Fe2+-rich environment increased their photosynthesis with increasing Fe2+ concentrations, whereas those from the low Fe2+ environment were inhibited at Fe2+ > 5 μM. Modeling based on in-situ O2 and pH profiles showed that cyanobacteria from the Fe2+-rich reactor were not exposed to significant Fe2+ concentrations. We propose that, due to limited mass transfer, high photosynthetic activity in Fe2+-rich environments forms a protective zone where Fe2+ precipitates abiotically at a non-lethal distance from the cyanobacteria. This mechanism sheds new light on the possible role of cyanobacteria in precipitation of banded iron formations. PMID:25228899

Why won't they listen: Negotiating the technological and social context for science teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liuzzo, Anna M.

The purpose of this study was to gather information to identify the obstacles and the impact an implementation of technology had in a middle school science classroom. This study explored a teaching environment where the teacher planned on using a variety of technology tools including laptops, probeware, hardware and software to promote scientific study. This study took place in two phases consisting of three consecutive years. In phase one the teacher reported great success. In phase two a shift in the school implementation created a significant impact on the learning taking place. This study identified the obstacles faced by a teacher providing an environment that combined her pedagogy with technology implementation. This teacher's pedagogy included research-based practices such a authentic problem-based learning, scientific inquiry, conceptual understanding of problem solving, connections to real-life situations and the use of metacognition in her practice. This study looked to determined if this implementation had an effect on student engagement and achievement; how the nature of technical and professional development impacted the implementation; and the barriers that were faced in creating a student-centered, technology rich approach to science. This qualitative study was conducted meeting the criteria of a case study of one teacher. The participant teacher's accounts of events through interviews were the primary source of data. In addition, multiple sources of information were also gathered. These included the teacher's reflective journal, student interviews, student focus groups, student artifacts, classroom observations, field notes, e-mail correspondences and students' test scores. This study proposes to contribute to the growing research evidence of implementation in the classroom and to identify specific obstacles that hinder success. The current state of education is calling for reform.

Differences in the regulation of ochratoxin A by the HOG pathway in Penicillium and Aspergillus in response to high osmolar environments.

PubMed

Stoll, Dominic; Schmidt-Heydt, Markus; Geisen, Rolf

2013-07-19

Penicillium verrucosum, P. nordicum and Aspergillus carbonarius are three important ochratoxin A producing species. P. verrucosum is in addition able to produce citrinin. It has been shown earlier that P. nordicum is adapted to NaCl rich environments like salt rich dry cured foods or even salines. In this organism, the biosynthesis of ochratoxin A plays an adaptive role in this habitat. P. verrucosum generally can be found on cereals, but occasionally also on salt rich dry cured foods. In contrast A. carbonarius usually cannot be found in NaCl rich environments, but it occurs in another environment with high concentration of solutes, e.g., in sugar rich substrates like grapes and grape juices. Usually osmotic challenging conditions activate the HOG MAP kinase signal cascade, which in turn activates various osmo-regulated genes. In the current analysis, it could be demonstrated that in case of P. nordicum and P. verrucosum the NaCl induced production of ochratoxin A is correlated to the phosphorylation status of the HOG MAP kinase. Just the opposite was true for A. carbonarius. In this case, also higher amounts of NaCl in the medium lead to an increased phosphorylation status of HOG, but no increase in ochratoxin biosynthesis was observed. In contrast to the Penicillia, higher NaCl concentrations lead to a rapid cessation of growth by A. carbonarius. High glucose concentrations have much less impact on growth and the phosphorylation of HOG.

Differences in dichogamy and herkogamy contribute to higher selfing in contrasting environments in the annual Blackstonia perfoliata (Gentianaceae)

PubMed Central

Brys, Rein; Geens, Bram; Beeckman, Tom; Jacquemyn, Hans

2013-01-01

Background and Aims The establishment of plant populations in novel environments may generate pronounced shifts in floral traits and plant mating systems, particularly when pollinators are scarce. In this study, floral morphology and mating system functioning are compared between recently established and older populations of the annual plant Blackstonia perfoliata that occur in different pollinator environments. Methods Hand-pollination and emasculation experiments were conducted to assess the extent of pollinator-mediated pollen deposition and pollen limitation, and the contribution of autonomous selfing to total seed production. Detailed measurements of key floral traits were performed to compare the flower morphology and mating system functioning between plants from both pollination environments. Key Results Pollinator-mediated pollen deposition was about twice as low in the recently colonized and pollinator-poor environment compared with the old and pollinator-rich sites, but total seed set was little affected by any type of pollen limitation. The contribution of autonomous selfing to total seed production was higher in the pollinator-poor sites than in the pollinator-rich sites (index of reproductive assurance = 0·56 and 0·17, respectively), and seed production was only poorly affected by selfing, whereas in the pollinator-rich populations selfing reduced total reproductive output by about 40 % compared with outcross pollination. Plants originating from pollinator-poor environments produced smaller flowers that showed significantly lower levels of dichogamy (i.e. protogyny) and herkogamy. These reductions resulted in a 2-fold higher capacity for autonomous selfing under pollinator-free conditions (index of autonomous selfing = 0·81 and 0·41 in plants originating from the pollinator-poor and pollinator-rich environment, respectively). Conclusions The results illustrate that plant populations colonizing novel environments can differ markedly in floral morphology and mating system functioning. Due to a temporal shift in the male phase, the breeding system of B. perfoliata shifted from delayed selfing under pollinator-rich conditions towards competing selfing in recently established populations, providing greater reproductive assurance when pollinators and/or reproductive partners are limited. PMID:23408833

The challenges of clinical education in a baccalaureate surgical technology students in Iran: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Zardosht, Roghayeh; Moonaghi, Hossein Karimi; Razavi, Mohammad Etezad; Ahmady, Soleiman

2018-02-01

Clinical education is an integral part of the surgical technology curriculum, in which students combine and integrate knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and philosophies of the profession. It is difficult to learn and adapt to different types of skills and roles in the operating room environment. This qualitative study examines the difference between the clinical education of Surgical Technology and other clinical settings, and the challenges faced by students in the field, within the course. This was a qualitative content analysis study conducted in 2016. The participants in this study were 16 baccalaureate surgical technology students of the University for Medical Sciences in Khorasan Razavi province. A semi-structured interview method was run to collect the required data. The sampling was initially purposive, then in the snowball method which continued until data saturation. All interviews were recorded, then transcribed, and analyzed using a continuous comparative method and conventional qualitative content analysis method. From the deep and rich descriptions of the participants, three themes including "stressful environment", "controversy between anticipation of role and reality", and "humiliating experiences" as well as a general theme of "bitter education" were obtained. Students' orientation before attending the operating room, accompanying, supporting, and a full-time attendance of the specialist instructor, strengthening the prerequisite knowledge and skills for the students in this field, teaching ethics, and professional interactions, play an important role in the student's acceptance of the operating room, in the surgery team and the improvement of the quality of clinical education of these students.

Hbim to VR. Semantic Awareness and Data Enrichment Interoperability for Parametric Libraries of Historical Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quattrini, R.; Battini, C.; Mammoli, R.

2018-05-01

Recently we assist to an increasing availability of HBIM models rich in geometric and informative terms. Instead, there is still a lack of researches implementing dedicated libraries, based on parametric intelligence and semantically aware, related to the architectural heritage. Additional challenges became from their portability in non-desktop environment (such as VR). The research article demonstrates the validity of a workflow applied to the architectural heritage, which starting from the semantic modeling reaches the visualization in a virtual reality environment, passing through the necessary phases of export, data migration and management. The three-dimensional modeling of the classical Doric order takes place in the BIM work environment and is configured as a necessary starting point for the implementation of data, parametric intelligences and definition of ontologies that exclusively qualify the model. The study also enables an effective method for data migration from the BIM model to databases integrated into VR technologies for AH. Furthermore, the process intends to propose a methodology, applicable in a return path, suited to the achievement of an appropriate data enrichment of each model and to the possibility of interaction in VR environment with the model.

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality

PubMed Central

Huff, Nicole C.; Zielinski, David J.; Fecteau, Matthew E.; Brady, Rachael; LaBar, Kevin S.

2010-01-01

Fear conditioning is a widely used paradigm in non-human animal research to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying fear and anxiety. A major challenge in conducting conditioning studies in humans is the ability to strongly manipulate or simulate the environmental contexts that are associated with conditioned emotional behaviors. In this regard, virtual reality (VR) technology is a promising tool. Yet, adapting this technology to meet experimental constraints requires special accommodations. Here we address the methodological issues involved when conducting fear conditioning in a fully immersive 6-sided VR environment and present fear conditioning data. In the real world, traumatic events occur in complex environments that are made up of many cues, engaging all of our sensory modalities. For example, cues that form the environmental configuration include not only visual elements, but aural, olfactory, and even tactile. In rodent studies of fear conditioning animals are fully immersed in a context that is rich with novel visual, tactile and olfactory cues. However, standard laboratory tests of fear conditioning in humans are typically conducted in a nondescript room in front of a flat or 2D computer screen and do not replicate the complexity of real world experiences. On the other hand, a major limitation of clinical studies aimed at reducing (extinguishing) fear and preventing relapse in anxiety disorders is that treatment occurs after participants have acquired a fear in an uncontrolled and largely unknown context. Thus the experimenters are left without information about the duration of exposure, the true nature of the stimulus, and associated background cues in the environment1. In the absence of this information it can be difficult to truly extinguish a fear that is both cue and context-dependent. Virtual reality environments address these issues by providing the complexity of the real world, and at the same time allowing experimenters to constrain fear conditioning and extinction parameters to yield empirical data that can suggest better treatment options and/or analyze mechanistic hypotheses. In order to test the hypothesis that fear conditioning may be richly encoded and context specific when conducted in a fully immersive environment, we developed distinct virtual reality 3-D contexts in which participants experienced fear conditioning to virtual snakes or spiders. Auditory cues co-occurred with the CS in order to further evoke orienting responses and a feeling of "presence" in subjects 2 . Skin conductance response served as the dependent measure of fear acquisition, memory retention and extinction. PMID:20736913

Armor and anesthesia: exposure, feeling, and the soldier's body.

PubMed

MacLeish, Kenneth T

2012-03-01

For many civilians, the high-tech weapons, armor, and military medicine with which U.S. soldiers are equipped present an image of lethal capacity and physical invulnerability. But, as this article explores, soldiers themselves just as often associate the life-sustaining technology of modern warfare with feelings that range from a pragmatic ambivalence about exposure to harm all the way to profoundly unsettling vulnerability. This article, based on fieldwork among soldiers and military families at the U.S. Army's Ft. Hood, examines sensory and affective dimensions of soldiers' intimate bodily relationships with the technologies that alternately or even simultaneously keep them alive and expose them to harm. I argue that modern military discipline and technology conspire to cultivate soldiers as highly durable, capable, unfeeling, interchangeable bodies, or what might be called, after Susan Buck-Morss (1992), anesthetic subjects. But for soldiers themselves, their training, combat environment, protective gear, and weapons are a rich font of both emotional and bodily feeling that exists in complex tension with the also deeply felt military imperative to carry on in the face of extreme discomfort and danger.

Armor and Anesthesia

PubMed Central

MacLeish, Kenneth T.

2013-01-01

For many civilians, the high-tech weapons, armor, and military medicine with which U.S. soldiers are equipped present an image of lethal capacity and physical invulnerability. But, as this article explores, soldiers themselves just as often associate the life-sustaining technology of modern warfare with feelings that range from a pragmatic ambivalence about exposure to harm all the way to profoundly unsettling vulnerability. This article, based on fieldwork among soldiers and military families at the U.S. Army’s Ft. Hood, examines sensory and affective dimensions of soldiers’ intimate bodily relationships with the technologies that alternately or even simultaneously keep them alive and expose them to harm. I argue that modern military discipline and technology conspire to cultivate soldiers as highly durable, capable, unfeeling, interchangeable bodies, or what might be called, after Susan Buck-Morss (1992), anesthetic subjects. But for soldiers themselves, their training, combat environment, protective gear, and weapons are a rich font of both emotional and bodily feeling that exists in complex tension with the also deeply felt military imperative to carry on in the face of extreme discomfort and danger. PMID:22574391

WorldWide Telescope and Google Sky: New Technologies to Engage Students and the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landsberg, R. H.; Subbarao, M. U.; Dettloff, L.

2010-08-01

New, visually rich, astronomical software environments coupled with large web-accessible data sets hold the promise of new and exciting ways to teach, collaborate, and explore the universe. These freeware tools provide contextual views of astronomical objects, real time access to multi-wavelength sky surveys, and, most importantly, the ability to incorporate new data and to produce user created content. This interactive panel examined the capabilities of Google Sky and WorldWide Telescope, and explored case studies of how these tools have been used to create compelling and participatory educational experiences in both formal (i.e., K-12 and undergraduate non-science majors classrooms), and informal (e.g., museum) settings. The overall goal of this session was to stimulate a discussion about future uses of these technologies. Substantial time was allotted for participants to create conceptual designs of learning experiences for use at their home institutions, with feedback provided by the panel members. Activities included technical discussions (e.g., mechanisms for incorporating new data and dissemination tools), exercises in narrative preparation, and a brainstorming session to identify potential future uses of these technologies.

Electron-capture Rates for pf-shell Nuclei in Stellar Environments and Nucleosynthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Toshio; Honma, Michio; Mori, Kanji; Famiano, Michael A.; Kajino, Toshitaka; Hidakai, Jun; Otsuka, Takaharu

Gamow-Teller strengths in pf-shell nuclei obtained by a new shell-model Hamltonian, GXPF1J, are used to evaluate electron-capture rates in pf-shell nuclei at stellar environments. The nuclear weak rates with GXPF1J, which are generally smaller than previous evaluations for proton-rich nuclei, are applied to nucleosynthesis in type Ia supernova explosions. The updated rates are found to lead to less production of neutron-rich nuclei such as 58Ni and 54Cr, thus toward a solution of the problem of over-production of neutron-rich isotopes of iron-group nuclei compared to the solar abundance.

Who is Amazonia? The ‘salt of the matter’ for indigenous sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heckenberger, Michael

2013-12-01

The recent article ‘Ash salts and bodily affects: Witoto environmental knowledge as sexual education’ (Echeverri and Román-Jitdutjaãno 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 015008) considers indigenous people and their distinctive knowledge systems in the western Amazon. These complex systems provide richly detailed practical knowledge about life in these tropical forests, which today many see as well populated and rich in cultural heritage. Through a careful analysis of ash salts and salt-making and the technologies and bodily affects associated with it, the authors suggest native Amazonian peoples see environmental knowledge not in terms of natural resources but instead how they interact with and produce human bodies in social networks, as a form of sexual education and, by extension, public health. It also highlights the critical importance of social relations as part of research, and the politics of nature, with important implications for contemporary debate and research on biodiversity, sustainability, climate change and human rights, specifically what types of agreements are entailed in scientific research that is not only robust but socially responsible.

40 CFR 721.10024 - 10H-Phenothiazine, ar-(C9-rich C8-10-branched alkyl) derivs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false 10H-Phenothiazine, ar-(C9-rich C8-10... New Uses for Specific Chemical Substances § 721.10024 10H-Phenothiazine, ar-(C9-rich C8-10-branched... substance identified as 10H-phenothiazine, ar-(C9-rich C8-10-branched alkyl) derivs (PMN P-01-771; CAS No...

40 CFR 721.10025 - 10H-Phenothiazine, ar, ar′-(C9-rich C8-10-branched alkyl) derivs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false 10H-Phenothiazine, ar, arâ²-(C9-rich... Significant New Uses for Specific Chemical Substances § 721.10025 10H-Phenothiazine, ar, ar′-(C9-rich C8-10... chemical substances identified as 10H-phenothiazine, ar, ar′-(C9-rich C8-10-branched alkyl) derivs (PMN P...

Plasma promoted manufacturing of hydrogen and vehicular applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bromberg, Leslie

2003-10-01

Plasmas can be used for promoting reformation of fuels. Plasma-based reformers developed at MIT use a low temperature, low power, low current electrical discharge to promote partial oxidation conversion of hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen and CO. The very fuel rich mixture is hard to ignite, and the plasmatron provides a volume-ignition. To minimize erosion and to simplify the power supply, a low current high voltage discharge is used, with wide area electrodes. The plasmatron fuel reformer operates at or slightly above atmospheric pressure. The plasma-based reformer technology provides the advantages of rapid startup and transient response; efficient conversion of the fuel to hydrogen rich gas; compact size; relaxation or elimination of reformer catalyst requirements; and capability to process difficult to reform fuels. These advantages enable use of hydrogen-manufacturing reformation technology in cars using available fuels, such as gasoline and diesel. This plasma-based reformer technology can provide substantial throughputs even without the use of a catalyst. The electrical power consumption of the device is minimized by design and operational characteristics (less than 500 W peak and 200 W average). The product from these plasma reactors is a hydrogen rich mixture that can be used for combustion enhancement and emissions aftertreatment in vehicular applications. By converting a small fraction of the fuel to hydrogen rich gas, in-cylinder combustion can be improved. With minor modification of the engine, use of hydrogen rich gas results in increased fuel efficiency and decreased emissions of smog producing gases. The status of plasma based reformer technology and its application to vehicles will be described.

Red Marks the Spot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

This hematite abundance index map helps geologists choose hematite-rich locations to visit around Opportunity's landing site. Blue dots equal areas low in hematite and red dots equal areas high in hematite.

Why Hematite Geologists are eager to reach the hematite-rich area in the upper left to closely examine the soil, which may reveal secrets about how the hematite got to this location. Knowing how the hematite on Mars was formed may help scientists characterize the past environment and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for life.

The Plan Over the next few sols, engineers and scientists plan to drive Opportunity to the hematite-rich area then attempt a 'pre-trench' sequence, taking measurements with the Moessbauer spectrometer, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and microscopic imager. Next, the plan is to trench the hematite rich area by spinning one wheel in place to 'dig' a shallow hole. Finally, scientists will aim the instrument arm back at the same area where it pre-trenched to get post-trench data with the same instruments to compare and contrast the levels of hematite and revel how deep the hematite lays in the dirt.

Index Map Details The hematite abundance index map was created using data from the miniature thermal emission instrument. The first layer is a mosaic of panoramic camera images taken prior to egress, when Opportunity was still on the lander. The colored dots represent data collected by the miniature thermal emission spectrometer on sol 11, after Opportunity had rolled off of the lander and the rover was located at the center of the blue semi-circle.

The spectrometer is located on the panoramic camera mast. On sol 11, it took a low-angle 180-degree panorama of the area in front of the rover, indicated by the blue shaded dots. The instrument then raised the angle of its field of view a few degrees higher to sweep around behind the rover, indicated by the red and yellow dots offset at the far sides of the image.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Method and apparatus for acquisition and tracking of light sources in a transient event rich environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolin, Kenneth (Inventor); Flynn, David (Inventor); Fowski, Walter (Inventor); Miklus, Kenneth (Inventor); Kissh, Frank (Inventor); Abreu, Rene (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A method and apparatus for tracking a light source in a transient event rich environment locks on to a light source incident on a field-of-view 1 of a charge-coupled-device (CCD) array 6, validates the permanence of said light source and transmits data relating to the brilliance and location of said light source if said light source is determined to be permanent.

Assessing the impact of preload on pyrite-rich sediment and groundwater quality.

PubMed

Karikari-Yeboah, Ohene; Addai-Mensah, Jonas

2017-02-01

Pyrite-rich sediments would, invariably, undergo redox reactions which would lead to acidic aqueous environment containing solubilized toxic metal species. When such sediments are subjected to preload, a technique employed by geotechnical engineers to improve the load-bearing capacity of highly compressible formation, transient flow of pore water, accompanied by acidity transfer, would occur as a response. Despite the concomitant environmental and socio-economic significance, to date, there has been limited interdisciplinary research on the underpinning geotechnical engineering and geo-environmental science issues for pyrite-rich sediments under preload. In this study, we investigate the effect of pyrite-rich sediment pore water transfer under preload surcharge on the receiving environment and the impact on the groundwater speciation and quality. Sediment samples were obtained at close depth intervals from boreholes established within pristine areas and those subjected to the preload application. Soil and pore water samples were subjected to solid/solution speciation, moisture contents, soil pH and the Atterberg Limits' analyses using standard analytical techniques and methods. Standpipes were also installed in the boreholes for groundwater sampling and in situ monitoring of water quality parameters. It is shown that the imposition of preload surcharge over pyritic sediment created a reducing environment rich in SO 4 2- , iron oxide minerals and organic matter. This reducing environment fostered organic carbon catabolism to generate excess pyrite and bicarbonate alkalinity, which would invariably impact adversely on soil quality and plant growth. These were accompanied by increase in pH, dissolved Al, Ca, Mg and K species beneath the surcharge.

Patterns and Environmental Determinants of Medicinal Plant : Vascular Plant Ratios in Xinjiang, Northwest China

PubMed Central

Zhang, Bengang; Xiao, Peigen; Qi, Yaodong; Zhang, Zhao; Liu, Haitao; Li, Xiaojin; Wang, Guoping; Terwei, André

2016-01-01

With both a full collection of native vascular plant distributions and a full checklist of source plants of the Chinese Materia Medica (CMM), the Uygur Medicine (UM), and the Kazak Medicine (KM) for the Xinjiang region, we defined medicinal plant: vascular plant ratios (simplified as medicinal plant ratios hereafter) as the value of medicinal plant richness divided by vascular plant richness. We aimed to find whether the ratios are constant or change in different environments, which environmental variables determine medicinal plant ratios, and whether the ratios are more influenced by human or by natural environments. Finally, suggestions for medicinal plant conservation were addressed. We found that (1) medicinal plant ratios were not constant, and they were high in the Tarim Basin which was largely covered by desert, while they were relatively low in mountainous areas, especially in the Tianshan Mountains where the general species richness was high; (2) medicinal plant ratios were not significantly influenced by human activities, indicated by human population density distributions, but they were highly correlated with plant species richness and climate, i.e. ratios decreased with plant species richness and MAP, and were related quadratically with MAT; (3) CMM ratio and UM ratio were more influenced by plant richness than by climate, while KM ratio was more influenced by climate. We concluded that the percentages of plants used as medicines were not influenced by distances from human settlements, but were determined by species richness or climate. We suggest that (1), in general, the medicinal plant ratio could be a complementary indicator for medicinal plant conservation planning and (2), for the region of Xinjiang, not only high diversity areas, but also some extreme environments should be considered as compensation for a better protection of medicinal plants. PMID:27391239

Patterns and Environmental Determinants of Medicinal Plant : Vascular Plant Ratios in Xinjiang, Northwest China.

PubMed

Li, Liping; Zhang, Bengang; Xiao, Peigen; Qi, Yaodong; Zhang, Zhao; Liu, Haitao; Li, Xiaojin; Wang, Guoping; Terwei, André

2016-01-01

With both a full collection of native vascular plant distributions and a full checklist of source plants of the Chinese Materia Medica (CMM), the Uygur Medicine (UM), and the Kazak Medicine (KM) for the Xinjiang region, we defined medicinal plant: vascular plant ratios (simplified as medicinal plant ratios hereafter) as the value of medicinal plant richness divided by vascular plant richness. We aimed to find whether the ratios are constant or change in different environments, which environmental variables determine medicinal plant ratios, and whether the ratios are more influenced by human or by natural environments. Finally, suggestions for medicinal plant conservation were addressed. We found that (1) medicinal plant ratios were not constant, and they were high in the Tarim Basin which was largely covered by desert, while they were relatively low in mountainous areas, especially in the Tianshan Mountains where the general species richness was high; (2) medicinal plant ratios were not significantly influenced by human activities, indicated by human population density distributions, but they were highly correlated with plant species richness and climate, i.e. ratios decreased with plant species richness and MAP, and were related quadratically with MAT; (3) CMM ratio and UM ratio were more influenced by plant richness than by climate, while KM ratio was more influenced by climate. We concluded that the percentages of plants used as medicines were not influenced by distances from human settlements, but were determined by species richness or climate. We suggest that (1), in general, the medicinal plant ratio could be a complementary indicator for medicinal plant conservation planning and (2), for the region of Xinjiang, not only high diversity areas, but also some extreme environments should be considered as compensation for a better protection of medicinal plants.

Novel insights into freshwater hydrocarbon-rich sediments using metatranscriptomics: Opening the black box.

PubMed

Reid, Thomas; Chaganti, Subba Rao; Droppo, Ian G; Weisener, Christopher G

2018-06-01

Baseline biogeochemical surveys of natural environments is an often overlooked field of environmental studies. Too often research begins once contamination has occurred, with a knowledge gap as to how the affected area behaved prior to outside (often anthropogenic) influences. These baseline characterizations can provide insight into proposed bioremediation strategies crucial in cleaning up chemical spill sites or heavily mined regions. Hence, this study was conducted to survey the in-situ microbial activity within freshwater hydrocarbon-rich environments cutting through the McMurray formation - the geologic strata constituting the oil sands. We are the first to report in-situ functional variations among these freshwater microbial ecosystems using metatranscriptomics, providing insight into the in-situ gene expression within these naturally hydrocarbon-rich sites. Key genes involved in energy metabolism (nitrogen, sulfur and methane) and hydrocarbon degradation, including transcripts relating to the observed expression of methane oxidation are reported. This information provides better linkages between hydrocarbon impacted environments, closing knowledge gaps for optimizing not only oil sands mine reclamation but also enhancing microbial reclamation strategies in various freshwater environments. These finding can also be applied to existing contaminated environments, in need of efficient reclamation efforts. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Internet-based distributed collaborative environment for engineering education and design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Qiuli

2001-07-01

This research investigates the use of the Internet for engineering education, design, and analysis through the presentation of a Virtual City environment. The main focus of this research was to provide an infrastructure for engineering education, test the concept of distributed collaborative design and analysis, develop and implement the Virtual City environment, and assess the environment's effectiveness in the real world. A three-tier architecture was adopted in the development of the prototype, which contains an online database server, a Web server as well as multi-user servers, and client browsers. The environment is composed of five components, a 3D virtual world, multiple Internet-based multimedia modules, an online database, a collaborative geometric modeling module, and a collaborative analysis module. The environment was designed using multiple Intenet-based technologies, such as Shockwave, Java, Java 3D, VRML, Perl, ASP, SQL, and a database. These various technologies together formed the basis of the environment and were programmed to communicate smoothly with each other. Three assessments were conducted over a period of three semesters. The Virtual City is open to the public at www.vcity.ou.edu. The online database was designed to manage the changeable data related to the environment. The virtual world was used to implement 3D visualization and tie the multimedia modules together. Students are allowed to build segments of the 3D virtual world upon completion of appropriate undergraduate courses in civil engineering. The end result is a complete virtual world that contains designs from all of their coursework and is viewable on the Internet. The environment is a content-rich educational system, which can be used to teach multiple engineering topics with the help of 3D visualization, animations, and simulations. The concept of collaborative design and analysis using the Internet was investigated and implemented. Geographically dispersed users can build the same geometric model simultaneously over the Internet and communicate with each other through a chat room. They can also conduct finite element analysis collaboratively on the same object over the Internet. They can mesh the same object, apply and edit the same boundary conditions and forces, obtain the same analysis results, and then discuss the results through the Internet.

Ionic Transport Through Metal-Rich Organic Coatings

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-19

COVERED October 2013-Septermber 2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Ionic Transport Through Metal-Rich Organic Coatings 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT...NOTES 14. ABSTRACT Organic coatings are commonly used on aircraft and in the automotive industry to protect against corrosive environments. Although...volume (MPV) percent, solvent polarity, and resin molecular weight impact corrosion protection of metal-rich organic (MRO) coatings. Following design

Ionic Transport Through Metal-Rich Organic Coatings

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-19

COVERED October 2013-Septermber 2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Ionic Transport Through Metal-Rich Organic Coatings 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT...14. ABSTRACT Organic coatings are commonly used on aircraft and in the automotive industry to protect against corrosive environments. Although...volume (MPV) percent, solvent polarity, and resin molecular weight impact corrosion protection of metal-rich organic (MRO) coatings. Following design of

Investigation of the Degradation Mechanisms of Particulate Reinforced Epoxy Coatings and Zinc-Rich Coatings Under an Erosion and Corrosion Environment for Oil and Gas Industry Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Dailin

During oil and gas production and transportation, the presence of an oil-sand slurry, together with the presence of CO2, H2S, oxygen, and seawater, create an erosive/abrasive and corrosive environment for the interior surfaces of undersea pipelines transporting oil and gas from offshore platforms. Erosion/wear and corrosion are often synergic processes leading to a much greater material loss of pipeline cross-section than that caused by each individual process alone. Both organic coatings and metallic sacrificial coatings have been widely employed to provide protection to the pipeline steels against corrosion through barrier protection and cathodic protection, and these protection mechanisms have been well studied. However, coating performance under the synergic processes of erosion/wear and corrosion have been much less researched and coating degradation mechanisms when erosion/wear and corrosion are both going on has not been well elucidated. In the work presented in this dissertation, steel panels coated with filler reinforced epoxy coatings and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced zinc-rich coatings have been evaluated under erosion/wear followed by an exposure to a corrosive environment. Electrochemical tests and material characterization methods have been applied to study the degradation mechanisms of the coatings during the tests and coating degradation mechanisms have been proposed. While organic coatings with a lower amount of filler particles provided better protection in a corrosive environment alone and in solid particle impingement erosion testing alone, organic coatings with a higher amount of filler particles showed better performance during wear testing alone. A higher amount of filler particles was also beneficial in providing protection against wear and corrosion environment, and erosion and corrosion environment. Coating thickness played a significant role in the barrier properties of the coatings under both erosion and corrosion tests. When the organic coatings were exposed to a corrosive environment with presence of H2S, thicker coatings provided better protection regardless of the amount and types of filler particles present in the coatings. For zinc-rich coatings, coatings with CNTs provided better barrier protection for the steel substrate than traditional zinc-rich coatings in a corrosive environment alone. However, the CNTs-filled zinc-rich epoxy coatings did not provide adequate protection when the coated specimens were exposed to erosion and corrosion.

Elementary Education Pre-Service Teachers' Development of Mathematics Technology Integration Skills in a Technology Integration Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polly, Drew

2015-01-01

Preparing pre-service teachers to effectively integrate technology in the classroom requires rich experiences that deepen their knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content and the intersection of these aspects. This study examined elementary education pre-service teachers' development of skills and knowledge in a technology integration course…

Empowering School Teachers for Emerging Technologies: An Action Plan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misra, Pradeep Kumar

2010-01-01

"Possessing openness to emerging technologies is critical for teachers in the technology-rich 21st Century as technology continues to accelerate at a rapid rate. Readiness for new technologies is a challenge associated with change. Teachers who resist change may impede and/or limit their students' learning and skills. Teachers, therefore,…

Spatial landscape model to characterize biological diversity using R statistical computing environment.

PubMed

Singh, Hariom; Garg, R D; Karnatak, Harish C; Roy, Arijit

2018-01-15

Due to urbanization and population growth, the degradation of natural forests and associated biodiversity are now widely recognized as a global environmental concern. Hence, there is an urgent need for rapid assessment and monitoring of biodiversity on priority using state-of-art tools and technologies. The main purpose of this research article is to develop and implement a new methodological approach to characterize biological diversity using spatial model developed during the study viz. Spatial Biodiversity Model (SBM). The developed model is scale, resolution and location independent solution for spatial biodiversity richness modelling. The platform-independent computation model is based on parallel computation. The biodiversity model based on open-source software has been implemented on R statistical computing platform. It provides information on high disturbance and high biological richness areas through different landscape indices and site specific information (e.g. forest fragmentation (FR), disturbance index (DI) etc.). The model has been developed based on the case study of Indian landscape; however it can be implemented in any part of the world. As a case study, SBM has been tested for Uttarakhand state in India. Inputs for landscape ecology are derived through multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques in an interactive command line environment. MCDM with sensitivity analysis in spatial domain has been carried out to illustrate the model stability and robustness. Furthermore, spatial regression analysis has been made for the validation of the output. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Examining Work Performance in Immersive Virtual Environments versus Face-to-Face Physical Environments through Laboratory Experimentation

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

J. R. Galbraith. (1977, Organization Design . [24] R. L. Daft and N. B. Macintosh, "A Tentative Exploration into the Amount and Equivocality of... Daft and R. H. Lengel, "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design ," Management Science, vol. 32, pp. 554-571...Psychology of Organizing . Addison-Wesley, 1979. [27] R. L. Daft and R. H. Lengel. (1984, Information richness: A new approach to managerial

Recent advances in yeast cell-surface display technologies for waste biorefineries.

PubMed

Liu, Zhuo; Ho, Shih-Hsin; Hasunuma, Tomohisa; Chang, Jo-Shu; Ren, Nan-Qi; Kondo, Akihiko

2016-09-01

Waste biorefinery aims to maximize the output of value-added products from various artificial/agricultural wastes by using integrated bioprocesses. To make waste biorefinery economically feasible, it is thus necessary to develop a low-cost, environment-friendly technique to perform simultaneous biodegradation and bioconversion of waste materials. Cell-surface display engineering is a novel, cost-effective technique that can auto-immobilize proteins on the cell exterior of microorganisms, and has been applied for use with waste biofinery. Through tethering different enzymes (e.g., cellulase, lipase, and protease) or metal-binding peptides on cell surfaces, various yeast strains can effectively produce biofuels and biochemicals from sugar/protein-rich waste materials, catalyze waste oils into biodiesels, or retrieve heavy metals from wastewater. This review critically summarizes recent applications of yeast cell-surface display on various types of waste biorefineries, highlighting its potential and future challenges with regard to commercializing this technology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Valorization of winery waste vs. the costs of not recycling.

PubMed

Devesa-Rey, R; Vecino, X; Varela-Alende, J L; Barral, M T; Cruz, J M; Moldes, A B

2011-11-01

Wine production generates huge amounts of waste. Before the 1990s, the most economical option for waste removal was the payment of a disposal fee usually being of around 3000 Euros. However, in recent years the disposal fee and fines for unauthorized discharges have increased considerably, often reaching 30,000-40,000 Euros, and a prison sentence is sometimes also imposed. Some environmental friendly technologies have been proposed for the valorization of winery waste products. Fermentation of grape marc, trimming vine shoot or vinification lees has been reported to produce lactic acid, biosurfactants, xylitol, ethanol and other compounds. Furthermore, grape marc and seeds are rich in phenolic compounds, which have antioxidants properties, and vinasse contains tartaric acid that can be extracted and commercialized. Companies must therefore invest in new technologies to decrease the impact of agro-industrial residues on the environment and to establish new processes that will provide additional sources of income. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cadmium localization and quantification in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana using micro-PIXE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ager, F. J.; Ynsa, M. D.; Domínguez-Solís, J. R.; Gotor, C.; Respaldiza, M. A.; Romero, L. C.

2002-04-01

Remediation of metal-contaminated soils and waters poses a challenging problem due to its implications in the environment and the human health. The use of metal-accumulating plants to remove toxic metals, including Cd, from soil and aqueous streams has been proposed as a possible solution to this problem. The process of using plants for environmental restoration is termed phytoremediation. Cd is a particularly favourable target metal for this technology because it is readily transported and accumulated in the shoots of several plant species. This paper investigates the sites of metal localization within Arabidopsis thaliana leaves, when plants are grown in a cadmium-rich environment, by making use of nuclear microscopy techniques. Micro-PIXE, RBS and SEM analyses were performed on the scanning proton microprobe at the CNA in Seville (Spain), showing that cadmium is sequestered within the trichomes on the leaf surface. Additionally, regular PIXE analyses were performed on samples prepared by an acid digestion method in order to assess the metal accumulation of such plants.

Corrosion resistance and biological activity of TiO2 implant coatings produced in oxygen-rich environments.

PubMed

Zhang, Rui; Wan, Yi; Ai, Xing; Liu, Zhanqiang; Zhang, Dong

2017-01-01

The physical and chemical properties of bio-titanium alloy implant surfaces play an important role in their corrosion resistance and biological activity. New turning and turning-rolling processes are presented, employing an oxygen-rich environment in order to obtain titanium dioxide layers that can both protect implants from corrosion and also promote cell adhesion. The surface topographies, surface roughnesses and chemical compositions of the sample surfaces were obtained using scanning electron microscopy, a white light interferometer, and the Auger electron spectroscopy, respectively. The corrosion resistance of the samples in a simulated body fluid was determined using electrochemical testing. Biological activity on the samples was also analyzed, using a vitro cell culture system. The results show that compared with titanium oxide layers formed using a turning process in air, the thickness of the titanium oxide layers formed using turning and turning-rolling processes in an oxygen-rich environment increased by 4.6 and 7.3 times, respectively. Using an oxygen-rich atmosphere in the rolling process greatly improves the corrosion resistance of the resulting samples in a simulated body fluid. On samples produced using the turning-rolling process, cells spread quickly and exhibited the best adhesion characteristics.

Distribution of periphytic algae in wetlands (Palm swamps, Cerrado), Brazil.

PubMed

Dunck, B; Nogueira, I S; Felisberto, S A

2013-05-01

The distribution of periphytic algae communities depends on various factors such as type of substrate, level of disturbance, nutrient availability and light. According to the prediction that impacts of anthropogenic activity provide changes in environmental characteristics, making impacted Palm swamps related to environmental changes such as deforestation and higher loads of nutrients via allochthonous, the hypothesis tested was: impacted Palm swamps have higher richness, density, biomass and biovolume of epiphytic algae. We evaluated the distribution and structure of epiphytic algae communities in 23 Palm swamps of Goiás State under different environmental impacts. The community structure attributes here analyzed were composition, richness, density, biomass and biovolume. This study revealed the importance of the environment on the distribution and structuration of algal communities, relating the higher values of richness, biomass and biovolume with impacted environments. Acidic waters and high concentration of silica were important factors in this study. Altogether 200 taxa were identified, and the zygnemaphycea was the group most representative in richness and biovolume, whereas the diatoms, in density of studied epiphyton. Impacted Palm swamps in agricultural area presented two indicator species, Gomphonema lagenula Kützing and Oedogonium sp, both related to mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions for total nitrogen concentrations of these environments.

Low NO sub x heavy fuel combustor concept program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, P.; Beal, G.; Hinton, B.

1981-01-01

A gas turbine technology program to improve and optimize the staged rich lean low NOx combustor concept is described. Subscale combustor tests to develop the design information for optimization of the fuel preparation, rich burn, quick air quench, and lean burn steps of the combustion process were run. The program provides information for the design of high pressure full scale gas turbine combustors capable of providing environmentally clean combustion of minimally of minimally processed and synthetic fuels. It is concluded that liquid fuel atomization and mixing, rich zone stoichiometry, rich zone liner cooling, rich zone residence time, and quench zone stoichiometry are important considerations in the design and scale up of the rich lean combustor.

Implementing virtual reality interfaces for the geosciences

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

Bethel, W.; Jacobsen, J.; Austin, A.

1996-06-01

For the past few years, a multidisciplinary team of computer and earth scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been exploring the use of advanced user interfaces, commonly called {open_quotes}Virtual Reality{close_quotes} (VR), coupled with visualization and scientific computing software. Working closely with industry, these efforts have resulted in an environment in which VR technology is coupled with existing visualization and computational tools. VR technology may be thought of as a user interface. It is useful to think of a spectrum, ranging the gamut from command-line interfaces to completely immersive environments. In the former, one uses the keyboard to enter threemore » or six-dimensional parameters. In the latter, three or six-dimensional information is provided by trackers contained either in hand-held devices or attached to the user in some fashion, e.g. attached to a head-mounted display. Rich, extensible and often complex languages are a vehicle whereby the user controls parameters to manipulate object position and location in a virtual world, but the keyboard is the obstacle in that typing is cumbersome, error-prone and typically slow. In the latter, the user can interact with these parameters by means of motor skills which are highly developed. Two specific geoscience application areas will be highlighted. In the first, we have used VR technology to manipulate three-dimensional input parameters, such as the spatial location of injection or production wells in a reservoir simulator. In the second, we demonstrate how VR technology has been used to manipulate visualization tools, such as a tool for computing streamlines via manipulation of a {open_quotes}rake.{close_quotes} The rake is presented to the user in the form of a {open_quotes}virtual well{close_quotes} icon, and provides parameters used by the streamlines algorithm.« less

The role of physicality in rich programming environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Allison S.; Schunn, Christian D.; Flot, Jesse; Shoop, Robin

2013-12-01

Computer science proficiency continues to grow in importance, while the number of students entering computer science-related fields declines. Many rich programming environments have been created to motivate student interest and expertise in computer science. In the current study, we investigated whether a recently created environment, Robot Virtual Worlds (RVWs), can be used to teach computer science principles within a robotics context by examining its use in high-school classrooms. We also investigated whether the lack of physicality in these environments impacts student learning by comparing classrooms that used either virtual or physical robots for the RVW curriculum. Results suggest that the RVW environment leads to significant gains in computer science knowledge, that virtual robots lead to faster learning, and that physical robots may have some influence on algorithmic thinking. We discuss the implications of physicality in these programming environments for learning computer science.

Effects of the duration and inorganic nitrogen composition of a nutrient-rich patch on soil exploration by the roots of Lolium perenne in a heterogeneous environment.

PubMed

Nakamura, Ryoji; Kachi, N; Suzuki, J-I

2010-05-01

We investigated the growth of and soil exploration by Lolium perenne under a heterogeneous environment before its roots reached a nutrient-rich patch. Temporal changes in the distribution of inorganic nitrogen, i.e., NO(3)(-)-N and NH(4)(+)-N, in the heterogeneous environment during the experimental period were also examined. The results showed that roots randomly explored soil, irrespective of the patchy distribution of inorganic nitrogen and differences in the chemical composition of inorganic nitrogen distribution between heterogeneous and homogeneous environments. We have also elucidated the potential effects of patch duration and inorganic nitrogen distribution on soil exploration by roots and thus on plant growth.

The changing global context of public health.

PubMed

McMichael, A J; Beaglehole, R

2000-08-05

Future health prospects depend increasingly on globalisation processes and on the impact of global environmental change. Economic globalisation--entailng deregulated trade and investment--is a mixed blessing for health. Economic growth and the dissemination of technologies have widely enhanced life expectancy. However, aspects of globalisation are jeopardising health by eroding social and environmental conditions, exacerbating the rich-poor gap, and disseminating consumerism. Global environmental changes reflect the growth of populations and the intensity of economic activity. These changes include altered composition of the atmosphere, land degradation, depletion of terrestrial aquifers and ocean fisheries, and loss of biodiversity. This weakening of life-supporting systems poses health risks. Contemporary public health must therefore encompass the interrelated tasks of reducing social and health inequalities and achieving health-sustaining environments.

Extrinsic Sources of Scatter in the Richness-mass Relation of Galaxy Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozo, Eduardo; Rykoff, Eli; Koester, Benjamin; Nord, Brian; Wu, Hao-Yi; Evrard, August; Wechsler, Risa

2011-10-01

Maximizing the utility of upcoming photometric cluster surveys requires a thorough understanding of the richness-mass relation of galaxy clusters. We use Monte Carlo simulations to study the impact of various sources of observational scatter on this relation. Cluster ellipticity, photometric errors, photometric redshift errors, and cluster-to-cluster variations in the properties of red-sequence galaxies contribute negligible noise. Miscentering, however, can be important, and likely contributes to the scatter in the richness-mass relation of galaxy maxBCG clusters at the low-mass end, where centering is more difficult. We also investigate the impact of projection effects under several empirically motivated assumptions about cluster environments. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data and the maxBCG cluster catalog, we demonstrate that variations in cluster environments can rarely (≈1%-5% of the time) result in significant richness boosts. Due to the steepness of the mass/richness function, the corresponding fraction of optically selected clusters that suffer from these projection effects is ≈5%-15%. We expect these numbers to be generic in magnitude, but a precise determination requires detailed, survey-specific modeling.

Leading Technology-Rich Schools. Technology & Education, Connections (TEC)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Barbara B.; Schrum, Lynne

2012-01-01

This timely book shows how award-winning secondary schools and districts are successfully using technology and making systemic changes to increase student engagement, improve achievement, and re-invigorate the teaching and learning process. Through in-depth case studies, we see how experienced school and district leaders use technology in…

Education & Technology: Reflections on Computing in Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Charles, Ed.; Dwyer, David C., Ed.; Yocam, Keith, Ed.

This volume examines learning in the age of technology, describes changing practices in technology-rich classrooms, and proposes new ways to support teachers as they incorporate technology into their work. It commemorates the eleventh anniversary of the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) Project, when Apple Computer, Inc., in partnership with a…

How Does Technology-Enabled Active Learning Affect Undergraduate Students' Understanding of Electromagnetism Concepts?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dori, Yehudit Judy; Belcher, John

2005-01-01

Educational technology supports meaningful learning and enables the presentation of spatial and dynamic images, which portray relationships among complex concepts. The Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) involves media-rich software for simulation and visualization in freshman…

Automated Discovery and Modeling of Sequential Patterns Preceding Events of Interest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rohloff, Kurt

2010-01-01

The integration of emerging data manipulation technologies has enabled a paradigm shift in practitioners' abilities to understand and anticipate events of interest in complex systems. Example events of interest include outbreaks of socio-political violence in nation-states. Rather than relying on human-centric modeling efforts that are limited by the availability of SMEs, automated data processing technologies has enabled the development of innovative automated complex system modeling and predictive analysis technologies. We introduce one such emerging modeling technology - the sequential pattern methodology. We have applied the sequential pattern methodology to automatically identify patterns of observed behavior that precede outbreaks of socio-political violence such as riots, rebellions and coups in nation-states. The sequential pattern methodology is a groundbreaking approach to automated complex system model discovery because it generates easily interpretable patterns based on direct observations of sampled factor data for a deeper understanding of societal behaviors that is tolerant of observation noise and missing data. The discovered patterns are simple to interpret and mimic human's identifications of observed trends in temporal data. Discovered patterns also provide an automated forecasting ability: we discuss an example of using discovered patterns coupled with a rich data environment to forecast various types of socio-political violence in nation-states.

Measuring suspended sediment: Chapter 10

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gray, J.R.; Landers, M.N.

2013-01-01

Suspended sediment in streams and rivers can be measured using traditional instruments and techniques and (or) surrogate technologies. The former, as described herein, consists primarily of both manually deployed isokinetic samplers and their deployment protocols developed by the Federal Interagency Sedimentation Project. They are used on all continents other than Antarctica. The reliability of the typically spatially rich but temporally sparse data produced by traditional means is supported by a broad base of scientific literature since 1940. However, the suspended sediment surrogate technologies described herein – based on hydroacoustic, nephelometric, laser, and pressure difference principles – tend to produce temporally rich but in some cases spatially sparse datasets. The value of temporally rich data in the accuracy of continuous sediment-discharge records is hard to overstate, in part because such data can often overcome the shortcomings of poor spatial coverage. Coupled with calibration data produced by traditional means, surrogate technologies show considerable promise toward providing the fluvial sediment data needed to increase and bring more consistency to sediment-discharge measurements worldwide.

Effects of Algal Diversity on the Production of Biomass in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Nutrient Environments: A Microcosm Experiment

PubMed Central

Weis, Jerome J.; Madrigal, Daniel S.; Cardinale, Bradley J.

2008-01-01

Background One of the most common questions addressed by ecologists over the past decade has been-how does species richness impact the production of community biomass? Recent summaries of experiments have shown that species richness tends to enhance the production of biomass across a wide range of trophic groups and ecosystems; however, the biomass of diverse polycultures only rarely exceeds that of the single most productive species in a community (a phenomenon called ‘transgressive overyielding’). Some have hypothesized that the lack of transgressive overyielding is because experiments have generally been performed in overly-simplified, homogeneous environments where species have little opportunity to express the niche differences that lead to ‘complementary’ use of resources that can enhance biomass production. We tested this hypothesis in a laboratory experiment where we manipulated the richness of freshwater algae in homogeneous and heterogeneous nutrient environments. Methodology/Principal Findings Experimental units were comprised of patches containing either homogeneous nutrient ratios (16∶1 nitrogen to phosphorus (N∶P) in all patches) or heterogeneous nutrient ratios (ranging from 4∶1 to 64∶1 N∶P across patches). After allowing 6–10 generations of algal growth, we found that algal species richness had similar impacts on biomass production in both homo- and heterogeneous environments. Although four of the five algal species showed a strong response to nutrient heterogeneity, a single species dominated algal communities in both types of environments. As a result, a ‘selection effect’–where diversity maximizes the chance that a competitively superior species will be included in, and dominate the biomass of a community–was the primary mechanism by which richness influenced biomass in both homo- and heterogeneous environments. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that spatial heterogeneity, by itself, is not sufficient to generate strong effects of biodiversity on productivity. Rather, heterogeneity must be coupled with variation in the relative fitness of species across patches in order for spatial niche differentiation to generate complementary resource use. PMID:18665221

Implications of Martian Phyllosilicate Formation Conditions to the Early Climate on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bishop, J. L.; Baker, L.; Fairén, A. G.; Michalski, J. R.; Gago-Duport, L.; Velbel, M. A.; Gross, C.; Rampe, E. B.

2017-12-01

We propose that short-term warmer and wetter environments, occurring sporadically in a generally cold early Mars, enabled formation of phyllosilicate-rich outcrops on the surface of Mars without requiring long-term warm and wet conditions. We are investigating phyllosilicate formation mechanisms including CO2 and H2O budgets to provide constraints on the early martian climate. We have evaluated the nature and stratigraphy of phyllosilicate-bearing surface units on Mars based on i) phyllosilicate-forming environments on Earth, ii) phyllosilicate reactions in the lab, and iii) modeling experiments involving phyllosilicates and short-range ordered (SRO) materials. The type of phyllosilicates that form on Mars depends on temperature, water/rock ratio, acidity, salinity and available ions. Mg-rich trioctahedral smectite mixtures are more consistent with subsurface formation environments (crustal, hydrothermal or alkaline lakes) up to 400 °C and are not associated with martian surface environments. In contrast, clay profiles dominated by dioctahedral Al/Fe-smectites are typically formed in subaqueous or subaerial surface environments. We propose models describing formation of smectite-rich outcrops and laterally extensive vertical profiles of Fe/Mg-smectites, sulfates, and Al-rich clay assemblages formed in surface environments. Further, the presence of abundant SRO materials without phyllosilicates could mark the end of the last warm and wet episode on Mars supporting smectite formation. Climate Implications for Early Mars: Clay formation reactions proceed extremely slowly at cool temperatures. The thick smectite outcrops observed on Mars through remote sensing would require standing water on Mars for hundreds of millions of years if they formed in waters 10-15 °C. However, warmer temperatures could have enabled faster production of these smectite-rich beds. Sporadic warming episodes to 30-40 °C could have enabled formation of these smectites over only tens or hundreds of thousands of years instead. Our analyses of the phyllosilicate record on Mars point to a scenario of brief warm and wet conditions that accounts for formation of substantial smectite clays in many locations, geologic features resulting from liquid water across the planet, and a generally cold and dry climate.

A methodology for the sustainability assessment of arsenic mitigation technology for drinking water.

PubMed

Etmannski, T R; Darton, R C

2014-08-01

In this paper we show how the process analysis method (PAM) can be applied to assess the sustainability of options to mitigate arsenic in drinking water in rural India. Stakeholder perspectives, gathered from a fieldwork survey of 933 households in West Bengal in 2012 played a significant role in this assessment. This research found that the 'most important' issues as specified by the technology users are cost, trust, distance from their home to the clean water source (an indicator of convenience), and understanding the health effects of arsenic. We show that utilisation of a technology is related to levels of trust and confidence in a community, making use of a composite trust-confidence indicator. Measures to improve trust between community and organisers of mitigation projects, and to raise confidence in technology and also in fair costing, would help to promote successful deployment of appropriate technology. Attitudes to cost revealed in the surveys are related to the low value placed on arsenic-free water, as also found by other investigators, consistent with a lack of public awareness about the arsenic problem. It is suggested that increased awareness might change attitudes to arsenic-rich waste and its disposal protocols. This waste is often currently discarded in an uncontrolled manner in the local environment, giving rise to the possibility of point-source recontamination. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Digital Ecosystem of Diabetes Data and Technology: Services, Systems, and Tools Enabled by Wearables, Sensors, and Apps.

PubMed

Heintzman, Nathaniel D

2015-12-20

The management of type 1 diabetes (T1D) ideally involves regimented measurement of various health signals; constant interpretation of diverse kinds of data; and consistent cohesion between patients, caregivers, and health care professionals (HCPs). In the context of myriad factors that influence blood glucose dynamics for each individual patient (eg, medication, activity, diet, stress, sleep quality, hormones, environment), such coordination of self-management and clinical care is a great challenge, amplified by the routine unavailability of many types of data thought to be useful in diabetes decision-making. While much remains to be understood about the physiology of diabetes and blood glucose dynamics at the level of the individual, recent and emerging medical and consumer technologies are helping the diabetes community to take great strides toward truly personalized, real-time, data-driven management of this chronic disease. This review describes "connected" technologies--such as smartphone apps, and wearable devices and sensors--which comprise part of a new digital ecosystem of data-driven tools that can link patients and their care teams for precision management of diabetes. These connected technologies are rich sources of physiologic, behavioral, and contextual data that can be integrated and analyzed in "the cloud" for research into personal models of glycemic dynamics, and employed in a multitude of applications for mobile health (mHealth) and telemedicine in diabetes care. © 2015 Diabetes Technology Society.

Climatic controls on Later Stone Age human adaptation in Africa's southern Cape.

PubMed

Chase, Brian M; Faith, J Tyler; Mackay, Alex; Chevalier, Manuel; Carr, Andrew S; Boom, Arnoud; Lim, Sophak; Reimer, Paula J

2018-01-01

Africa's southern Cape is a key region for the evolution of our species, with early symbolic systems, marine faunal exploitation, and episodic production of microlithic stone tools taken as evidence for the appearance of distinctively complex human behavior. However, the temporally discontinuous nature of this evidence precludes ready assumptions of intrinsic adaptive benefit, and has encouraged diverse explanations for the occurrence of these behaviors, in terms of regional demographic, social and ecological conditions. Here, we present a new high-resolution multi-proxy record of environmental change that indicates that faunal exploitation patterns and lithic technologies track climatic variation across the last 22,300 years in the southern Cape. Conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation were humid, and zooarchaeological data indicate high foraging returns. By contrast, the Holocene is characterized by much drier conditions and a degraded resource base. Critically, we demonstrate that systems for technological delivery - or provisioning - were responsive to changing humidity and environmental productivity. However, in contrast to prevailing models, bladelet-rich microlithic technologies were deployed under conditions of high foraging returns and abandoned in response to increased aridity and less productive subsistence environments. This suggests that posited links between microlithic technologies and subsistence risk are not universal, and the behavioral sophistication of human populations is reflected in their adaptive flexibility rather than in the use of specific technological systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Storying with Technology: An Approach to Connect Children and Adults Using the New Technology and Media Landscape

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cruz, Felicity M. F.; Snider, Sharla L.

2009-01-01

As our technology-rich society absorbs the impact of fast-paced technology evolution, we face a desperate situation: a widening digital divide, especially the intergenerational divide between adults and children. The proposed "Storying with Technology" approach presents a structure to guide adults while engaging with children in meaningful…

Enviromental Effects on Internal Color Gradients of Early-Type Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Barbera, F.; de Carvalho, R. R.; Gal, R. R.; Busarello, G.; Haines, C. P.; Mercurio, A.; Merluzzi, P.; Capaccioli, M.; Djorgovski, S. G.

2007-05-01

One of the most debated issues of observational and theoretical cosmology is that of how the environment affects the formation and evolution of galaxies. To gain new insight into this subject, we have derived surface photometry for a sample of 3,000 early-type galaxies belonging to 163 clusters with different richness, spanning a redshift range of 0.05 to 0.25. This large data-set is used to analyze how the color distribution inside galaxies depends on several parameters, such as cluster richness, local galaxy density, galaxy luminosity and redshift. We find that the internal color profile of galaxies strongly depends on the environment where galaxies reside. Galaxies in poor and rich clusters are found to follow two distinct trends in the color gradient vs. redshift diagram, with color gradients beeing less steep in rich rather than in poor clusters. No dependence of color gradients on galaxy luminosity is detected both for poor and rich clusters. We find that color gradients strongly depend on local galaxy density, with more shallow gradients in high density regions. Interestingly, this result holds only for low richness clusters, with color gradients of galaxies in rich clusters showing no dependence on local galaxy density. Our results support a reasonable picture whereby young early-type galaxies form in a dissipative collapse process, and then undergo increased (either major or minor) merging activity in richer rather than in poor clusters.

Teachers' Learning While Constructing Technology-Based Instructional Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polly, Drew

2011-01-01

Grounded in a constructionist paradigm, this study examined elementary school teachers' learning while creating technology-rich instructional materials. Sixteen teachers at an elementary school were interviewed about their experience. Using the components of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge as an analytical framework, inductive…

Leading Technology-Rich School Districts: Advice From Tech-Savvy Superintendents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLeod, Scott; Richardson, Jayson W.; Sauers, Nicholas J.

2015-01-01

Superintendents' instructional leadership is critical to the academic success of school systems. In addition to traditional work complexities, today's superintendents must navigate rapid and significant technological transformations. In this study, an exploratory sample of "technology-savvy" superintendents was interviewed to ascertain…

Nuclear Electric Propulsion for Deep Space Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, G.

Nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) holds considerable promise for deep space exploration in the future. Research and development of this technology is a key element of NASA's Nuclear Systems Initiative (NSI), which is a top priority in the President's FY03 NASA budget. The goal is to develop the subsystem technologies that will enable application of NEP for missions to the outer planets and beyond by the beginning of next decade. The high-performance offered by nuclear-powered electric thrusters will benefit future missions by (1) reducing or eliminating the launch window constraints associated with complex planetary swingbys, (2) providing the capability to perform large spacecraft velocity changes in deep space, (3) increasing the fraction of vehicle mass allocated to payload and other spacecraft systems, and, (3) in some cases, reducing trip times over other propulsion alternatives. Furthermore, the nuclear energy source will provide a power-rich environment that can support more sophisticated science experiments and higher- speed broadband data transmission than current deep space missions. This paper addresses NASA's plans for NEP, and discusses the subsystem technologies (i.e., nuclear reactors, power conversion and electric thrusters) and system concepts being considered for the first generation of NEP vehicles.

Why are there so few fish in the sea?

PubMed Central

Carrete Vega, Greta; Wiens, John J.

2012-01-01

The most dramatic gradient in global biodiversity is between marine and terrestrial environments. Terrestrial environments contain approximately 75–85% of all estimated species, but occupy only 30 per cent of the Earth's surface (and only approx. 1–10% by volume), whereas marine environments occupy a larger area and volume, but have a smaller fraction of Earth's estimated diversity. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain this disparity, but there have been few large-scale quantitative tests. Here, we analyse patterns of diversity in actinopterygian (ray-finned) fishes, the most species-rich clade of marine vertebrates, containing 96 per cent of fish species. Despite the much greater area and productivity of marine environments, actinopterygian richness is similar in freshwater and marine habitats (15 150 versus 14 740 species). Net diversification rates (speciation–extinction) are similar in predominantly freshwater and saltwater clades. Both habitats are dominated by two hyperdiverse but relatively recent clades (Ostariophysi and Percomorpha). Remarkably, trait reconstructions (for both living and fossil taxa) suggest that all extant marine actinopterygians were derived from a freshwater ancestor, indicating a role for ancient extinction in explaining low marine richness. Finally, by analysing an entirely aquatic group, we are able to better sort among potential hypotheses for explaining the paradoxically low diversity of marine environments. PMID:22319126

Why are there so few fish in the sea?

PubMed

Carrete Vega, Greta; Wiens, John J

2012-06-22

The most dramatic gradient in global biodiversity is between marine and terrestrial environments. Terrestrial environments contain approximately 75-85% of all estimated species, but occupy only 30 per cent of the Earth's surface (and only approx. 1-10% by volume), whereas marine environments occupy a larger area and volume, but have a smaller fraction of Earth's estimated diversity. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain this disparity, but there have been few large-scale quantitative tests. Here, we analyse patterns of diversity in actinopterygian (ray-finned) fishes, the most species-rich clade of marine vertebrates, containing 96 per cent of fish species. Despite the much greater area and productivity of marine environments, actinopterygian richness is similar in freshwater and marine habitats (15 150 versus 14 740 species). Net diversification rates (speciation-extinction) are similar in predominantly freshwater and saltwater clades. Both habitats are dominated by two hyperdiverse but relatively recent clades (Ostariophysi and Percomorpha). Remarkably, trait reconstructions (for both living and fossil taxa) suggest that all extant marine actinopterygians were derived from a freshwater ancestor, indicating a role for ancient extinction in explaining low marine richness. Finally, by analysing an entirely aquatic group, we are able to better sort among potential hypotheses for explaining the paradoxically low diversity of marine environments.

Bulk Oxygen-Isotope Compositions of Different Lithologies in Sutter's Mill

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziegler, K.; Garvie, L. A. J.

2013-09-01

We correlate mineralogy data with bulk oxygen-isotope data of the clay-rich and the ol-rich lithologies in order to assess the possibility of more than one parent material, and the possibility of different alteration environments on the parent body.

Advanced Space Transportation Concepts and Propulsion Technologies for a New Delivery Paradigm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, John W.; McCleskey, Carey M.; Rhodes, Russel E.; Lepsch, Roger A.; Henderson, Edward M.; Joyner, Claude R., III; Levack, Daniel J. H.

2013-01-01

This paper describes Advanced Space Transportation Concepts and Propulsion Technologies for a New Delivery Paradigm. It builds on the work of the previous paper "Approach to an Affordable and Productive Space Transportation System". The scope includes both flight and ground system elements, and focuses on their compatibility and capability to achieve a technical solution that is operationally productive and also affordable. A clear and revolutionary approach, including advanced propulsion systems (advanced LOX rich booster engine concept having independent LOX and fuel cooling systems, thrust augmentation with LOX rich boost and fuel rich operation at altitude), improved vehicle concepts (autogeneous pressurization, turbo alternator for electric power during ascent, hot gases to purge system and keep moisture out), and ground delivery systems, was examined. Previous papers by the authors and other members of the Space Propulsion Synergy Team (SPST) focused on space flight system engineering methods, along with operationally efficient propulsion system concepts and technologies. This paper continues the previous work by exploring the propulsion technology aspects in more depth and how they may enable the vehicle designs from the previous paper. Subsequent papers will explore the vehicle design, the ground support system, and the operations aspects of the new delivery paradigm in greater detail.

Saturating effects of species diversity on life-history evolution in bacteria.

PubMed

Fiegna, Francesca; Scheuerl, Thomas; Moreno-Letelier, Alejandra; Bell, Thomas; Barraclough, Timothy G

2015-09-22

Species interactions can play a major role in shaping evolution in new environments. In theory, species interactions can either stimulate evolution by promoting coevolution or inhibit evolution by constraining ecological opportunity. The relative strength of these effects should vary as species richness increases, and yet there has been little evidence for evolution of component species in communities. We evolved bacterial microcosms containing between 1 and 12 species in three different environments. Growth rates and yields of isolates that evolved in communities were lower than those that evolved in monocultures, consistent with recent theory that competition constrains species to specialize on narrower sets of resources. This effect saturated or reversed at higher levels of richness, consistent with theory that directional effects of species interactions should weaken in more diverse communities. Species varied considerably, however, in their responses to both environment and richness levels. Mechanistic models and experiments are now needed to understand and predict joint evolutionary dynamics of species in diverse communities. © 2015 The Authors.

Modular High-Energy Systems for Solar Power Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, Joe T.; Carrington, Connie K.; Marzwell, Neville I.; Mankins, John C.

2006-01-01

Modular High-Energy Systems are Stepping Stones to provide capabilities for energy-rich infrastructure located in space to support a variety of exploration scenarios as well as provide a supplemental source of energy during peak demands to ground grid systems. Abundant renewable energy at lunar or other locations could support propellant production and storage in refueling scenarios that enable affordable exploration. Renewable energy platforms in geosynchronous Earth orbits can collect and transmit power to satellites, or to Earth-surface locations. Energy-rich space technologies also enable the use of electric-powered propulsion systems that could efficiently deliver cargo and exploration facilities to remote locations. A first step to an energy-rich space infrastructure is a 100-kWe class solar-powered platform in Earth orbit. The platform would utilize advanced technologies in solar power collection and generation, power management and distribution, thermal management, electric propulsion, wireless avionics, autonomous in space rendezvous and docking, servicing, and robotic assembly. It would also provide an energy-rich free-flying platform to demonstrate in space a portfolio of technology flight experiments. This paper summary a preliminary design concept for a 100-kWe solar-powered satellite system to demonstrate in-flight a variety of advanced technologies, each as a separate payload. These technologies include, but are not limited to state-of-the-art solar concentrators, highly efficient multi-junction solar cells, integrated thermal management on the arrays, and innovative deployable structure design and packaging to enable the 100-kW satellite feasible to launch on one existing launch vehicle. Higher voltage arrays and power distribution systems (PDS) reduce or eliminate the need for massive power converters, and could enable direct-drive of high-voltage solar electric thrusters.

40 CFR 721.10023 - Benzenamine, N-phenyl-, ar ar′-(C9-rich C88-10-branched alkyl) derivs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Benzenamine, N-phenyl-, ar arâ²-(C9... Significant New Uses for Specific Chemical Substances § 721.10023 Benzenamine, N-phenyl-, ar ar′-(C9-rich C88...) The chemical substance identified as benzenamine, N-phenyl-, ar,ar′-(C9-rich C8-10-branched alkyl...

Arsenic-transforming microbes and their role in biomining processes.

PubMed

Drewniak, L; Sklodowska, A

2013-11-01

It is well known that microorganisms can dissolve different minerals and use them as sources of nutrients and energy. The majority of rock minerals are rich in vital elements (e.g., P, Fe, S, Mg and Mo), but some may also contain toxic metals or metalloids, like arsenic. The toxicity of arsenic is disclosed after the dissolution of the mineral, which raises two important questions: (1) why do microorganisms dissolve arsenic-bearing minerals and release this metal into the environment in a toxic (also for themselves) form, and (2) How do these microorganisms cope with this toxic element? In this review, we summarize current knowledge about arsenic-transforming microbes and their role in biomining processes. Special consideration is given to studies that have increased our understanding of how microbial activities are linked to the biogeochemistry of arsenic, by examining (1) where and in which forms arsenic occurs in the mining environment, (2) microbial activity in the context of arsenic mineral dissolution and the mechanisms of arsenic resistance, (3) the minerals used and technologies applied in the biomining of arsenic, and (4) how microbes can be used to clean up post-mining environments.

Perceptions of Instructional Technology: Factors of Influence and Anticipated Consequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Robyn E.; Bianchi, Alison; Cheah, Tsui Yi

2008-01-01

The use of instructional technologies such as PowerPoint[TM] and WebCT[TM] are nearly ubiquitous in contemporary college classrooms. The literature is rich with ideas about the transformative powers of technology. What is less understood is how users perceive technology and its effects on classroom dynamics such as student attendance and…

Skill-Biased Technological Change. Evidence from a Firm-Level Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siegel, Donald S.

A study addressed the effects of technological change using a new, rich source of firm-level data on technology usage and labor force composition. The empirical investigation is based on a survey of Long Island manufacturers' usage of computer-integrated manufacturing systems (CIMS) or advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs). The study also…

Extreme deconstruction supports niche conservatism driving New World bird diversity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola; Rangel, Thiago Fernando; dos Santos, Mariana Rocha

2012-08-01

It is expected that if environment fully establishes the borders of species geographic distribution, then richness patterns will arise simple by changing parameters on how environment affect each of the species. However, if other mechanisms (i.e., non-equilibrium of species' distributions with climate and historical contingency, shifts in adaptive peaks or biotic interactions) are driving species geographic distribution, models for species distribution and richness will not entirely match. Here we used the extreme deconstruction principle to test how niche conservatism keeping species geographic distributions in certain parts of environmental space drives richness patterns in New World birds, under tropical niche conservatism. Eight environmental variables were used to model the geographic distribution of 2790 species within 28 bird families using a GLM. Spatial patterns in richness for each of these families were also modeled as a function of these same variables using a standard OLS regression. Fit of these two types of models (mean MacFadden's ρ2 for GLM and R2 of OLS) across families and the match between GLM and OLS standardized slopes within and among bird families were then compared. We found a positive and significant correlation between GLM and OLS model fit (r = 0.601; P < 0.01), indicating that when environment strongly determine richness of a family, it also explains its species geographic distributions. The match between GLM and OLS slopes is significantly correlated with families' phylogenetic root distance (r = -0.467; P = 0.012), so that more basal families tend to have a better match between environmental drivers of richness and geographic distribution models. This is expected under tropical niche conservatism model and provides an integrated explanation on how processes at a lower hierarchical level (species' geographic distribution) drive diversity patterns.

The Basics of Blended Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucker, Catlin R.

2013-01-01

Even though many of teachers do not have technology-rich classrooms, the rapidly evolving education landscape increasingly requires them to incorporate technology to customize student learning. Blended learning, with its mix of technology and traditional face-to-face instruction, is a great approach. Blended learning combines classroom learning…

Radio frequency diagnostics on board of Cubesat as a tool for planetary Space Weather monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rothkaehl, H.; Morawski, M.; Szewczyk, T.

2014-04-01

CubeSat pico-satellite standard was developed recently to allow easy access to space for projects with limited funds. Due to relatively cheap yet professional development process, CubeSats have also great educational impact. This allows the students to learn about all crucial aspects of space engineering and project management. Since all the basic steps for developing CubeSat are similar to those performed on bigger satellites (i.e. designing, testing, operating in space), this gives possibility to develop all the necessary skills and experience for future work at space industries. Space Research Center, together with its collaborators from University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn and others, would like to design and build double unit CubeSat as an opportunity to perform scientific experiments in space together with technological demonstrators of subsystems. In order to monitor the Earth's and planetary space environment and obtain a much more complete picture of magnetosphere and ionosphere coupling and particularly waves-particle interaction in this system than those available hitherto new mission of clustered Cubesat mission can be propose. Moreover to enhance our understanding of the rich plasma physical processes that drive the Solar Terrestrial space environment, we need to increase our ability to perform multi-point measurements by means of different sensors. Therefore, new technologies radio frequency radio analyser RFA instrument will gave the possibility for diagnostics 3D electric field component (spectra and wave forms) with extremely high time resolution. Additional technological challenges regarding size, computational power and energy constraints are imposed by the design of CubeSat.

Contribution of geodiversity, climate and spatial variables for biodiversity across a gradient of human influence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tukiainen, Helena; Alahuhta, Janne; Ala-Hulkko, Terhi; Field, Richard; Lampinen, Raino; Hjort, Jan

2016-04-01

Implementation of geodiversity may provide new perspectives for nature conservation. The relation between geodiversity and biodiversity has been established in recent studies but remains underexplored in environments with high human pressure. In this study, we explored the effect of geodiversity (i.e. geological, hydrological and geomorphological diversity), climate and spatial variables on biodiversity (vascular plant species richness) in environments with different human impact. The study area ranged trough the boreal vegetation zone in Finland and included altogether 1401 1-km2 grid cells from urban, rural and natural environments. The contribution of environmental variable groups for species diversity in different environments was statistically analyzed with variation partitioning method. According to the results, the contribution of geodiversity decreased and the contribution of climate and spatial variables increased as the land use became more human-induced. Hence, the connection between geodiversity and species richness was most pronounced in natural state environments.

Ultrascale collaborative visualization using a display-rich global cyberinfrastructure.

PubMed

Jeong, Byungil; Leigh, Jason; Johnson, Andrew; Renambot, Luc; Brown, Maxine; Jagodic, Ratko; Nam, Sungwon; Hur, Hyejung

2010-01-01

The scalable adaptive graphics environment (SAGE) is high-performance graphics middleware for ultrascale collaborative visualization using a display-rich global cyberinfrastructure. Dozens of sites worldwide use this cyberinfrastructure middleware, which connects high-performance-computing resources over high-speed networks to distributed ultraresolution displays.

The Human Genome Diversity Project

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

Cavalli-Sforza, L.

1994-12-31

The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGD Project) is an international anthropology project that seeks to study the genetic richness of the entire human species. This kind of genetic information can add a unique thread to the tapestry knowledge of humanity. Culture, environment, history, and other factors are often more important, but humanity`s genetic heritage, when analyzed with recent technology, brings another type of evidence for understanding species` past and present. The Project will deepen the understanding of this genetic richness and show both humanity`s diversity and its deep and underlying unity. The HGD Project is still largely in its planningmore » stages, seeking the best ways to reach its goals. The continuing discussions of the Project, throughout the world, should improve the plans for the Project and their implementation. The Project is as global as humanity itself; its implementation will require the kinds of partnerships among different nations and cultures that make the involvement of UNESCO and other international organizations particularly appropriate. The author will briefly discuss the Project`s history, describe the Project, set out the core principles of the Project, and demonstrate how the Project will help combat the scourge of racism.« less

Drove roads: Keystone structures that promote ant diversity in Mediterranean forest landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azcárate, Francisco M.; Seoane, Javier; Castro, Sara; Peco, Begoña

2013-05-01

Drove roads are the traditional corridors used by pastoralists for seasonal movements of livestock (transhumance). They cover a considerable land area in Mediterranean countries and, although they are an obvious source of landscape diversity, their influence on the diversity and composition of animal assemblages has not been documented. Ant communities were studied on four active drove roads, two in forests (submediterranean and conifer) and two in open environments (croplands and rangelands). They were compared with the respective matrix communities and their contribution to local species richness was evaluated. The effects were heavily dependent on the open or closed nature of the matrix. In forest environments, drove roads increased ant species richness at the local scale, acting as clear keystone structures. Their species richness and functional diversity were highest on the fine scale, species composition was different, and a slight edge effect in the matrix was detected. In contrast, drove roads had little or even a negative effect in open environment locations. We conclude that drove roads have a high conservation value for ants in Mediterranean forest environments, in addition to their importance as reservoirs of plant biodiversity and generators of ecological goods and services.

Hydrogen-induced slow crack growth of a plain carbon pipeline steel under conditions of cyclic loading

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, H. G.

1976-01-01

The investigation described was aimed at establishing the degree of compatibility between a plain carbon pipeline-type steel and hydrogen and also hydrogen-rich environments containing small additions of H2S, O2, H2O, CO, CO2, CH4, and natural gas at pressures near 1 atm. Test were carried out under conditions of static and cyclic loading; the subcritical crack growth was monitored. The rates of crack growth observed in the hydrogen and hydrogen-rich environments are compared with the crack rate observed in a natural gas environment to determine the compatibility of the present natural gas transmission system with gaseous hydrogen transport.

The effect of nanoparticles and humic acid on technology critical element concentrations in aqueous solutions with soil and sand.

PubMed

Stepka, Zane; Dror, Ishai; Berkowitz, Brian

2018-01-01

As a consequence of their growing use in electronic and industrial products, increasing amounts of technology critical elements (TCEs) are being released to the environment. Currently little is known about the fate of many of these elements. Initial research on their potential environmental impact identifies TCEs as emerging contaminants. TCE movement in the environment is often governed by water systems. Research on "natural" waters so far demonstrates that TCEs tend to be associated with suspended particulate matter (SPM), which influences TCE aqueous concentrations (here: concentration of TCEs in dissolved form and attached to SPM) and transport. However, the relative potential of different types of SPM to interact with TCEs is unknown. Here we examine the potential of various types of particulate matter, namely different nanoparticles (NPs; Al 2 O 3, SiO 2 , CeO 2 , ZnO, montmorillonite, Ag, Au and carbon dots) and humic acid (HA), to impact TCE aqueous concentrations in aqueous solutions with soil and sand, and thus influence TCE transport in soil-water environments. We show that a combination of NPs and HA, and not NPs or HA individually, increases the aqueous concentrations of TCEs in soil solutions, for all tested NPs regardless of their type. TCEs retained on SPM, however, settle with time. In solutions with sand, HA alone is as influential as NPs+HA in keeping TCEs in the aqueous phase. Among NPs, Ag-NPs and Au-NPs demonstrate the highest potential for TCE transport. These results suggest that in natural soil-water environments, once TCEs are retained by soil, their partitioning to the aqueous phase by through-flowing water is unlikely. However, if TCEs are introduced to soil-water environments as part of solutions rich in NPs and HA, it is likely that NP and HA combinations can increase TCE stability in the aqueous phase and prevent their retention on soil and sand, thus facilitating TCE transport. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ancient Aqueous Environments at Endeavour Crater, Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arvidson, R. E.; Squyres, S. W.; Bell, J. F.; Catalano, J. G.; Clark, B. C.; Crumpler, L. S.; de Souza, P. A.; Fairen, A. G.; Farrand, W. H.; Fox, V. K.;

Ancient aqueous environments at Endeavour crater, Mars

USGS Publications Warehouse

Arvidson, R. E.; Squyres, S. W.; Bell, J.F.; Catalano, J.G.; Clark, B. C.; Crumpler, L.S.; de Souza, P.A.; Fairén, A.G.; Farrand, W. H.; Fox, V.K.; Gellert, Ralf; Ghosh, A.; Golombeck, M.P.; Grotzinger, J.P.; Guinness, E.A.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Jolliff, B.L.; Knoll, A.H.; Li, R.; McLennan, S.M.; Ming, D. W.; Mittlefehldt, D. W.; Moore, Johnnie N.; Morris, R.V.; Murchie, S.L.; Parker, T.J.; Paulsen, G.; Rice, J.W.; Ruff, S.W.; Smith, M.D.; Wolff, M.J.

2014-01-01

Opportunity has investigated in detail rocks on the rim of the Noachian age Endeavour crater, where orbital spectral reflectance signatures indicate the presence of Fe+3-rich smectites. The signatures are associated with fine-grained, layered rocks containing spherules of diagenetic or impact origin. The layered rocks are overlain by breccias, and both units are cut by calcium sulfate veins precipitated from fluids that circulated after the Endeavour impact. Compositional data for fractures in the layered rocks suggest formation of Al-rich smectites by aqueous leaching. Evidence is thus preserved for water-rock interactions before and after the impact, with aqueous environments of slightly acidic to circum-neutral pH that would have been more favorable for prebiotic chemistry and microorganisms than those recorded by younger sulfate-rich rocks at Meridiani Planum.

Relating Narrative, Inquiry, and Inscriptions: Supporting Consequential Play

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barab, Sasha A.; Sadler, Troy D.; Heiselt, Conan; Hickey, Daniel; Zuiker, Steven

2007-02-01

In this paper we describe our research using a multi-user virtual environment, Quest Atlantis, to embed fourth grade students in an aquatic habitat simulation. Specifically targeted towards engaging students in a rich inquiry investigation, we layered a socio-scientific narrative and an interactive rule set into a multi-user virtual environment gaming engine to establish a virtual world through which students learned about science inquiry, water quality concepts, and the challenges in balancing scientific and socio-economic factors. Overall, students were clearly engaged, participated in rich scientific discourse, submitted quality work, and learned science content. Further, through participation in this narrative, students developed a rich perceptual, conceptual, and ethical understanding of science. This study suggests that multi-user virtual worlds can be effectively leveraged to support academic content learning.

Erratum to: Relating Narrative, Inquiry, and Inscriptions: Supporting Consequential Play

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barab, Sasha A.; Sadler, Troy D.; Heiselt, Conan; Hickey, Daniel; Zuiker, Steven

2010-08-01

In this paper we describe our research using a multi-user virtual environment, Quest Atlantis, to embed fourth grade students in an aquatic habitat simulation. Specifically targeted towards engaging students in a rich inquiry investigation, we layered a socio-scientific narrative and an interactive rule set into a multi-user virtual environment gaming engine to establish a virtual world through which students learned about science inquiry, water quality concepts, and the challenges in balancing scientific and socio-economic factors. Overall, students were clearly engaged, participated in rich scientific discourse, submitted quality work, and learned science content. Further, through participation in this narrative, students developed a rich perceptual, conceptual, and ethical understanding of science. This study suggests that multi-user virtual worlds can be effectively leveraged to support academic content learning.

Applying a Framework for Student Modeling in Exploratory Learning Environments: Comparing Data Representation Granularity to Handle Environment Complexity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fratamico, Lauren; Conati, Cristina; Kardan, Samad; Roll, Ido

2017-01-01

Interactive simulations can facilitate inquiry learning. However, similarly to other Exploratory Learning Environments, students may not always learn effectively in these unstructured environments. Thus, providing adaptive support has great potential to help improve student learning with these rich activities. Providing adaptive support requires a…

Creating Electronic Learning Environments: Games, Flow, and the User Interface.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Marshall G.

A difficult task in creating rich, exploratory interactive learning environments is building an environment that is truly engaging. Engagement can be defined as the nexus of intrinsic knowledge and/or interest and external stimuli that promote the initial interest in, and continued use of a computer-based learning environment. Complete and total…

A Framework and a Methodology for Developing Authentic Constructivist e-Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zualkernan, Imran A.

2006-01-01

Semantically rich domains require operative knowledge to solve complex problems in real-world settings. These domains provide an ideal environment for developing authentic constructivist e-learning environments. In this paper we present a framework and a methodology for developing authentic learning environments for such domains. The framework is…

A High-Energy Technology Demonstration Platfom: The First Step in a Stepping Stones Approach to Energy-Rich Space Infrastructures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carrington, Connie; Day, Greg

2004-01-01

The sun provides an abundant source of energy in space, which can be used to power exploration vehicles and infrastructures that support exploration. A first step in developing and demonstrating the necessary technologies to support solar-powered exploration could be a 100-kWe-class solar-powered platform in Earth orbit. This platform would utilize advanced technologies in solar power collection and generation, power management and distribution, thermal management, and electric propulsion. It would also provide a power-rich free-flying platform to demonstrate in space a portfolio of technology flight experiments. This paper presents a preliminary design concept for a 100-kWe solar-powered satellite with the capability to use high-powered electric propulsion, and to flight-demonstrate a variety of payload experiments.

Environmental correlates of plant diversity in Korean temperate forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Černý, Tomáš; Doležal, Jiří; Janeček, Štěpán; Šrůtek, Miroslav; Valachovič, Milan; Petřík, Petr; Altman, Jan; Bartoš, Michael; Song, Jong-Suk

2013-02-01

Mountainous areas of the Korean Peninsula are among the biodiversity hotspots of the world's temperate forests. Understanding patterns in spatial distribution of their species richness requires explicit consideration of different environmental drivers and their effects on functionally differing components. In this study, we assess the impact of both geographical and soil variables on the fine-scale (400 m2) pattern of plant diversity using field data from six national parks, spanning a 1300 m altitudinal gradient. Species richness and the slopes of species-area curves were calculated separately for the tree, shrub and herb layer and used as response variables in regression tree analyses. A cluster analysis distinguished three dominant forest communities with specific patterns in the diversity-environment relationship. The most widespread middle-altitude oak forests had the highest tree richness but the lowest richness of herbaceous plants due to a dense bamboo understory. Total richness was positively associated with soil reaction and negatively associated with soluble phosphorus and solar radiation (site dryness). Tree richness was associated mainly with soil factors, although trees are frequently assumed to be controlled mainly by factors with large-scale impact. A U-shaped relationship was found between herbaceous plant richness and altitude, caused by a distribution pattern of dwarf bamboo in understory. No correlation between the degree of canopy openness and herb layer richness was detected. Slopes of the species-area curves indicated the various origins of forest communities. Variable diversity-environment responses in different layers and communities reinforce the necessity of context-dependent differentiation for the assessment of impacts of climate and land-use changes in these diverse but intensively exploited regions.

Integration of Technology into the Classroom: Case Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, D. LaMont, Ed.; Maddux, Cleborne D., Ed.; Liu, Leping, Ed.

This book contains the following case studies on the integration of technology in education: (1) "First Steps toward a Statistically Generated Information Technology Integration Model" (D. LaMont Johnson and Leping Liu); (2) "Case Studies: Are We Rejecting Rigor or Rediscovering Richness?" (Cleborne D. Maddux); (3)…

Exploring TeleRobotics: A Radio-Controlled Robot

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deal, Walter F., III; Hsiung, Steve C.

2007-01-01

Robotics is a rich and exciting multidisciplinary area to study and learn about electronics and control technology. The interest in robotic devices and systems provides the technology teacher with an excellent opportunity to make many concrete connections between electronics, control technology, and computers and science, engineering, and…

UAV Research at NASA Langley: Towards Safe, Reliable, and Autonomous Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davila, Carlos G.

2016-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are fundamental components in several aspects of research at NASA Langley, such as flight dynamics, mission-driven airframe design, airspace integration demonstrations, atmospheric science projects, and more. In particular, NASA Langley Research Center (Langley) is using UAVs to develop and demonstrate innovative capabilities that meet the autonomy and robotics challenges that are anticipated in science, space exploration, and aeronautics. These capabilities will enable new NASA missions such as asteroid rendezvous and retrieval (ARRM), Mars exploration, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), pollution measurements in historically inaccessible areas, and the integration of UAVs into our everyday lives all missions of increasing complexity, distance, pace, and/or accessibility. Building on decades of NASA experience and success in the design, fabrication, and integration of robust and reliable automated systems for space and aeronautics, Langley Autonomy Incubator seeks to bridge the gap between automation and autonomy by enabling safe autonomous operations via onboard sensing and perception systems in both data-rich and data-deprived environments. The Autonomy Incubator is focused on the challenge of mobility and manipulation in dynamic and unstructured environments by integrating technologies such as computer vision, visual odometry, real-time mapping, path planning, object detection and avoidance, object classification, adaptive control, sensor fusion, machine learning, and natural human-machine teaming. These technologies are implemented in an architectural framework developed in-house for easy integration and interoperability of cutting-edge hardware and software.

Influence of pasteurization, brining conditions and production environment on the microbiota of artisan Gouda-type cheeses.

PubMed

Van Hoorde, Koenraad; Heyndrickx, Marc; Vandamme, Peter; Huys, Geert

2010-05-01

To monitor the effect of the indigenous milk microbiota and of technological and environmental parameters on the microbiota established in ripened cheese, the diversity and dynamics of the predominant microbial communities in artisan Gouda-type cheeses produced under different conditions was studied. A total of 22 cheese types differing in milk source, milk treatment, production environment and brining conditions were analyzed by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) using total DNA extracts as well as DNA extracted from culturable fractions. Through band position analysis and band sequencing, the majority of DGGE bands could be attributed to lactic acid bacteria (LAB), although a few bands also belonged to staphylococci and gamma-Proteobacteria. Aided by principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), cheeses produced at different locations could clearly be differentiated. The same approach also allowed to distinguish raw and pasteurized milk cheeses, the former showing a more diverse microbiota in terms of a higher species richness and number of DGGE bands. No substantial differences were found between cheeses brined at two different locations. In conclusion, the combined PCR-DGGE approach relying on both total DNA extracts and culturable fractions proved its value for analyzing the effect of technological and environmental parameters on the diversity and dynamics of the microbiota in Gouda-type cheeses. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microstructures of Rare Silicate Stardust from Nova and Supernovae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, A. N.; Keller, L. P.; Rahman, Z.; Messenger, S

2011-01-01

Most silicate stardust analyzed in the laboratory and observed around stellar environments derives from O-rich red giant and AGB stars [1,2]. Supernova (SN) silicates and oxides are comparatively rare, and fewer than 10 grains from no-va or binary star systems have been identified to date. Very little is known about dust formation in these stellar environments. Mineralogical studies of only three O-rich SN [3-5] and no nova grains have been performed. Here we report the microstructure and chemical makeup of two SN silicates and one nova grain.

School Partnerships: Technology Rich Classrooms and the Student Teaching Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanSlyke-Briggs, Kjersti; Hogan, Molly; Waffle, Julene; Samplaski, Jessica

2014-01-01

Building upon an established relationship between a college and a local school district, this project formally designated a Partnership School, at which education students conduct field experience. In addition to providing these participating pre-service teachers (students) with a clinically rich experience through closer supervision by and…

Implementation of technology for rapid field detection of sulfate and organic content in soils : technical report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

The protocol using the Veris 3150 for determination of sulfate-rich soils has been implemented to two fullscale : projects in Dallas and Paris Districts. The determination of organic-rich soil was not implemented in this project : due to the unavaila...

Comparison of formation mechanism of fresh-water and salt-water lacustrine organic-rich shale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Senhu

2017-04-01

Based on the core and thin section observation, major, trace and rare earth elements test, carbon and oxygen isotopes content analysis and other geochemical methods, a detailed study was performed on formation mechanism of lacustrine organic-rich shale by taking the middle Permian salt-water shale in Zhungaer Basin and upper Triassic fresh-water shale in Ordos Basin as the research target. The results show that, the middle Permian salt-water shale was overall deposited in hot and dry climate. Long-term reductive environment and high biological abundance due to elevated temperature provides favorable conditions for formation and preservation of organic-rich shale. Within certain limits, the hotter climate, the organic-richer shale formed. These organic-rich shale was typically distributed in the area where palaeosalinity is relatively high. However, during the upper Triassic at Ordos Basin, organic-rich shale was formed in warm and moist environment. What's more, if the temperature, salinity or water depth rises, the TOC in shale decreases. In other words, relatively low temperature and salinity, stable lake level and strong reducing conditions benefits organic-rich shale deposits in fresh water. In this sense, looking for high-TOC shale in lacustrine basin needs to follow different rules depends on the palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment during sedimentary period. There is reason to believe that the some other factors can also have significant impact on formation mechanism of organic-rich shale, which increases the complexity of shale oil and gas prediction.

Food biotechnology and nutrition in Africa: a case for Kenya.

PubMed

Ngichabe, Christopher K

2002-12-01

Household food consumption surveys indicate that the diet in Kenya is ill balanced and that many families cannot afford nutrient-rich foods such as meat and fruits. In this regard, rural populations-the majority of the Kenyan population-are much worse off than urban populations. Agriculture, the most important sector in the Kenyan economy, contributes 27% of the gross domestic product and generates 65% of the country's export earnings. Food-enhancing biotechnologies thus could increase national food yields and fill nutrition gaps by contributing to household and national food security and poverty reduction in Kenya. To overcome barriers to adopting biotechnology to improve food crops in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa, policy makers must create a receptive environment for, increase public understanding of, and stimulate investment in the new technology.

NSTAR Extended Life Test Discharge Chamber Flake Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

deGroh, Kim K.; Banks, Bruce A.; Karniotis, Christina A.

2005-01-01

The Extended Life Test (ELT) of the NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Readiness (NSTAR) ion thruster was concluded after 30,352 hours of operation. The ELT was conducted using the Deep Space 1 (DS1) back-up flight engine, a 30 cm diameter xenon ion thruster. Post-test inspection of the ELT engine revealed numerous contaminant flakes distributed over the bottom of the cylindrical section of the anode within the discharge chamber (DC). Extensive analyses were conducted to determine the source of the particles, which is critical to the understanding of degradation mechanisms of long life ion thruster operation. Analyses included: optical microscopy (OM) and particle length histograms, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and atomic oxygen plasma exposure tests. Analyses of the particles indicate that the majority of the DC flakes consist of a layered structure, typically with either two or three layers. The flakes comprising two layers were typically found to have a molybdenum-rich (Mo-rich) layer on one side and a carbon-rich (C-rich) layer on the other side. The flakes comprising three layers were found to be sandwich-like structures with Mo-rich exterior layers and a C-rich interior layer. The presence of the C-rich layers indicates that these particles were produced by sputter deposition build-up on a surface external to the discharge chamber from ion sputter erosion of the graphite target in the test chamber. This contaminant layer became thick enough that particles spalled off, and then were electro-statically attracted into the ion thruster interior, where they were coated with Mo from internal sputter erosion of the screen grid and cathode components. Atomic oxygen tests provided evidence that the DC chamber flakes are composed of a significant fraction of carbon. Particle size histograms further indicated that the source of the particles was spalling of carbon flakes from downstream surfaces. Analyses of flakes taken from the downstream surface of the accelerator grid provided additional supportive information. The production of the downstream carbon flakes, and hence the potential problems associated with the flake particles in the ELT ion thruster engine is a facility induced effect and would not occur in the space environment.

Y0: An innovative tool for spatial data analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson, Jeremy C.

1993-08-01

This paper describes an advanced analysis and visualization tool, called Y0 (pronounced ``Why not?!''), that has been developed to directly support the scientific process for earth and space science research. Y0 aids the scientific research process by enabling the user to formulate algorithms and models within an integrated environment, and then interactively explore the solution space with the aid of appropriate visualizations. Y0 has been designed to provide strong support for both quantitative analysis and rich visualization. The user's algorithm or model is defined in terms of algebraic formulas in cells on worksheets, in a similar fashion to spreadsheet programs. Y0 is specifically designed to provide the data types and rich function set necessary for effective analysis and manipulation of remote sensing data. This includes various types of arrays, geometric objects, and objects for representing geographic coordinate system mappings. Visualization of results is tailored to the needs of remote sensing, with straightforward methods of composing, comparing, and animating imagery and graphical information, with reference to geographical coordinate systems. Y0 is based on advanced object-oriented technology. It is implemented in C++ for use in Unix environments, with a user interface based on the X window system. Y0 has been delivered under contract to Unidata, a group which provides data and software support to atmospheric researches in universities affiliated with UCAR. This paper will explore the key concepts in Y0, describe its utility for remote sensing analysis and visualization, and will give a specific example of its application to the problem of measuring glacier flow rates from Landsat imagery.

Technology in Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glazner, Steve, Comp.

2012-01-01

Technology touches people's lives virtually every second of the day. The work world is especially rich with changing technologies, new innovations, and continually revised processes for greater effectiveness and efficiency. One could easily say that a boiler is a boiler, or a carpet is a carpet, but the reality is that all components of all the…

77 FR 16313 - Data Collection Available for Public Comments and Recommendations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-20

..., Innovation and Technology Analyst, Office of Technology, Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20416. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Eide, Innovation and Technology, mailto: 202-205-7507%20%[email protected] 202-205-7576 [email protected] Curtis B. Rich, Management...

Trajectories of Mathematics and Technology Education Pointing to Engineering Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daugherty, Jenny L.; Reese, George C.; Merrill, Chris

2010-01-01

A brief examination and comparison of mathematics and technology education provides the background for a discussion of integration. In particular, members of each field have responded to the increasing pressures to better prepare students for the technologically rich, globally competitive future. Approaches based within each discipline are varied…

Firm size diversity, functional richness, and resilience

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garmestani, A.S.; Allen, Craig R.; Mittelstaedt, J.D.; Stow, C.A.; Ward, W.A.

2006-01-01

This paper applies recent advances in ecology to our understanding of firm development, sustainability, and economic development. The ecological literature indicates that the greater the functional richness of species in a system, the greater its resilience - that is, its ability to persist in the face of substantial changes in the environment. This paper focuses on the effects of functional richness across firm size on the ability of industries to survive in the face of economic change. Our results indicate that industries with a richness of industrial functions are more resilient to employment volatility. ?? 2006 Cambridge University Press.

Questioning and Oracy in a Reading Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaish, Viniti

2013-01-01

This paper is about the questioning patterns of teachers in an early intervention reading program and the exceptions to this typical interactional pattern. Literacy experts recommend a rich diet of oral language for young learners of English literacy. Teachers offer this rich diet by creating an appropriate learning environment in the classroom…

Cuckoos vs. top predators as prime bioindicators of biodiversity in disturbed environments.

PubMed

Morelli, Federico; Mousseau, Timothy A; Møller, Anders Pape

2017-10-01

We studied the abundance of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus L. little cuckoo Cuculus poliocephalus L. and Asian cuckoo Cuculus saturatus L. and avian top predators as indicators of bird species richness (surrogate of biodiversity) in disturbed environments caused by radioactive contamination in Chernobyl, Ukraine and Fukushima, Japan, comparing their efficiency as indicators of local biodiversity hotspots. Bird species richness and birds abundance were quantified in each sample site during the breeding seasons between 2006 and 2015 and the level of background radiation was measured at every site. The correlation between number of cuckoos, top predators, land use composition and level of background radiation with bird species richness as response variable were examined using Generalized Linear Mixed Models. The strength of correlation between species richness and abundance and the covariates obtained from the model outputs were used as measure of the efficiency of each predictor, as well as the AIC of each model. Background radiation was negatively correlated with bird species richness and bird abundance in both countries, while number of top predators and cuckoos were both positively correlated with bird species richness and abundance. However, model with number of cuckoos was more performant than model with number of avian top predators. These differences in performance supports the hypothesis that cuckoos are a largely superior bioindicator than top predators. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Release kinetics of platelet-derived and plasma-derived growth factors from autologous plasma rich in growth factors.

PubMed

Anitua, Eduardo; Zalduendo, Mari Mar; Alkhraisat, Mohammad Hamdan; Orive, Gorka

2013-10-01

Many studies have evaluated the biological effects of platelet rich plasma reporting the final outcomes on cell and tissues. However, few studies have dealt with the kinetics of growth factor delivery by plasma rich in growth factors. Venous blood was obtained from three healthy volunteers and processed with PRGF-Endoret technology to prepare autologous plasma rich in growth factors. The gel-like fibrin scaffolds were then incubated in triplicate, in a cell culture medium to monitor the release of PDGF-AB, VEGF, HGF and IGF-I during 8 days of incubation. A leukocyte-platelet rich plasma was prepared employing the same technology and the concentrations of growth factors and interleukin-1β were determined after 24h of incubation. After each period, the medium was collected, fibrin clot was destroyed and the supernatants were stored at -80°C until analysis. The growth factor delivery is diffusion controlled with a rapid initial release by 30% of the bioactive content after 1h of incubation and a steady state release when almost 70% of the growth factor content has been delivered. Autologous fibrin matrix retained almost 30% of the amount of the growth factors after 8 days of incubation. The addition of leukocytes to the formula of platelet rich plasma did not increase the concentration of the growth factors, while it drastically increased the presence of pro-inflammatory IL-1β. Further studies employing an in vitro inflammatory model would be interesting to study the difference in growth factors and pro-inflammatory cytokines between leukocyte-free and leukocyte-rich platelet rich plasma. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

MASSIVE+: The Growth Histories of MASSIVE Survey Galaxies from their Globular Cluster Colors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blakeslee, John

2017-08-01

The MASSIVE survey is targeting the 100 most massive galaxies within 108 Mpc that are visible in the northern sky. These most massive galaxies in the present-day universe reside in a surprisingly wide variety of environments, from rich clusters to fossil groups to near isolation. We propose to use WFC3/UVIS and ACS to carry out a deep imaging study of the globular cluster populations around a selected subset of the MASSIVE targets. Though much is known about GC systems of bright galaxies in rich clusters, we know surprisingly little about the effects of environment on these systems. The MASSIVE sample provides a golden opportunity to learn about the systematics of GC systems and what they can tell us about environmental drivers on the evolution of the highest mass galaxies. The most pressing questions to be addressed include: (1) Do isolated giants have the same constant mass fraction of GCs to total halo mass as BCGs of similar luminosity? (2) Do their GC systems show the same color (metallicity) distribution, which is an outcome of the mass spectrum of gas-rich halos during hierarchical growth? (3) Do the GCs in isolated high-mass galaxies follow the same radial distribution versus metallicity as in rich environments (a test of the relative importance of growth by accretion)? (4) Do the GCs of galaxies in sparse environments follow the same mass function? Our proposed second-band imaging will enable us to secure answers to these questions and add enormously to the legacy value of existing HST imaging of the highest mass galaxies in the universe.

Two New Calcium-rich Gap Transients in Group and Cluster Environments

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

Lunnan, R.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Cao, Y.

We present the Palomar Transient Factory discoveries and the photometric and spectroscopic observations of PTF11kmb and PTF12bho. We show that both transients have properties consistent with the class of calcium-rich gap transients, specifically lower peak luminosities and rapid evolution compared to ordinary supernovae, and a nebular spectrum dominated by [Ca ii] emission. A striking feature of both transients is their host environments: PTF12bho is an intracluster transient in the Coma Cluster, while PTF11kmb is located in a loose galaxy group, at a physical offset ~150 kpc from the most likely host galaxy. Deep Subaru imaging of PTF12bho rules out anmore » underlying host system to a limit of M R > -8.0 mag, while Hubble Space Telescope imaging of PTF11kmb reveals a marginal counterpart that, if real, could be either a background galaxy or a globular cluster. Here, we show that the offset distribution of Ca-rich gap transients is significantly more extreme than that seen for SNe Ia or even short-hard gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Thus, if the offsets are caused by a kick, they require higher kick velocities and/or longer merger times than sGRBs. Finally, we also show that almost all Ca-rich transients found to date are in group and cluster environments with elliptical host galaxies, indicating a very old progenitor population; the remote locations could partially be explained by these environments having the largest fraction of stars in the intragroup/intracluster light following galaxy-galaxy interactions.« less

Two New Calcium-rich Gap Transients in Group and Cluster Environments

DOE PAGES

Lunnan, R.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Cao, Y.; ...

2017-02-08

We present the Palomar Transient Factory discoveries and the photometric and spectroscopic observations of PTF11kmb and PTF12bho. We show that both transients have properties consistent with the class of calcium-rich gap transients, specifically lower peak luminosities and rapid evolution compared to ordinary supernovae, and a nebular spectrum dominated by [Ca ii] emission. A striking feature of both transients is their host environments: PTF12bho is an intracluster transient in the Coma Cluster, while PTF11kmb is located in a loose galaxy group, at a physical offset ~150 kpc from the most likely host galaxy. Deep Subaru imaging of PTF12bho rules out anmore » underlying host system to a limit of M R > -8.0 mag, while Hubble Space Telescope imaging of PTF11kmb reveals a marginal counterpart that, if real, could be either a background galaxy or a globular cluster. Here, we show that the offset distribution of Ca-rich gap transients is significantly more extreme than that seen for SNe Ia or even short-hard gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Thus, if the offsets are caused by a kick, they require higher kick velocities and/or longer merger times than sGRBs. Finally, we also show that almost all Ca-rich transients found to date are in group and cluster environments with elliptical host galaxies, indicating a very old progenitor population; the remote locations could partially be explained by these environments having the largest fraction of stars in the intragroup/intracluster light following galaxy-galaxy interactions.« less

Iowa's Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruth, Amy, Ed.

1994-01-01

This theme issue explores the changes in Iowa's environment. When Native Americans lived in Iowa hundreds of years ago, the land was rich in tall grasslands, fertile soil, wildlife, wetlands, and unpolluted waters. When European-American pioneers settled Iowa in 1833, they changed the environment in order to survive. The first article in this…

Usability Evaluation of an Adaptive 3D Virtual Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ewais, Ahmed; De Troyer, Olga

2013-01-01

Using 3D virtual environments for educational purposes is becoming attractive because of their rich presentation and interaction capabilities. Furthermore, dynamically adapting the 3D virtual environment to the personal preferences, prior knowledge, skills and competence, learning goals, and the personal or (social) context in which the learning…

Rich Environments for Adult Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bentham, Renee

2008-01-01

Unaware of the messages a bare adult learning environment sends and its effect on adult learners, a trainer attends an intensive Reggio Emilia course and learns that the physical environment is the "third teacher"--for adults as well as for children. Using principles of Reggio, she offers suggestions for enhancing adult learning spaces and…

Dust in brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets. V. Cloud formation in carbon- and oxygen-rich environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helling, Ch.; Tootill, D.; Woitke, P.; Lee, G.

2017-07-01

Context. Recent observations indicate potentially carbon-rich (C/O > 1) exoplanet atmospheres. Spectral fitting methods for brown dwarfs and exoplanets have invoked the C/O ratio as additional parameter but carbon-rich cloud formation modeling is a challenge for the models applied. The determination of the habitable zone for exoplanets requires the treatment of cloud formation in chemically different regimes. Aims: We aim to model cloud formation processes for carbon-rich exoplanetary atmospheres. Disk models show that carbon-rich or near-carbon-rich niches may emerge and cool carbon planets may trace these particular stages of planetary evolution. Methods: We extended our kinetic cloud formation model by including carbon seed formation and the formation of C[s], TiC[s], SiC[s], KCl[s], and MgS[s] by gas-surface reactions. We solved a system of dust moment equations and element conservation for a prescribed Drift-Phoenixatmosphere structure to study how a cloud structure would change with changing initial C/O0 = 0.43...10.0. Results: The seed formation efficiency is lower in carbon-rich atmospheres than in oxygen-rich gases because carbon is a very effective growth species. The consequence is that fewer particles make up a cloud if C/O0 > 1. The cloud particles are smaller in size than in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. An increasing initial C/O ratio does not revert this trend because a much greater abundance of condensible gas species exists in a carbon-rich environment. Cloud particles are generally made of a mix of materials: carbon dominates if C/O0 > 1 and silicates dominate if C/O0 < 1. A carbon content of 80-90% carbon is reached only in extreme cases where C/O0 = 3.0 or 10.0. Conclusions: Carbon-rich atmospheres form clouds that are made of particles of height-dependent mixed compositions, sizes and numbers. The remaining gas phase is far less depleted than in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Typical tracer molecules are HCN and C2H2 in combination with a featureless, smooth continuum due to a carbonaceous cloud cover, unless the cloud particles become crystalline.

Novel insights, challenges and practical implications of DOHaD-omics research.

PubMed

Hodyl, Nicolette A; Muhlhausler, Beverly

2016-02-15

Research investigating the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) has never had the technology to investigate physiology in such a data-rich capacity and at such a microlevel as it does now. A symposium at the inaugural meeting of the DOHaD Society of Australia and New Zealand outlined the advantages and challenges of using "-omics" technologies in DOHaD research. DOHaD studies with -omics approaches to generate large, rich datasets were discussed. We discuss implications for policy and practice and make recommendations to facilitate successful translation of results of future DOHaD-omics studies.

Usability testing in medical informatics: cognitive approaches to evaluation of information systems and user interfaces.

PubMed Central

Kushniruk, A. W.; Patel, V. L.; Cimino, J. J.

1997-01-01

This paper describes an approach to the evaluation of health care information technologies based on usability engineering and a methodological framework from the study of medical cognition. The approach involves collection of a rich set of data including video recording of health care workers as they interact with systems, such as computerized patient records and decision support tools. The methodology can be applied in the laboratory setting, typically involving subjects "thinking aloud" as they interact with a system. A similar approach to data collection and analysis can also be extended to study of computer systems in the "live" environment of hospital clinics. Our approach is also influenced from work in the area of cognitive task analysis, which aims to characterize the decision making and reasoning of subjects of varied levels of expertise as they interact with information technology in carrying out representative tasks. The stages involved in conducting cognitively-based usability analyses are detailed and the application of such analysis in the iterative process of system and interface development is discussed. PMID:9357620

Peri-operative communication patterns and media usage--implications for systems design.

PubMed

Karlsen, Ero S; Toussaint, Pieter Jelle

2010-01-01

Inter-hospital communication amounts for a great deal of clinicians' work time. While communication is essential to coordinate care, it can also be time consuming and interruptive, and breakdown in communication is an important source of medical errors. One contributor to the interruptive nature of communication is the use of synchronous media, and there is clearly a potential for novel technologies. To assess communication patterns and media usage we performed an ethnographic field study in the peri-operative environment at a Norwegian hospital, as well as interviews with nurses. We analyze the results with regards to choice of media, characteristics of the conversations taking place and meta-messages, and account for addressing, obtrusiveness and information richness in the message exchanges. We find a relative high degree of interruptiveness in communication, and ascribe it to 1) a lack of situational awareness between locations in the peri-operative domain, as well as 2) use of synchronous media. This suggests that design of novel technology for intra-hospital communication should aim at supporting sender-receiver awareness and signaling of availability.

The need for sustained and integrated high-resolution mapping of dynamic coastal environments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stockdon, Hilary F.; Lillycrop, Jeff W.; Howd, Peter A.; Wozencraft, Jennifer M.

2007-01-01

The evolution of the United States' coastal zone response to both human activities and natural processes is dynamic. Coastal resource and population protection requires understanding, in detail, the processes needed for change as well as the physical setting. Sustained coastal area mapping allows change to be documented and baseline conditions to be established, as well as future behavior to be predicted in conjunction with physical process models. Hyperspectral imagers and airborne lidars, as well as other recent mapping technology advances, allow rapid national scale land use information and high-resolution elevation data collection. Coastal hazard risk evaluation has critical dependence on these rich data sets. A fundamental storm surge model parameter in predicting flooding location, for example, is coastal elevation data, and a foundation in identifying the most vulnerable populations and resources is land use maps. A wealth of information for physical change process study, coastal resource and community management and protection, and coastal area hazard vulnerability determination, is available in a comprehensive national coastal mapping plan designed to take advantage of recent mapping technology progress and data distribution, management, and collection.

The Use of Mobile Learning in Science: A Systematic Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crompton, Helen; Burke, Diane; Gregory, Kristen H.; Gräbe, Catharina

2016-04-01

The use of mobile learning in education is growing at an exponential rate. To best understand how mobile learning is being used, it is crucial to gain a collective understanding of the research that has taken place. This systematic review reveals the trends in mobile learning in science with a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of studies from the year 2000 onward. Major findings include that most of the studies focused on designing systems for mobile learning, followed by a combination of evaluating the effects of mobile learning and investigating the affective domain during mobile learning. The majority of the studies were conducted in the area of life sciences in informal, elementary (5-11 years) settings. Mobile devices were used in this strand of science easily within informal environments with real-world connections. A variety of research methods were employed, providing a rich research perspective. As the use of mobile learning continues to grow, further research regarding the use of mobile technologies in all areas and levels of science learning will help science educators to expand their ability to embrace these technologies.

Large Engine Technology Program. Task 21: Rich Burn Liner for Near Term Experimental Evaluations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hautman, D. J.; Padget, F. C.; Kwoka, D.; Siskind, K. S.; Lohmann, R. P.

2005-01-01

The objective of the task reported herein, which was conducted as part of the NASA sponsored Large Engine Technology program, was to define and evaluate a near-term rich-zone liner construction based on currently available materials and fabrication processes for a Rich-Quench-Lean combustor. This liner must be capable of operation at the temperatures and pressures of simulated HSCT flight conditions but only needs sufficient durability for limited duration testing in combustor rigs and demonstrator engines in the near future. This must be achieved at realistic cooling airflow rates since the approach must not compromise the emissions, performance, and operability of the test combustors, relative to the product engine goals. The effort was initiated with an analytical screening of three different liner construction concepts. These included a full cylinder metallic liner and one with multiple segments of monolithic ceramic, both of which incorporated convective cooling on the external surface using combustor airflow that bypassed the rich zone. The third approach was a metallic platelet construction with internal convective cooling. These three metal liner/jacket combinations were tested in a modified version of an existing Rich-Quench-Lean combustor rig to obtain data for heat transfer model refinement and durability verification.

The Impact of Project-Based Learning on Pre-Service Teachers' Technology Attitudes and Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, Curby; Knezek, Gerald; Christensen, Rhonda; Tyler-Wood, Tandra; Bull, Glen

2014-01-01

Researchers in this study looked at the effect of content-specific, technology-rich project-based learning activities on EC-8 pre-service teachers' competencies and skills, as well as pre-service teacher's attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Researchers employed a quantitative design involving participants in…

Exploring the Impact of a Flexible, Technology-Enhanced Teaching Space on Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Emma; Joy, Mike; Foss, Jonathan; Sinclair, Jane; Sitthiworachart, Jirarat

2015-01-01

Approaches to teaching and learning are increasingly influenced by the introduction of new technologies and innovative use of space. Recognising the need to keep up to date many institutions has created technology-rich, flexible spaces. Studies so far have concentrated on how students use such facilities; however, their availability also strongly…

Reflections on a Technology-Rich Mathematics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodges, Thomas E.; Conner, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

Integrating technology into the mathematics classroom means more than just new teaching tools--it is an opportunity to redefine what it means to teach and learn mathematics. Yet deciding when a particular form of technology may be appropriate for a specific mathematics topic can be difficult. Such decisions center on what is commonly being…

Examining the Characteristics of Literacy Practices in a Technology-Rich Sixth Grade Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eryaman, Mustafa Yunus

2007-01-01

The technological revolution and transformation in schools transforms the practices of literacy and poses tremendous challenges to literacy educators and researchers to rethink their basic tenets, to integrate technology and literacy in creative and productive ways. The aims of this study are to examine the characteristics of literacy practices in…

Measurements of 222Rn, 220Rn, and CO 2 Emissions in Natural CO 2 Fields in Wyoming: MVA Techniques for Determining Gas Transport and Caprock Integrity

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

Kaszuba, John; Sims, Kenneth

An integrated field-laboratory program evaluated the use of radon and CO 2 flux measurements to constrain source and timescale of CO 2 fluxes in environments proximate to CO 2 storage reservoirs. By understanding the type and depth of the gas source, the integrity of a CO 2 storage reservoir can be assessed and monitored. The concept is based on correlations of radon and CO 2 fluxes observed in volcanic systems. This fundamental research is designed to advance the science of Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting (MVA) and to address the Carbon Storage Program goal of developing and validating technologies to ensuremore » 99 percent storage performance. Graduate and undergraduate students conducted the research under the guidance of the Principal Investigators; in doing so they were provided with training opportunities in skills required for implementing and deploying CCS technologies. Although a final method or “tool” was not developed, significant progress was made. The field program identified issues with measuring radon in environments rich in CO 2. Laboratory experiments determined a correction factor to apply to radon measurements made in CO 2-bearing environments. The field program also identified issues with radon and CO 2-flux measurements in soil gases at a natural CO 2 analog. A systematic survey of radon and CO 2 flux in soil gases at the LaBarge CO 2 Field in Southwest Wyoming indicates that measurements of 222Rn (radon), 220Rn (thoron), and CO 2 flux may not be a robust method for monitoring the integrity of a CO 2 storage reservoir. The field program was also not able to correlate radon and CO 2 flux in the CO 2-charged springs of the Thermopolis hydrothermal system. However, this part of the program helped to motivate the aforementioned laboratory experiments that determined correction factors for measuring radon in CO 2-rich environments. A graduate student earned a Master of Science degree for this part of the field program; she is currently employed with a geologic consulting company. Measurement of radon in springs has improved significantly since the field program first began; however, in situ measurement of 222Rn and particularly 220Rn in springs is problematic. Future refinements include simultaneous salinity measurements and systematic corrections, or adjustments to the partition coefficient as needed for more accurate radon concentration determination. A graduate student earned a Master of Science degree for this part of the field program; he is currently employed with a geologic consulting company. Both graduate students are poised to begin work in a CCS technology area. Laboratory experiments evaluated important process-level fundamentals that effect measurements of radon and CO 2. Laboratory tests established that fine-grained source minerals yield higher radon emissivity compared to coarser-sized source minerals; subtleties in the dataset suggest that grain size alone is not fully representative of all the processes controlling the ability of radon to escape its mineral host. Emissivity for both 222Rn and 220Rn increases linearly with temperature due to reaction of rocks with water, consistent with faster diffusion and enhanced mineral dissolution at higher temperatures. The presence of CO 2 changes the relative importance of the factors that control release of radon. Emissivity for both 222Rn and 220Rn in CO 2-bearing experiments is greater at all temperatures compared to the experiments without CO 2, but emissivity does not increase as a simple function of temperature. Governing processes may include a balance between enhanced dissolution versus carbonate mineral formation in CO 2-rich waters.« less

Overview of environmental and occupational vanadium exposure and associated health outcomes: an article based on a presentation at the 8th International Symposium on Vanadium Chemistry, Biological Chemistry, and Toxicology, Washington DC, August 15-18, 2012.

PubMed

Fortoul, T I; Rojas-Lemus, M; Rodriguez-Lara, V; Gonzalez-Villalva, A; Ustarroz-Cano, M; Cano-Gutierrez, G; Gonzalez-Rendon, S E; Montaño, L F; Altamirano-Lozano, M

2014-01-01

Vanadium (V) has a variety of applications that make it suitable for use in ceramic production and decoration, production of pigments for a variety of products, an accelerator for drying paint, production of aniline black dye, and as a mordant in coloring textiles. Taking advantage of its hardness, resilience, ability to form alloys, and its resistance to corrosion, V is also used in the production of tools, steel, machinery, and surgical implants. V is employed in producing photographic developers, batteries, and semi-conductors, and in catalyst-based recycling processes. As technologies have evolved, the use of V has increased in jet aircraft and space technology, as well as in manufacture of ultraviolet filter glass to prevent radiation injury. Due to these myriad uses, the potential for occupational exposure to V is ever-evident. Similarly, there is an increased risk for environmental contamination by V agents themselves or as components of by-products released into the environment. For example, the use of V in sulfuric acid production results in the release of soot and/or fly ash rich in vanadium pentoxide. Petroleum refinery, smelting, welding, and cutting of V-rich steel alloy, the cleaning and repair of oil-fired boilers, and catalysis of chemical productions are other sources of increased airborne V-bearing particles in local/distant environments. Exposure of non-workers to V is an increasing health concern. Studies have demonstrated associations between exposure to airborne V-bearing particles (as part of air pollution) and increased risks of a variety of pathologies like hypertension, dysrhythmia, systemic inflammation, hyper-coagulation, cancers, and bronchial hyper-reactivity. This paper will provide a review of the history of V usage in occupational settings, documented exposure levels, environmental levels of V associated with pollution, epidemiologic data relating V exposure(s) to adverse health outcomes, and governmental responses to protect both workers and non-workers from exposure to this metal.

Unique first-forbidden β-decay rates for neutron-rich nickel isotopes in stellar environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabi, Jameel-Un; Stoica, Sabin

2014-02-01

In astrophysical environments, allowed Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions are important, particularly for β-decay rates in presupernova evolution of massive stars, since they contribute to the fine-tuning of the lepton-to-baryon content of the stellar matter prior to and during the collapse of a heavy star. In environments where GT transitions are unfavored, first-forbidden transitions become important especially in medium heavy and heavy nuclei. Particularly in case of neutron-rich nuclei, first-forbidden transitions are favored primarily due to the phase-space amplification for these transitions. In this work the total β-decay half-lives and the unique first-forbidden (U1F) β-decay rates for a number of neutron-rich nickel isotopes, 72-78Ni, are calculated using the proton-neutron quasi-particle random phase approximation (pn-QRPA) theory in stellar environment for the first time. For the calculation of the β-decay half-lives both allowed and unique first-forbidden transitions were considered. Comparison of the total half-lives is made with measurements and other theoretical calculations where it was found that the pn-QRPA results are in better agreement with experiments and at the same time are suggestive of inclusion of rank 0 and rank 1 operators in first-forbidden rates for still better results.

Problem Solving in a Middle School Robotics Design Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norton, Stephen J.; McRobbie, Campbell J.; Ginns, Ian S.

2007-07-01

Little research has been conducted on how students work when they are required to plan, build and evaluate artefacts in technology rich learning environments such as those supported by tools including flow charts, Labview programming and Lego construction. In this study, activity theory was used as an analytic tool to examine the social construction of meaning. There was a focus on the effect of teachers’ goals and the rules they enacted upon student use of the flow chart planning tool, and the tools of the programming language Labview and Lego construction. It was found that the articulation of a teacher’s goals via rules and divisions of labour helped to form distinct communities of learning and influenced the development of different problem solving strategies. The use of the planning tool flow charting was associated with continuity of approach, integration of problem solutions including appreciation of the nexus between construction and programming, and greater educational transformation. Students who flow charted defined problems in a more holistic way and demonstrated more methodical, insightful and integrated approaches to their use of tools. The findings have implications for teaching in design dominated learning environments.

Reuse of hydroponic waste solution.

PubMed

Kumar, Ramasamy Rajesh; Cho, Jae Young

2014-01-01

Attaining sustainable agriculture is a key goal in many parts of the world. The increased environmental awareness and the ongoing attempts to execute agricultural practices that are economically feasible and environmentally safe promote the use of hydroponic cultivation. Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in nutrient solutions with or without the use of artificial medium to provide mechanical support. Major problems for hydroponic cultivation are higher operational cost and the causing of pollution due to discharge of waste nutrient solution. The nutrient effluent released into the environment can have negative impacts on the surrounding ecosystems as well as the potential to contaminate the groundwater utilized by humans for drinking purposes. The reuse of non-recycled, nutrient-rich hydroponic waste solution for growing plants in greenhouses is the possible way to control environmental pollution. Many researchers have successfully grown several plant species in hydroponic waste solution with high yield. Hence, this review addresses the problems associated with the release of hydroponic waste solution into the environment and possible reuse of hydroponic waste solution as an alternative resource for agriculture development and to control environmental pollution.

Satellites as Sentinels for Environment & Health

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maynard, Nancy G.

2002-01-01

Satellites as Sentinels for Environment & Health Remotely-sensed data and observations are providing powerful new tools for addressing human and ecosystem health by enabling improved understanding of the relationships and linkages between health-related environmental parameters and society as well as techniques for early warning of potential health problems. NASA Office of Earth Science Applications Program has established a new initiative to utilize its data, expertise, and observations of the Earth for public health applications. In this initiative, lead by Goddard Space Flight Center, remote sensing, geographic information systems, improved computational capabilities, and interdisciplinary research between the Earth and health science communities are being combined in rich collaborative efforts resulting in more rapid problem-solving, early warning, and prevention in global health issues. This presentation provides a number of recent examples of applications of advanced remote sensing and other technologies to health.and security issues related to the following: infectious and vector-borne diseases; urban, regional and global air pollution; African and Asian airborne dust; heat stress; UV radiation; water-borne disease; extreme weather; contaminant pathways (ocean, atmosphere, ice)

Existence of an 16O-rich gaseous reservoir in the solar nebula.

PubMed

Krot, Alexander N; McKeegan, Kevin D; Leshin, Laurie A; MacPherson, Glenn J; Scott, Edward R D

2002-02-08

Carbonaceous chondrite condensate olivine grains from two distinct petrographic settings, calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion (CAI) accretionary rims and amoeboid olivine aggregates (AOAs), are oxygen-16 (16O) enriched at the level previously observed inside CAIs. This requires that the gas in the nebular region where these grains condensed was 16O-rich. This contrasts with an 16O-poor gas present during the formation of chondrules, suggesting that CAIs and AOAs formed in a spatially restricted region of the solar nebula containing 16O-rich gas. The 16O-rich gas composition may have resulted either from mass-independent isotopic chemistry or from evaporation of regions with enhanced dust/gas ratios, possibly in an X-wind environment near the young Sun.

Elucidating electrolyte decomposition under electron-rich environments at the lithium-metal anode

DOE PAGES

Camacho-Forero, Luis E.; Balbuena, Perla B.

2017-11-07

The lithium metal anode is one of the key components of the lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, which are considered one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of battery systems. However, one of the main challenges that have prevented Li-metal anodes from becoming feasible to be used in commercial batteries is the continuous decomposition of the electrolyte due to its high reactivity, which leads to the formation of solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers. The properties of the SEI can dramatically affect the performance of the batteries. Thus, a rigorous understanding of the electrolyte decomposition is crucial to elucidate improvements inmore » performance of the Li–S technology. Here, in this work, using density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD), we investigate the effect of electron-rich environments on the decomposition mechanism of electrolyte species in pure 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) solvent and 1 M lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salt solutions. It is found that systems with pure DME require an average environment of at least ~0.9 |e| per molecule for a DME to decompose into CH 3O - and C 2H 4 2-via a 4-electron transfer. In the case of mixtures, the salts are very prone to react with any excess of electrons. In addition, DME dehydrogenation due to reactions with fragments coming from the salt decompositions was detected. Formation of oligomer anionic species from DME and salt fragments were also identified from the AIMD simulations. Finally, the thermodynamics and kinetics of the most relevant electrolyte decomposition reactions were characterized. DME decomposition reactions predicted from the AIMD simulations were found to be thermodynamically favorable under exposure to Li atoms and/or by reactions with salt fragments. Lastly, in most cases, these reactions were shown to have low to moderate activation barriers.« less

Nanoscale Stress-Corrosion of Geomaterials in Aqueous Solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Criscenti, L. J.; Rimsza, J. M.; Matteo, E. N.; Jones, R. E.

2017-12-01

Predicting subcritical crack propagation in low-permeability geo-materials is an unsolved problem crucial to assessing shale caprocks at CO2 sequestration sites, and controlling fracturing for gas and oil extraction. Experiments indicate that chemical reactions at fluid-material interfaces play a major role in subcritical crack growth by weakening the material and altering crack nucleation and growth rates. However, understanding subsurface fracture has been hindered by a lack of understanding of the mechanisms relating chemical environment to mechanical outcome, and a lack of capability directly linking atomistic insight to macroscale observables. We are using both molecular simulation and experiment to develop an atomistic-level understanding of the chemical-mechanical coupling that controls subcritical crack propagation. We are investigating fracture of isotropic silica glass in different environments (air, distilled water, and Na+-rich solutions) and will extend our research to include clay minerals in shales. Molecular simulations are performed with ReaxFF, a reactive force field that allows for explicit modeling of bond breaking and formation processes during crack propagation. A coarse-graining method produces calculated fracture toughness values from the atomistic data. We are performing double cleavage drilled compression (DCDC) experiments in aqueous environmental chambers and monitoring crack propagation with either a confocal or atomic force microscope. Our results show that silica fracture toughness decreases as the environment changes from air to distilled water to Na+-rich solutions. These results suggest that our newly developed computational and experimental techniques can be used to investigate the impact of fluid composition on crack growth in geo-materials and that we will be able to use these methods to understand coupled chemo-mechanical processes and predict crack propagation in shale minerals. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc. for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Elucidating electrolyte decomposition under electron-rich environments at the lithium-metal anode

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

Camacho-Forero, Luis E.; Balbuena, Perla B.

The lithium metal anode is one of the key components of the lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, which are considered one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of battery systems. However, one of the main challenges that have prevented Li-metal anodes from becoming feasible to be used in commercial batteries is the continuous decomposition of the electrolyte due to its high reactivity, which leads to the formation of solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers. The properties of the SEI can dramatically affect the performance of the batteries. Thus, a rigorous understanding of the electrolyte decomposition is crucial to elucidate improvements inmore » performance of the Li–S technology. Here, in this work, using density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD), we investigate the effect of electron-rich environments on the decomposition mechanism of electrolyte species in pure 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) solvent and 1 M lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salt solutions. It is found that systems with pure DME require an average environment of at least ~0.9 |e| per molecule for a DME to decompose into CH 3O - and C 2H 4 2-via a 4-electron transfer. In the case of mixtures, the salts are very prone to react with any excess of electrons. In addition, DME dehydrogenation due to reactions with fragments coming from the salt decompositions was detected. Formation of oligomer anionic species from DME and salt fragments were also identified from the AIMD simulations. Finally, the thermodynamics and kinetics of the most relevant electrolyte decomposition reactions were characterized. DME decomposition reactions predicted from the AIMD simulations were found to be thermodynamically favorable under exposure to Li atoms and/or by reactions with salt fragments. Lastly, in most cases, these reactions were shown to have low to moderate activation barriers.« less

Elucidating electrolyte decomposition under electron-rich environments at the lithium-metal anode.

PubMed

Camacho-Forero, Luis E; Balbuena, Perla B

2017-11-22

The lithium metal anode is one of the key components of the lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, which are considered one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of battery systems. However, one of the main challenges that have prevented Li-metal anodes from becoming feasible to be used in commercial batteries is the continuous decomposition of the electrolyte due to its high reactivity, which leads to the formation of solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers. The properties of the SEI can dramatically affect the performance of the batteries. Thus, a rigorous understanding of the electrolyte decomposition is crucial to elucidate improvements in performance of the Li-S technology. In this work, using density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD), we investigate the effect of electron-rich environments on the decomposition mechanism of electrolyte species in pure 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) solvent and 1 M lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salt solutions. It is found that systems with pure DME require an average environment of at least ∼0.9 |e| per molecule for a DME to decompose into CH 3 O - and C 2 H 4 2- via a 4-electron transfer. In the case of mixtures, the salts are very prone to react with any excess of electrons. In addition, DME dehydrogenation due to reactions with fragments coming from the salt decompositions was detected. Formation of oligomer anionic species from DME and salt fragments were also identified from the AIMD simulations. Finally, the thermodynamics and kinetics of the most relevant electrolyte decomposition reactions were characterized. DME decomposition reactions predicted from the AIMD simulations were found to be thermodynamically favorable under exposure to Li atoms and/or by reactions with salt fragments. In most cases, these reactions were shown to have low to moderate activation barriers.

Use Of New Industrial Coatings for the U.S. Navy Waterfront Structures

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

as a coating for the interior and exterior of piping systems, which either are located in harsh environments or are transporting substances with...SSPC SP 10 Surfaces) (5). SyslCm Coating Sys\\~m A Zinc -rich urethane/MIOa·filled urethane/urethane 314/315/314 B Zinc -rich urethane/MIO-filled...urethanc/MIO-urethane 336/3361336 C Zinc -rich urethancl1vfiO & Alb-fined urethaneiMIO-fiIled 337/3401336 ,1 MicaceQus iron oxide. b Aluminum. urethane

Early Childhood Educators' Understanding of Early Communication: Application to Their Work with Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brebner, Chris; Jovanovic, Jessie; Lawless, Angela; Young, Jessica

2016-01-01

Young children need rich learning experiences to maximize their potential. Early childhood educators (ECEs) working in childcare have knowledge of individual children as well as skills and professional knowledge that afford opportunities to provide language-rich environments for learning. To successfully work in partnership with ECEs,…

Towards a Knowledge-Rich Learning Environment in Preparatory Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Schaik, Martijn; van Oers, Bert; Terwel, Jan

2011-01-01

In this case study a novel educational programme for students in preparatory vocational education was studied. The research questions were: (1) Which teaching/learning processes occur in a simulated workplace using the concept of a "knowledge-rich" workplace? (2) What is the role of models and modelling in the teaching/learning…

Synthesis, structure and reactivity of [Tm(Bu(t))]ZnH, a monomeric terminal zinc hydride compound in a sulfur-rich coordination environment: access to a heterobimetallic compound.

PubMed

Kreider-Mueller, Ava; Quinlivan, Patrick J; Rauch, Michael; Owen, Jonathan S; Parkin, Gerard

2016-02-07

The first terminal zinc hydride complex that features a sulfur-rich coordination environment, namely the tris(2-mercapto-1-tert-butylimidazolyl)hydroborato compound, [Tm(Bu(t))]ZnH, has been synthesized via the reaction of [Tm(Bu(t))]ZnOPh with PhSiH3. The Zn-H bond of [Tm(Bu(t))]ZnH is subject to insertion of CO2 and facile protolytic cleavage, of which the latter provides access to heterobimetallic [Tm(Bu(t))]ZnMo(CO)3Cp.

An experimental approach to manufacturing technology of historical glass (XIII-XV centuries). Comparison with current glassmaking technology.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarrago, Mariona; Gimeno, Domingo; Bazzocchi, Flavia; Garcia-Valles, Maite; Martinez, Salvador

2015-04-01

One of the major and less explored issues in the characterization of historical glasses is the determination of their viscosity as a function of temperature in order to constrain technological aspects of glass production. Until now, assumptions on temperatures have been based on mathematical models based on chemical compositions. Hence, the topic of this work is to explore the technology of stained glass production related to the workability and melting process of the glass by experimental laboratory measurements. This work presents the analysis of viscosity of glasses from different historical sites and chemical compositions: four from Santes Creus (Tarragona, XIII century), two of classical medieval stained glass window from Santa Maria de Pedralbes (Barcelona, mid XIV century), and three of evolved late-medieval type from Santa Maria del Mar (Barcelona first half of XV century), and one sample of soda-lime industrial glass by means of Hot-Stage Microscopy and glass transformation temperature Tg by dilatometry. These data are then compared to the predictions on theoretical viscosity obtained from mathematical models based on chemical composition. These samples are classified according to their major modifier in: Na-rich (12-17% of Na2O, between 65-77% of SiO2 and less than 3 % of K2O); Ca-rich (29% of CaO, 54% of SiO2, 4% of K2O, and 4% of Na2O); K-Ca-rich (17 to 21% of K2O, more than 14% of CaO, 49-55% of SiO2and less than 2% of Na2O); Na-Ca-rich (12-14% of Na2O, 9-15% of CaO, 57-71% of SiO2 and < 6% of K2O). Glass transition temperature (Tg) is correlated to chemical composition: 464-492 °C for Na-rich, 645 °C for Ca-rich, 582-586 °C for K-Ca-rich and 497-542 °C for Na-Ca-rich glasses. Experimental viscosity-temperature curves are traced using Tg and fixed viscosity points measured by Hot-Stage microscopy (according to German standard 51730) in order to provide more accurate insight into the phases of glass production process (melting, working, conditioning and annealing ranges). These results are also compared to mathematical models of glass viscosity based on chemical composition. The annealing range (viscosity between 1013.5 and 1012 Pa-s) is reached at temperatures between 484-633°C (strain point) and 509-664°C (upper limit). The working point (viscosity of 103 Pa-s) has temperature values in the range between 958 and 1097°C.

The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: environment, hominin culture, subsistence and adaptation on the shores of the paleo-Hula Lake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goren-Inbar, N.

2014-12-01

The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY), located in the Hula Valley, northern sector of the Dead Sea transform, stretches along 3.5 km of the Jordan River and its banks. The accumulation of tilted lake-margin sediments interfingered with basalt flows began 1.1 Ma and ended after 0.6 Ma. The excavations (1989-1997) exposed 34 m thick deposits that provide unique data sets on climate, environment, biology, culture and hominin behavior. Hominin presence is known throughout the sequence, providing information on Acheulian technology and cognition along the time trajectory, but the richest sites (15 in number) occur above the M/B Chron Boundary. Reconstructions of paleoenvironment and habitats are based on fossil remains yielding an extremely rich typically Mediterranean biomass of diverse biogeographic origins. Macro and micro organic material (over 140 identified taxa) exhibits a typical Mediterranean environment similar to the extant flora, with few extinctions (20 species). The rich fossil faunal include molluscs, ostracods, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, micromammals and medium-sized to large mammals (over 237 taxa), predominantly Palearctic in biogeographic origin. Many of these taxa are still extant, attesting to stable habitats and paleoclimatic conditions. Hominin occupations are documented by thousands of lithic artifacts (flint, limestone and basalt), all assigned to the Large Flake Acheulian culture. These assemblages show a continuous cultural tradition of the same tool kit along the time trajectory. The lithic reduction required developed cognitive abilities and communication abilities, interpreted as language. Evidence of hominin subsistence includes data on carcass processing including extraction of marrow, with a preference for consumption of fallow deer, elephant, hippopotamus and fish. Edible plant remains include nuts, USO, fruits, seeds and vegetables in association with stone artifacts and animal bones. Fire, present throughout, was clearly instrumental in the expansion of diet and is documented spatially. The GBY analyses provide novel evidence for hominin adaptations to a Mediterranean environment and prolonged Levantine Corridor occupations, illustrating the mechanisms of diffusion along the African Great Rift system.

Distinct evolutionary strategies of human leucocyte antigen loci in pathogen-rich environments

PubMed Central

Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia; Lemaître, Jean-François; Currat, Mathias

2012-01-01

Human leucocyte antigen (HLA) loci have a complex evolution where both stochastic (e.g. genetic drift) and deterministic (natural selection) forces are involved. Owing to their extraordinary level of polymorphism, HLA genes are useful markers for reconstructing human settlement history. However, HLA variation often deviates significantly from neutral expectations towards an excess of genetic diversity. Because HLA molecules play a crucial role in immunity, this observation is generally explained by pathogen-driven-balancing selection (PDBS). In this study, we investigate the PDBS model by analysing HLA allelic diversity on a large database of 535 populations in relation to pathogen richness. Our results confirm that geographical distances are excellent predictors of HLA genetic differentiation worldwide. We also find a significant positive correlation between genetic diversity and pathogen richness at two HLA class I loci (HLA-A and -B), as predicted by PDBS, and a significant negative correlation at one HLA class II locus (HLA-DQB1). Although these effects are weak, as shown by a loss of significance when populations submitted to rapid genetic drift are removed from the analysis, the inverse relationship between genetic diversity and pathogen richness at different loci indicates that HLA genes have adopted distinct evolutionary strategies to provide immune protection in pathogen-rich environments. PMID:22312050

Providing Interactive Access to Cave Geology for All Students, Regardless of Physical Ability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atchison, C. `; Stredney, D.; Hittle, B.; Irving, K.; Toomey, R. S., III; Lemon, N. N.; Price, A.; Kerwin, T.

2013-12-01

Based on an identified need to accommodate students with mobility impairments in field-based instructional experiences, this presentation will discuss current efforts to promote participation, broaden diversity, and impart a historical perspective in the geosciences through the use of an interactive virtual environment. Developed through the integration of emerging simulation technologies, this prototypical virtual environment is created from LIDAR data of the Historic Tour route of Mammoth Cave National Park. The educational objectives of the simulation focus on four primary locations within the tour route that provide evidence of the hydrologic impact on the cave and karst formation. The overall objective is to provide a rich experience of a geological field-based learning for all students, regardless of their physical abilities. Employing a virtual environment that interchangeably uses two and three-dimensional representation of geoscience content, this synthetic field-based cave and karst module will provide an opportunity to assess the effectiveness in engaging the student community, and its efficacy in the curriculum when used as an alternative representation of a traditional field experience. The expected outcome is that based on the level of interactivity, the simulated environment will provide adequate pedagogical representation for content transfer without the need for physical experience in the uncontrolled field environment. Additionally, creating such an environment will impact all able-bodied students by providing supplemental resources that can both precede a traditional field experience and allow for students to re-examine a field site long after a the field experience, in both current formal and informal educational settings.

How Habitat Change and Rainfall Affect Dung Beetle Diversity in Caatinga, a Brazilian Semi-Arid Ecosystem

PubMed Central

Liberal, Carolina Nunes; de Farias, Ângela Maria Isidro; Meiado, Marcos Vinicius; Filgueiras, Bruno K. C.; Iannuzzi, Luciana

2011-01-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate how dung beetle communities respond to both environment and rainfall in the Caatinga, a semi-arid ecosystem in northeastern Brazil. The communities were sampled monthly from May 2006 to April 2007 using pitfall traps baited with human feces in two environments denominated “land use area” and “undisturbed area.” Abundance and species richness were compared between the two environments and two seasons (dry and wet season) using a generalized linear model with a Poisson error distribution. Diversity was compared between the two environments (land use area and undisturbed area) and seasons (dry and wet) using the Two-Way ANOVA test. Non-metric multidimensional scaling was performed on the resemblance matrix of Bray-Curtis distances (with 1000 random restarts) to determine whether disturbance affected the abundance and species composition of the dung beetle communities. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to determine whether rainfall was correlated with abundance and species richness. A total of 1097 specimens belonging to 13 species were collected. The most abundant and frequent species was Dichotomius geminatus Arrow (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The environment exerted an influence over abundance. Abundance and diversity were affected by season, with an increase in abundance at the beginning of the wet season. The correlation coefficient values were high and significant for abundance and species richness, which were both correlated to rainfall. In conclusion, the restriction of species to some environments demonstrates the need to preserve these areas in order to avoid possible local extinction. Therefore, in extremely seasonable environments, such as the Caatinga, seasonal variation strongly affects dung beetle communities. PMID:22224924

How habitat change and rainfall affect dung beetle diversity in Caatinga, a Brazilian semi-arid ecosystem.

PubMed

Liberal, Carolina Nunes; de Farias, Ângela Maria Isidro; Meiado, Marcos Vinicius; Filgueiras, Bruno K C; Iannuzzi, Luciana

2011-01-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate how dung beetle communities respond to both environment and rainfall in the Caatinga, a semi-arid ecosystem in northeastern Brazil. The communities were sampled monthly from May 2006 to April 2007 using pitfall traps baited with human feces in two environments denominated "land use area" and "undisturbed area." Abundance and species richness were compared between the two environments and two seasons (dry and wet season) using a generalized linear model with a Poisson error distribution. Diversity was compared between the two environments (land use area and undisturbed area) and seasons (dry and wet) using the Two-Way ANOVA test. Non-metric multidimensional scaling was performed on the resemblance matrix of Bray-Curtis distances (with 1000 random restarts) to determine whether disturbance affected the abundance and species composition of the dung beetle communities. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to determine whether rainfall was correlated with abundance and species richness. A total of 1097 specimens belonging to 13 species were collected. The most abundant and frequent species was Dichotomius geminatus Arrow (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The environment exerted an influence over abundance. Abundance and diversity were affected by season, with an increase in abundance at the beginning of the wet season. The correlation coefficient values were high and significant for abundance and species richness, which were both correlated to rainfall. In conclusion, the restriction of species to some environments demonstrates the need to preserve these areas in order to avoid possible local extinction. Therefore, in extremely seasonable environments, such as the Caatinga, seasonal variation strongly affects dung beetle communities.

Spatial variation in fish assemblages across a beaver-influenced successional landscape

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schlosser, I.J.; Kallemeyn, L.W.

2000-01-01

Beavers are increasingly viewed as “ecological engineers,” having broad effects on physical, chemical, and biological attributes of north-temperate landscapes. We examine the influence of both local successional processes associated with beaver activity and regional geomorphic boundaries on spatial variation in fish assemblages along the Kabetogama Peninsula in Voyageurs National Park, northern Minnesota, USA. Fish abundance and species richness exhibited considerable variation among drainages along the peninsula. Geological barriers to fish dispersal at outlets of some drainages has reduced fish abundance and species richness. Fish abundance and species richness also varied within drainages among local environments associated with beaver pond succession. Fish abundance was higher in upland ponds than in lowland ponds, collapsed ponds, or streams, whereas species richness was highest in collapsed ponds and streams. Cluster analyses based on fish abundance at sites classified according to successional environment indicated that four species (northern redbelly dace, Phoxinus eos; brook stickleback, Culaea inconstans; finescale dace, P. neogaeus; and fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas), were predominant in all successional environments. Several less abundant species were added in collapsed ponds and streams, with smaller size classes of large lake species (e.g., black crappie, Pomoxis nigromaculatus; smallmouth bass, Micropertus dolomieui; yellow perch, Perca flavescens; and burbot, Lota lota) being a component of these less abundant species. The addition of smaller size classes of large lake species indicates that dispersal of early life-history stages from Kabetogama Lake played a role in determining the species richness and composition of less abundant species in successional environments on the peninsula. Furthermore, collapsed-pond and stream environments closer to Kabetogama Lake had higher species richness than similar successional sites located farther from the lake. Cluster analyses based on fish abundance at sites classified according to drainage indicated that species composition among drainages was influenced both by the presence or absence of geological barriers to fish dispersal and the nonrandom distribution of collapsed ponds and streams. Based on these results, we present a hierarchical conceptual model suggesting how geomorphic boundaries and beaver pond succession interact to influence fish assemblage attributes. The presence of a productive and diverse fish assemblage in headwater streams of north-temperate areas requires the entire spatial and temporal mosaic of successional habitats associated with beaver activity, including those due to the creation and abandonment of beaver ponds. The ultimate impact of the local successional mosaic on fishes, however, will be strongly influenced by the regional geomorphic context in which the mosaic occurs.

Cloud-based Jupyter Notebooks for Water Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castronova, A. M.; Brazil, L.; Seul, M.

2017-12-01

The development and adoption of technologies by the water science community to improve our ability to openly collaborate and share workflows will have a transformative impact on how we address the challenges associated with collaborative and reproducible scientific research. Jupyter notebooks offer one solution by providing an open-source platform for creating metadata-rich toolchains for modeling and data analysis applications. Adoption of this technology within the water sciences, coupled with publicly available datasets from agencies such as USGS, NASA, and EPA enables researchers to easily prototype and execute data intensive toolchains. Moreover, implementing this software stack in a cloud-based environment extends its native functionality to provide researchers a mechanism to build and execute toolchains that are too large or computationally demanding for typical desktop computers. Additionally, this cloud-based solution enables scientists to disseminate data processing routines alongside journal publications in an effort to support reproducibility. For example, these data collection and analysis toolchains can be shared, archived, and published using the HydroShare platform or downloaded and executed locally to reproduce scientific analysis. This work presents the design and implementation of a cloud-based Jupyter environment and its application for collecting, aggregating, and munging various datasets in a transparent, sharable, and self-documented manner. The goals of this work are to establish a free and open source platform for domain scientists to (1) conduct data intensive and computationally intensive collaborative research, (2) utilize high performance libraries, models, and routines within a pre-configured cloud environment, and (3) enable dissemination of research products. This presentation will discuss recent efforts towards achieving these goals, and describe the architectural design of the notebook server in an effort to support collaborative and reproducible science.

Going Beyond the Lecture Class - Is it Worth it?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Funaro, G. M.; Paytan, A.; Arrigo, K. R.; Chandran, R.; Schindell, J.

2001-12-01

Lectures, labs, and seminars dominate the course offerings at most American universities. Students have been learning successfully from these teaching methods for hundreds of years. Alternatively, in order to provide a more personally meaningful learning experience, educational researchers espouse a constructivist approach to learning. To demonstrate this approach, we will describe a case study of two courses, marine chemistry and biological oceanography, that were taught as a single interdisciplinary experience by Stanford University faculty. The courses incorporated an innovative curriculum using active learning methodologies including problem-based learning and teamwork, a set of interactive and facilitative teaching practices, customized technology that worked in the background to make the course effective and efficient, and a goal to reveal the interdisciplinary nature of the content in the two courses. Videotapes of group problem solving revealed that students displayed higher order thinking skills. Students indicated in focus groups that teamwork provided a motivating, rich, learning environment. The communication technology supported both the faculty in the delivery and assessment of the course and the students in communicating with their teams. The technology was the glue that made the course work effectively and efficiently. The overall learning experience can be best expressed by the students themselves who said they felt like they were participating in "real science" for the first time.

EdMOO: One Approach to a Multimedia Collaborative Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holkner, Bernard

The nature of the multiuser object oriented (MOO) environment lends itself to flexible and rich interactive collaboration space providing interactive discussion, mail, mailing list, and news features to its virtual denizens. EdMOO (HREF1) was created in mid-1995 as an environment for teachers to experience the text based virtual reality…

Eduscape: The Effects of Servicescapes and Emotions in Academic Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wells, Victoria K.; Daunt, Kate L.

2016-01-01

Conceptual and empirical studies on the impact of physical environments in educational settings are lacking. In comparison, consumption environments research has a rich history. In this paper we bring together these two research streams to develop (Study 1) and test (Study 2) an "Eduscape" model of the effects of emotions and…

Using Five Stage Model to Design of Collaborative Learning Environments in Second Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orhan, Sevil; Karaman, M. Kemal

2014-01-01

Specifically Second Life (SL) among virtual worlds draws attention of researchers to form collaborative learning environments (Sutcliffe & Alrayes, 2012) since it could be used as a rich platform to simulate a real environment containing many collaborative learning characteristics and interaction tools within itself. Five Stage Model (FSM)…

Incorporating spectroscopy and measurement technology into the high school chemistry laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harbert, Emily Ann

Science and technology are becoming increasingly important in maintaining a healthy economy at home and a competitive edge on the world stage, though that is just one facet affected by inadequate science education in the United States. Engaging students in the pursuit of knowledge and giving them the skills to think critically are paramount. One small way to assist in achieving these goals is to increase the quality and variety of technology-rich activities conducted in high school classrooms. Incorporating more laboratory measurement technology into high schools may incite more student interest in the processes and practices of science and may allow students to learn to think more critically about their data and what it represents. The first objective of the work described herein was to determine what measurement technology is being used in schools and to what extent, as well as to determine other teacher needs and preferences. Second, the objective was to develop a new program to provide incoming freshmen (or rising seniors) with measurement technology training they did not receive in high school, and expose them to new research and career opportunities in science. The final objective was to create a technology-rich classroom laboratory activity for use in high schools.

RFID Technology for Inventory Management

ScienceCinema

None

2018-05-01

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is leveraging the use and application of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to a variety of markets. Tagging and tracking of individual items for inventory control is revealing rich rewards through increased time efficiency and reduced human intervention.

2007 Campus Technology Innovators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campus Technology, 2007

2007-01-01

This article profiles the winners of this year's competition for outstanding technology innovation on US college and university campuses. The winners are: (1) Rice University, Texas (virtualized networks); (2) Drexel University, Pennsylvania (rich media); (3) Harvard Business School, Massachusetts (network management); (4) Louisiana State…

Oxidation Of Manganese At Kimberley, Gale Crater: More Free Oxygen In Mars' Past?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lanza, N. L.; Wiens, R. C.; Arvidson, R. E.; Clark, B. C.; Fischer, W. W.; Gellert, R.; Grotzinger, J. P.; Hurowitz, J. A.; McLennan, S. M.; Morris, R. V.;

A multi-dimensional environment-health risk analysis system for the English regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vitolo, Claudia; Scutari, Marco; Ghalaieny, Mohamed; Tucker, Allan; Russell, Andrew

2017-04-01

There is an overwhelming body of evidence that environmental pollution, and air pollution in particular, is a significant threat to health worldwide. While in developed countries the introduction of environmental legislation and sustainable technologies aims to mitigate adverse effects, developing countries are at higher risk. Within the scope of the British Council funded KEHRA project, work is on-going to develop a reproducible and reliable system to assess health risks due to exposure to pollution under climate change and across countries. Our approach is based on the use of Bayesian Networks. We used these graphical models to explore and model the statistical dependence structure of the intricate environment-health nexus. We developed a robust modelling workflow in the R programming language to facilitate reproducibility and tested it on the English regions in the United Kingdom. Preliminary results are encouraging, showing that the model tests generally well in sample (training data spans the period 1981-2005) and has good predictive power when tested out of sample (testing data spans the period 2006-2014). We plan to show the results of this preliminary analysis as well as test the model under future climate change scenarios. Future work will also investigate the transferability of the model from a data-rich (England) to a data-poor environment (Kazakhstan).

Global neurotrauma research challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Rubiano, Andrés M; Carney, Nancy; Chesnut, Randall; Puyana, Juan Carlos

2015-11-19

Traumatic injury to the brain or spinal cord is one of the most serious public health problems worldwide. The devastating impact of 'trauma', a term used to define the global burden of disease related to all injuries, is the leading cause of loss of human potential across the globe, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Enormous challenges must be met to significantly advance neurotrauma research around the world, specifically in underserved and austere environments. Neurotrauma research at the global level needs to be contextualized: different regions have their own needs and obstacles. Interventions that are not considered a priority in some regions could be a priority for others. The introduction of inexpensive and innovative interventions, including mobile technologies and e-health applications, focused on policy management improvement are essential and should be applicable to the needs of the local environment. The simple transfer of a clinical question from resource-rich environments to those of low- and middle-income countries that lack sophisticated interventions may not be the best strategy to address these countries' needs. Emphasis on promoting the design of true 'ecological' studies that include the evaluation of human factors in relation to the process of care, analytical descriptions of health systems, and how leadership is best applied in medical communities and society as a whole will become crucial.

The rainy season increases the abundance and richness of the aquatic insect community in a Neotropical reservoir.

PubMed

Santana, H S; Silva, L C F; Pereira, C L; Simião-Ferreira, J; Angelini, R

2015-01-01

Alterations in aquatic systems and changes in water levels, whether due to rains or dam-mediated control can cause changes in community structure, forcing the community to readjust to the new environment. This study tested the hypothesis that there is an increase in the richness and abundance of aquatic insects during the rainy season in the Serra da Mesa Reservoir, with the premise that increasing the reservoir level provides greater external material input and habitat diversity, and, therefore, conditions that promote colonization by more species. We used the paired t test to test the differences in richness, beta diversity, and abundance, and a Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) was performed to identify patterns in the community under study. Additionally, Pearson correlations were analyzed between the richness, abundance, and beta diversity and the level of the reservoir. We collected 35,028 aquatic insect larvae (9,513 in dry period and 25,515 in the rainy season), predominantly of the Chironomidae family, followed by orders Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Odonata. Among the 33 families collected, only 12 occurred in the dry season, while all occurred in the rainy season. These families are common in lentic environments, and the dominance of Chironomidae was associated with its fast colonization, their behavior of living at high densities and the great tolerance to low levels of oxygen in the environment. The hypothesis was confirmed, as the richness, beta diversity, and abundance were positively affected by the increase in water levels due to the rainy season, which most likely led to greater external material input, greater heterogeneity of habitat, and better conditions for colonization by several families.

A manganese-rich environment supports superoxide dismutase activity in a Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi.

PubMed

Aguirre, J Dafhne; Clark, Hillary M; McIlvin, Matthew; Vazquez, Christine; Palmere, Shaina L; Grab, Dennis J; Seshu, J; Hart, P John; Saito, Mak; Culotta, Valeria C

2013-03-22

The Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi represents a novel organism in which to study metalloprotein biology in that this spirochete has uniquely evolved with no requirement for iron. Not only is iron low, but we show here that B. burgdorferi has the capacity to accumulate remarkably high levels of manganese. This high manganese is necessary to activate the SodA superoxide dismutase (SOD) essential for virulence. Using a metalloproteomic approach, we demonstrate that a bulk of B. burgdorferi SodA directly associates with manganese, and a smaller pool of inactive enzyme accumulates as apoprotein. Other metalloproteins may have similarly adapted to using manganese as co-factor, including the BB0366 aminopeptidase. Whereas B. burgdorferi SodA has evolved in a manganese-rich, iron-poor environment, the opposite is true for Mn-SODs of organisms such as Escherichia coli and bakers' yeast. These Mn-SODs still capture manganese in an iron-rich cell, and we tested whether the same is true for Borrelia SodA. When expressed in the iron-rich mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, B. burgdorferi SodA was inactive. Activity was only possible when cells accumulated extremely high levels of manganese that exceeded cellular iron. Moreover, there was no evidence for iron inactivation of the SOD. B. burgdorferi SodA shows strong overall homology with other members of the Mn-SOD family, but computer-assisted modeling revealed some unusual features of the hydrogen bonding network near the enzyme's active site. The unique properties of B. burgdorferi SodA may represent adaptation to expression in the manganese-rich and iron-poor environment of the spirochete.

Shrubs as ecosystem engineers across an environmental gradient: effects on species richness and exotic plant invasion.

PubMed

Kleinhesselink, Andrew R; Magnoli, Susan M; Cushman, J Hall

2014-08-01

Ecosystem-engineering plants modify the physical environment and can increase species diversity and exotic species invasion. At the individual level, the effects of ecosystem engineers on other plants often become more positive in stressful environments. In this study, we investigated whether the community-level effects of ecosystem engineers also become stronger in more stressful environments. Using comparative and experimental approaches, we assessed the ability of a native shrub (Ericameria ericoides) to act as an ecosystem engineer across a stress gradient in a coastal dune in northern California, USA. We found increased coarse organic matter and lower wind speeds within shrub patches. Growth of a dominant invasive grass (Bromus diandrus) was facilitated both by aboveground shrub biomass and by growing in soil taken from shrub patches. Experimental removal of shrubs negatively affected species most associated with shrubs and positively affected species most often found outside of shrubs. Counter to the stress-gradient hypothesis, the effects of shrubs on the physical environment and individual plant growth did not increase across the established stress gradient at this site. At the community level, shrub patches increased beta diversity, and contained greater rarified richness and exotic plant cover than shrub-free patches. Shrub effects on rarified richness increased with environmental stress, but effects on exotic cover and beta diversity did not. Our study provides evidence for the community-level effects of shrubs as ecosystem engineers in this system, but shows that these effects do not necessarily become stronger in more stressful environments.

Integrating Information Technology's Competencies into Academic Nursing Education--An Action Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonen, Ayala; Sharon, Dganit; Lev-Ari, Lilac

2016-01-01

Today, in the digital age, we are committed to prepare the future nurse for the information technology-rich workplace, and to help them reducing the "shock reality" upon arriving at the clinical setting. The main aim of the study is to promote the knowledge of Information Competencies Technology among nurses' educators and student. The…

Contribution of eukaryotic microbial communities to the formation of Fe-rich accretions in an extreme acidic environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodrigues, L.; Valente, T.; Correia, A.; Alves, A.; Foing, B.; Davies, G. R.

2012-04-01

In the acid mine drainage of Valdarcas, northern Portugal, Fe-rich tubular and spherical macroaccretions are directly associated with the presence of eukaryotic microorganisms. This raises the question whether they are biogenically-derived or the result of an abiotic process mediated by microeukaryotic phototrophs. The drainage water at Valdarcas is characterized by very low pH values (pH<3.5), high metal solubility and presence of iron colloids. Mineralogical analysis (XRD and SEM) of the precipitates indicates a mixture of goethite, schwertmannite and jarosite. Euglenophyta and Chlorophyta acidophilic algal were previously identified in this site. The spatial distribution of Euglena mutabilis indicated that it has a preference to grow up on schwertmannite-rich precipitates. Field observations demonstrate the existence of oxygenated microenvironments created by algal activity suggesting that algae influence iron minerals precipitation, especially schwertmannite. The mineral-microorganism interactions are relevant to understanding this unique and extreme environment. Further investigations regarding the mineralogical and chemical characterization of these deposits, and the identification of microorganisms involved in the process could be helpful to enhance our knowledge of past Fe formations throughout Earth's primordial environment. It is expectable that this information will contribute to establish a framework for recognition of biosignatures on other planets and extraterrestrial bodies. In this study, results on the chemical and mineralogical composition of the structures are presented. The biological context is characterised based on observations made by optical microscopy complemented with molecular data on the microbial communities obtained by culture independent methods. The results are discussed within the context of two models: the studied Fe-rich stromatolites are microeukaryotic-mediated as described by previous workers from similar environments or are the consequence of inorganic precipitation of reduced iron species (Fe(III)) due to the oxygen generated by the photosynthesis?

"Teacher, There's an Elephant in the Room!" An Inquiry Approach to Preschoolers' Early Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kampmann, Jennifer Anne; Bowne, Mary Teresa

2011-01-01

Children need sound language and literacy skills to communicate with others and actively participate in a classroom learning community. When an early childhood classroom offers a language- and literacy-rich environment, children have numerous opportunities to practice language and literacy in a social setting. A language-rich classroom includes an…

Protective Coats For Zinc-Rich Primers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macdowell, Louis G, III

1993-01-01

Report describes tests of topcoats for inorganic zinc-rich primers on carbon steel. Topcoats intended to provide additional protection against corrosion in acidic, salty seacoast-air/rocket-engine-exhaust environment of Space Shuttle launch site. Tests focused on polyurethane topcoats on epoxy tie coats on primers. Part of study involved comparison between "high-build" coating materials and thin-film coating materials.

The Effects of Creating Rich Learning Environments for Children to Measure Mass

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheeseman, Jill; McDonough, Andrea; Ferguson, Sarah

2012-01-01

This paper reports on a design experiment regarding young children's concepts of mass measurement. 119 year one and two children were interviewed using a clinical interview both before and after the teaching period comprising five lessons that offered rich learning experiences regarding concepts of mass. The results of the interviews were that the…

The other aspect of solar energy utilization. Solar technologies export enhancement: A central European point of view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winter, C. J.; Nitsch, J.; Klaiss, H.; Voigt, C.

1985-11-01

It is shown that solar energy utilization can, on a moderate scale, supplement the indigenous energy supply of the Federal Republic of Germany. It can contribute to the prevention of fatal ecological damage, open an attractive export market and, in the long run, prepare ground for North-South compensation, where energy-poor but technology rich countries cooperate with countries of the Third World, which are often rich in raw materials and are situated in the solar belt of the world, for the benefit of the implementation of a solar industry or the production of a marketable synthetic solar energy carrier.

Modular, Reconfigurable, High-Energy Systems Stepping Stones

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, Joe T.; Carrington, Connie K.; Mankins, John C.

2005-01-01

Modular, Reconfigurable, High-Energy Systems are Stepping Stones to provide capabilities for energy-rich infrastructure strategically located in space to support a variety of exploration scenarios. Abundant renewable energy at lunar or L1 locations could support propellant production and storage in refueling scenarios that enable affordable exploration. Renewable energy platforms in geosynchronous Earth orbits can collect and transmit power to satellites, or to Earth-surface locations. Energy-rich space technologies also enable the use of electric-powered propulsion systems that could efficiently deliver cargo and exploration facilities to remote locations. A first step to an energy-rich space infrastructure is a 100-kWe class solar-powered platform in Earth orbit. The platform would utilize advanced technologies in solar power collection and generation, power management and distribution, thermal management, and electric propulsion. It would also provide a power-rich free-flying platform to demonstrate in space a portfolio of technology flight experiments. This paper presents a preliminary design concept for a 100-kWe solar-powered satellite with the capability to flight-demonstrate a variety of payload experiments and to utilize electric propulsion. State-of-the-art solar concentrators, highly efficient multi-junction solar cells, integrated thermal management on the arrays, and innovative deployable structure design and packaging make the 100-kW satellite feasible for launch on one existing launch vehicle. Higher voltage arrays and power management and distribution (PMAD) systems reduce or eliminate the need for massive power converters, and could enable direct- drive of high-voltage solar electric thrusters.

Sustainable urban water systems in rich and poor cities--steps towards a new approach.

PubMed

Newman, P

2001-01-01

The 'big pipes in, big pipes out' approach to urban water management was developed in the 19th century for a particular linear urban form. Large, sprawling car-dependent cities are pushing this approach to new limits in rich cities and it has never worked in poor cities. An alternative which uses new small-scale technology and is more community-based, is suggested for both rich and poor countries. The Sydney Olympics and a demonstration project in Java show that the approach can work.

iSTEM: Tinkering with Buoyancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Mi Yeon

2014-01-01

In the technology-rich twenty-first century, students are required to actively construct their knowledge and collaboratively engage in problem solving by using such skills as adaptability, communication, self-management, and systematic thinking. In accordance with this necessity, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education…

Heterogeneous postsurgical data analytics for predictive modeling of mortality risks in intensive care units.

PubMed

Yun Chen; Hui Yang

2014-01-01

The rapid advancements of biomedical instrumentation and healthcare technology have resulted in data-rich environments in hospitals. However, the meaningful information extracted from rich datasets is limited. There is a dire need to go beyond current medical practices, and develop data-driven methods and tools that will enable and help (i) the handling of big data, (ii) the extraction of data-driven knowledge, (iii) the exploitation of acquired knowledge for optimizing clinical decisions. This present study focuses on the prediction of mortality rates in Intensive Care Units (ICU) using patient-specific healthcare recordings. It is worth mentioning that postsurgical monitoring in ICU leads to massive datasets with unique properties, e.g., variable heterogeneity, patient heterogeneity, and time asyncronization. To cope with the challenges in ICU datasets, we developed the postsurgical decision support system with a series of analytical tools, including data categorization, data pre-processing, feature extraction, feature selection, and predictive modeling. Experimental results show that the proposed data-driven methodology outperforms traditional approaches and yields better results based on the evaluation of real-world ICU data from 4000 subjects in the database. This research shows great potentials for the use of data-driven analytics to improve the quality of healthcare services.

Bacterial and archaeal communities in the deep-sea sediments of inactive hydrothermal vents in the Southwest India Ridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Likui; Kang, Manyu; Xu, Jiajun; Xu, Jian; Shuai, Yinjie; Zhou, Xiaojian; Yang, Zhihui; Ma, Kesen

2016-05-01

Active deep-sea hydrothermal vents harbor abundant thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms. However, microbial communities in inactive hydrothermal vents have not been well documented. Here, we investigated bacterial and archaeal communities in the two deep-sea sediments (named as TVG4 and TVG11) collected from inactive hydrothermal vents in the Southwest India Ridge using the high-throughput sequencing technology of Illumina MiSeq2500 platform. Based on the V4 region of 16S rRNA gene, sequence analysis showed that bacterial communities in the two samples were dominated by Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Furthermore, archaeal communities in the two samples were dominated by Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. Comparative analysis showed that (i) TVG4 displayed the higher bacterial richness and lower archaeal richness than TVG11; (ii) the two samples had more divergence in archaeal communities than bacterial communities. Bacteria and archaea that are potentially associated with nitrogen, sulfur metal and methane cycling were detected in the two samples. Overall, we first provided a comparative picture of bacterial and archaeal communities and revealed their potentially ecological roles in the deep-sea environments of inactive hydrothermal vents in the Southwest Indian Ridge, augmenting microbial communities in inactive hydrothermal vents.

Design and R&D of RICH detectors for EIC experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Dotto, A.; Wong, C.-P.; Allison, L.; Awadi, M.; Azmoun, B.; Barbosa, F.; Brooks, W.; Cao, T.; Chiu, M.; Cisbani, E.; Contalbrigo, M.; Datta, A.; Demarteau, M.; Durham, J. M.; Dzhygadlo, R.; Fields, D.; Furletova, Y.; Gleason, C.; Grosse-Perdekamp, M.; Harris, J.; He, X.; van Hecke, H.; Horn, T.; Huang, J.; Hyde, C.; Ilieva, Y.; Kalicy, G.; Kimball, M.; Kistenev, E.; Kulinich, Y.; Liu, M.; Majka, R.; McKisson, J.; Mendez, R.; Nadel-Turonski, P.; Park, K.; Peters, K.; Rao, T.; Pisani, R.; Qiang, Y.; Rescia, S.; Rossi, P.; Sarsour, M.; Schwarz, C.; Schwiening, J.; da Silva, C. L.; Smirnov, N.; Stein, H.; Stevens, J.; Sukhanov, A.; Syed, S.; Tate, A.; Toh, J.; Towell, C.; Towell, R.; Tsang, T.; Wagner, R.; Wang, J.; Woody, C.; Xi, W.; Xie, J.; Zhao, Z. W.; Zihlmann, B.; Zorn, C.

2017-12-01

An Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has been proposed to further explore the strong force and QCD, focusing on the structure and the interaction of gluon-dominated matter. A generic detector R&D program (EIC PID consortium) for the particle identification in EIC experiments was formed to explore technologically advanced solutions in this scope. In this context two Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) counters have been proposed: a modular RICH detector which consists of an aerogel radiator, a Fresnel lens, a mirrored box, and pixelated photon sensor; a dual-radiator RICH, consisting of an aerogel radiator and C2F6 gas in a mirror-focused configuration. We present the simulations of the two detectors and their estimated performance.

Rich client data exploration and research prototyping for NOAA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grossberg, Michael; Gladkova, Irina; Guch, Ingrid; Alabi, Paul; Shahriar, Fazlul; Bonev, George; Aizenman, Hannah

2009-08-01

Data from satellites and model simulations is increasing exponentially as observations and model computing power improve rapidly. Not only is technology producing more data, but it often comes from sources all over the world. Researchers and scientists who must collaborate are also located globally. This work presents a software design and technologies which will make it possible for groups of researchers to explore large data sets visually together without the need to download these data sets locally. The design will also make it possible to exploit high performance computing remotely and transparently to analyze and explore large data sets. Computer power, high quality sensing, and data storage capacity have improved at a rate that outstrips our ability to develop software applications that exploit these resources. It is impractical for NOAA scientists to download all of the satellite and model data that may be relevant to a given problem and the computing environments available to a given researcher range from supercomputers to only a web browser. The size and volume of satellite and model data are increasing exponentially. There are at least 50 multisensor satellite platforms collecting Earth science data. On the ground and in the sea there are sensor networks, as well as networks of ground based radar stations, producing a rich real-time stream of data. This new wealth of data would have limited use were it not for the arrival of large-scale high-performance computation provided by parallel computers, clusters, grids, and clouds. With these computational resources and vast archives available, it is now possible to analyze subtle relationships which are global, multi-modal and cut across many data sources. Researchers, educators, and even the general public, need tools to access, discover, and use vast data center archives and high performance computing through a simple yet flexible interface.

Early upper paleolithic shell beads at Üçağızlı Cave I (Turkey): technology and the socioeconomic context of ornament life-histories.

PubMed

Stiner, Mary C; Kuhn, Steven L; Güleç, Erksin

2013-05-01

Ten early Upper Paleolithic layers in Üçağızlı Cave I (41-29 uncalibrated ky BP) on the Hatay coast of southern Turkey preserve a rich and varied record of early Upper Paleolithic life, including the production and use of large numbers of shell ornaments. This study examines shell bead production, use, and discard in relation to site function and the diversity of on-site human activities. Four factors are expected to contribute to variation in the ornament assemblages, one environmental and three behavioral. The behavioral factors relate to winnowing for quality as a function of distance from the raw material source, changes in the size of user groups, and symbol standardization. The accumulation rates for shell beads, bones, and stone tools paralleled one another through time, indicating that ornament discard followed the pulse of daily life at this site. All stages of manufacture and use are well represented in each assemblage, and half or more of the ornaments show evidence of extended use. Changes in the local marine environment do not explain much of the variation in the assemblages, pointing instead to behavioral causes. The richness of shell types that were collected as raw material correlates to greater exploitation of edible marine shellfish and greater occupation intensity. Much of this variation in the ornament raw material was eliminated during the manufacture stage, almost certainly reflecting the influence of cultural norms. A focus on basket-shaped shells changed remarkably little over thousands of years, despite significant changes in other domains of technology. This last result suggests that beads were the most irreducible and conservative elements of more complex design traditions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reaching 1 m deep on Mars: the Icebreaker drill.

PubMed

Zacny, K; Paulsen, G; McKay, C P; Glass, B; Davé, A; Davila, A F; Marinova, M; Mellerowicz, B; Heldmann, J; Stoker, C; Cabrol, N; Hedlund, M; Craft, J

2013-12-01

The future exploration of Mars will require access to the subsurface, along with acquisition of samples for scientific analysis and ground-truthing of water ice and mineral reserves for in situ resource utilization. The Icebreaker drill is an integral part of the Icebreaker mission concept to search for life in ice-rich regions on Mars. Since the mission targets Mars Special Regions as defined by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the drill has to meet the appropriate cleanliness standards as requested by NASA's Planetary Protection Office. In addition, the Icebreaker mission carries life-detection instruments; and in turn, the drill and sample delivery system have to meet stringent contamination requirements to prevent false positives. This paper reports on the development and testing of the Icebreaker drill, a 1 m class rotary-percussive drill and triple redundant sample delivery system. The drill acquires subsurface samples in short, approximately 10 cm bites, which makes the sampling system robust and prevents thawing and phase changes in the target materials. Autonomous drilling, sample acquisition, and sample transfer have been successfully demonstrated in Mars analog environments in the Arctic and the Antarctic Dry Valleys, as well as in a Mars environmental chamber. In all environments, the drill has been shown to perform at the "1-1-100-100" level; that is, it drilled to 1 m depth in approximately 1 hour with less than 100 N weight on bit and approximately 100 W of power. The drilled substrate varied and included pure ice, ice-rich regolith with and without rocks and with and without 2% perchlorate, and whole rocks. The drill is currently at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5. The next-generation Icebreaker drill weighs 10 kg, which is representative of the flightlike model at TRL 5/6.

The 3D LAOKOON--Visual and Verbal in 3D Online Learning Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liestol, Gunnar

This paper reports on a project where three-dimensional (3D) online gaming environments were exploited for the purpose of academic communication and learning. 3D gaming environments are media and meaning rich and can provide inexpensive solutions for educational purposes. The experiment with teaching and discussions in this setting, however,…

Fostering the Artistic and Imaginative Capacities of Young Children: Case Study Report from a Visit to a Museum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarkin-Phillips, Jeanette; Carr, Margaret; Thomas, Rebecca; Tinning, Andrea; Waitai, Maiangi

2018-01-01

Museum visits can offer rich learning environments for preschool children. In potentiating learning environments, power is shared between adults and children as children and teachers co-construct understanding. Such learning environments also maximise opportunities for dialogue between adults, children and their peers. Drawing on the findings from…

Clustering environments of BL Lac objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wurtz, Ronald; Ellingson, Erica; Stocke, John T.; Yee, H. K. C.

1993-01-01

We report measurements of the amplitude of the BL Lac galaxy spatial covariance function, B(gb), for the fields of five BL Lacertae objects. We present evidence for rich clusters around MS 1207+39 and MS 1407+59, and confirm high richness for the cluster containing H0414+009. We discuss the ease of 3C 66 A and find evidence for a poor cluster based on an uncertain redshift of z = 0.444. These data suggest that at least some BL Lac objects are consistent with being FR 1 radio galaxies in rich clusters.

Online Digital Archives Technology That Supports Rich, Student-Centered Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hofer, Mark

2004-01-01

Today's students watch the newest movie trailers on the Web, share music files, play video games with other players over the Internet, and swap digital pictures of the latest teen idols. Donald Tapscott points out in his book Growing Up Digital that as this rich multimedia experience becomes more a part of students' lives outside of school, they…

Nanometer-scale features in dolomite from Pennsylvanian rocks, Paradox Basin, Utah

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gournay, Jonas P.; Kirkland, Brenda L.; Folk, Robert L.; Lynch, F. Leo

1999-07-01

Scanning electron microscopy reveals an association between early dolomite in the Pennsylvanian Desert Creek (Paradox Fm.) and small (approximately 0.1 μm) nanometer-scale textures, termed `nannobacteria'. Three diagenetically distinct dolomites are present: early dolomite, limpid dolomite, and baroque dolomite. In this study, only the early dolomite contained nanometer-scale features. These textures occur as discrete balls and rods, clumps of balls, and chains of balls. Precipitation experiments demonstrate that these textures may be the result of precipitation in an organic-rich micro-environment. The presence of these nanometer-scale textures in Pennsylvanian rocks suggests that these early dolomites precipitated in organic-rich, bacterial environments.

Reduced taxonomic richness of lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) in diving birds.

PubMed

Felsõ, B; Rózsa, L

2006-08-01

Avian lice occupy different habitats in the host plumage that the physical environment outside the host body may affect in several ways. Interactions between host plumage and water may be an important source of such effects. Here, we use a comparative approach to examine the effect of a host's diving behavior on the taxonomic richness of its lice. Louse genera richness was significantly lower in clades of diving birds than on their nondiving sister clades. Species richness of host and body mass did not differ significantly between these clades; thus, these factors did not bias our results. This study suggests that the hosts' diving behavior can effectively influence ectoparasite communities.

Studies in mid-infrared spectropolarimetry - II. An atlas of spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Craig H.; Wright, Christopher M.; Aitken, David K.; Roche, Patrick F.; Hough, James H.

2000-02-01

We present 8-13μm spectropolarimetry of 55 sources and 16-22μm spectropolarimetry of six of these. This represents a substantial fraction of star formation regions that can be observed in this way with current technology on 4-m class telescopes (i.e. brighter than about 20Jy at 10μm in a 4-arcsec beam). Most of the sources are embedded young stellar objects (YSOs), Hii regions containing sites of star formation or bipolar protoplanetary nebulae (PPN), although a few other sources (e.g. NGC 1068, MWC 349) are also included. The majority have oxygen-rich chemistry but there are three carbon-rich sources. Many of the oxygen-rich sources show deep silicate absorption overlying featureless or optically thin silicate emission. Absorptive polarization with polarization per optical depth (paτ)~=1-3 per cent is common, and many also show evidence for an emissive polarization component as well, although pure polarization in emission is rare. The observed ranges of paτ and pe are very similar, rather surprising in view of their origin from very different environments. Typically the absorptive polarization profiles are similar to the archetypal silicate polarization found in OMC1 BN, but an exception is AFGL 2591, which displays an additional narrow polarization feature at 11.2μm, which has been attributed to annealed silicates. Many of the intensity absorption spectra also show an inflection near 11.2μm, which might also be attributable to annealed silicates. The carbon-rich sources have nearly featureless polarizations in the 0.5-1per cent range, which we ascribe to dichroism in carbon-based grains; this is the first evidence that such grains can be aligned. In two of these sources the polarization appears to be caused by absorption by SiC. A few of the polarization spectra have no straightforward interpretation.

Arctic Technology Evaluation 2014 Oil-in-Ice Demonstration Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

Spills in Ice”, 2014 International Oil Spill Conference, Savannah, GA, May, 2014. Hansen, Kurt A., Scot T. Trip, Rich L. Hansen (2014) “Evaluating...Operations”, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) report to BSEE, 2013. Arctic Technology Evaluation 2014 Oil-in-Ice Demonstration Report 40

Impact of Media Richness and Flow on E-Learning Technology Acceptance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Su-Houn; Liao, Hsiu-Li; Pratt, Jean A.

2009-01-01

Advances in e-learning technologies parallels a general increase in sophistication by computer users. The use of just one theory or model, such as the technology acceptance model, is no longer sufficient to study the intended use of e-learning systems. Rather, a combination of theories must be integrated in order to fully capture the complexity of…

Biodiversity and Peace: Where Technology and Montessori Come Together in the Children's Eternal Rainforest, Costa Rica

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Jeff

2016-01-01

Jeff Norris, initially shocked by the Montessorians who are calling technology into question, states that technology can offer a means of development for the child who is concurrently supporting and learning from the rich and overpowering biodiversity of the rainforest. He speaks for the Children's Eternal Rainforest citizen's science as well as…

Analysis of a Moon outpost for Mars enabling technologies through a Virtual Reality environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casini, Andrea E. M.; Maggiore, Paolo; Viola, Nicole; Basso, Valter; Ferrino, Marinella; Hoffman, Jeffrey A.; Cowley, Aidan

2018-02-01

The Moon is now being considered as the starting point for human exploration of the Solar System beyond low-Earth orbit. Many national space agencies are actively advocating to build up a lunar surface habitat capability starting from 2030 or earlier: according to ESA Technology Roadmaps for Exploration this should be the result of a broad international cooperation. Taking into account an incremental approach to reduce risks and costs of space missions, a lunar outpost can be considered as a test bed towards Mars, allowing to validate enabling technologies, such as water processing, waste management, power generation and storage, automation, robotics and human factors. Our natural satellite is rich in resources that could be used to pursue such a goal through a necessary assessment of ISRU techniques. The aim of this research is the analysis of a Moon outpost dedicated to the validation of enabling technologies for human space exploration. The main building blocks of the outpost are identified and feasible evolutionary scenarios are depicted, to highlight the incremental steps to build up the outpost. Main aspects that are dealt with include outpost location and architecture, as well as ISRU facilities, which in a far term future can help reduce the mass at launch, by producing hydrogen and oxygen for consumables, ECLSS, and propellant for Earth-Moon sorties and Mars journeys. A test outpost is implemented in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment as a first proof-of-concepts, where the elements are computer-based mock-ups. The VR facility has a first-person interactive perspective, allowing for specific in-depth analyses of ergonomics and operations. The feedbacks of these analyses are crucial to highlight requirements that might otherwise be overlooked, while their general outputs are fundamental to write down procedures. Moreover, the mimic of astronauts' EVAs is useful for pre-flight training, but can also represent an additional tool for failures troubleshooting during the flight controllers' nominal operations. Additionally, illumination maps have been obtained to study the light conditions, which are essential parameters to assess the base elements location. This unique simulation environment may offer the largest suite of benefits during the design and development phase, as it allows to design future systems to optimize operations, thus maximizing the mission's scientific return, and to enhance the astronauts training, by saving time and cost. The paper describes how a virtual environment could help to design a Moon outpost for an incremental architecture strategy towards Mars missions.

Enrichment of the educational environment with information and communication technologies: state of art at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Kaunas University of Medicine.

PubMed

Butrimiene, Edita; Stankeviciene, Nida

2008-01-01

Both traditional and new educational environments, the latter enriched with information and communication technologies, coexist in today's university. The goal of this article is to present the concept of educational environment enriched with information and communication technologies, to reveal the main features of such environment, and to present the results of certain investigation on the application of information technologies in teaching/learning processes at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Kaunas University of Medicine. The discussion object of this paper is the educational environment enriched with information and communication technologies. In designing the environments of this type, positive aspects of traditional teaching models are being developed by integrating them into the new educational environment. The concept of educational environment enriched with information and communication technologies is reviewed in the first part of this paper. The structure and main features of educational environments enriched with information and communication technologies are highlighted in the second part. The results of the study on the application of information technologies in teaching/learning processes at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Kaunas University of Medicine are presented in the third part.

Solder joint aging characteristics from the MC2918 firing set of a B61 accelerated aging unit (AAU)

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

Vianco, P.T.; Rejent, J.A.

1997-10-01

The B61 accelerated aging unit (AAU) provided a unique opportunity to document the effects of a controlled, long-term thermal cycling environment on the aging of materials used in the device. This experiment was of particular interest to solder technologists because thermal cycling environments are a predominant source of solder joint failures in electronic assemblies. Observations of through hole solder joints in the MC2918 Firing Set from the B61 AAU did not reveal signs of catastrophic failure. Quantitative analyses of the microstructural metrics of intermetallic compound layer thickness and Pb-rich phase particle distributions indicated solder joint aging that was commensurate withmore » the accelerated aging environment. The effects of stress-enhanced coarsening of the Pb-rich phase were also documented.« less

Leveraging object-oriented development at Ames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wenneson, Greg; Connell, John

1994-01-01

This paper presents lessons learned by the Software Engineering Process Group (SEPG) from results of supporting two projects at NASA Ames using an Object Oriented Rapid Prototyping (OORP) approach supported by a full featured visual development environment. Supplemental lessons learned from a large project in progress and a requirements definition are also incorporated. The paper demonstrates how productivity gains can be made by leveraging the developer with a rich development environment, correct and early requirements definition using rapid prototyping, and earlier and better effort estimation and software sizing through object-oriented methods and metrics. Although the individual elements of OO methods, RP approach and OO metrics had been used on other separate projects, the reported projects were the first integrated usage supported by a rich development environment. Overall the approach used was twice as productive (measured by hours per OO Unit) as a C++ development.

Lipidic biosignatures in diagenetically stabilized ironstones terraces of Rio Tinto, an acidic environment with analogies to Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-García, L.; Carrizo, D.; Fernández-Remolar, D.; Parro, V.

2017-09-01

The characterization of extreme environments with analogies to Mars is important for understanding if/how life may have thrived in the Red Planet. Río Tinto in SW Spain is an extreme environment with constant acidic waters (mean pH of 2.3) and high concentration of heavy metals, which are direct consequence of the active metabolism of chemolithotrophic microorganisms thriving in the rich polymetallic sulfides present in the massive Iberian Pyritic Belt. Abundant minerals rich in ferric iron and sulfates, which result from the pyrite metabolism (e.g. jarosite, goethite, hematites, etc.) are of special interest for their potential for organics preservation [1]. Here, we investigate the occurrence and preservation of biological signatures in diagenetically stabilized ironstone deposits in Río Tinto, by using geolipidic markers.

Genome sequence of the button mushroom Agaricus bisporus reveals mechanisms governing adaptation to a humic-rich ecological niche

Treesearch

Emmanuelle Morin; Annegret Kohler; Adam R. Baker; Marie Foulongne-Oriol; Vincent Lombard; Laszlo G. Nagy; Robin A. Ohm; Aleksandrina Patyshakuliyeva; Annick Brun; Andrea L. Aerts; Andrew M. Bailey; Christophe Billette; Pedro M. Coutinho; Greg Deakin; Harshavardhan Doddapaneni; Dimitrios Floudas; Jane Grimwood; Kristiina Hild& #233; n; Ursula K& #252; es; Kurt M. LaButti; Alla Lapidus; Erika A. Lindquist; Susan M. Lucas; Claude Murat; Robert W. Riley; Asaf A. Salamov; Jeremy Schmutz; Venkataramanan Subrananian; Han A.B. W& #246; sten; Jianping Xu; Daniel C. Eastwood; Gary D. Foster; Anton S.M. Sonnenberg; Daniel Cullen; Ronald P. de Vries; Taina Lundell; David S. Hibbett; Bernard Henrissat; Kerry S. Burton; Richard W. Kerrigan; Michael P. Challen; Igor V. Grigoriev; Francis Martin

2012-01-01

Agaricus bisporus is the model fungus for the adaptation, persistence,and growth in the humic-rich leaf-litter environment. Aside from its ecological role, A. bisporus has been an important component of the human diet for over 200 y and worldwide cultivation of the "button mushroom" forms a multibillion dollar...

Innovative Second Language Speaking Practice with Interactive Videos in a Rich Internet Application Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pereira, Juan A.; Sanz-Santamaría, Silvia; Montero, Raúl; Gutiérrez, Julián

2012-01-01

Attaining a satisfactory level of oral communication in a second language is a laborious process. In this action research paper we describe a new method applied through the use of interactive videos and the Babelium Project Rich Internet Application (RIA), which allows students to practice speaking skills through a variety of exercises. We present…

The effect of multiple internal representations on context-rich instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lasry, Nathaniel; Aulls, Mark W.

2007-11-01

We discuss n-coding, a theoretical model of multiple internal mental representations. The n-coding construct is developed from a review of cognitive and imaging data that demonstrates the independence of information processed along different modalities such as verbal, visual, kinesthetic, logico-mathematic, and social modalities. A study testing the effectiveness of the n-coding construct in classrooms is presented. Four sections differing in the level of n-coding opportunities were compared. Besides a traditional-instruction section used as a control group, each of the remaining three sections were given context-rich problems, which differed by the level of n-coding opportunities designed into their laboratory environment. To measure the effectiveness of the construct, problem-solving skills were assessed as conceptual learning using the force concept inventory. We also developed several new measures that take students' confidence in concepts into account. Our results show that the n-coding construct is useful in designing context-rich environments and can be used to increase learning gains in problem solving, conceptual knowledge, and concept confidence. Specifically, when using props in designing context-rich problems, we find n-coding to be a useful construct in guiding which additional dimensions need to be attended to.

The way ahead--the new technology in an old society.

PubMed

Sharma, Manju; Swarup, Renu

2003-01-01

Biotechnology is one of the most important scientific and technological revolutions of the last century and has greatly benefited various aspects of human life. The potentials are enormous and many breakthroughs have already been achieved in the area of healthcare, food, agricultural products and environmental production. The developments in this important area provide immediate benefits to mankind and offer environmentally friendly technologies for sustainable development. The Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, set up in 1986, has played an important catalytic role in promoting this revolutionary field. Research and development, technology validation and demonstration, technology transfer, human resource development, setting up of Centers of Excellence and promoting industry-academia interactions have been some of the major achievements during the last 15 years. A unique feature of this Department is the strong interaction with scientists and institutes across the country to promote biotechnology research and development efforts for commercialization and also to benefit the rural population for socio-economic development. A large number of research institutes/universities and organizations across the country have been supported in the areas of agriculture, healthcare, environment and industry. In addition, basic research has also been an important thrust area. In order to ensure that the benefits of biotechnology reach the masses at large, a very stringent biosafety mechanism has been adopted. India is a country rich in biodiversity with two hot spots and has a strong base of expertise available in nearly all fields--thus biotechnology could flourish leading to a Bioindustrial Revolution. We are today poised to be the leaders in this field in the 21st Century.

[Petrological Analysis of Astrophysical Dust Analog Evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rietmeijer, Frans J. M.

1997-01-01

This project "Petrological analysis of astrophysical dust analog evolution" was initiated to try to understand the vapor phase condensation, and the nature of the reaction products, in circumstellar environments, such as the solar nebula 4,500 Myrs ago, and in the interstellar medium. Telescope-based infrared [IR] spectroscopy offers a broad-scale inventory of the various types of dust in these environments but no details on small-scale variations in terms of chemistry and morphology and petrological phase relationships. Vapor phase condensation in these environments is almost certainly a non-equilibrium process. The main challenge to this research was to document the nature of this process that, based on astrophysical observations, seems to yield compositionally consistent materials. This observation may suggest a predictable character during non-equilibrium condensation. These astrophysical environments include two chemically distinct, that is, oxygen-rich and carbon-rich environments. The former is characterized by silicates the latter by carbon-bearing solids. According to cosmological models of stellar evolution circumstellar dust accreted into protoplanets wherein thermal and/or aqueous processes will alter the dust under initially, non-equilibrium conditions.

The humpbacked species richness-curve: A contingent rule for community ecology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Graham, John H.; Duda, Jeffrey J.

2011-01-01

Functional relationships involving species richness may be unimodal, monotonically increasing, monotonically decreasing, bimodal, multimodal, U-shaped, or with no discernable pattern. The unimodal relationships are the most interesting because they suggest dynamic, nonequilibrium community processes. For that reason, they are also contentious. In this paper, we provide a wide-ranging review of the literature on unimodal (humpbacked) species richness-relationships. Though not as widespread as previously thought, unimodal patterns of species richness are often associated with disturbance, predation and herbivory, productivity, spatial heterogeneity, environmental gradients, time, and latitude. These unimodal patterns are contingent on organism and environment; we examine unimodal species richness-curves involving plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, plankton, and microbes in marine, lacustrine, and terrestrial habitats. A goal of future research is to understand the contingent patterns and the complex, interacting processes that generate them.

BENCH-SCALE STUDIES TO IDENTIFY PROCESS PARAMETERS CONTROLLING REBURNING WITH PULVERIZED COAL

EPA Science Inventory

The report addresses the evaluation of a technology which is a combination of two technologies used to control the atmospheric emission of NOx by stationary sources: (1) combustion modification (controls flame temperature and maximizes fuel-rich residence time to minimize NOx for...

Information Systems Education: The Case for the Academic Cloud

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mew, Lionel

2016-01-01

This paper discusses how cloud computing can be leveraged to add value to academic programs in information systems and other fields by improving financial sustainment models for institutional technology and academic departments, relieving the strain on overworked technology support resources, while adding richness and improving pedagogical…

Technology, Disability, and Law: Then and Now

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalsen, Jennifer

2017-01-01

Disability law and technology services share a rich history. This article investigates this transformative relationship through the contextual framework of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A summary of legal cases, accommodation services, and barriers to access are explored. This includes an overview of the challenges facing…

Advanced CIGS Photovoltaic Technology: Annual Technical Report--Phase II, 15 November 2002--14 November 2003

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

Delahoy, A. E.; Chen, L.

2004-05-01

The objective of this subcontract is to develop and integrate the various pieces of new technology that EPV considers enabling for cost-effective production of CIGS modules. EPV has conducted research to help generate a technology base for production of CIGS PV modules using vacuum deposition of CIGS onto glass. This strategy is consistent with the observation that, despite there being several approaches to forming device-quality CIGS, vacuum deposition has maintained the world record for the highest-efficiency CIGS device. A record thin-film solar cell efficiency of 19.2% (with Ni-Al grid and MgF2 ARC) for a 0.41-cm2 device was achieved by NRELmore » in 2003 using vacuum-deposited CIGS. The deposition employed four point sources and detection of the Cu-poor to Cu-rich transition for process control. To extend this type of processing to the realm of large-area substrates, EPV developed vacuum equipment designed for heating and coating 0.43-m2 moving substrates, with a projected further scale up to 0.79 m2. The substrates are typically low-cost, soda-lime glass, and the materials are supplied to the moving substrates using novel linear-source technology developed by EPV. The use of elemental selenium rather than toxic H2Se gas helps make for a safe manufacturing environment. These choices concerning film deposition, substrates, and source materials help to minimize the processing costs of CIGS.« less

Building Literacy with Child-Constructed Sociodramatic Play Centers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Christine J.

1999-01-01

Presents suggestions for creating play-learning environments designed to promote children's early literacy. Suggests that stimulating and inviting environments, abundant in print-rich materials, realistic props, and manipulatives meaningful to children are most valuable. Themes include hospital, pizza restaurant, hardware store, flower shop, candy…

Education for Appreciating Environment--An Example of Curriculum Design of Natural Aesthetic Education in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Chung-Ping

2015-01-01

Environmental protection is now the common consensus in the world. If we can teach students how to appreciate the natural environment and love its beauty, they may protect the environment naturally. But how can we learn to appreciate nature? The research on the contemporary aesthetics of nature provides rich discussions and directions. This paper…

Virtual Golden Foods Corporation: Generic Skills in a Virtual Crisis Environment (A Pilot Study)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godat, Meredith

2007-01-01

Workplace learning in a crisis-rich environment is often difficult if not impossible to integrate into programs so that students are able to experience and apply crisis management practices and principles. This study presents the results of a pilot project that examined the effective use of a virtual reality (VR) environment as a tool to teach…

Escaping the resource curse in China.

PubMed

Cao, Shixiong; Li, Shurong; Ma, Hua; Sun, Yutong

2015-02-01

Many societies face an income gap between rich regions with access to advanced technology and regions that are rich in natural resources but poorer in technology. This "resource curse" can lead to a Kuznets trap, in which economic inequalities between the rich and the poor increase during the process of socioeconomic development. This can also lead to depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation, social instability, and declining socioeconomic development. These problems will jeopardize China's achievements if the current path continues to be pursued without intervention by the government to solve the problems. To mitigate the socioeconomic development gap between western and eastern China, the government implemented its Western Development Program in 2000. However, recent data suggest that this program has instead worsened the resource curse. Because each region has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, China must escape the resource curse by accounting for this difference; in western China, this can be done by improving education, promoting high-tech industry, adjusting its economic strategy to balance regional development, and seeking more sustainable approaches to socioeconomic development.

Design and R&D of RICH detectors for EIC experiments

DOE PAGES

Del Dotto, A.; Wong, C. -P.; Allison, L.; ...

2017-03-18

An Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has been proposed to further explore the strong force and QCD, focusing on the structure and the interaction of gluon-dominated matter. A generic detector R&D program (EIC PID consortium) for the particle identification in EIC experiments was formed to explore technologically advanced solutions in this scope. In this context two Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) counters have been proposed: a modular RICH detector which consists of an aerogel radiator, a Fresnel lens, a mirrored box, and pixelated photon sensor; a dual-radiator RICH, consisting of an aerogel radiator and C 2F 6 gas in a mirror-focused configuration. Asmore » a result, we present the simulations of the two detectors and their estimated performance.« less

Update on Risk Reduction Activities for a Liquid Advanced Booster for NASA's Space Launch System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crocker, Andy; Graham, Bart

2016-01-01

Dynetics has designed innovative structure assemblies; manufactured them using Friction Stir Welding (FSW) to leverage NASA investments in tools, facilities, and processes; conducted proof and burst testing, demonstrating viability of design/build processes Dynetics/AR has applied state-of-the-art manufacturing and processing techniques to the heritage F-1, reducing risk for engine development Dynetics/AR has also made progress on technology demonstrations for ORSC cycle engine, which offers affordability and performance for both NASA and other launch vehicles Full-scale integrated oxidizer-rich test article. Testing will evaluate performance and combustion stability characteristics. Contributes to technology maturation for ox-rich staged combustion engines.

Patterns and Principles for Blended Synchronous Learning: Engaging Remote and Face-to-Face Learners in Rich-Media Real-Time Collaborative Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bower, Matt; Kenney, Jacqueline; Dalgarno, Barney; Lee, Mark J. W.; Kennedy, Gregor E.

2014-01-01

Blended synchronous learning involves using rich-media technologies to enable remote and face-to-face students to jointly participate in the same live classes. This article presents blended synchronous learning designs from seven case studies that were part of a project funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching and…

Thermodynamic Phenomenology for Perovskite Structure Ferroelectric Solid Solutions with Morphotropic Phase Boundaries

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-12-13

American Advanced Study Institute on Science and Technology of Ferroelectric Materials: Rosario Argentina, September 2002. a. Brief History of...zirconium-rich rhombohedral perovskite and the titani - composition. 8,𔄃) um-rich tetragonal perovskite phases. Within recent years, three factors have...of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1570517] The well-known elastoelectric coupling effects include When reviewing the history of flexoelectric investiga

Physical Learning Environment and its Suitability to the Objectives of Technology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soobik, Mart

2013-01-01

The present article focuses on Technology Education teachers' opinions on the physical learning environment of Technology Education. The study compares and analyses the changes in the physical learning environment of Technology Education. Two questionnaire surveys (Study I and Study II) were carried out among teachers of Technology Education in…

The potential impact of the preparation rich in growth factors (PRGF) in different medical fields.

PubMed

Anitua, Eduardo; Sánchez, Mikel; Orive, Gorka; Andía, Isabel

2007-11-01

Platelet-rich preparations constitute a relatively new biotechnology for the stimulation and acceleration of tissue healing and bone regeneration. The versatility and biocompatibility of this approach has stimulated its therapeutic use in numerous medical and scientific fields including dentistry, oral implantology, orthopaedics, ulcer treatment, tissue engineering among others. Here we discuss the important progress that has been accomplished in the field of platelet-rich preparations in the last few years. Some of the most interesting therapeutic applications of this technology are discussed as are some of the limitations, future challenges and directions in the field.

"Under the Radar": Educators and Cyberbullying in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassidy, Wanda; Brown, Karen; Jackson, Margaret

2012-01-01

Educators play an important role in preventing cyberbullying and encouraging positive online behaviour. In this article we report on the educator portion of a study of cyberbullying at two large, technology-rich secondary schools in Canada. We discuss 17 educators' experiences with cyberbullying, their knowledge of social networking technology,…

Factors That Affect Faculty Attitudes toward Adoption of Technology-Rich Blended Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moukali, Khalid Hussain

2012-01-01

Universities worldwide are transitioning to blended learning where technology is used to enhance and augment traditional face-to-face instruction. Investigation of how well blended learning strategies are accepted and adopted in multicultural settings is needed to facilitate this transition. This study investigated factors and barriers that…

Integrating Technology in STEM Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chacko, Priya; Appelbaum, Sarah; Kim, Heejoo; Zhao, Jinhui; Montclare, Jin Kim

2015-01-01

Students have access to the Internet at their fingertips via e-tablets and smart phones. However, the STEM fields are struggling to remain relevant in students' lives outside the classroom. In an effort to improve high school science curricula and to keep students engaged in the classroom, we developed a technology-rich bioengineering summer…

Triangulation and Mixed Methods Designs: Data Integration with New Research Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fielding, Nigel G.

2012-01-01

Data integration is a crucial element in mixed methods analysis and conceptualization. It has three principal purposes: illustration, convergent validation (triangulation), and the development of analytic density or "richness." This article discusses such applications in relation to new technologies for social research, looking at three…

The Role of New Technologies to Foster Positive Youth Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bers, Marina Umaschi

2006-01-01

This article describes a developmental systems approach to applied developmental science (ADS), which provides a framework to design and evaluate technology-rich programs that promote positive development by emphasizing the strengths and assets of young people instead of focusing on diminishing or preventing risk-taking behaviors. Until now, most…

The Transformation of Malaysian Society through Technological Advantage: ICT and Education in Malaysia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bajunid, Ibrahim Ahmad

2001-01-01

Describes efforts by Malaysian society to transform itself using technology into an information-rich knowledge society founded on positive universal values. Locates contemporary educational development within the framework of four government-driven initiatives that provide the direction and resources for educational change. Discusses issues…

ARC-2011-ACD11-0012-012

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-26

Technology Partnerships awards: Federal Laboratory Consortium Far West Region Award for Outstanding Technology Development for Multi-Aircraft Control System. In particular order are Connie Brasil, Todd Callantine, Al Globus, Jeff Homola, Rich Jacoby, George Lawton, Paul Lee, Matt Mainini, Joey Mercer, Ev Palmer, Tom Prevot, Nancy Smith, Easter Wang, James Wong.

Empowering Prospective Teachers to Become Active Sense-Makers: Multimodal Modeling of the Seasons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Mi Song

2015-01-01

Situating science concepts in concrete and authentic contexts, using information and communications technologies, including multimodal modeling tools, is important for promoting the development of higher-order thinking skills in learners. However, teachers often struggle to integrate emergent multimodal models into a technology-rich informal…

Through Technology Leverage and Risk Avoidance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sugasawa, Yoshio; Shinomiya, Takeshi

2010-01-01

Companies make concerted efforts to survive in a radically changing global society with the advent of a highly-networked and information-rich society that is featured by intense market competition. Manufacturing industries in particular have a tendency to rely on technological development strengths as a means of survival in a highly globalised and…

Invited review: The preterm pig as a model in pediatric gastroenterology

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

At birth, the newborn mammal undergoes a transition from a sterile uterine environment with a constant nutrient supply, to a microbe-rich environment with intermittent oral intake of complex milk nutrients via the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). These functional challenges partly explain the relativel...

The relationship between microbial DNA concentrations and swimming associated health effects at a tropical environment bathing beach

EPA Science Inventory

The relationship between microbial DNA concentrations and swimming associated health effects at a tropical environment bathing beach. Timothy 1. Wade, presenter. Co-authors: Alfred P. Dufour, Kristen Brenner, Rich Haugland, Larry Wymer, Elizabeth Sams Fecal indicator bacteria (F...

Genotype x environment interactions in eggplant for fruit phenolic acid content

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Eggplant fruit are a rich source of phenolic acids that contribute to fruit nutritive value and influence culinary quality. We evaluated the influence of production environment on eggplant fruit phenolic acid content. Ten Solanum melongena accessions including five F1 hybrid cultivars, three open-...

Research on technology environment improvement of related industries based on internet governance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jing; Guan, Zhongliang

2017-08-01

The technology of Internet is an important factor of industry’s development. Constructing a good technical environment is the foundation of the Internet and related industries’ development. This paper demonstrates the necessity of the construction and improvement of the Internet and the related industries technology environment through comparing the current situation of the related industries. It also points out that China needs to improve the environment of the Internet technology urgently. The paper establishes the technology demand pattern of different related industries, and explores strategies of the different Internet technology environment’s construction and perfection according to the different demand of the strong related Internet and the weak related Internet to the industries environment. This paper analyzes the factors that threaten the security of the Internet, and fully demonstrates the methods and tactics of establishing and improving the technology environment Internet hardware, the Internet and related industries in China under the basis of the framework of comprehensive management of Internet. This paper also studies the construction and improvement of the comprehensive management technology environment based on the Internet industry in China.

Learning stoichiometry: A comparison of text and multimedia instructional formats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Karen L.

Even after multiple instructional opportunities, first year college chemistry students are often unable to apply stoichiometry knowledge in equilibrium and acid-base chemistry problem solving. Cognitive research findings suggest that for learning to be meaningful, learners need to actively construct their own knowledge by integrating new information into, and reorganizing, their prior understandings. Scaffolded inquiry in which facts, procedures, and principles are introduced as needed within the context of authentic problem solving may provide the practice and encoding opportunities necessary for construction of a memorable and usable knowledge base. The dynamic and interactive capabilities of online technology may facilitate stoichiometry instruction that promotes this meaningful learning. Entering college freshmen were randomly assigned to either a technology-rich or text-only set of cognitively informed stoichiometry review materials. Analysis of posttest scores revealed a significant but small difference in the performance of the two treatment groups, with the technology-rich group having the advantage. Both SAT and gender, however, explained more of the variability in the scores. Analysis of the posttest scores from the technology-rich treatment group revealed that the degree of interaction with the Virtual Lab simulation was significantly related to posttest performance and subsumed any effect of prior knowledge as measured by SAT scores. Future users of the online course should be encouraged to engage with the problem-solving opportunities provided by the Virtual Lab simulation through either explicit instruction and/or implementation of some level of program control within the course's navigational features.

Prokaryotic Nucleotide Composition Is Shaped by Both Phylogeny and the Environment

DOE PAGES

Reichenberger, Erin R.; Rosen, Gail; Hershberg, Uri; ...

2015-04-09

Here, the causes of the great variation in nucleotide composition of prokaryotic genomes have long been disputed. Here, we use extensive metagenomic and whole-genome data to demonstrate that both phylogeny and the environment shape prokaryotic nucleotide content. We show that across environments, various phyla are characterized by different mean guanine and cytosine (GC) values as well as by the extent of variation on that mean value. At the same time, we show that GC-content varies greatly as a function of environment, in a manner that cannot be entirely explained by disparities in phylogenetic composition. We find environmentally driven differences inmore » nucleotide content not only between highly diverged environments (e.g., soil, vs. aquatic vs. human gut) but also within a single type of environment. More specifically, we demonstrate that some human guts are associated with a microbiome that is consistently more GC-rich across phyla, whereas others are associated with a more AT-rich microbiome. These differences appear to be driven both by variations in phylogenetic composition and by environmental differences—which are independent of these phylogenetic composition differences. Combined, our results demonstrate that both phylogeny and the environment significantly affect nucleotide composition and that the environmental differences affecting nucleotide composition are far subtler than previously appreciated.« less

Platelet-rich plasma to improve the bio-functionality of biomaterials.

PubMed

Anitua, Eduardo; Tejero, Ricardo; Alkhraisat, Mohammad H; Orive, Gorka

2013-04-01

Growth factors and cytokines are active players in controlling the different stages of wound healing and tissue regeneration. Recent trends in personalized regenerative medicine involve using patient's own platelet-rich plasma for stimulating wound healing and tissue regeneration. This technology provides a complex cocktail of growth factors and even a fibrin scaffold with multiple biologic effects. In the last few years, an increasing number of studies provide evidence of the potential of combining platelet-rich plasma with different biomaterials in order to improve their properties, including handling, administration, bioactivity, and level of osseointegration, among others. In this review, we discuss the use of platelet-rich plasma as an alternative, easy, cost-effective, and controllable strategy for the release of high concentrations of many endogenous growth factors. Additionally, we provide an overview of the current progress and future directions of research combining different types of biomaterials with platelet-rich plasma in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Avalanching strain dynamics during the hydriding phase transformation in individual palladium nanoparticles

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

Ulvestad, A.; Welland, M. J.; Collins, S. S. E.

2015-12-11

Phase transitions in reactive environments are crucially important in energy and information storage, catalysis and sensors. Nanostructuring active particles can yield faster charging/ discharging kinetics, increased lifespan and record catalytic activities. However, establishing the causal link between structure and function is challenging for nanoparticles, as ensemble measurements convolve intrinsic single-particle properties with sample diversity. Here we study the hydriding phase transformation in individual palladium nanocubes in situ using coherent X-ray diffractive imaging. The phase transformation dynamics, which involve the nucleation and propagation of a hydrogen-rich region, are dependent on absolute time (aging) and involve intermittent dynamics (avalanching). A hydrogen-rich surfacemore » layer dominates the crystal strain in the hydrogen-poor phase, while strain inversion occurs at the cube corners in the hydrogen-rich phase. A three-dimensional phase-field model is used to interpret the experimental results. In conclusion, our experimental and theoretical approach provides a general framework for designing and optimizing phase transformations for single nanocrystals in reactive environments.« less

Richness and structure of ant assemblies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Atlantic forest in southern Brazil.

PubMed

Lutinski, Junir A; Lutinski, Cladis J; Guarda, Carin; Busato, Maria A; Garcia, Flávio R M

2017-01-01

Ant diversity is influenced by the structural complexity of the environment. Ants are thus an ecologically important group due to their potential to serve as indicators of environmental quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate ant diversity in areas with different land use histories and thus, within different stages of regeneration in the Permanent Preservation Area of the Foz do Chapecó Hydroelectric Plant reservoir. Ant assemblies among sample sites were compared using rarefaction analysis, and estimated richness, frequency of occurrence, and relative abundance were calculated. Associations between species and sample sites were evaluated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We identified 55 species in total from 24 genera, distributed among seven subfamilies. Eight species had positive associations with sample sites. Estimates indicated that ant richness may be up to 21.4% greater than that observed. This study presents an inventory of species capable of colonizing environments undergoing natural regeneration processes, and aids our understanding of ecological recovery dynamics in protected areas near hydroelectric plant reservoirs southern Brazil.

Avalanching strain dynamics during the hydriding phase transformation in individual palladium nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulvestad, A.; Welland, M. J.; Collins, S. S. E.; Harder, R.; Maxey, E.; Wingert, J.; Singer, A.; Hy, S.; Mulvaney, P.; Zapol, P.; Shpyrko, O. G.

2015-12-01

Phase transitions in reactive environments are crucially important in energy and information storage, catalysis and sensors. Nanostructuring active particles can yield faster charging/discharging kinetics, increased lifespan and record catalytic activities. However, establishing the causal link between structure and function is challenging for nanoparticles, as ensemble measurements convolve intrinsic single-particle properties with sample diversity. Here we study the hydriding phase transformation in individual palladium nanocubes in situ using coherent X-ray diffractive imaging. The phase transformation dynamics, which involve the nucleation and propagation of a hydrogen-rich region, are dependent on absolute time (aging) and involve intermittent dynamics (avalanching). A hydrogen-rich surface layer dominates the crystal strain in the hydrogen-poor phase, while strain inversion occurs at the cube corners in the hydrogen-rich phase. A three-dimensional phase-field model is used to interpret the experimental results. Our experimental and theoretical approach provides a general framework for designing and optimizing phase transformations for single nanocrystals in reactive environments.

Avalanching strain dynamics during the hydriding phase transformation in individual palladium nanoparticles

PubMed Central

Ulvestad, A.; Welland, M. J.; Collins, S. S. E.; Harder, R.; Maxey, E.; Wingert, J.; Singer, A.; Hy, S.; Mulvaney, P.; Zapol, P.; Shpyrko, O. G.

2015-01-01

Phase transitions in reactive environments are crucially important in energy and information storage, catalysis and sensors. Nanostructuring active particles can yield faster charging/discharging kinetics, increased lifespan and record catalytic activities. However, establishing the causal link between structure and function is challenging for nanoparticles, as ensemble measurements convolve intrinsic single-particle properties with sample diversity. Here we study the hydriding phase transformation in individual palladium nanocubes in situ using coherent X-ray diffractive imaging. The phase transformation dynamics, which involve the nucleation and propagation of a hydrogen-rich region, are dependent on absolute time (aging) and involve intermittent dynamics (avalanching). A hydrogen-rich surface layer dominates the crystal strain in the hydrogen-poor phase, while strain inversion occurs at the cube corners in the hydrogen-rich phase. A three-dimensional phase-field model is used to interpret the experimental results. Our experimental and theoretical approach provides a general framework for designing and optimizing phase transformations for single nanocrystals in reactive environments. PMID:26655832

Flexible letter-position coding is unlikely to hold for morphologically rich languages.

PubMed

Hyönä, Jukka; Bertram, Raymond

2012-10-01

We agree with Frost that flexible letter-position coding is unlikely to be a universal property of word recognition across different orthographies. We argue that it is particularly unlikely in morphologically rich languages like Finnish. We also argue that dual-route models are not overly flexible and that they are well equipped to adapt to the linguistic environment at hand.

40 CFR 60.4240 - What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn... I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn...

40 CFR 60.4240 - What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 7 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn... I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn...

40 CFR 60.4240 - What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 7 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn... I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn...

40 CFR 60.4240 - What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 6 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn... I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn...

40 CFR 60.4240 - What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 7 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false What are my compliance requirements if I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn... I am a manufacturer of stationary SI internal combustion engines >19 KW (25 HP) that are rich burn...

Prospects for using sonar for underwater archeology on the Yenisei: surveying a 19th century shipwreck

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goncharov, A. E.; Mednikov, D. M.; Karelin, N. M.; Nasyrov, I. R.

2016-11-01

Current progress in underwater archeology is based on a rich arsenal of high-tech appliances, among which sonar technology plays a key role; it enables scientists not only to detect submerged archeological objects, but to examine them in high definition without having to conduct diving operations or use expensive underwater unmanned vehicles. While the majority of sensational scientific discoveries using sonar have been made in saltwater environments, freshwater ones, rivers in particular, have seen limited activity. The river Yenisei in central Siberia contains an unrecorded number of shipwrecks that await being discovered and studied. In this article we focus on the peculiarities of using sonar for detecting archeological sites on the Yenisei. This article is based on the results of the 2016 expedition, which has determined the location of Thames, a 19th century British steam schooner which was wrecked on the Yenisei.

Constructing Topic Models of Internet of Things for Information Processing

PubMed Central

Xin, Jie; Cui, Zhiming; Zhang, Shukui; He, Tianxu; Li, Chunhua; Huang, Haojing

2014-01-01

Internet of Things (IoT) is regarded as a remarkable development of the modern information technology. There is abundant digital products data on the IoT, linking with multiple types of objects/entities. Those associated entities carry rich information and usually in the form of query records. Therefore, constructing high quality topic hierarchies that can capture the term distribution of each product record enables us to better understand users' search intent and benefits tasks such as taxonomy construction, recommendation systems, and other communications solutions for the future IoT. In this paper, we propose a novel record entity topic model (RETM) for IoT environment that is associated with a set of entities and records and a Gibbs sampling-based algorithm is proposed to learn the model. We conduct extensive experiments on real-world datasets and compare our approach with existing methods to demonstrate the advantage of our approach. PMID:25110737

Neutrino Physics with Nuclear Reactors: An Overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ochoa-Ricoux, J. P.

Nuclear reactors provide an excellent environment for studying neutrinos and continue to play a critical role in unveiling the secrets of these elusive particles. A rich experimental program with reactor antineutrinos is currently ongoing, and leads the way in precision measurements of several oscillation parameters and in searching for new physics, such as the existence of light sterile neutrinos. Ongoing experiments have also been able to measure the flux and spectral shape of reactor antineutrinos with unprecedented statistics and as a function of core fuel evolution, uncovering anomalies that will lead to new physics and/or to an improved understanding of antineutrino emission from nuclear reactors. The future looks bright, with an aggressive program of next generation reactor neutrino experiments that will go after some of the biggest open questions in the field. This includes the JUNO experiment, the largest liquid scintillator detector ever constructed which will push the limits of this detection technology.

The application of HPLC ESI MS in the investigation of the flavonoids and flavonoid glycosides of a Caribbean Lamiaceae plant with potential for bioaccumulation.

PubMed

Peter, Sonia R; Peru, Kerry M; Fahlman, Brian; McMartin, Dena W; Headley, John V

2015-01-01

As part of an exchange technology program between the government of Barbados and Environment Canada, methanolic and aqueous extracts from the flavonoid-rich Lamiaceae family were characterized using negative-ion electrospray mass spectrometry. The species investigated is part of the Caribbean Pharmacopoeia, and is used for a variety of health issues, including colds, flu, diabetes, and hypertension. The extracts were investigated for structural elucidation of phenolics, identification of chemical taxonomic profile, and evidence of bio-accumulator potential. The methanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of Plectranthus amboinicus yielded rosmarinic acid, ladanein, cirsimaritin, and other methoxylated flavonoids. This genus also shows a tendency to form conjugates with monosaccharides, including glucose, galactose, and rhamnose. The aqueous extract yielded four isomeric rhamnosides. The formation of conjugates by Plectranthus amboinicus is thus evidence of high bioaccumulator significance.

Metabolic constituents of grapevine and grape-derived products

PubMed Central

Ali, Kashif; Maltese, Federica; Verpoorte, Robert

2009-01-01

The numerous uses of the grapevine fruit, especially for wine and beverages, have made it one of the most important plants worldwide. The phytochemistry of grapevine is rich in a wide range of compounds. Many of them are renowned for their numerous medicinal uses. The production of grapevine metabolites is highly conditioned by many factors like environment or pathogen attack. Some grapevine phytoalexins have gained a great deal of attention due to their antimicrobial activities, being also involved in the induction of resistance in grapevine against those pathogens. Meanwhile grapevine biotechnology is still evolving, thanks to the technological advance of modern science, and biotechnologists are making huge efforts to produce grapevine cultivars of desired characteristics. In this paper, important metabolites from grapevine and grape derived products like wine will be reviewed with their health promoting effects and their role against certain stress factors in grapevine physiology. PMID:20835385