Visualising uncertainty: interpreting quantified geoscientific inversion outputs for a diverse user community.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reading, A. M.; Morse, P. E.; Staal, T.

2017-12-01

Geoscientific inversion outputs, such as seismic tomography contour images, are finding increasing use amongst scientific user communities that have limited knowledge of the impact of output parameter uncertainty on subsequent interpretations made from such images. We make use of a newly written computer application which enables seismic tomography images to be displayed in a performant 3D graphics environment. This facilitates the mapping of colour scales to the human visual sensorium for the interactive interpretation of contoured inversion results incorporating parameter uncertainty. Two case examples of seismic tomography inversions or contoured compilations are compared from the southern hemisphere continents of Australia and Antarctica. The Australian example is based on the AuSREM contoured seismic wavespeed model while the Antarctic example is a valuable but less well constrained result. Through adjusting the multiple colour gradients, layer separations, opacity, illumination, shadowing and background effects, we can optimise the insights obtained from the 3D structure in the inversion compilation or result. Importantly, we can also limit the display to show information in a way that is mapped to the uncertainty in the 3D result. Through this practical application, we demonstrate that the uncertainty in the result can be handled through a well-posed mapping of the parameter values to displayed colours in the knowledge of what is perceived visually by a typical human. We found that this approach maximises the chance of a useful tectonic interpretation by a diverse scientific user community. In general, we develop the idea that quantified inversion uncertainty can be used to tailor the way that the output is presented to the analyst for scientific interpretation.

In the mood: the dynamics of collective sentiments on Twitter

PubMed Central

Charlton, Nathaniel; Singleton, Colin; Greetham, Danica Vukadinović

2016-01-01

We study the relationship between the sentiment levels of Twitter users and the evolving network structure that the users created by @-mentioning each other. We use a large dataset of tweets to which we apply three sentiment scoring algorithms, including the open source SentiStrength program. Specifically we make three contributions. Firstly, we find that people who have potentially the largest communication reach (according to a dynamic centrality measure) use sentiment differently than the average user: for example, they use positive sentiment more often and negative sentiment less often. Secondly, we find that when we follow structurally stable Twitter communities over a period of months, their sentiment levels are also stable, and sudden changes in community sentiment from one day to the next can in most cases be traced to external events affecting the community. Thirdly, based on our findings, we create and calibrate a simple agent-based model that is capable of reproducing measures of emotive response comparable with those obtained from our empirical dataset. PMID:27429774

Tools in Support of Planning for Weather and Climate Extremes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Done, J.; Bruyere, C. L.; Hauser, R.; Holland, G. J.; Tye, M. R.

2016-12-01

A major limitation to planning for weather and climate extremes is the lack of maintained and readily available tools that can provide robust and well-communicated predictions and advice on their impacts. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is facilitating a collaborative international program to develop and support such tools within its Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes aimed at improving community resilience planning and reducing weather and climate impacts. A Global Risk, Resilience and Impacts Toolbox is in development and will provide: A portable web-based interface to process work requests from a variety of users and locations; A sophisticated framework that enables specialized community tools to access a comprehensive database (public and private) of geo-located hazard, vulnerability, exposure, and loss data; A community development toolkit that enables and encourages community tool developments geared towards specific user man­agement and planning needs, and A comprehensive community sup­port facilitated by NCAR utilizing tutorials and a help desk. A number of applications are in development, built off the latest climate science, and in collaboration with private industry and local and state governments. Example applications will be described, including a hurricane damage tool in collaboration with the reinsurance sector, and a weather management tool for the construction industry. These examples will serve as starting points to discuss the broader potential of the toolbox.

Earth Sciences data user community feedbacks to PARSE.Insight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giaretta, David; Guidetti, Veronica

2010-05-01

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

Tutorial examples for uncertainty quantification methods.

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

De Bord, Sarah

2015-08-01

This report details the work accomplished during my 2015 SULI summer internship at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA. During this internship, I worked on multiple tasks with the common goal of making uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods more accessible to the general scientific community. As part of my work, I created a comprehensive numerical integration example to incorporate into the user manual of a UQ software package. Further, I developed examples involving heat transfer through a window to incorporate into tutorial lectures that serve as an introduction to UQ methods.

Desire to Be Underweight: Exploratory Study on a Weight Loss App Community and User Perceptions of the Impact on Disordered Eating Behaviors

PubMed Central

Reddy, Madhu C; Booth, Kayla M; Kvasny, Lynette; Blair, Johnna L; Li, Victor; Poole, Erika S

2017-01-01

Background Mobile health (mHealth) apps for weight loss (weight loss apps) can be useful diet and exercise tools for individuals in need of losing weight. Most studies view weight loss app users as these types of individuals, but not all users have the same needs. In fact, users with disordered eating behaviors who desire to be underweight are also utilizing weight loss apps; however, few studies give a sense of the prevalence of these users in weight loss app communities and their perceptions of weight loss apps in relation to disordered eating behaviors. Objective The aim of this study was to provide an analysis of users’ body mass indices (BMIs) in a weight loss app community and examples of how users with underweight BMI goals perceive the impact of the app on disordered eating behaviors. Methods We focused on two aspects of a weight loss app (DropPounds): profile data and forum posts, and we moved from a broader picture of the community to a narrower focus on users’ perceptions. We analyzed profile data to better understand the goal BMIs of all users, highlighting the prevalence of users with underweight BMI goals. Then we explored how users with a desire to be underweight discussed the weight loss app’s impact on disordered eating behaviors. Results We found three main results: (1) no user (regardless of start BMI) starts with a weight gain goal, and most users want to lose weight; (2) 6.78% (1261/18,601) of the community want to be underweight, and most identify as female; (3) users with underweight BMI goals tend to view the app as positive, especially for reducing bingeing; however, some acknowledge its role in exacerbating disordered eating behaviors. Conclusions These findings are important for our understanding of the different types of users who utilize weight loss apps, the perceptions of weight loss apps related to disordered eating, and how weight loss apps may impact users with a desire to be underweight. Whereas these users had underweight goals, they often view the app as helpful in reducing disordered eating behaviors, which led to additional questions. Therefore, future research is needed. PMID:29025694

Long Duration Exposure Facility Mini-Data Base User`s Guide: Macintosh version. (Diskette)

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

Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, G.; Pippin, H.G.; Dursch, H.W.

1995-04-01

One of the objectives of the LDEF Special Investigation Group (SIG) was to develop a LDEF data base that identifies the experiment objectives and hardware flown, summarizes results and conclusions, and provides a system analysis overview, including spacecraft design guidelines and space environmental effects. Compiling the information into an easily accessible data base format, and making it available to the space community was a major task accomplished by the System and Materials SIG effort beginning in 1981. Included in this document is a short user`s manual for the LDEF Mini-Data Bases. The user`s manual contains pertinent examples from the datamore » base on specifically how to access and work with the LDEF information. Accompanying this document are the mini-data bases on disk.« less

An Open-source Community Web Site To Support Ground-Water Model Testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraemer, S. R.; Bakker, M.; Craig, J. R.

2007-12-01

A community wiki wiki web site has been created as a resource to support ground-water model development and testing. The Groundwater Gourmet wiki is a repository for user supplied analytical and numerical recipes, howtos, and examples. Members are encouraged to submit analytical solutions, including source code and documentation. A diversity of code snippets are sought in a variety of languages, including Fortran, C, C++, Matlab, Python. In the spirit of a wiki, all contributions may be edited and altered by other users, and open source licensing is promoted. Community accepted contributions are graduated into the library of analytic solutions and organized into either a Strack (Groundwater Mechanics, 1989) or Bruggeman (Analytical Solutions of Geohydrological Problems, 1999) classification. The examples section of the wiki are meant to include laboratory experiments (e.g., Hele Shaw), classical benchmark problems (e.g., Henry Problem), and controlled field experiments (e.g., Borden landfill and Cape Cod tracer tests). Although this work was reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official Agency policy. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

Innovations in user-defined analysis: dynamic grouping and customized user datasets in VistaPHw.

PubMed

Solet, David; Glusker, Ann; Laurent, Amy; Yu, Tianji

2006-01-01

Flexible, ready access to community health assessment data is a feature of innovative Web-based data query systems. An example is VistaPHw, which provides access to Washington state data and statistics used in community health assessment. Because of its flexible analysis options, VistaPHw customizes local, population-based results to be relevant to public health decision-making. The advantages of two innovations, dynamic grouping and the Custom Data Module, are described. Dynamic grouping permits the creation of user-defined aggregations of geographic areas, age groups, race categories, and years. Standard VistaPHw measures such as rates, confidence intervals, and other statistics may then be calculated for the new groups. Dynamic grouping has provided data for major, successful grant proposals, building partnerships with local governments and organizations, and informing program planning for community organizations. The Custom Data Module allows users to prepare virtually any dataset so it may be analyzed in VistaPHw. Uses for this module may include datasets too sensitive to be placed on a Web server or datasets that are not standardized across the state. Limitations and other system needs are also discussed.

Open Data, Jupyter Notebooks and Geospatial Data Standards Combined - Opening up large volumes of marine and climate data to other communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, O.; Siemen, S.; Wagemann, J.

2017-12-01

The EU-funded Earthserver-2 project aims to offer on-demand access to large volumes of environmental data (Earth Observation, Marine, Climate data and Planetary data) via the interface standard Web Coverage Service defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium. Providing access to data via OGC web services (e.g. WCS and WMS) has the potential to open up services to a wider audience, especially to users outside the respective communities. Especially WCS 2.0 with its processing extension Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) is highly beneficial to make large volumes accessible to non-expert communities. Users do not have to deal with custom community data formats, such as GRIB for the meteorological community, but can directly access the data in a format they are more familiar with, such as NetCDF, JSON or CSV. Data requests can further directly be integrated into custom processing routines and users are not required to download Gigabytes of data anymore. WCS supports trim (reduction of data extent) and slice (reduction of data dimension) operations on multi-dimensional data, providing users a very flexible on-demand access to the data. WCPS allows the user to craft queries to run on the data using a text-based query language, similar to SQL. These queries can be very powerful, e.g. condensing a three-dimensional data cube into its two-dimensional mean. However, the more processing-intensive the more complex the query. As part of the EarthServer-2 project, we developed a python library that helps users to generate complex WCPS queries with Python, a programming language they are more familiar with. The interactive presentation aims to give practical examples how users can benefit from two specific WCS services from the Marine and Climate community. Use-cases from the two communities will show different approaches to take advantage of a Web Coverage (Processing) Service. The entire content is available with Jupyter Notebooks, as they prove to be a highly beneficial tool to generate reproducible workflows for environmental data analysis.

A Community-based Partnership for a Sustainable GNSS Geodetic Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dokka, R. K.

2009-12-01

Geodetic networks offer unparalleled opportunities to monitor and understand many of the rhythms of the Earth most vital to the sustainability of modern and future societies, i.e., crustal motions, sea-level, and the weather. For crustal deformation studies, the advantage is clear. Modern measurements allow us to document not only the permanent strains incurred over a seismic cycle, for example, but also the ephemeral strains that are critical for understanding the underlying physical mechanism. To be effective for science, however, geodetic networks must be properly designed, capitalized, and maintained over sufficient time intervals to fully capture the processes in action. Unfortunately, most networks lack interoperability and lack a business plan to ensure long term sustainability. The USA, for example, lacks a unified nation-wide GNSS network that can sustain its self over the coming years, decades, and century. Current federal priorities do not yet envision such a singular network. Publicly and privately funded regional networks exist, but tend to be parochial in scope, and optimized for a special user community, e.g., surveying, crustal motions, etc. Data sharing is common, but the lack of input at the beginning limits the functionality of the system for non-primary users. Funding for private networks depend heavily on the user demand, business cycle, and regulatory requirements. Agencies funding science networks offer no guarantee of sustained support. An alternative model (GULFNet) developed in Louisiana is meeting user needs, is sustainable, and is helping engineers, surveyors, and geologists become more spatially enabled. The common denominator among all participants is the view that accurate, precise, and timely geodetic data have tangible value for all segments of society. Although operated by a university (LSU), GULFNet is a community-based partnership between public and private sectors. GULFNet simultaneously achieves scientific goals by providing data to multiple user communities, supports National Spatial Reference System needs through NGS CORS, and serves the private sector by helping to make it become more profitable. The private sector participates through direct support that sustains operations, but most importantly by raising awareness among policy makers and federal and state appropriators.

Space weather services: now and in the future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunches, J.; Murtagh, W.

The NOAA Space Environment Center has provided continuous 24 hours per day 7 days per week space weather products and services to the United States and the international community via the International Space Environment Service for more than 30 years Over that time span an evolutionary process has occurred In the early days the products consisted of short text and coded messages to accommodate the communications technologies of the period The birth of the Internet made the sharing of graphical imagery and real-time data possible enabling service providers to communicate more information more quickly to the users Now in parallel with the advances in telecommunications the space weather user community has grown dramatically and is enunciating ever-stronger requirements back to the service providers The commercial airline community is probably the best example of an industry wanting more from space weather How are the users going to continue to change over the next 10-20 years and what services might they need How will they get this information and how might they use it This is the overall thrust of the presentation offering a look to the future and a challenge to the space weather community

Long Duration Exposure Facility mini-data base user`s guide: IBM-compatible PC computer version. (Diskette)

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

Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, G.; Pippin, G.; Dursch, H.

1995-04-01

One of the objectives of the LDEF Special Investigation Group (SIG) was to develop a LDEF data base that identifies the experiment objectives and hardware flown, summarizes results and conclusions, and provides a system analysis overview which would include spacecraft design guidelines and space environmental effects. Compiling this information into an easily accessible data base format and making it available to the space community was a major task accomplished by the System and Materials SIG effort beginning in 1991. Included in this document is a short user`s manual for the LDEF Mini-Data Bases. The user`s manual contains pertinent examples frommore » the data base on specifically how to access and work with the LDEF information. Accompanying this document are the mini-data bases on disk.« less

Analysis Tools in Geant4 10.2 and 10.3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hřivnáčová, I.; Barrand, G.

2017-10-01

A new analysis category based on g4tools was added in Geant4 release 9.5 (2011). The aim was to provide users with a lightweight analysis tool available as part of the Geant4 installation without the need to link to an external analysis package. It has progressively been included in all Geant4 examples. Frequent questions in the Geant4 users forum show its increasing popularity in the Geant4 users community. In this presentation, we will give a brief overview of g4tools and the analysis category. We report on new developments since our CHEP 2013 contribution as well as mention upcoming new features.

A Contrast in Use of Metrics in Earth Science Data Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramapriyan, Hampapuram; Behnke, Jeanne; Hines-Watts, Tonjua

2007-01-01

In recent years there has been a surge in the number of systems for processing, archiving and distributing remotely sensed data. Such systems, working independently as well as in collaboration, have been contributing greatly to the advances in the scientific understanding of the Earth system, as well as utilization of the data for nationally and internationally important applications. Among such systems, we consider those that are developed by or under the sponsorship of NASA to fulfill one of its strategic objectives: "Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs." NASA's Earth science data systems are of varying size and complexity depending on the requirements they are intended to meet. Some data systems are regarded as NASA's "Core Capabilities" that provide the basic infrastructure for processing, archiving and distributing a set of data products to a large and diverse user community in a robust and reliable manner. Other data systems constitute "Community Capabilities". These provide specialized and innovative services to data users and/or research products offering new scientific insight. Such data systems are generally supported by NASA through peer reviewed competition. Examples of Core Capabilities are 1. Earth Observing Data and Information System (EOSDIS) with its Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPSs), and the EOS Clearing House (ECHO); 2. Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Science Data and Information System (TSDIS); 3. Ocean Data Processing System (ODPS); and 4. CloudSat Data Processing Center. Examples of Community Capabilities are projects under the Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network (REASON), and Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) Programs. In managing these data system capabilities, it is necessary to have well-established goals and to measure progress relative to them. Progress is measured through "metrics", which can be a combination of quantitative as well as qualitative assessments. The specific metrics of interest depend on the user of the metrics as well as the type of data system. The users of metrics can be data system managers, program managers, funding agency or the public. Data system managers need metrics for assessing and improving the performance of the system and for future planning. Program managers need metrics to assess progress and the value of the data systems sponsored by them. Also, there is a difference in the metrics needed for core capabilities that tend to be more complex, larger and longer-term compared to community capabilities and the community capabilities that tend to be simpler, smaller and shorter-term. Even among community capabilities there are differences; hence the same set of metrics does not apply to all. Some provide data products to users, some provide services that enable better utilization of data or interoperability among other systems, and some are a part of a larger project where provision of data or services is only a minor activity. There is also a contrast between metrics used for internal and external purposes. Examples of internal purposes are: ensuring that the system meets its requirements, and planning for evolution and growth. Examples of external purposes are: providing to sponsors indicators of success of the systems, demonstrating the contributions of the system to overall program success, etc. This paper will consider EOSDIS, REASON and ACCESS programs to show the various types of metrics needed and how they need to be tailored to the types of data systems while maintaining the overall management goals of measuring progress and contributions made by the data systems.

A Contrast in Use of Metrics in Earth Science Data Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramapriyan, H. K.; Behnke, J.; Hines-Watts, T. M.

2007-12-01

In recent years there has been a surge in the number of systems for processing, archiving and distributing remotely sensed data. Such systems, working independently as well as in collaboration, have been contributing greatly to the advances in the scientific understanding of the Earth system, as well as utilization of the data for nationally and internationally important applications. Among such systems, we consider those that are developed by or under the sponsorship of NASA to fulfill one of its strategic objectives: "Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs." NASA's Earth science data systems are of varying size and complexity depending on the requirements they are intended to meet. Some data systems are regarded as NASA's Core Capabilities that provide the basic infrastructure for processing, archiving and distributing a set of data products to a large and diverse user community in a robust and reliable manner. Other data systems constitute Community Capabilities. These provide specialized and innovative services to data users and/or research products offering new scientific insight. Such data systems are generally supported by NASA through peer reviewed competition. Examples of Core Capabilities are 1. Earth Observing Data and Information System (EOSDIS) with its Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPSs), and the EOS Clearing House (ECHO); 2. Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Science Data and Information System (TSDIS); 3. Ocean Data Processing System (ODPS); and 4. CloudSat Data Processing Center. Examples of Community Capabilities are projects under the Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network (REASoN), and Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) Programs. In managing these data system capabilities, it is necessary to have well-established goals and to measure progress relative to them. Progress is measured through metrics, which can be a combination of quantitative as well as qualitative assessments. The specific metrics of interest depend on the user of the metrics as well as the type of data system. The users of metrics can be data system managers, program managers, funding agency or the public. Data system managers need metrics for assessing and improving the performance of the system and for future planning. Program managers need metrics to assess progress and the value of the data systems sponsored by them. Also, there is a difference in the metrics needed for core capabilities that tend to be more complex, larger and longer-term compared to community capabilities and the community capabilities that tend to be simpler, smaller and shorter-term. Even among community capabilities there are differences; hence the same set of metrics does not apply to all. Some provide data products to users, some provide services that enable better utilization of data or interoperability among other systems, and some are a part of a larger project where provision of data or services is only a minor activity. There is also a contrast between metrics used for internal and external purposes. Examples of internal purposes are: ensuring that the system meets its requirements, and planning for evolution and growth. Examples of external purposes are: providing to sponsors indicators of success of the systems, demonstrating the contributions of the system to overall program success, etc. This paper will consider EOSDIS, REASoN and ACCESS programs to show the various types of metrics needed and how they need to be tailored to the types of data systems while maintaining the overall management goals of measuring progress and contributions made by the data systems.

If You Build (and Moderate) It, They Will Come: The Smokefree Women Facebook Page

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

This analysis explores the impact of modifying the Smokefree Women Facebook social media strategy, from primarily promoting resources to encouraging participation in communications about smoking cessation by posting user-generated content. Analyses were performed using data from the Smokefree Women Facebook page to assess the impact of the revised strategy on reach and engagement. Fan engagement increased 430%, and a strong and statistically significant correlation (P < .05) between the frequency of moderator posts and community engagement was observed. The reach of the page also increased by 420%. Our findings indicate that the strategy shift had a statistically significant and positive effect on the frequency of interactions on the Facebook page, providing an example of an approach that may prove useful for reaching and engaging users in online communities. Additional research is needed to assess the association between engagement in virtual communities and health behavior outcomes. PMID:24395993

If you build (and moderate) it, they will come: the Smokefree Women Facebook page.

PubMed

Post, Samantha D; Taylor, Shani C; Sanders, Amy E; Goldfarb, Jeffrey M; Hunt, Yvonne M; Augustson, Erik M

2013-12-01

This analysis explores the impact of modifying the Smokefree Women Facebook social media strategy, from primarily promoting resources to encouraging participation in communications about smoking cessation by posting user-generated content. Analyses were performed using data from the Smokefree Women Facebook page to assess the impact of the revised strategy on reach and engagement. Fan engagement increased 430%, and a strong and statistically significant correlation (P < .05) between the frequency of moderator posts and community engagement was observed. The reach of the page also increased by 420%. Our findings indicate that the strategy shift had a statistically significant and positive effect on the frequency of interactions on the Facebook page, providing an example of an approach that may prove useful for reaching and engaging users in online communities. Additional research is needed to assess the association between engagement in virtual communities and health behavior outcomes.

Integrating Community with Collections in Educational Digital Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbar, Monika

2013-01-01

Some classes of Internet users have specific information needs and specialized information-seeking behaviors. For example, educators who are designing a course might create a syllabus, recommend books, create lecture slides, and use tools as lecture aid. All of these resources are available online, but are scattered across a large number of…

Integrating Geographic Information Systems in Business School Curriculum: An Initial Example

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Michael A.; Arnette, Andrew N.

2011-01-01

Geographic information systems have experienced rapid growth and user adoption over the last four decades, due to an increasing value to the business community. However, business schools are not teaching geospatial concepts and the related location intelligence to their students. This curriculum decision seems completely at odds with business'…

Evolution of the EOSDIS Data User Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krupp, B. M.; Murphy, K. J.; Wanchoo, L.; Chang, H.

2011-12-01

Since NASA's EOS Terra platform began operations in early FY2000, data centers affiliated with the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) have distributed over 12.8 Petabytes (PB) and 1.2 billion files of data to over 2.3 million distinct users through the end of FY2010. Metrics on data ingest, archive, and distribution have been collected throughout the EOS era by different automated systems. The functionality of these systems has improved over the years, allowing more types of metrics analyses to be made with greater precision. The ESDIS Metrics System (EMS) replaced the earlier ESDIS Data Gathering and Reporting System (EDGRS) in FY2005. Since then it has collected increasingly more accurate information about data users obtaining products from the many EOSDIS data centers. The information allows characterization of the various EOSDIS user communities, and enables studies of how these communities have changed over time. User information obtained when an order is placed, or products are downloaded from a data center's FTP site, include the user's IP host (or IP address) and email address. The EMS system is able to resolve most IP addresses to specific domains. Combined with science discipline information associated with the data products themselves, users and data distributions to them can be characterized in a number of ways, including by countries, disciplines (e.g. Atmosphere, Ocean, Land), and [most readily for the United States] affiliations (Government, Education, Non-profit, or Commercial). The purpose of this investigation is to analyze patterns of data distributions within the different user groups mentioned above and to trace their evolution over time. Results show, for example, that the number of foreign users has increased greatly over the years, as has the number of countries receiving EOSDIS data products. These kinds of studies can be very useful to the various data centers. By gaining a better understanding of how their user communities are evolving, and how patterns of data product distributions are changing, data centers will be better able to serve the needs of the users.

No Pervasive Computing Without Intelligent Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, S. G.; Azvine, B.

It is interesting to think about the technologies that have become part of our everyday lives and compare their invention and development with those that have fallen by the wayside. Examples of failed technologies such as electrical cars and satellite mobile telephones are not uncommon, but more interestingly numerous other technologies such as instant messaging, text messaging, and b2c eCommerce have moved through the cycle of initial rejection, adoptionby a new user community, and adaptation to its needs, despite the early scepticism of many users and commentators.

Bioconductor Workflow for Microbiome Data Analysis: from raw reads to community analyses

PubMed Central

Callahan, Ben J.; Sankaran, Kris; Fukuyama, Julia A.; McMurdie, Paul J.; Holmes, Susan P.

2016-01-01

High-throughput sequencing of PCR-amplified taxonomic markers (like the 16S rRNA gene) has enabled a new level of analysis of complex bacterial communities known as microbiomes. Many tools exist to quantify and compare abundance levels or OTU composition of communities in different conditions. The sequencing reads have to be denoised and assigned to the closest taxa from a reference database. Common approaches use a notion of 97% similarity and normalize the data by subsampling to equalize library sizes. In this paper, we show that statistical models allow more accurate abundance estimates. By providing a complete workflow in R, we enable the user to do sophisticated downstream statistical analyses, whether parametric or nonparametric. We provide examples of using the R packages dada2, phyloseq, DESeq2, ggplot2 and vegan to filter, visualize and test microbiome data. We also provide examples of supervised analyses using random forests and nonparametric testing using community networks and the ggnetwork package. PMID:27508062

Applications and Outreach for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janney, D. W.; Kirschbaum, D.

2017-12-01

Too much or too little rain can serve as a tipping point for triggering catastrophic flooding and landslides or widespread drought. Knowing when, where and how much rain is falling globally is vital to understanding how people may be more or less impacted by disasters, the spread of water or vector-borne disease, or crop shortages. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission provides near real-time precipitation data worldwide that is used by a broad range of end users, from tropical cyclone forecasters to agricultural modelers to researchers evaluating the spread of diseases. The GPM mission has an active applications and outreach program designed to engage and work closely with user communities across a broad spectrum of societal benefit areas with the goal of extending the application of GPM and other NASA data to support decision making. This presentation will outline some examples of how GPM has been engaging with the user community, highlighting some past and planned initiatives with specific organizations and across several thematic areas.

Polarization of the vaccination debate on Facebook.

PubMed

Schmidt, Ana Lucía; Zollo, Fabiana; Scala, Antonio; Betsch, Cornelia; Quattrociocchi, Walter

2018-06-14

Vaccine hesitancy has been recognized as a major global health threat. Having access to any type of information in social media has been suggested as a potential influence on the growth of anti-vaccination groups. Recent studies w.r.t. other topics than vaccination show that access to a wide amount of content through the Internet without intermediaries resolved into major segregation of the users in polarized groups. Users select information adhering to theirs system of beliefs and tend to ignore dissenting information. The goal was to assess whether users' attitudes are polarized on the topic of vaccination on Facebook and how this polarization develops over time. We perform a thorough quantitative analysis by studying the interaction of 2.6 M users with 298,018 Facebook posts over a time span of seven years and 5 months. We applied community detection algorithms to automatically detect the emergence of communities accounting for the users' activity on the pages. Also, we quantified the cohesiveness of these communities over time. Our findings show that the consumption of content about vaccines is dominated by the echo chamber effect and that polarization increased over the years. Well-segregated communities emerge from the users' consumption habits i.e., the majority of users consume information in favor or against vaccines, not both. The existence of echo chambers may explain why social-media campaigns that provide accurate information have limited reach and be effective only in sub-groups, even fomenting further opinion polarization. The introduction of dissenting information into a sub-group is disregarded and can produce a backfire effect, thus reinforcing the pre-existing opinions within the sub-group. Public health professionals should try to understand the contents of these echo chambers, for example by getting passively involved in such groups. Only then it will be possible to find effective ways of countering anti-vaccination thinking. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

SIG: Multiple Views on Safety-Critical Automation: Aircraft, Autonomous Vehicles, Air Traffic Management and Satellite Ground Segments Perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feary, Michael; Palanque, Philippe; Martinie, Célia; Tscheligi, Manfred

2016-01-01

This SIG focuses on the engineering of automation in interactive critical systems. Automation has already been studied in a number of (sub-) disciplines and application fields: design, human factors, psychology, (software) engineering, aviation, health care, games. One distinguishing feature of the area we are focusing on is that in the field of interactive critical systems properties such as reliability, dependability, fault tolerance are as important as usability, user experience or overall acceptance issues. The SIG targets at two problem areas: first the engineering of the user interaction with (partly-) autonomous systems: how to design, build and assess autonomous behavior, especially in cases where there is a need to represent on the user interface both autonomous and interactive objects. An example of such integration is the representation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (where no direct interaction is possible), together with aircrafts (that have to be instructed by an air traffic controller to avoid the UAV). Second the design and engineering of user interaction in general for autonomous objects/systems (for example a cruise control in a car or an autopilot in an aircraft). The goal of the SIG is to raise interest in the CHI community on the general aspects of automation and to identify a community of researchers and practitioners interested in those increasingly prominent issues of interfaces towards (semi)-autonomous systems. The expected audience should be interested in addressing the issues of integration of mainly unconnected research domains to formulate a new joint research agenda.

Multiple Views on Safety-Critical Automation: Aircraft, Autonomous Vehicles, Air Traffic Management and Satellite Ground Segments Perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feary, Michael S.; Palanque, Philippe Andre Rolan; Martinie, De Almeida; Tscheligi, Manfred

2016-01-01

This SIG focuses on the engineering of automation in interactive critical systems. Automation has already been studied in a number of (sub-) disciplines and application fields: design, human factors, psychology, (software) engineering, aviation, health care, games. One distinguishing feature of the area we are focusing on is that in the field of interactive critical systems properties such as reliability, dependability, fault-tolerance are as important as usability, user experience or overall acceptance issues. The SIG targets at two problem areas: first the engineering of the user interaction with (partly-) autonomous systems: how to design, build and assess autonomous behavior, especially in cases where there is a need to represent on the user interface both autonomous and interactive objects. An example of such integration is the representation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (where no direct interaction is possible), together with aircrafts (that have to be instructed by an air traffic controller to avoid the UAV). Second the design and engineering of user interaction in general for autonomous objects systems (for example a cruise control in a car or an autopilot in an aircraft). The goal of the SIG is to raise interest in the CHI community on the general aspects of automation and to identify a community of researchers and practitioners interested in those increasingly prominent issues of interfaces towards (semi)-autonomous systems. The expected audience should be interested in addressing the issues of integration of mainly unconnected research domains to formulate a new joint research agenda.

Bridging the Gap between NASA Hydrological Data and the Geospatial Community

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rui, Hualan; Teng, Bill; Vollmer, Bruce; Mocko, David M.; Beaudoing, Hiroko K.; Nigro, Joseph; Gary, Mark; Maidment, David; Hooper, Richard

2011-01-01

There is a vast and ever increasing amount of data on the Earth interconnected energy and hydrological systems, available from NASA remote sensing and modeling systems, and yet, one challenge persists: increasing the usefulness of these data for, and thus their use by, the geospatial communities. The Hydrology Data and Information Services Center (HDISC), part of the Goddard Earth Sciences DISC, has continually worked to better understand the hydrological data needs of the geospatial end users, to thus better able to bridge the gap between NASA data and the geospatial communities. This paper will cover some of the hydrological data sets available from HDISC, and the various tools and services developed for data searching, data subletting ; format conversion. online visualization and analysis; interoperable access; etc.; to facilitate the integration of NASA hydrological data by end users. The NASA Goddard data analysis and visualization system, Giovanni, is described. Two case examples of user-customized data services are given, involving the EPA BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating point & Non-point Sources) project and the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System, with the common requirement of on-the-fly retrieval of long duration time series for a geographical point

Continuous monitoring of evapotranspiration (ET) overview of LSA-SAF evapotranspiration products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arboleda, A.; Ghilain, N.; Gellens-Meulenberghs, F.

2017-10-01

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the flux of water between the surface (vegetation, soil and water bodies) and the atmosphere. Monitoring this water loss may be of crucial importance for applications in hydrology, agriculture, water use efficiency studies and drought monitoring. We introduce one of the few satellite-based operational evapotranspiration products, generated continuously and in near real-time over Europe, Africa and part of South America. The ET products (30 minutes and daily) are generated at the EUMETSAT's Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) operations centre (http://landsaf.ipma.pt). Following our commitments to our user's community, we are continuously looking for new ways to improve the product. To accomplish this, the feedback from users and potential users of the products is of great interest. In this contribution we present the ET products characteristics and recent improvements gained thanks to the inclusion in our ET algorithm of new variables derived from Earth observation by MSG SEVIRI. We show examples of the ET products and we highlight their potential in droughts detection and monitoring. Some examples of possible applications are presented to invite users and researchers to explore the possibilities offered by LSA-SAF evapotranspiration products.

A RESTful API for accessing microbial community data for MG-RAST.

PubMed

Wilke, Andreas; Bischof, Jared; Harrison, Travis; Brettin, Tom; D'Souza, Mark; Gerlach, Wolfgang; Matthews, Hunter; Paczian, Tobias; Wilkening, Jared; Glass, Elizabeth M; Desai, Narayan; Meyer, Folker

2015-01-01

Metagenomic sequencing has produced significant amounts of data in recent years. For example, as of summer 2013, MG-RAST has been used to annotate over 110,000 data sets totaling over 43 Terabases. With metagenomic sequencing finding even wider adoption in the scientific community, the existing web-based analysis tools and infrastructure in MG-RAST provide limited capability for data retrieval and analysis, such as comparative analysis between multiple data sets. Moreover, although the system provides many analysis tools, it is not comprehensive. By opening MG-RAST up via a web services API (application programmers interface) we have greatly expanded access to MG-RAST data, as well as provided a mechanism for the use of third-party analysis tools with MG-RAST data. This RESTful API makes all data and data objects created by the MG-RAST pipeline accessible as JSON objects. As part of the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase project (KBase, http://kbase.us) we have implemented a web services API for MG-RAST. This API complements the existing MG-RAST web interface and constitutes the basis of KBase's microbial community capabilities. In addition, the API exposes a comprehensive collection of data to programmers. This API, which uses a RESTful (Representational State Transfer) implementation, is compatible with most programming environments and should be easy to use for end users and third parties. It provides comprehensive access to sequence data, quality control results, annotations, and many other data types. Where feasible, we have used standards to expose data and metadata. Code examples are provided in a number of languages both to show the versatility of the API and to provide a starting point for users. We present an API that exposes the data in MG-RAST for consumption by our users, greatly enhancing the utility of the MG-RAST service.

Transforming Child and Youth Mental Health Care via Innovative Technological Solutions.

PubMed

Pepler, Antonio; Boydell, Katherine M; Teshima, John; Volpe, Tiziana; Braunberger, Peter G; Minden, Debbie

2011-01-01

Live interactive videoconferencing and other technologies offer innovative opportunities for effective delivery of specialized child and adolescent mental health services. In this article, an example of a comprehensive telepsychiatry program is presented to highlight a variety of capacity-building initiatives that are responsive to community needs and cultures; these initiatives are allowing children, youth and caregivers to access otherwise-distant specialist services within their home communities. Committed, enthusiastic champions, adequate funding and infrastructure, creativity and a positive attitude represent key elements in the adaptation of this demonstrated user-friendly modality.

The development of a new methodology for knowledge sharing in the interface between university and society--an example from the meat sector.

PubMed

Algers, Anne; Silva-Fletcher, Ayona; Gregory, Neville; Hunt, Melvin

2013-11-01

Design science research was used for the generation, use and evaluation of a model for knowledge sharing in the user community through open educational resources (OER). The focus of interest was on the development process of a model for knowledge sharing that emphasizes the characteristics and the needs of the user community; the empowerment and democratic issues of openness; the collaboration between institutions and dialog with society; and the consideration of quality and sustainability issues. Initially, the community needs were analyzed through surveys and workshops, and the findings used, through negotiations, to formulate the development process. An open-training platform served as an infrastructure and included a repository with OER, a wiki and a discussion forum. The purpose of this article is an attempt to provide universities with a plan and template for integrated knowledge sharing that responds to societal needs. Usability and usefulness has not been evaluated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploration of the Factors That Support Learning: Web-Based Activity and Testing Systems in Community College Algebra

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauk, Shandy; Matlen, Bryan

2016-01-01

A variety of computerized interactive learning platforms exist. Most include instructional supports in the form of problem sets. Feedback to users ranges from a single word like "Correct!" to offers of hints and partially to fully worked examples. Behind-the-scenes design of such systems varies as well --from static dictionaries of…

Exploration of the Factors That Support Learning: Web-Based Activity and Testing Systems in Community College Algebra [Contributed Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauk, Shandy; Matlen, Bryan; Thomas, Larry

2017-01-01

A variety of computerized interactive learning platforms exist. Most include instructional supports in the form of problem sets. Feedback to users ranges from a single word like "Correct!" to offers of hints and partially- to fully-worked examples. Behind-the-scenes design of systems varies as well--from static dictionaries of problems…

Application of advanced signal processing techniques to the rectification and registration of spaceborne imagery. [technology transfer, data transmission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caron, R. H.; Rifman, S. S.; Simon, K. W.

1974-01-01

The development of an ERTS/MSS image processing system responsive to the needs of the user community is discussed. An overview of the TRW ERTS/MSS processor is presented, followed by a more detailed discussion of image processing functions satisfied by the system. The particular functions chosen for discussion are evolved from advanced signal processing techniques rooted in the areas of communication and control. These examples show how classical aerospace technology can be transferred to solve the more contemporary problems confronting the users of spaceborne imagery.

Risk by use of hearing protectors--expert programme supports SMEs in appropriate selection and use.

PubMed

Liedtke, M

2005-01-01

Comprehensive protection by use of PPE against the hazards at work requires more than proper selection based on the protection level needed: The PPE user directive (Council Directive 89/656/EEC, Official Journal of the European Communities L 393, 30/12/1989 p.0018 - 0028) requires an assessment of personal protective equipment itself, which has to consider the risks which may be introduced by use of PPE or use of combinations of PPE. As an example risks which may be introduced by use of hearing protectors are described. Assistance in the assessment required by PPE user directive (Council Directive 89/656/EEC, Official Journal of the European Communities L 393, 30/12/1989 p. 0018 - 0028) and in selection and use of hearing protectors with regard to this assessment is presented.

Discrimination in relation to parenthood reported by community psychiatric service users in the UK: a framework analysis.

PubMed

Jeffery, Debra; Clement, Sarah; Corker, Elizabeth; Howard, Louise M; Murray, Joanna; Thornicroft, Graham

2013-04-20

Experienced discrimination refers to an individual's perception that they have been treated unfairly due to an attribute and is an important recent focus within stigma research. A significant proportion of mental health service users report experiencing mental illness-based discrimination in relation to parenthood. Existing studies in this area have not gone beyond prevalence, therefore little is known about the nature of experienced discrimination in relation to parenthood, and how is it constituted. This study aims to generate a typology of community psychiatric service users' reports of mental illness-based discrimination in relation to becoming or being a parent. A secondary aim is to assess the prevalence of these types of experienced discrimination. In a telephone survey 2026 community psychiatric service users in ten UK Mental Health service provider organisations (Trusts) were asked about discrimination experienced in the previous 12 months using the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC). The sample were asked if, due to their mental health problem, they had been treated unfairly in starting a family, or in their role as a parent, and gave examples of this. Prevalence is reported and the examples of experienced discrimination in relation to parenthood were analysed using the framework method of qualitative analysis. Three hundred and four participants (73% female) reported experienced discrimination, with prevalences of 22.5% and 28.3% for starting a family and for the parenting role respectively. Participants gave 89 examples of discrimination about starting a family and 228 about parenting, and these occurred in social and professional contexts. Ten themes were identified. These related to being seen as an unfit parent; people not being understanding; being stopped from having children; not being allowed to see their children; not getting the support needed; children being affected; children avoiding their parents; children's difficulties being blamed on the parent's mental health problem; not being listened to; and being undermined as a parent. This research highlights the need for: greater support for parents with mental illness, those wishing to have children, and those who lose access or custody; services to better meet the needs of children with a mentally ill parent; training about discrimination for professionals; and parenting issues to be included in anti-stigma programmes.

Partnerships for better mental health worldwide: WPA recommendations on best practices in working with service users and family carers

PubMed Central

WALLCRAFT, JAN; AMERING, MICHAELA; FREIDIN, JULIAN; DAVAR, BHARGAVI; FROGGATT, DIANE; JAFRI, HUSSAIN; JAVED, AFZAL; KATONTOKA, SYLVESTER; RAJA, SHOBA; RATAEMANE, SOLOMON; STEFFEN, SIGRID; TYANO, SAM; UNDERHILL, CHRISTPHER; WAHLBERG, HENRIK; WARNER, RICHARD; HERRMAN, HELEN

2011-01-01

WPA President M. Maj established the Task Force on Best Practice in Working with Service Users and Carers in 2008, chaired by H. Herrman. The Task Force had the remit to create recommendations for the international mental health community on how to develop successful partnership working. The work began with a review of literature on service user and carer involvement and partnership. This set out a range of considerations for good practice, including choice of appropriate terminology, clarifying the partnership process and identifying and reducing barriers to partnership working. Based on the literature review and on the shared knowledge in the Task Force, a set of ten recommendations for good practice was developed. These recommendations were the basis for a worldwide consultation of stakeholders with expertise as service users, families and carers, and the WPA Board and Council. The results showed a strong consensus across the international mental health community on the ten recommendations, with the strongest agreement coming from service users and carers. This general consensus gives a basis for Task Force plans to seek support for activities to promote shared work worldwide to identify best practice examples and create a resource to assist others to begin successful collaboration. PMID:21991284

Documentation requirements for Applications Systems Verification and Transfer projects (ASVTs)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Suchy, J. T.

1977-01-01

NASA's Application Systems Verification and Transfer Projects (ASVTs) are deliberate efforts to facilitate the transfer of applications of NASA-developed space technology to users such as federal agencies, state and local governments, regional planning groups, public service institutions, and private industry. This study focused on the role of documentation in facilitating technology transfer both to primary users identified during project planning and to others with similar information needs. It was understood that documentation can be used effectively when it is combined with informal (primarily verbal) communication within each user community and with other formal techniques such as organized demonstrations and training programs. Documentation examples from eight ASVT projects and one potential project were examined to give scope to the investigation.

Perspectives on distributed computing : thirty people, four user types, and the distributed computing user experience.

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

Childers, L.; Liming, L.; Foster, I.

2008-10-15

This report summarizes the methodology and results of a user perspectives study conducted by the Community Driven Improvement of Globus Software (CDIGS) project. The purpose of the study was to document the work-related goals and challenges facing today's scientific technology users, to record their perspectives on Globus software and the distributed-computing ecosystem, and to provide recommendations to the Globus community based on the observations. Globus is a set of open source software components intended to provide a framework for collaborative computational science activities. Rather than attempting to characterize all users or potential users of Globus software, our strategy has beenmore » to speak in detail with a small group of individuals in the scientific community whose work appears to be the kind that could benefit from Globus software, learn as much as possible about their work goals and the challenges they face, and describe what we found. The result is a set of statements about specific individuals experiences. We do not claim that these are representative of a potential user community, but we do claim to have found commonalities and differences among the interviewees that may be reflected in the user community as a whole. We present these as a series of hypotheses that can be tested by subsequent studies, and we offer recommendations to Globus developers based on the assumption that these hypotheses are representative. Specifically, we conducted interviews with thirty technology users in the scientific community. We included both people who have used Globus software and those who have not. We made a point of including individuals who represent a variety of roles in scientific projects, for example, scientists, software developers, engineers, and infrastructure providers. The following material is included in this report: (1) A summary of the reported work-related goals, significant issues, and points of satisfaction with the use of Globus software; (2) A method for characterizing users according to their technology interactions, and identification of four user types among the interviewees using the method; (3) Four profiles that highlight points of commonality and diversity in each user type; (4) Recommendations for technology developers and future studies; (5) A description of the interview protocol and overall study methodology; (6) An anonymized list of the interviewees; and (7) Interview writeups and summary data. The interview summaries in Section 3 and transcripts in Appendix D illustrate the value of distributed computing software--and Globus in particular--to scientific enterprises. They also document opportunities to make these tools still more useful both to current users and to new communities. We aim our recommendations at developers who intend their software to be used and reused in many applications. (This kind of software is often referred to as 'middleware.') Our two core recommendations are as follows. First, it is essential for middleware developers to understand and explicitly manage the multiple user products in which their software components are used. We must avoid making assumptions about the commonality of these products and, instead, study and account for their diversity. Second, middleware developers should engage in different ways with different kinds of users. Having identified four general user types in Section 4, we provide specific ideas for how to engage them in Section 5.« less

The Clue to Minimizing the Developer-User Divide by Good Practice in Earth and Space Science Informatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Messerotti, M.

2009-04-01

Earth and Space Science research, as well as many other disciplines, can nowadays benefit from advanced data handling techniques and tools capable to significantly relieve the scientist of the burden of data search, retrieval, visualization and manipulation, and to exploit the data information content. Some typical examples are Virtual Observatories (VO) specific to a variety of sub-disciplines but anyway interlinked, a feature intrinsic to the VO architecture, Virtual Globes as advanced 3D selection and visualization interfaces to distributed data repositories, and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. These information systems are proving also effective in education and outreach activities as they are usable via web interfaces to give access to, to display and to download nonhomogeneous datasets in order to raise the awareness of the students and the public on the relevant disciplines. Despite of that, all of this effective machineries are still poorly used both by the scientific community and by the community active in education and outreach. All such infrastructures are designed and developed according to the state-of-the-art information and computer engineering techniques and are provided with top features such as ontology- and semantics-based data management, and advanced unified web-based interfaces. Anyway, a careful analysis of the issue mentioned above indicates a key aspect that play a major role, i.e., the inadequate interaction with the users' communities during the design, the development, the deployment and the test phases. Even the best technical tool can appear inadequate to the final user when it does not meet the user's requirements in terms of achievable goals and use friendliness. In this work, we consider the user-side features to be taken into account for the optimum exploitation of an information system in the framework of the interaction among the design engineers and the target communities towards the setting of a good practice for minimizing the developer-user divide.

Tripartite community structure in social bookmarking data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neubauer, Nicolas; Obermayer, Klaus

2011-12-01

Community detection is a branch of network analysis concerned with identifying strongly connected subnetworks. Social bookmarking sites aggregate datasets of often hundreds of millions of triples (document, user, and tag), which, when interpreted as edges of a graph, give rise to special networks called 3-partite, 3-uniform hypergraphs. We identify challenges and opportunities of generalizing community detection and in particular modularity optimization to these structures. Two methods for community detection are introduced that preserve the hypergraph's special structure to different degrees. Their performance is compared on synthetic datasets, showing the benefits of structure preservation. Furthermore, a tool for interactive exploration of the community detection results is introduced and applied to examples from real datasets. We find additional evidence for the importance of structure preservation and, more generally, demonstrate how tripartite community detection can help understand the structure of social bookmarking data.

Comparing apples and oranges: the Community Intercomparison Suite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schutgens, Nick; Stier, Philip; Kershaw, Philip; Pascoe, Stephen

2015-04-01

Visual representation and comparison of geoscientific datasets presents a huge challenge due to the large variety of file formats and spatio-temporal sampling of data (be they observations or simulations). The Community Intercomparison Suite attempts to greatly simplify these tasks for users by offering an intelligent but simple command line tool for visualisation and colocation of diverse datasets. In addition, CIS can subset and aggregate large datasets into smaller more manageable datasets. Our philosophy is to remove as much as possible the need for specialist knowledge by the user of the structure of a dataset. The colocation of observations with model data is as simple as: "cis col ::" which will resample the simulation data to the spatio-temporal sampling of the observations, contingent on a few user-defined options that specify a resampling kernel. As an example, we apply CIS to a case study of biomass burning aerosol from the Congo. Remote sensing observations, in-situe observations and model data are shown in various plots, with the purpose of either comparing different datasets or integrating them into a single comprehensive picture. CIS can deal with both gridded and ungridded datasets of 2, 3 or 4 spatio-temporal dimensions. It can handle different spatial coordinates (e.g. longitude or distance, altitude or pressure level). CIS supports both HDF, netCDF and ASCII file formats. The suite is written in Python with entirely publicly available open source dependencies. Plug-ins allow a high degree of user-moddability. A web-based developer hub includes a manual and simple examples. CIS is developed as open source code by a specialist IT company under supervision of scientists from the University of Oxford and the Centre of Environmental Data Archival as part of investment in the JASMIN superdatacluster facility.

PEMNetwork: Barriers and Enablers to Collaboration and Multimedia Education in the Digital Age.

PubMed

Lumba-Brown, Angela; Tat, Sonny; Auerbach, Marc A; Kessler, David O; Alletag, Michelle; Grover, Purva; Schnadower, David; Macias, Charles G; Chang, Todd P

2016-08-01

In January 2005, PEMFellows.com was created to unify fellows in pediatric emergency medicine. Since then, the website has expanded, contracted, and focused to adapt to the interests of the pediatric emergency medicine practitioner during the internet boom. This review details the innovation of the PEMNetwork, from the inception of the initial website and its evolution into a needs-based, user-directed educational hub. Barriers and enablers to success are detailed with unique examples from descriptive analysis and metrics of PEMNetwork web traffic as well as examples from other online medical communities and digital education websites.

Digital Hive Project: Prototyping a Collaborative Web Portal for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Community

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

databases, etc.) and a great sense of pride when reflecting on his ability to network with other EOD liaison officers via social media websites. His needs ...searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed , and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments...69 Figure 17. POV map unpacking example .........................................................................70 Figure 18. User needs

Fueling the Future with Fungal Genomes

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

Grigoriev, Igor V.

2014-10-27

Genomes of fungi relevant to energy and environment are in focus of the JGI Fungal Genomic Program. One of its projects, the Genomics Encyclopedia of Fungi, targets fungi related to plant health (symbionts and pathogens) and biorefinery processes (cellulose degradation and sugar fermentation) by means of genome sequencing and analysis. New chapters of the Encyclopedia can be opened with user proposals to the JGI Community Science Program (CSP). Another JGI project, the 1000 fungal genomes, explores fungal diversity on genome level at scale and is open for users to nominate new species for sequencing. Over 400 fungal genomes have beenmore » sequenced by JGI to date and released through MycoCosm (www.jgi.doe.gov/fungi), a fungal web-portal, which integrates sequence and functional data with genome analysis tools for user community. Sequence analysis supported by functional genomics will lead to developing parts list for complex systems ranging from ecosystems of biofuel crops to biorefineries. Recent examples of such ‘parts’ suggested by comparative genomics and functional analysis in these areas are presented here.« less

Partnerships for community mental health in the Asia-Pacific: principles and best-practice models across different sectors.

PubMed

Ng, Chee; Fraser, Julia; Goding, Margaret; Paroissien, David; Ryan, Brigid

2013-02-01

Stage Two of the Asia-Pacific Community Mental Health Development Project was established to document successful partnership models in community mental health care in the region. This paper summarizes the best-practice examples and principles of partnerships in community mental health across 17 Asia-Pacific countries. A series of consensus workshops between countries identified best-practice exemplars that promote or advance community mental health care in collaboration with a range of community stakeholders. These prototypes highlighted a broad range of partnerships across government, non-government and community agencies, as well as service users and family carers. From practice-based evidence, a set of 10 key principles was developed that can be applied in building partnerships for community mental health care consistent with the local cultures, communities and systems in the region. Such practical guidance can be useful to minimize fragmentation of community resources and promote effective partnerships to extend community mental health services in the region.

Bridging Hydroinformatics Services Between HydroShare and SWATShare

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merwade, V.; Zhao, L.; Song, C. X.; Tarboton, D. G.; Goodall, J. L.; Stealey, M.; Rajib, A.; Morsy, M. M.; Dash, P. K.; Miles, B.; Kim, I. L.

2016-12-01

Many cyberinfrastructure systems in the hydrologic and related domains emerged in the past decade with more being developed to address various data management and modeling needs. Although clearly beneficial to the broad user community, it is a challenging task to build interoperability across these systems due to various obstacles including technological, organizational, semantic, and social issues. This work presents our experience in developing interoperability between two hydrologic cyberinfrastructure systems - SWATShare and HydroShare. HydroShare is a large-scale online system aiming at enabling the hydrologic user community to share their data, models, and analysis online for solving complex hydrologic research questions. On the other side, SWATShare is a focused effort to allow SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) modelers share, execute and analyze SWAT models using high performance computing resources. Making these two systems interoperable required common sign-in through OAuth, sharing of models through common metadata standards and use of standard web-services for implementing key import/export functionalities. As a result, users from either community can leverage the resources and services across these systems without having to manually importing, exporting, or processing their models. Overall, this use case is an example that can serve as a model for the interoperability among other systems as no one system can provide all the functionality needed to address large interdisciplinary problems.

TRENDS: A flight test relational database user's guide and reference manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bondi, M. J.; Bjorkman, W. S.; Cross, J. L.

1994-01-01

This report is designed to be a user's guide and reference manual for users intending to access rotocraft test data via TRENDS, the relational database system which was developed as a tool for the aeronautical engineer with no programming background. This report has been written to assist novice and experienced TRENDS users. TRENDS is a complete system for retrieving, searching, and analyzing both numerical and narrative data, and for displaying time history and statistical data in graphical and numerical formats. This manual provides a 'guided tour' and a 'user's guide' for the new and intermediate-skilled users. Examples for the use of each menu item within TRENDS is provided in the Menu Reference section of the manual, including full coverage for TIMEHIST, one of the key tools. This manual is written around the XV-15 Tilt Rotor database, but does include an appendix on the UH-60 Blackhawk database. This user's guide and reference manual establishes a referrable source for the research community and augments NASA TM-101025, TRENDS: The Aeronautical Post-Test, Database Management System, Jan. 1990, written by the same authors.

System for Earth Sample Registration SESAR: Services for IGSN Registration and Sample Metadata Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, S.; Lehnert, K. A.; Coleman, R. J.

2011-12-01

SESAR, the System for Earth Sample Registration, is an online registry for physical samples collected for Earth and environmental studies. SESAR generates and administers the International Geo Sample Number IGSN, a unique identifier for samples that is dramatically advancing interoperability amongst information systems for sample-based data. SESAR was developed to provide the complete range of registry services, including definition of IGSN syntax and metadata profiles, registration and validation of name spaces requested by users, tools for users to submit and manage sample metadata, validation of submitted metadata, generation and validation of the unique identifiers, archiving of sample metadata, and public or private access to the sample metadata catalog. With the development of SESAR v3, we placed particular emphasis on creating enhanced tools that make metadata submission easier and more efficient for users, and that provide superior functionality for users to manage metadata of their samples in their private workspace MySESAR. For example, SESAR v3 includes a module where users can generate custom spreadsheet templates to enter metadata for their samples, then upload these templates online for sample registration. Once the content of the template is uploaded, it is displayed online in an editable grid format. Validation rules are executed in real-time on the grid data to ensure data integrity. Other new features of SESAR v3 include the capability to transfer ownership of samples to other SESAR users, the ability to upload and store images and other files in a sample metadata profile, and the tracking of changes to sample metadata profiles. In the next version of SESAR (v3.5), we will further improve the discovery, sharing, registration of samples. For example, we are developing a more comprehensive suite of web services that will allow discovery and registration access to SESAR from external systems. Both batch and individual registrations will be possible through web services. Based on valuable feedback from the user community, we will introduce enhancements that add greater flexibility to the system to accommodate the vast diversity of metadata that users want to store. Users will be able to create custom metadata fields and use these for the samples they register. Users will also be able to group samples into 'collections' to make retrieval for research projects or publications easier. An improved interface design will allow for better workflow transition and navigation throughout the application. In keeping up with the demands of a growing community, SESAR has also made process changes to ensure efficiency in system development. For example, we have implemented a release cycle to better track enhancements and fixes to the system, and an API library that facilitates reusability of code. Usage tracking, metrics and surveys capture information to guide the direction of future developments. A new set of administrative tools allows greater control of system management.

GONUTS: the Gene Ontology Normal Usage Tracking System

PubMed Central

Renfro, Daniel P.; McIntosh, Brenley K.; Venkatraman, Anand; Siegele, Deborah A.; Hu, James C.

2012-01-01

The Gene Ontology Normal Usage Tracking System (GONUTS) is a community-based browser and usage guide for Gene Ontology (GO) terms and a community system for general GO annotation of proteins. GONUTS uses wiki technology to allow registered users to share and edit notes on the use of each term in GO, and to contribute annotations for specific genes of interest. By providing a site for generation of third-party documentation at the granularity of individual terms, GONUTS complements the official documentation of the Gene Ontology Consortium. To provide examples for community users, GONUTS displays the complete GO annotations from seven model organisms: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Dictyostelium discoideum, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Danio rerio, Mus musculus and Arabidopsis thaliana. To support community annotation, GONUTS allows automated creation of gene pages for gene products in UniProt. GONUTS will improve the consistency of annotation efforts across genome projects, and should be useful in training new annotators and consumers in the production of GO annotations and the use of GO terms. GONUTS can be accessed at http://gowiki.tamu.edu. The source code for generating the content of GONUTS is available upon request. PMID:22110029

The Road to Independently Understandable Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habermann, T.; Robinson, E.

2017-12-01

The turn of the 21st century was a pivotal time in the Earth and Space Science information ecosystem. The Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) had existed for nearly a decade and ambitious new standards were just emerging. The U.S. Federal Geospatial Data Committee (FGDC) had extended many of the concepts from CSDGM into the International community with ISO 19115:2003 and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) had migrated their Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model into an international standard (ISO 14721:2003). The OAIS model outlined the roles and responsibilities of archives with the principle role being preserving information and making it available to users, a "designated community", as a service to the data producer. It was mandatory for the archive to ensure that information is "independently understandable" to the designated community and to maintain that understanding through on-going partnerships between archives and designated communities. Standards can play a role in supporting these partnerships as designated communities expand across disciplinary and geographic boundaries. The ISO metadata standards include many capabilities that might make critical contributions to this goal. These include connections to resources outside of the metadata record (i.e. documentation) and mechanisms for ongoing incorporation of user feedback into the metadata stream. We will demonstrate these capabilities with examples of how they can increase understanding.

Root zone water quality model (RZWQM2): Model use, calibration and validation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ma, Liwang; Ahuja, Lajpat; Nolan, B.T.; Malone, Robert; Trout, Thomas; Qi, Z.

2012-01-01

The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM2) has been used widely for simulating agricultural management effects on crop production and soil and water quality. Although it is a one-dimensional model, it has many desirable features for the modeling community. This article outlines the principles of calibrating the model component by component with one or more datasets and validating the model with independent datasets. Users should consult the RZWQM2 user manual distributed along with the model and a more detailed protocol on how to calibrate RZWQM2 provided in a book chapter. Two case studies (or examples) are included in this article. One is from an irrigated maize study in Colorado to illustrate the use of field and laboratory measured soil hydraulic properties on simulated soil water and crop production. It also demonstrates the interaction between soil and plant parameters in simulated plant responses to water stresses. The other is from a maize-soybean rotation study in Iowa to show a manual calibration of the model for crop yield, soil water, and N leaching in tile-drained soils. Although the commonly used trial-and-error calibration method works well for experienced users, as shown in the second example, an automated calibration procedure is more objective, as shown in the first example. Furthermore, the incorporation of the Parameter Estimation Software (PEST) into RZWQM2 made the calibration of the model more efficient than a grid (ordered) search of model parameters. In addition, PEST provides sensitivity and uncertainty analyses that should help users in selecting the right parameters to calibrate.

Loyalty in Online Communities.

PubMed

Hamilton, William L; Zhang, Justine; Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, Cristian; Jurafsky, Dan; Leskovec, Jure

2017-05-01

Loyalty is an essential component of multi-community engagement. When users have the choice to engage with a variety of different communities, they often become loyal to just one, focusing on that community at the expense of others. However, it is unclear how loyalty is manifested in user behavior, or whether certain community characteristics encourage loyalty. In this paper we operationalize loyalty as a user-community relation: users loyal to a community consistently prefer it over all others; loyal communities retain their loyal users over time. By exploring a large set of Reddit communities, we reveal that loyalty is manifested in remarkably consistent behaviors. Loyal users employ language that signals collective identity and engage with more esoteric, less popular content, indicating that they may play a curational role in surfacing new material. Loyal communities have denser user-user interaction networks and lower rates of triadic closure, suggesting that community-level loyalty is associated with more cohesive interactions and less fragmentation into subgroups. We exploit these general patterns to predict future rates of loyalty. Our results show that a user's propensity to become loyal is apparent from their initial interactions with a community, suggesting that some users are intrinsically loyal from the very beginning.

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.

Building Models in the Classroom: Taking Advantage of Sophisticated Geomorphic Numerical Tools Using a Simple Graphical User Interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, S. G.; Koons, P. O.; Gerbi, C. C.; Capps, D. K.; Tucker, G. E.; Rogers, Z. A.

2014-12-01

Sophisticated numerical tools exist for modeling geomorphic processes and linking them to tectonic and climatic systems, but they are often seen as inaccessible for users with an exploratory level of interest. We have improved the accessibility of landscape evolution models by producing a simple graphics user interface (GUI) that takes advantage of the Channel-Hillslope Integrated Landscape Development (CHILD) model. Model access is flexible: the user can edit values for basic geomorphic, tectonic, and climate parameters, or obtain greater control by defining the spatiotemporal distributions of those parameters. Users can make educated predictions by choosing their own parametric values for the governing equations and interpreting the results immediately through model graphics. This method of modeling allows users to iteratively build their understanding through experimentation. Use of this GUI is intended for inquiry and discovery-based learning activities. We discuss a number of examples of how the GUI can be used at the upper high school, introductory university, and advanced university level. Effective teaching modules initially focus on an inquiry-based example guided by the instructor. As students become familiar with the GUI and the CHILD model, the class can shift to more student-centered exploration and experimentation. To make model interpretations more robust, digital elevation models can be imported and direct comparisons can be made between CHILD model results and natural topography. The GUI is available online through the University of Maine's Earth and Climate Sciences website, through the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS) model repository, or by contacting the corresponding author.

A client/server system for Internet access to biomedical text/image databanks.

PubMed

Thoma, G R; Long, L R; Berman, L E

1996-01-01

Internet access to mixed text/image databanks is finding application in the medical world. An example is a database of medical X-rays and associated data consisting of demographic, socioeconomic, physician's exam, medical laboratory and other information collected as part of a nationwide health survey conducted by the government. Another example is a collection of digitized cryosection images, CT and MR taken of cadavers as part of the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. In both cases, the challenge is to provide access to both the image and the associated text for a wide end user community to create atlases, conduct epidemiological studies, to develop image-specific algorithms for compression, enhancement and other types of image processing, among many other applications. The databanks mentioned above are being created in prototype form. This paper describes the prototype system developed for the archiving of the data and the client software to enable a broad range of end users to access the archive, retrieve text and image data, display the data and manipulate the images. System design considerations include; data organization in a relational database management system with object-oriented extensions; a hierarchical organization of the image data by different resolution levels for different user classes; client design based on common hardware and software platforms incorporating SQL search capability, X Window, Motif and TAE (a development environment supporting rapid prototyping and management of graphic-oriented user interfaces); potential to include ultra high resolution display monitors as a user option; intuitive user interface paradigm for building complex queries; and contrast enhancement, magnification and mensuration tools for better viewing by the user.

Loyalty in Online Communities

PubMed Central

Hamilton, William L.; Zhang, Justine; Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, Cristian; Jurafsky, Dan; Leskovec, Jure

2018-01-01

Loyalty is an essential component of multi-community engagement. When users have the choice to engage with a variety of different communities, they often become loyal to just one, focusing on that community at the expense of others. However, it is unclear how loyalty is manifested in user behavior, or whether certain community characteristics encourage loyalty. In this paper we operationalize loyalty as a user-community relation: users loyal to a community consistently prefer it over all others; loyal communities retain their loyal users over time. By exploring a large set of Reddit communities, we reveal that loyalty is manifested in remarkably consistent behaviors. Loyal users employ language that signals collective identity and engage with more esoteric, less popular content, indicating that they may play a curational role in surfacing new material. Loyal communities have denser user-user interaction networks and lower rates of triadic closure, suggesting that community-level loyalty is associated with more cohesive interactions and less fragmentation into subgroups. We exploit these general patterns to predict future rates of loyalty. Our results show that a user’s propensity to become loyal is apparent from their initial interactions with a community, suggesting that some users are intrinsically loyal from the very beginning. PMID:29354326

A RESTful API for accessing microbial community data for MG-RAST

DOE PAGES

Wilke, Andreas; Bischof, Jared; Harrison, Travis; ...

2015-01-08

Metagenomic sequencing has produced significant amounts of data in recent years. For example, as of summer 2013, MGRAST has been used to annotate over 110,000 data sets totaling over 43 Terabases. With metagenomic sequencing finding even wider adoption in the scientific community, the existing web-based analysis tools and infrastructure in MG-RAST provide limited capability for data retrieval and analysis, such as comparative analysis between multiple data sets. Moreover, although the system provides many analysis tools, it is not comprehensive. By opening MG-RAST up via a web services API (application programmers interface) we have greatly expanded access to MG-RAST data, asmore » well as provided a mechanism for the use of third-party analysis tools with MG-RAST data. This RESTful API makes all data and data objects created by the MG-RAST pipeline accessible as JSON objects. As part of the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase project (KBase, http:// kbase.us) we have implemented a web services API for MG-RAST. This API complements the existing MG-RAST web interface and constitutes the basis of KBase’s microbial community capabilities. In addition, the API exposes a comprehensive collection of data to programmers. This API, which uses a RESTful (Representational State Transfer) implementation, is compatible with most programming environments and should be easy to use for end users and third parties. It provides comprehensive access to sequence data, quality control results, annotations, and many other data types. Where feasible, we have used standards to expose data and metadata. Code examples are provided in a number of languages both to show the versatility of the API and to provide a starting point for users. We present an API that exposes the data in MG-RAST for consumption by our users, greatly enhancing the utility of the MG-RAST service.« less

A RESTful API for Accessing Microbial Community Data for MG-RAST

PubMed Central

Wilke, Andreas; Bischof, Jared; Harrison, Travis; Brettin, Tom; D'Souza, Mark; Gerlach, Wolfgang; Matthews, Hunter; Paczian, Tobias; Wilkening, Jared; Glass, Elizabeth M.; Desai, Narayan; Meyer, Folker

2015-01-01

Metagenomic sequencing has produced significant amounts of data in recent years. For example, as of summer 2013, MG-RAST has been used to annotate over 110,000 data sets totaling over 43 Terabases. With metagenomic sequencing finding even wider adoption in the scientific community, the existing web-based analysis tools and infrastructure in MG-RAST provide limited capability for data retrieval and analysis, such as comparative analysis between multiple data sets. Moreover, although the system provides many analysis tools, it is not comprehensive. By opening MG-RAST up via a web services API (application programmers interface) we have greatly expanded access to MG-RAST data, as well as provided a mechanism for the use of third-party analysis tools with MG-RAST data. This RESTful API makes all data and data objects created by the MG-RAST pipeline accessible as JSON objects. As part of the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase project (KBase, http://kbase.us) we have implemented a web services API for MG-RAST. This API complements the existing MG-RAST web interface and constitutes the basis of KBase's microbial community capabilities. In addition, the API exposes a comprehensive collection of data to programmers. This API, which uses a RESTful (Representational State Transfer) implementation, is compatible with most programming environments and should be easy to use for end users and third parties. It provides comprehensive access to sequence data, quality control results, annotations, and many other data types. Where feasible, we have used standards to expose data and metadata. Code examples are provided in a number of languages both to show the versatility of the API and to provide a starting point for users. We present an API that exposes the data in MG-RAST for consumption by our users, greatly enhancing the utility of the MG-RAST service. PMID:25569221

Medically related activities of application team program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

Application team methodology identifies and specifies problems in technology transfer programs to biomedical areas through direct contact with users of aerospace technology. The availability of reengineering sources increases impact of the program on the medical community and results in broad scale application of some bioinstrumentation systems. Examples are given that include devices adapted to the rehabilitation of neuromuscular disorders, power sources for artificial organs, and automated monitoring and detection equipment in clinical medicine.

Data publication and sharing using the SciDrive service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishin, Dmitry; Medvedev, D.; Szalay, A. S.; Plante, R. L.

2014-01-01

Despite the last years progress in scientific data storage, still remains the problem of public data storage and sharing system for relatively small scientific datasets. These are collections forming the “long tail” of power log datasets distribution. The aggregated size of the long tail data is comparable to the size of all data collections from large archives, and the value of data is significant. The SciDrive project's main goal is providing the scientific community with a place to reliably and freely store such data and provide access to it to broad scientific community. The primary target audience of the project is astoromy community, and it will be extended to other fields. We're aiming to create a simple way of publishing a dataset, which can be then shared with other people. Data owner controls the permissions to modify and access the data and can assign a group of users or open the access to everyone. The data contained in the dataset will be automaticaly recognized by a background process. Known data formats will be extracted according to the user's settings. Currently tabular data can be automatically extracted to the user's MyDB table where user can make SQL queries to the dataset and merge it with other public CasJobs resources. Other data formats can be processed using a set of plugins that upload the data or metadata to user-defined side services. The current implementation targets some of the data formats commonly used by the astronomy communities, including FITS, ASCII and Excel tables, TIFF images, and YT simulations data archives. Along with generic metadata, format-specific metadata is also processed. For example, basic information about celestial objects is extracted from FITS files and TIFF images, if present. A 100TB implementation has just been put into production at Johns Hopkins University. The system features public data storage REST service supporting VOSpace 2.0 and Dropbox protocols, HTML5 web portal, command-line client and Java standalone client to synchronize a local folder with the remote storage. We use VAO SSO (Single Sign On) service from NCSA for users authentication that provides free registration for everyone.

Lightning research: A user's lament

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golub, C. N.

1984-01-01

As a user of devices and procedures for lightning protection, the author is asking the lightning research community for cookbook recipes to help him solve his problems. He is lamenting that realistic devices are scarce and that his mission does not allow him the time nor the wherewithal to bridge the gap between research and applications. A few case histories are presented. In return for their help he is offering researchers a key to lightning technology--the use of the Eastern Test Range and its extensive resources as a proving ground for their experiment in the lightning capital of the United States. A current example is given--a joint lightning characterization project to take place there. Typical resources are listed.

VESPA: A community-driven Virtual Observatory in Planetary Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erard, S.; Cecconi, B.; Le Sidaner, P.; Rossi, A. P.; Capria, M. T.; Schmitt, B.; Génot, V.; André, N.; Vandaele, A. C.; Scherf, M.; Hueso, R.; Määttänen, A.; Thuillot, W.; Carry, B.; Achilleos, N.; Marmo, C.; Santolik, O.; Benson, K.; Fernique, P.; Beigbeder, L.; Millour, E.; Rousseau, B.; Andrieu, F.; Chauvin, C.; Minin, M.; Ivanoski, S.; Longobardo, A.; Bollard, P.; Albert, D.; Gangloff, M.; Jourdane, N.; Bouchemit, M.; Glorian, J.-M.; Trompet, L.; Al-Ubaidi, T.; Juaristi, J.; Desmars, J.; Guio, P.; Delaa, O.; Lagain, A.; Soucek, J.; Pisa, D.

2018-01-01

The VESPA data access system focuses on applying Virtual Observatory (VO) standards and tools to Planetary Science. Building on a previous EC-funded Europlanet program, it has reached maturity during the first year of a new Europlanet 2020 program (started in 2015 for 4 years). The infrastructure has been upgraded to handle many fields of Solar System studies, with a focus both on users and data providers. This paper describes the broad lines of the current VESPA infrastructure as seen by a potential user, and provides examples of real use cases in several thematic areas. These use cases are also intended to identify hints for future developments and adaptations of VO tools to Planetary Science.

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

Christon, Mark A.; Bakosi, Jozsef; Lowrie, Robert B.

Hydra-TH is a hybrid finite-element/finite-volume code built using the Hydra toolkit specifically to attack a broad class of incompressible, viscous fluid dynamics problems prevalent in the thermalhydraulics community. The purpose for this manual is provide sufficient information for an experience analyst to use Hydra-TH in an effective way. The Hydra-TH User's Manual present a brief overview of capabilities and visualization interfaces. The execution and restart models are described before turning to the detailed description of keyword input. Finally, a series of example problems are presented with sufficient data to permit the user to verify the local installation of Hydra-TH, andmore » to permit a convenient starting point for more detailed and complex analyses.« less

Tools and Services for Working with Multiple Land Remote Sensing Data Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krehbiel, C.; Friesz, A.; Harriman, L.; Quenzer, R.; Impecoven, K.; Maiersperger, T.

2016-12-01

The availability of increasingly large and diverse satellite remote sensing datasets provides both an opportunity and a challenge across broad Earth science research communities. On one hand, the extensive assortment of available data offer unprecedented opportunities to improve our understanding of Earth science and enable data use across a multitude of science disciplines. On the other hand, increasingly complex formats, data structures, and metadata can be an obstacle to data use for the broad user community that is interested in incorporating remote sensing Earth science data into their research. NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) provides easy to use Python notebook tutorials for services such as accessing land remote sensing data from the LP DAAC Data Pool and interpreting data quality information from MODIS. We use examples to demonstrate the capabilities of the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS), such as spatially and spectrally subsetting data, decoding valuable quality information, and exploring initial analysis results within the user interface. We also show data recipes for R and Python scripts that help users process ASTER L1T and ASTER Global Emissivity Datasets.

Data and Science: GES DISC Users' Data Usage and Science Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shie, C. L.; Greene, M.; Acker, J. G.; Lei, G. D.; Al-Jazrawi, A. F.; Meyer, D. J.

2017-12-01

Motivation: Recall the arguably most renowned anecdote in the history of science: the young Isaac Newton was hit on his head by a falling apple (the data!) when he sat in his garden, which inspired Newton's brilliant insight and his eventually understanding and demonstrating of gravitational force (the science!). This well-known "coupling" of "data" and "science" can be considered as the trigger for this study (as well as its title). The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Service Center (GES DISC) has provided massive amounts of Earth science data, information, and services to diverse research communities and the general public for decades. How much those data products from different missions or projects have been used by diverse user communities, as well as how they have been used by our various user categories (such as research scientists, applications scientists, general public, and students) for different science research or/and applications are the primary focus of this study. We have performed an integrated analysis on "data usage" vs. "science research/application" by investigating three different, yet related, groups of records, i.e., user Help Tickets (the questions and feedback from the users), user publications (info acquired especially via users' acknowledgments of using Giovanni, our powerful in-house visualization tool, in their papers), and user metrics (the collected information of data and service usage by the users) in recent years (2013-2017). For example, precipitation, hydrology, and atmospheric chemistry have been found as frequently applied science variables or/and science areas that have been exploited or/and explored by the users based on the user tickets we have analyzed so far. With regard to Giovanni, a significant minority of the users are applications users (air quality, water quality, agriculture, natural disasters, etc.) in contrast to the majority of basic research users. More users employ Giovanni as an adjunct data source than as the primary source of data and visualizations for their specific research topic. Our overall findings from this integrated analysis will be presented at the meeting.

Discrimination in relation to parenthood reported by community psychiatric service users in the UK: a framework analysis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Experienced discrimination refers to an individual’s perception that they have been treated unfairly due to an attribute and is an important recent focus within stigma research. A significant proportion of mental health service users report experiencing mental illness-based discrimination in relation to parenthood. Existing studies in this area have not gone beyond prevalence, therefore little is known about the nature of experienced discrimination in relation to parenthood, and how is it constituted. This study aims to generate a typology of community psychiatric service users’ reports of mental illness-based discrimination in relation to becoming or being a parent. A secondary aim is to assess the prevalence of these types of experienced discrimination. Methods In a telephone survey 2026 community psychiatric service users in ten UK Mental Health service provider organisations (Trusts) were asked about discrimination experienced in the previous 12 months using the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC). The sample were asked if, due to their mental health problem, they had been treated unfairly in starting a family, or in their role as a parent, and gave examples of this. Prevalence is reported and the examples of experienced discrimination in relation to parenthood were analysed using the framework method of qualitative analysis. Results Three hundred and four participants (73% female) reported experienced discrimination, with prevalences of 22.5% and 28.3% for starting a family and for the parenting role respectively. Participants gave 89 examples of discrimination about starting a family and 228 about parenting, and these occurred in social and professional contexts. Ten themes were identified. These related to being seen as an unfit parent; people not being understanding; being stopped from having children; not being allowed to see their children; not getting the support needed; children being affected; children avoiding their parents; children’s difficulties being blamed on the parent’s mental health problem; not being listened to; and being undermined as a parent. Conclusions This research highlights the need for: greater support for parents with mental illness, those wishing to have children, and those who lose access or custody; services to better meet the needs of children with a mentally ill parent; training about discrimination for professionals; and parenting issues to be included in anti-stigma programmes. PMID:23601350

Building Training Curricula for Accelerating the Use of NOAA Climate Products and Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timofeyeva-Livezey, M. M.; Meyers, J. C.; Stevermer, A.; Abshire, W. E.; Beller-Simms, N.; Herring, D.

2016-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) plays a leading role in U.S. intergovernmental efforts on the Climate Data Initiative and the Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT). CRT (http://toolkit.climate.gov/) is a valuable resource that provides tools, information, and subject matter expertise to decision makers in various sectors, such as agriculture, water resources and transportation, to help them build resilience to our changing climate. In order to make best use of the toolkit and all the resources within it, a training component is critical. The training section helps building users' understanding of the data, science, and impacts of climate variability and change. CRT identifies five steps in building resilience that includes use of appropriate tools to support decision makers depending on their needs. One tool that can be potentially integrated into CRT is NOAA's Local Climate Analysis Tool (LCAT), which provides access to trusted NOAA data and scientifically-sound analysis techniques for doing regional and local climate studies on climate variability and climate change. However, in order for LCAT to be used effectively, we have found an iterative learning approach using specific examples to train users. For example, for LCAT application in analysis of water resources, we use existing CRT case studies for Arizona and Florida water supply users. The Florida example demonstrates primary sensitivity to climate variability impacts, whereas the Arizona example takes into account longer- term climate change. The types of analyses included in LCAT are time series analysis of local climate and the estimated rate of change in the local climate. It also provides a composite analysis to evaluate the relationship between local climate and climate variability events such as El Niño Southern Oscillation, the Pacific North American Index, and other modes of climate variability. This paper will describe the development of a training module for use of LCAT and its integration into CRT. An iterative approach was used that incorporates specific examples of decision making while working with subject matter experts within the water supply community. The recommended strategy is to use a "stepping stone" learning structure to build users knowledge of best practices for use of LCAT.

Do Online Voting Patterns Reflect Evolved Features of Human Cognition? An Exploratory Empirical Investigation.

PubMed

Priestley, Maria; Mesoudi, Alex

2015-01-01

Online votes or ratings can assist internet users in evaluating the credibility and appeal of the information which they encounter. For example, aggregator websites such as Reddit allow users to up-vote submitted content to make it more prominent, and down-vote content to make it less prominent. Here we argue that decisions over what to up- or down-vote may be guided by evolved features of human cognition. We predict that internet users should be more likely to up-vote content that others have also up-voted (social influence), content that has been submitted by particularly liked or respected users (model-based bias), content that constitutes evolutionarily salient or relevant information (content bias), and content that follows group norms and, in particular, prosocial norms. 489 respondents from the online social voting community Reddit rated the extent to which they felt different traits influenced their voting. Statistical analyses confirmed that norm-following and prosociality, as well as various content biases such as emotional content and originality, were rated as important motivators of voting. Social influence had a smaller effect than expected, while attitudes towards the submitter had little effect. This exploratory empirical investigation suggests that online voting communities can provide an important test-bed for evolutionary theories of human social information use, and that evolved features of human cognition may guide online behaviour just as it guides behaviour in the offline world.

Social Media and Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN): Analysis of Advanced Metrics From the First Year of a New Twitter Community: #MPNSM.

PubMed

Pemmaraju, Naveen; Utengen, Audun; Gupta, Vikas; Kiladjian, Jean-Jacques; Mesa, Ruben; Thompson, Michael A

2016-12-01

The social media platform Twitter has provided the hematology/oncology community with unprecedented, novel methods of interpersonal communication and increased ability for the dissemination of important updates in a rapidly moving field. The advent, and subsequent success, of disease-specific Twitter communities have further enabled interested healthcare stakeholders to become quickly organized around a unique set of rare medical conditions, such as hematologic malignancies, that, historically, generally lack large amounts of reliable online information. One example is the Twitter community #MPNSM (myeloproliferative neoplasms on social media), which was started approximately one and half years ago and has served as a recognized venue for discussion among many members of the MPN community, including patients, researchers, providers, and advocacy organizations. This article will focus on understanding the impact of the founding of this community via the analysis of advanced Twitter metrics of user experience, from the first year of use for this novel healthcare hashtag.

Ethical issues in the reuse of qualitative data: perspectives from literature, practice, and participants.

PubMed

Yardley, Sarah J; Watts, Kate M; Pearson, Jennifer; Richardson, Jane C

2014-01-01

In this article, we explore ethical issues in qualitative secondary analysis through a comparison of the literature with practitioner and participant perspectives. To achieve this, we integrated critical narrative review findings with data from two discussion groups: qualitative researchers and research users/consumers. In the literature, we found that theoretical debate ran parallel to practical action rather than being integrated with it. We identified an important and novel theme of relationships that was emerging from the perspectives of researchers and users. Relationships were significant with respect to trust, sharing data, transparency and clarity, anonymity, permissions, and responsibility. We provide an example of practice development that we hope will prompt researchers to re-examine the issues in their own setting. Informing the research community of research practitioner and user perspectives on ethical issues in the reuse of qualitative data is the first step toward developing mechanisms to better integrate theoretical and empirical work.

User roles and contributions during the new product development process in collaborative innovation communities.

PubMed

Guo, Wei; Zheng, Qing; An, Weijin; Peng, Wei

2017-09-01

Collaborative innovation (co-innovation) community emerges as a new product design platform where companies involve users in the new product development (NPD) process. Large numbers of users participate and contribute to the process voluntarily. This exploratory study investigates the heterogeneous roles of users based on a global co-innovation project in online community. Content analysis, social network analysis and cluster method are employed to measure user behaviors, distinguish user roles, and analyze user contributions. The study identifies six user roles that emerge during the NPD process in co-innovation community: project leader, active designer, generalist, communicator, passive designer, and observer. The six user roles differ in their contribution forms and quality. This paper contributes to research on co-innovation in online communities, including design team structure, user roles and their contribution to design task and solution, as well as user value along the process. In addition, the study provides practices guidance on implementing project, attracting users, and designing platform for co-innovation community practitioners. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

LARCMACS: A TEX macro set for typesetting NASA reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woessner, Linda H.; Mccaskill, Mary K.

1988-01-01

This LARCMACS user's manual describes the February 1988 version of LARCMACS, the TEX macro set used by the Technical Editing Branch (TEB) at NASA Langley Research Center. These macros were developed by the authors to facilitate the typesetting of NASA formal reports. They are also useful, however, for informal NASA reports and other technical documents such as meeting papers. LARCMACS are distributed by TEB for the convenience of the Langley TEX user community. LARCMACS contain macros for obtaining the standard double-column format for NASA reports, for typesetting tables in the ruled format traditional in NASA reports, and for typesetting difficult mathematical expressions. Each macro is described and numerous examples are included. Definitions of the LARCMACS macros are also included.

ARC SDK: A toolbox for distributed computing and data applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skou Andersen, M.; Cameron, D.; Lindemann, J.

2014-06-01

Grid middleware suites provide tools to perform the basic tasks of job submission and retrieval and data access, however these tools tend to be low-level, operating on individual jobs or files and lacking in higher-level concepts. User communities therefore generally develop their own application-layer software catering to their specific communities' needs on top of the Grid middleware. It is thus important for the Grid middleware to provide a friendly, well documented and simple to use interface for the applications to build upon. The Advanced Resource Connector (ARC), developed by NorduGrid, provides a Software Development Kit (SDK) which enables applications to use the middleware for job and data management. This paper presents the architecture and functionality of the ARC SDK along with an example graphical application developed with the SDK. The SDK consists of a set of libraries accessible through Application Programming Interfaces (API) in several languages. It contains extensive documentation and example code and is available on multiple platforms. The libraries provide generic interfaces and rely on plugins to support a given technology or protocol and this modular design makes it easy to add a new plugin if the application requires supporting additional technologies.The ARC Graphical Clients package is a graphical user interface built on top of the ARC SDK and the Qt toolkit and it is presented here as a fully functional example of an application. It provides a graphical interface to enable job submission and management at the click of a button, and allows data on any Grid storage system to be manipulated using a visual file system hierarchy, as if it were a regular file system.

“Everyone Should Be Able to Choose How They Get Around”: How Topeka, Kansas, Passed a Complete Streets Resolution

PubMed Central

Langston, Marvin; Cardick, Lauren C.; Johnson, Nancy; Clayton, Paula; Brownson, Ross C.

2014-01-01

Background Regular physical activity can help prevent chronic diseases, yet only half of US adults meet national physical activity guidelines. One barrier to physical activity is a lack of safe places to be active, such as bike paths and sidewalks. Complete Streets, streets designed to enable safe access for all users, can help provide safe places for activity. Community Context This community case study presents results from interviews with residents and policymakers of Topeka, Kansas, who played an integral role in the passage of a Complete Streets resolution in 2009. It describes community engagement processes used to include stakeholders, assess existing roads and sidewalks, and communicate with the public and decision-makers. Methods Key informant interviews were conducted with city council members and members of Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods in Topeka to learn how they introduced a Complete Streets resolution and the steps they took to ensure its successful passage in the City Council. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by using focused-coding qualitative analysis. Outcome Results included lessons learned from the process of passing the Complete Streets resolution and advice from participants for other communities interested in creating Complete Streets in their communities. Interpretation Lessons learned can apply to other communities pursuing Complete Streets. Examples include clearly defining Complete Streets; educating the public, advocates, and decision-makers about Complete Streets and how this program enhances a community; building a strong and diverse network of supporters; and using stories and examples from other communities with Complete Streets to build a convincing case. PMID:24556251

A new service support tool for COSMO-SkyMed: civil user coordination service and civil request management optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daraio, M. G.; Battagliere, M. L.; Sacco, P.; Fasano, L.; Coletta, A.

2015-10-01

COSMO-SkyMed is a dual-use program for both civilian and defense provides user community (institutional and commercial) with SAR data in several environmental applications. In the context of COSMO-SkyMed data and User management, one of the aspects carefully monitored is the user satisfaction level, it is links to satisfaction of submitted user requests. The operational experience of the first years of operational phase, and the consequent lessons learnt by the COSMO-SkyMed data and user management, have demonstrated that a lot of acquisition rejections are due to conflicts (time conflicts or system conflicts) among two or more civilian user requests, and they can be managed and solved implementing an improved coordination of users and their requests on a daily basis. With this aim a new Service Support Tool (SST) has been designed and developed to support the operators in the User Request coordination. The Tool allow to analyze conflicts among Acquisition Requests (ARs) before the National Rankization phase and to elaborate proposals for conflict resolution. In this paper the most common causes of the occurred rejections will be showed, for example as the impossibility to aggregate different orders, and the SST functionalities will be described, in particular how it works to remove or minimize the conflicts among different orders.

Client-Side Data Processing and Training for Multispectral Imagery Applications in the GOES-R Era

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fuell, Kevin; Gravelle, Chad; Burks, Jason; Berndt, Emily; Schultz, Lori; Molthan, Andrew; Leroy, Anita

2016-01-01

RGB imagery can be created locally (i.e. client-side) from single band imagery already on the system with little impact given recommended change to texture cache in AWIPS II. Training/Reference material accessible to forecasters within their operational display system improves RGB interpretation and application as demonstrated at OPG. Application examples from experienced forecasters are needed to support the larger community use of RGB imagery and these can be integrated into the user's display system.

'Nice people doing shady things': Drugs and the morality of exchange in the darknet cryptomarkets.

PubMed

Masson, Kimberley; Bancroft, Angus

2018-06-02

An ethnographic analysis of drug-centred cryptomarket community and exchange, this article explores the embedded values around drug distribution and consumption within this setting. Drawing on our interviews with cryptomarket users, we analyze the ways in which users claim the cryptomarket as a space of morality, empathy, trust, reciprocity, knowledge transfer, harm reduction and self-limitation. The anthropological concept of the morality of exchange is central to our theoretical approach. Between December 2014 and July 2017, nine interviews were undertaken with users of drug cryptomarkets. These were conducted in person, using Skype video calling, and using the encrypted 'self-erasing' chat app Wickr. The researchers also used overt non-participant observation (NPO) within the cryptomarket forum. This two-pronged approach - interviews and spending time within the community via NPO - enabled a thick description style of ethnographic analysis. Our research reveals online drug markets less as perfect markets (working to rules of supply and demand) and more as constructive communities of interest that perform and negotiate drug use and supply. We found that participation within these interest communities had practical impact such as changing the type of drug that users consume and the ways in which they participate in street drug supply. Significantly, these values and actions mediate the interface between online action and 'meatspace' (the offline world) and reinforce that the motivations and processes of internet activity are just as 'real' as offline action. We redefine the illicit drug focused cryptomarket as a place of exchange, mediation and reciprocity. Real-time knowledge transfer with the aim of harm reduction is one example of the impact of cryptomarket interaction. We caution that this is not a space of kinship and affinity: it is not without its scams, hackers and threats. It is, however, much more than a 'drug marketplace' and to understand how users themselves conceptualise this space is fruitful for any understanding of cryptomarkets. Cryptomarket exchange is a form of social action that is not restricted to its economic value for participants. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bridging Informatics and Earth Science: a Look at Gregory Leptoukh's Contributions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2012-01-01

With the tragic passing this year of Gregory Leptoukh, the Earth and Space Sciences community lost a tireless participant in--and advocate for--science informatics. Throughout his career at NASA, Dr. Leptoukh established a theme of bridging the gulf between the informatics and science communities. Nowhere is this more evident than his leadership in the development of Giovanni (GES DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure). Giovanni is an online tool that serves to hide the often-complex technical details of data format and structure, making science data easier to explore and use by Earth scientists. To date Giovanni has been acknowledged as a contributor in 500-odd scientific articles. In recent years, Leptoukh concentrated his efforts on multi-sensor data inter-comparison, merging and fusion. This work exposed several challenges at the intersection of data and science. One of these was the ease with which a naive user might generate spurious comparisons, a potential hazard that was the genesis of the Multi-sensor Data Synergy Advisor (MDSA). The MDSA uses semantic ontologies and inference rules to organize knowledge about dataset quality and other salient characteristics in order to advise users on potential caveats for comparing or merging two datasets. Recently, Leptoukh also led the development of AeroStat, an online Giovanni instance to investigate aerosols via statistics from station and satellite comparisons and merged maps of data from more than one instrument. Aerostat offers a neural net based bias adjustment to harmonize the data by removing systematic offsets between datasets before merging. These examples exhibit Leptoukh's talent for adopting advanced computer technologies in the service of making science data more accessible to researchers. In this, he set an example that is at once both vital and challenging for the ESSI community to emulate.

Bridging Informatics and Earth Science: a Look at Gregory Leptoukh's Contributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynnes, C.

2012-12-01

With the tragic passing this year of Gregory Leptoukh, the Earth and Space Sciences community lost a tireless participant in--and advocate for--science informatics. Throughout his career at NASA, Dr. Leptoukh established a theme of bridging the gulf between the informatics and science communities. Nowhere is this more evident than his leadership in the development of Giovanni (GES DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure). Giovanni is an online tool that serves to hide the often-complex technical details of data format and structure, making science data easier to explore and use by Earth scientists. To date Giovanni has been acknowledged as a contributor in 500-odd scientific articles. In recent years, Leptoukh concentrated his efforts on multi-sensor data inter-comparison, merging and fusion. This work exposed several challenges at the intersection of data and science. One of these was the ease with which a naive user might generate spurious comparisons, a potential hazard that was the genesis of the Multi-sensor Data Synergy Advisor (MDSA). The MDSA uses semantic ontologies and inference rules to organize knowledge about dataset quality and other salient characteristics in order to advise users on potential caveats for comparing or merging two datasets. Recently, Leptoukh also led the development of AeroStat, an online Giovanni instance to investigate aerosols via statistics from station and satellite comparisons and merged maps of data from more than one instrument. Aerostat offers a neural net based bias adjustment to "harmonize" the data by removing systematic offsets between datasets before merging. These examples exhibit Leptoukh's talent for adopting advanced computer technologies in the service of making science data more accessible to researchers. In this, he set an example that is at once both vital and challenging for the ESSI community to emulate.

Social Inference Through Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oulasvirta, Antti

Awareness cues are computer-mediated, real-time indicators of people’s undertakings, whereabouts, and intentions. Already in the mid-1970 s, UNIX users could use commands such as “finger” and “talk” to find out who was online and to chat. The small icons in instant messaging (IM) applications that indicate coconversants’ presence in the discussion space are the successors of “finger” output. Similar indicators can be found in online communities, media-sharing services, Internet relay chat (IRC), and location-based messaging applications. But presence and availability indicators are only the tip of the iceberg. Technological progress has enabled richer, more accurate, and more intimate indicators. For example, there are mobile services that allow friends to query and follow each other’s locations. Remote monitoring systems developed for health care allow relatives and doctors to assess the wellbeing of homebound patients (see, e.g., Tang and Venables 2000). But users also utilize cues that have not been deliberately designed for this purpose. For example, online gamers pay attention to other characters’ behavior to infer what the other players are like “in real life.” There is a common denominator underlying these examples: shared activities rely on the technology’s representation of the remote person. The other human being is not physically present but present only through a narrow technological channel.

Community-Supported Data Repositories in Paleobiology: A 'Middle Tail' Between the Geoscientific and Informatics Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, J. W.; Ashworth, A. C.; Betancourt, J. L.; Bills, B.; Blois, J.; Booth, R.; Buckland, P.; Charles, D.; Curry, B. B.; Goring, S. J.; Davis, E.; Grimm, E. C.; Graham, R. W.; Smith, A. J.

2015-12-01

Community-supported data repositories (CSDRs) in paleoecology and paleoclimatology have a decades-long tradition and serve multiple critical scientific needs. CSDRs facilitate synthetic large-scale scientific research by providing open-access and curated data that employ community-supported metadata and data standards. CSDRs serve as a 'middle tail' or boundary organization between information scientists and the long-tail community of individual geoscientists collecting and analyzing paleoecological data. Over the past decades, a distributed network of CSDRs has emerged, each serving a particular suite of data and research communities, e.g. Neotoma Paleoecology Database, Paleobiology Database, International Tree Ring Database, NOAA NCEI for Paleoclimatology, Morphobank, iDigPaleo, and Integrated Earth Data Alliance. Recently, these groups have organized into a common Paleobiology Data Consortium dedicated to improving interoperability and sharing best practices and protocols. The Neotoma Paleoecology Database offers one example of an active and growing CSDR, designed to facilitate research into ecological and evolutionary dynamics during recent past global change. Neotoma combines a centralized database structure with distributed scientific governance via multiple virtual constituent data working groups. The Neotoma data model is flexible and can accommodate a variety of paleoecological proxies from many depositional contests. Data input into Neotoma is done by trained Data Stewards, drawn from their communities. Neotoma data can be searched, viewed, and returned to users through multiple interfaces, including the interactive Neotoma Explorer map interface, REST-ful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the neotoma R package, and the Tilia stratigraphic software. Neotoma is governed by geoscientists and provides community engagement through training workshops for data contributors, stewards, and users. Neotoma is engaged in the Paleobiological Data Consortium and other efforts to improve interoperability among cyberinfrastructure in the paleogeosciences.

System and method for leveraging human physiological traits to control microprocessor frequency

DOEpatents

Shye, Alex; Pan, Yan; Scholbrock, Benjamin; Miller, J. Scott; Memik, Gokhan; Dinda, Peter A; Dick, Robert P

2014-03-25

A system and method for leveraging physiological traits to control microprocessor frequency are disclosed. In some embodiments, the system and method may optimize, for example, a particular processor-based architecture based on, for example, end user satisfaction. In some embodiments, the system and method may determine, for example, whether their users are satisfied to provide higher efficiency, improved reliability, reduced power consumption, increased security, and a better user experience. The system and method may use, for example, biometric input devices to provide information about a user's physiological traits to a computer system. Biometric input devices may include, for example, one or more of the following: an eye tracker, a galvanic skin response sensor, and/or a force sensor.

Initial Efforts in Characterizing Radiation and Plasma Effects on Space Assets: Bridging the Space Environment, Engineering and User Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Y.; Ganushkina, N. Y.; Guild, T. B.; Jiggens, P.; Jun, I.; Mazur, J. E.; Meier, M. M.; Minow, J. I.; Pitchford, D. A.; O'Brien, T. P., III; Shprits, Y.; Tobiska, W. K.; Xapsos, M.; Rastaetter, L.; Jordanova, V. K.; Kellerman, A. C.; Fok, M. C. H.

2017-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) has been leading the community-wide model validation projects for many years. Such effort has been broadened and extended via the newly-launched International Forum for Space Weather Modeling Capabilities Assessment (https://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/assessment/), Its objective is to track space weather models' progress and performance over time, which is critically needed in space weather operations. The Radiation and Plasma Effects Working Team is working on one of the many focused evaluation topics and deals with five different subtopics: Surface Charging from 10s eV to 40 keV electrons, Internal Charging due to energetic electrons from hundreds keV to several MeVs. Single Event Effects from solar energetic particles (SEPs) and galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) (several MeV to TeVs), Total Dose due to accumulation of doses from electrons (>100 KeV) and protons (> 1 MeV) in a broad energy range, and Radiation Effects from SEPs and GCRs at aviation altitudes. A unique aspect of the Radiation and Plasma Effects focus area is that it bridges the space environments, engineering and user community. This presentation will summarize the working team's progress in metrics discussion/definition and the CCMC web interface/tools to facilitate the validation efforts. As an example, tools in the areas of surface charging/internal charging will be demoed.

Improving data discovery and usability through commentary and user feedback: the CHARMe project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alegre, R.; Blower, J. D.

2014-12-01

Earth science datasets are highly diverse. Users of these datasets are similarly varied, ranging from research scientists through industrial users to government decision- and policy-makers. It is very important for these users to understand the applicability of any dataset to their particular problem so that they can select the most appropriate data sources for their needs. Although data providers often provide rich supporting information in the form of metadata, typically this information does not include community usage information that can help other users judge fitness-for-purpose.The CHARMe project (http://www.charme.org.uk) is filling this gap by developing a system for sharing "commentary metadata". These are annotations that are generated and shared by the user community and include: Links between publications and datasets. The CHARMe system can record information about why a particular dataset was used (e.g. the paper may describe the dataset, it may use the dataset as a source, or it may be publishing results of a dataset assessment). These publications may appear in the peer-reviewed literature, or may be technical reports, websites or blog posts. Free-text comments supplied by the user. Provenance information, including links between datasets and descriptions of processing algorithms and sensors. External events that may affect data quality (e.g. large volcanic eruptions or El Niño events); we call these "significant events". Data quality information, e.g. system maturity indices. Commentary information can be linked to anything that can be uniquely identified (e.g. a dataset with a DOI or a persistent web address). It is also possible to associate commentary with particular subsets of datasets, for example to highlight an issue that is confined to a particular geographic region. We will demonstrate tools that show these capabilities in action, showing how users can apply commentary information during data discovery, visualization and analysis. The CHARMe project has implemented a set of open-source tools to create, store and explore commentary information, using open Web standards. In this presentation we will describe the application of the CHARMe system to the particular case of the climate data community; however the techniques and technologies are generic and can be applied in many fields.

"Everyone should be able to choose how they get around": how Topeka, Kansas, passed a complete streets resolution.

PubMed

Dodson, Elizabeth A; Langston, Marvin; Cardick, Lauren C; Johnson, Nancy; Clayton, Paula; Brownson, Ross C

2014-02-20

Regular physical activity can help prevent chronic diseases, yet only half of US adults meet national physical activity guidelines. One barrier to physical activity is a lack of safe places to be active, such as bike paths and sidewalks. Complete Streets, streets designed to enable safe access for all users, can help provide safe places for activity. This community case study presents results from interviews with residents and policymakers of Topeka, Kansas, who played an integral role in the passage of a Complete Streets resolution in 2009. It describes community engagement processes used to include stakeholders, assess existing roads and sidewalks, and communicate with the public and decision-makers. Key informant interviews were conducted with city council members and members of Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods in Topeka to learn how they introduced a Complete Streets resolution and the steps they took to ensure its successful passage in the City Council. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by using focused-coding qualitative analysis. Results included lessons learned from the process of passing the Complete Streets resolution and advice from participants for other communities interested in creating Complete Streets in their communities. Lessons learned can apply to other communities pursuing Complete Streets. Examples include clearly defining Complete Streets; educating the public, advocates, and decision-makers about Complete Streets and how this program enhances a community; building a strong and diverse network of supporters; and using stories and examples from other communities with Complete Streets to build a convincing case.

NASA Electronic Library System (NELS): The system impact of security

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcgregor, Terry L.

1993-01-01

This paper discusses security issues as they relate to the NASA Electronic Library System which is currently in use as the repository system for AdaNET System Version 3 (ASV3) being operated by MountainNET, Inc. NELS was originally designed to provide for public, development, and secure collections and objects. The secure feature for collections and objects was deferred in the initial system for implementation at a later date. The NELS system is now 9 months old and many lessons have been learned about the use and maintenance of library systems. MountainNET has 9 months of experience in operating the system and gathering feedback from the ASV3 user community. The user community has expressed an interest in seeing security features implemented in the current system. The time has come to take another look at the whole issue of security for the NELS system. Two requirements involving security have been put forth by MountainNET for the ASV3 system. The first is to incorporate at the collection level a security scheme to allow restricted access to collections. This should be invisible to end users and be controlled by librarians. The second is to allow inclusion of applications which can be executed only by a controlled group of users; for example, an application which can be executed by librarians only. The requirements provide a broad framework in which to work. These requirements raise more questions than answers. To explore the impact of these requirements a top down approach will be used.

Comparing apples and oranges: the Community Intercomparison Suite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schutgens, Nick; Stier, Philip; Pascoe, Stephen

2014-05-01

Visual representation and comparison of geoscientific datasets presents a huge challenge due to the large variety of file formats and spatio-temporal sampling of data (be they observations or simulations). The Community Intercomparison Suite attempts to greatly simplify these tasks for users by offering an intelligent but simple command line tool for visualisation and colocation of diverse datasets. In addition, CIS can subset and aggregate large datasets into smaller more manageable datasets. Our philosophy is to remove as much as possible the need for specialist knowledge by the user of the structure of a dataset. The colocation of observations with model data is as simple as: "cis col ::" which will resample the simulation data to the spatio-temporal sampling of the observations, contingent on a few user-defined options that specify a resampling kernel. CIS can deal with both gridded and ungridded datasets of 2, 3 or 4 spatio-temporal dimensions. It can handle different spatial coordinates (e.g. longitude or distance, altitude or pressure level). CIS supports both HDF, netCDF and ASCII file formats. The suite is written in Python with entirely publicly available open source dependencies. Plug-ins allow a high degree of user-moddability. A web-based developer hub includes a manual and simple examples. CIS is developed as open source code by a specialist IT company under supervision of scientists from the University of Oxford as part of investment in the JASMIN superdatacluster facility at the Centre of Environmental Data Archival.

NESDIS OSPO Data Access Policy and CRM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seybold, M. G.; Donoho, N. A.; McNamara, D.; Paquette, J.; Renkevens, T.

2012-12-01

The Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) is the NESDIS office responsible for satellite operations, product generation, and product distribution. Access to and distribution of OSPO data was formally established in a Data Access Policy dated February, 2011. An extension of the data access policy is the OSPO Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Database, which has been in development since 2008 and is reaching a critical level of maturity. This presentation will provide a summary of the data access policy and standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling data access requests. The tangential CRM database will be highlighted including the incident tracking system, reporting and notification capabilities, and the first comprehensive portfolio of NESDIS satellites, instruments, servers, applications, products, user organizations, and user contacts. Select examples of CRM data exploitation will show how OSPO is utilizing the CRM database to more closely satisfy the user community's satellite data needs with new product promotions, as well as new data and imagery distribution methods in OSPO's Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC). In addition, user services and outreach initiatives from the Satellite Products and Services Division will be highlighted.

Databases post-processing in Tensoral

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dresselhaus, Eliot

1994-01-01

The Center for Turbulent Research (CTR) post-processing effort aims to make turbulence simulations and data more readily and usefully available to the research and industrial communities. The Tensoral language, introduced in this document and currently existing in prototype form, is the foundation of this effort. Tensoral provides a convenient and powerful protocol to connect users who wish to analyze fluids databases with the authors who generate them. In this document we introduce Tensoral and its prototype implementation in the form of a user's guide. This guide focuses on use of Tensoral for post-processing turbulence databases. The corresponding document - the Tensoral 'author's guide' - which focuses on how authors can make databases available to users via the Tensoral system - is currently unwritten. Section 1 of this user's guide defines Tensoral's basic notions: we explain the class of problems at hand and how Tensoral abstracts them. Section 2 defines Tensoral syntax for mathematical expressions. Section 3 shows how these expressions make up Tensoral statements. Section 4 shows how Tensoral statements and expressions are embedded into other computer languages (such as C or Vectoral) to make Tensoral programs. We conclude with a complete example program.

A New Architecture for Extending the Capabilities of the Copernicus Trajectory Optimization Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Jacob

2015-01-01

This paper describes a new plugin architecture developed for the Copernicus spacecraft trajectory optimization program. Details of the software architecture design and development are described, as well as examples of how the capability can be used to extend the tool in order to expand the type of trajectory optimization problems that can be solved. The inclusion of plugins is a significant update to Copernicus, allowing user-created algorithms to be incorporated into the tool for the first time. The initial version of the new capability was released to the Copernicus user community with version 4.1 in March 2015, and additional refinements and improvements were included in the recent 4.2 release. It is proving quite useful, enabling Copernicus to solve problems that it was not able to solve before.

Analysis research for earth resource information systems - Where do we stand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Landgrebe, D. A.

1974-01-01

Discussion of the state of the technology of earth resources information systems relative to future operational implementation. The importance of recognizing the difference between systems with image orientation and systems with numerical orientation is illustrated in an example concerning the effect of noise on multiband multispectral data obtained in an agricultural experiment. It is suggested that the data system hardware portion of the total earth resources information system be designed in terms of a numerical orientation; it is argued, however, that this choise is entirely compatible with image-oriented analysis tasks. Some aspects of interfacing such an advanced technology with an operational user community in such a way as to accommodate the user's need for flexibility and yet provide the services needed on a cost-effective basis are discussed.

The Role of Metadata Standards in EOSDIS Search and Retrieval Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pfister, Robin

1999-01-01

Metadata standards play a critical role in data search and retrieval systems. Metadata tie software to data so the data can be processed, stored, searched, retrieved and distributed. Without metadata these actions are not possible. The process of populating metadata to describe science data is an important service to the end user community so that a user who is unfamiliar with the data, can easily find and learn about a particular dataset before an order decision is made. Once a good set of standards are in place, the accuracy with which data search can be performed depends on the degree to which metadata standards are adhered during product definition. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) provides examples of how metadata standards are used in data search and retrieval.

Fungal Genomics for Energy and Environment

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

Grigoriev, Igor V.

2013-03-11

Genomes of fungi relevant to energy and environment are in focus of the Fungal Genomic Program at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI). One of its projects, the Genomics Encyclopedia of Fungi, targets fungi related to plant health (symbionts, pathogens, and biocontrol agents) and biorefinery processes (cellulose degradation, sugar fermentation, industrial hosts) by means of genome sequencing and analysis. New chapters of the Encyclopedia can be opened with user proposals to the JGI Community Sequencing Program (CSP). Another JGI project, the 1000 fungal genomes, explores fungal diversity on genome level at scale and is open for usersmore » to nominate new species for sequencing. Over 200 fungal genomes have been sequenced by JGI to date and released through MycoCosm (www.jgi.doe.gov/fungi), a fungal web-portal, which integrates sequence and functional data with genome analysis tools for user community. Sequence analysis supported by functional genomics leads to developing parts list for complex systems ranging from ecosystems of biofuel crops to biorefineries. Recent examples of such parts suggested by comparative genomics and functional analysis in these areas are presented here.« less

Infrastructure and the Virtual Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dowler, P.; Gaudet, S.; Schade, D.

2011-07-01

The modern data center is faced with architectural and software engineering challenges that grow along with the challenges facing observatories: massive data flow, distributed computing environments, and distributed teams collaborating on large and small projects. By using VO standards as key components of the infrastructure, projects can take advantage of a decade of intellectual investment by the IVOA community. By their nature, these standards are proven and tested designs that already exist. Adopting VO standards saves considerable design effort, allows projects to take advantage of open-source software and test suites to speed development, and enables the use of third party tools that understand the VO protocols. The evolving CADC architecture now makes heavy use of VO standards. We show examples of how these standards may be used directly, coupled with non-VO standards, or extended with custom capabilities to solve real problems and provide value to our users. In the end, we use VO services as major parts of the core infrastructure to reduce cost rather than as an extra layer with additional cost and we can deliver more general purpose and robust services to our user community.

Research on gender differences in online health communities.

PubMed

Liu, Xuan; Sun, Min; Li, Jia

2018-03-01

With the growing concern about health issues and the emergence of online communities based on user-generated content (UGC), more and more people are participating in online health communities (OHCs) to exchange opinions and health information. This paper aims to examine whether and how male and female users behave differently in OHCs. Using data from a leading diabetes community in China (Tianmijiayuan), we incorporate three different techniques: topic modeling analysis, sentiment analysis and friendship network analysis to investigate gender differences in chronic online health communities. The results indicated that (1) Male users' posting content was usually more professional and included more medical terms. Comparatively speaking, female users were more inclined to seek emotional support in the health communities. (2) Female users expressed more negative emotions than male users did, especially anxiety and sadness. (3) In addition, male users were more centered and influential in the friendship network than were women. Through these analyses, our research revealed the behavioral characteristics and needs for different gender users in online health communities. Gaining a deeper understanding of gender differences in OHCs can serve as guidance to better meet the information needs, emotional needs and relationship needs of male and female patients. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Combining nutrient intake from food/beverages and vitamin/mineral supplements.

PubMed

Garriguet, Didier

2010-12-01

To calculate total intake of a nutrient and estimate inadequate intake for a population, the amounts derived from food/beverages and from vitamin/mineral supplements must be combined. The two methods Statistics Canada has suggested present problems of interpretation. Data collected from 34,386 respondents to the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition were used to compare four methods of combining nutrient intake from food/beverages and vitamin/mineral supplements: adding average intake from supplements to the 24-hour food/beverage recall and estimating the usual distribution in the population (Method 1); estimating usual individual intake from food? beverages and adding intake from supplements (Method 2); and dividing the population into supplement users and non-users and applying Method 1 or Method 2 and combining the estimates based on the percentages of users and non-users (Methods 3 and 4). Interpretation problems arise with Methods 1 and 2; for example, the percentage of the population with inadequate intake of vitamin C and folate equivalents falls outside the expected minimum-maximum range. These interpretation problems are not observed with Methods 3 and 4. Interpretation problems that may arise in combining food and supplement intake of a given nutrient are overcome if the population is divided into supplement users and non-users before Method 1 or Method 2 is applied.

Adaptation of XMM-Newton SAS to GRID and VO architectures via web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibarra, A.; de La Calle, I.; Gabriel, C.; Salgado, J.; Osuna, P.

2008-10-01

The XMM-Newton Scientific Analysis Software (SAS) is a robust software that has allowed users to produce good scientific results since the beginning of the mission. This has been possible given the SAS capability to evolve with the advent of new technologies and adapt to the needs of the scientific community. The prototype of the Remote Interface for Science Analysis (RISA) presented here, is one such example, which provides remote analysis of XMM-Newton data with access to all the existing SAS functionality, while making use of GRID computing technology. This new technology has recently emerged within the astrophysical community to tackle the ever lasting problem of computer power for the reduction of large amounts of data.

What Attracts People to Visit Community Open Spaces? A Case Study of the Overseas Chinese Town Community in Shenzhen, China

PubMed Central

Chen, Yiyong; Liu, Tao; Xie, Xiaohuan; Marušić, Barbara Goličnik

2016-01-01

A well-designed open space that encourages outdoor activity and social communication is a community asset that could potentially contribute to the health of local residents and social harmony of the community. Numerous factors may influence the use of each single space and may result in a variety of visitors. Compared with previous studies that focused on accessibility, this study highlights the relationship between the utilization and characteristics of community open spaces in China. The Overseas Chinese Town community in Shenzhen is regarded as an example. The association between the number of visitors and space characteristics is examined with multivariate regression models. Results show that large areas with accessible lawns, well-maintained footpaths, seats, commercial facilities, and water landscapes are important characteristics that could increase the use of community open spaces. However, adding green vegetation, sculptures, and landscape accessories in open spaces has limited effects on increasing the outdoor activities of residents. Thus, to increase the use of community open spaces, landscape designers should focus more on creating user-oriented spaces with facilities that encourage active use than on improving ornamental vegetation and accessories. PMID:27367713

PsychoPy--Psychophysics software in Python.

PubMed

Peirce, Jonathan W

2007-05-15

The vast majority of studies into visual processing are conducted using computer display technology. The current paper describes a new free suite of software tools designed to make this task easier, using the latest advances in hardware and software. PsychoPy is a platform-independent experimental control system written in the Python interpreted language using entirely free libraries. PsychoPy scripts are designed to be extremely easy to read and write, while retaining complete power for the user to customize the stimuli and environment. Tools are provided within the package to allow everything from stimulus presentation and response collection (from a wide range of devices) to simple data analysis such as psychometric function fitting. Most importantly, PsychoPy is highly extensible and the whole system can evolve via user contributions. If a user wants to add support for a particular stimulus, analysis or hardware device they can look at the code for existing examples, modify them and submit the modifications back into the package so that the whole community benefits.

PsychoPy—Psychophysics software in Python

PubMed Central

Peirce, Jonathan W.

2007-01-01

The vast majority of studies into visual processing are conducted using computer display technology. The current paper describes a new free suite of software tools designed to make this task easier, using the latest advances in hardware and software. PsychoPy is a platform-independent experimental control system written in the Python interpreted language using entirely free libraries. PsychoPy scripts are designed to be extremely easy to read and write, while retaining complete power for the user to customize the stimuli and environment. Tools are provided within the package to allow everything from stimulus presentation and response collection (from a wide range of devices) to simple data analysis such as psychometric function fitting. Most importantly, PsychoPy is highly extensible and the whole system can evolve via user contributions. If a user wants to add support for a particular stimulus, analysis or hardware device they can look at the code for existing examples, modify them and submit the modifications back into the package so that the whole community benefits. PMID:17254636

How Social Communications Influence Advertising Perception and Response in Online Communities?

PubMed

Zeng, Fue; Tao, Ran; Yang, Yanwu; Xie, Tingting

2017-01-01

This research aims to explore how social communications of online communities affect users' perception and responses toward social media advertising. We developed a conceptual model based on the SBT, encapsulating 9 constructs and 10 hypothesis extracted from the extant social media advertising literature. Our research outcome proves that social communications can effectively boost users' behaviors to be in accordance with an online social community, thus facilitate their acceptance and responses toward social media advertising, with users' group intention as an intervening factor. From an operational standpoint, it's an effective way to build and maintain social bonds between users and the community by boosting social communications, supporting fluent interpersonal communications. In addition, managers of an online community should elaborate on users' group intentions to increase users' advertising acceptance and response.

XTCE and XML Database Evolution and Lessons from JWST, LandSat, and Constellation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gal-Edd, Jonathan; Kreistle, Steven; Fatig. Cirtos; Jones, Ronald

2008-01-01

The database organizations within three different NASA projects have advanced current practices by creating database synergy between the various spacecraft life cycle stakeholders and educating users in the benefits of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) XML Telemetry and Command Exchange (XTCE) format. The combination of XML for managing program data and CCSDS XTCE for exchange is a robust approach that will meet all user requirements using Standards and Non proprietary tools. COTS tools for XTCEKML are very wide and varied. To combine together various low cost and free tools can be more expensive in the long run than choosing a more expensive COTS tool that meets all the needs. This was especially important when deploying in 32 remote sites with no need for licenses. A common mission XTCEKML format between dissimilar systems is possible and is not difficult. Command XMLKTCE is more complex than telemetry and the use of XTCEKML metadata to describe pages and scripts is needed due to the proprietary nature of most current ground systems. Other mission and science products such as spacecraft loads, science image catalogs, and mission operation procedures can all be described with XML as well to increase there flexibility as systems evolve and change. Figure 10 is an example of a spacecraft table load. The word is out and the XTCE community is growing, The f sXt TCE user group was held in October and in addition to ESAESOC, SC02000, and CNES identified several systems based on XTCE. The second XTCE user group is scheduled for March 10, 2008 with LDMC and others joining. As the experience with XTCE grows and the user community receives the promised benefits of using XTCE and XML the interest is growing fast.

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2004-01-01

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

Variation in community intervention programmes and consequences for children and families: the example of Sure Start Local Programmes.

PubMed

Melhuish, Edward; Belsky, Jay; Anning, Angela; Ball, Mog; Barnes, Jacqueline; Romaniuk, Helena; Leyland, Alastair

2007-06-01

An area-based initiative, Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), was established by the UK government to reduce social exclusion through improving the well-being of children aged 0-3 years and their families in disadvantaged communities; a true community intervention in that all children under four and their families in specified areas served as targets of universal services. A national evaluation examined the links between variation in programme implementation and effectiveness. Data gathered from multiple sources produced measures of implementation in terms of proficiency, services and staffing. Measures of programme impact on child/parenting outcomes derived from multilevel models, controlling for child, family and area characteristics, were identified to demonstrate programme effectiveness. Some modest linkage between programme implementation (e.g., proficiency, empowerment of parents and staff, identification of users) and effectiveness for child and parenting outcomes. Overall proficiency and specific aspects of implementation may influence effectiveness, which should guide the design of other child, family and community services.

A predictive model to allocate frequent service users of community-based mental health services to different packages of care.

PubMed

Grigoletti, Laura; Amaddeo, Francesco; Grassi, Aldrigo; Boldrini, Massimo; Chiappelli, Marco; Percudani, Mauro; Catapano, Francesco; Fiorillo, Andrea; Perris, Francesco; Bacigalupi, Maurizio; Albanese, Paolo; Simonetti, Simona; De Agostini, Paola; Tansella, Michele

2010-01-01

To develop predictive models to allocate patients into frequent and low service users groups within the Italian Community-based Mental Health Services (CMHSs). To allocate frequent users to different packages of care, identifying the costs of these packages. Socio-demographic and clinical data and GAF scores at baseline were collected for 1250 users attending five CMHSs. All psychiatric contacts made by these patients during six months were recorded. A logistic regression identified frequent service users predictive variables. Multinomial logistic regression identified variables able to predict the most appropriate package of care. A cost function was utilised to estimate costs. Frequent service users were 49%, using nearly 90% of all contacts. The model classified correctly 80% of users in the frequent and low users groups. Three packages of care were identified: Basic Community Treatment (4,133 Euro per six months); Intensive Community Treatment (6,180 Euro) and Rehabilitative Community Treatment (11,984 Euro) for 83%, 6% and 11% of frequent service users respectively. The model was found to be accurate for 85% of users. It is possible to develop predictive models to identify frequent service users and to assign them to pre-defined packages of care, and to use these models to inform the funding of psychiatric care.

Integrating knowledge generation with knowledge diffusion and utilization: a case study analysis of the Consortium for Applied Research and Evaluation in Mental Health.

PubMed

Vingilis, Evelyn; Hartford, Kathleen; Schrecker, Ted; Mitchell, Beth; Lent, Barbara; Bishop, Joan

2003-01-01

Knowledge diffusion and utilization (KDU) have become a key focus in the health research community because of the limited success to date of research findings to inform health policies, programs and services. Yet, evidence indicates that successful KDU is often predicated on the early involvement of potential knowledge users in the conceptualization and conduct of the research and on the development of a "partnership culture". This study describes the integration of KDU theory with practice via a case study analysis of the Consortium for Applied Research and Evaluation in Mental Health (CAREMH). This qualitative study, using a single-case design, included a number of data sources: proposals, meeting minutes, presentations, publications, reports and curricula vitae of CAREMH members. CAREMH has adopted the following operational strategies to increase KDU capacity: 1) viewing research as a means and not as an end; 2) bringing the university and researcher to the community; 3) using participatory research methods; 4) embracing transdisciplinary research and interactions; and 5) using connectors. Examples of the iterative process between researchers and potential knowledge users in their contribution to knowledge generation, diffusion and utilization are provided. This case study supports the importance of early and ongoing involvement of relevant potential knowledge users in research to enhance its utilization potential. It also highlights the need for re-thinking research funding approaches.

Using CellML with OpenCMISS to Simulate Multi-Scale Physiology

PubMed Central

Nickerson, David P.; Ladd, David; Hussan, Jagir R.; Safaei, Soroush; Suresh, Vinod; Hunter, Peter J.; Bradley, Christopher P.

2014-01-01

OpenCMISS is an open-source modeling environment aimed, in particular, at the solution of bioengineering problems. OpenCMISS consists of two main parts: a computational library (OpenCMISS-Iron) and a field manipulation and visualization library (OpenCMISS-Zinc). OpenCMISS is designed for the solution of coupled multi-scale, multi-physics problems in a general-purpose parallel environment. CellML is an XML format designed to encode biophysically based systems of ordinary differential equations and both linear and non-linear algebraic equations. A primary design goal of CellML is to allow mathematical models to be encoded in a modular and reusable format to aid reproducibility and interoperability of modeling studies. In OpenCMISS, we make use of CellML models to enable users to configure various aspects of their multi-scale physiological models. This avoids the need for users to be familiar with the OpenCMISS internal code in order to perform customized computational experiments. Examples of this are: cellular electrophysiology models embedded in tissue electrical propagation models; material constitutive relationships for mechanical growth and deformation simulations; time-varying boundary conditions for various problem domains; and fluid constitutive relationships and lumped-parameter models. In this paper, we provide implementation details describing how CellML models are integrated into multi-scale physiological models in OpenCMISS. The external interface OpenCMISS presents to users is also described, including specific examples exemplifying the extensibility and usability these tools provide the physiological modeling and simulation community. We conclude with some thoughts on future extension of OpenCMISS to make use of other community developed information standards, such as FieldML, SED-ML, and BioSignalML. Plans for the integration of accelerator code (graphical processing unit and field programmable gate array) generated from CellML models is also discussed. PMID:25601911

A graph theoretical perspective of a drug abuse epidemic model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nyabadza, F.; Mukwembi, S.; Rodrigues, B. G.

2011-05-01

A drug use epidemic can be represented by a finite number of states and transition rules that govern the dynamics of drug use in each discrete time step. This paper investigates the spread of drug use in a community where some users are in treatment and others are not in treatment, citing South Africa as an example. In our analysis, we consider the neighbourhood prevalence of each individual, i.e., the proportion of the individual’s drug user contacts who are not in treatment amongst all of his or her contacts. We introduce parameters α∗, β∗ and γ∗, depending on the neighbourhood prevalence, which govern the spread of drug use. We examine how changes in α∗, β∗ and γ∗ affect the system dynamics. Simulations presented support the theoretical results.

Identifying influential user communities on the social network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Weishu; Gong, Zhiguo; Hou U, Leong; Guo, Jingzhi

2015-10-01

Nowadays social network services have been popularly used in electronic commerce systems. Users on the social network can develop different relationships based on their common interests and activities. In order to promote the business, it is interesting to explore hidden relationships among users developed on the social network. Such knowledge can be used to locate target users for different advertisements and to provide effective product recommendations. In this paper, we define and study a novel community detection problem that is to discover the hidden community structure in large social networks based on their common interests. We observe that the users typically pay more attention to those users who share similar interests, which enable a way to partition the users into different communities according to their common interests. We propose two algorithms to detect influential communities using common interests in large social networks efficiently and effectively. We conduct our experimental evaluation using a data set from Epinions, which demonstrates that our method achieves 4-11.8% accuracy improvement over the state-of-the-art method.

A socially inclusive approach to user participation in higher education.

PubMed

Simons, Lucy; Tee, Steve; Lathlean, Judith; Burgess, Abigail; Herbert, Lesley; Gibson, Colin

2007-05-01

This paper is a report of a study to evaluate the development of an innovative Service User Academic post in mental health nursing in relation to student learning and good employment practice in terms of social inclusion. Institutions providing professional mental health education are usually expected to demonstrate user involvement in the design, delivery and evaluation of their educational programmes to ensure that user voices are central to the development of clinical practice. Involvement can take many forms but not everyone values user knowledge as equal to other sources of knowledge. This can lead to users feeling exploited, rather than fully integrated in healthcare professional education processes. Development of the post discussed in this paper was stimulated and informed by an innovative example from Australia. An observational case study of the development and practice of a Service User Academic post was undertaken in 2005. Participants were purposively sampled and included the User Academic, six members of a user and carer reference group, 10 educators and 35 students. Data were collected by group discussions and interviews. Data analysis was based on the framework approach. The evaluation revealed tangible benefits for the students and the wider academic community. Most important was the powerful role model the Service User Academic provided for students. The post proved an effective method to promote service user participation and began to integrate service user perspectives within the educational process. However, the attempts to achieve socially inclusive practices were inhibited by organizational factors. The expectations of the role and unintended discriminatory behaviours had an impact on achieving full integration of the role. Furthermore, shortcomings in the support arrangements were revealed. The search for an optimum model of involvement may prove elusive, but the need to research and debate different strategies, to avoid tokenism and exploitation, remains.

The AAPT/ComPADRE Digital Library: Supporting Physics Education at All Levels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mason, Bruce

For more than a decade, the AAPT/ComPADRE Digital Library has been providing online resources, tools, and services that support broad communities of physics faculty and physics education researchers. This online library provides vetted resources for teachers and students, an environment for authors and developers to share their work, and the collaboration tools for a diverse set of users. This talk will focus on the recent collaborations and developments being hosted on or developed with ComPADRE. Examples include PhysPort, making the tools and resources developed by physics education researchers more accessible, the Open Source Physics project, expanding the use of numerical modeling at all levels of physics education, and PICUP, a community for those promoting computation in the physics curriculum. NSF-0435336, 0532798, 0840768, 0937836.

"It was the whole picture" a mixed methods study of successful components in an integrated wellness service in North East England.

PubMed

Cheetham, M; Van der Graaf, P; Khazaeli, B; Gibson, E; Wiseman, A; Rushmer, R

2018-03-22

A growing number of Local Authorities (LAs) have introduced integrated wellness services as part of efforts to deliver cost effective, preventive services that address the social determinants of health. This study examined which elements of an integrated wellness service in the north east of England were effective in improving health and wellbeing (HWB). The study used a mixed-methods approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews (IVs) were conducted with integrated wellness service users (n = 25) and focus groups (FGs) with group based service users (n = 14) and non-service users (n = 23) to gather the views of stakeholders. Findings are presented here alongside analysis of routine monitoring data. The different data were compared to examine what each data source revealed about the effectiveness of the service. Findings suggest that integrated wellness services work by addressing the social determinants of health and respond to multiple complex health and social concerns rather than single issues. The paper identifies examples of 'active ingredients' at the heart of the programme, such as sustained relationships, peer support and confidence building, as well as the activities through which changes take place, such as sports and leisure opportunities which in turn encourage social interaction. Wider wellbeing outcomes, including reduced social isolation and increased self-efficacy are also reported. Practical and motivational support helped build community capacity by encouraging community groups to access funding, helped navigate bureaucratic systems, and promoted understanding of marginalised communities. Fully integrated wellness services could support progression opportunities through volunteering and mentoring. An integrated wellness service that offers a holistic approach was valued by service users and allowed them to address complex issues simultaneously. Few of the reported health gains were captured in routine data. Quantitative and qualitative data each offered a partial view of how effectively services were working.

Earth Observation Training and Education with ESA LearnEO!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byfield, Valborg; Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Dobson, Malcolm; Rosmorduc, Vinca; Del Frate, Fabio; Banks, Chris; Picchiani, Matteo

2013-04-01

For society to benefit fully from its investment in Earth observation, EO data must be accessible and familiar to a global community of users who have the skills, knowledge and understanding to use the observations appropriately in their work. Achieving this requires considerable education effort. LearnEO! (www.learn-eo.org) is a new ESA education project that contributes towards making this a reality. LearnEO! has two main aims: to develop new training resources that use data from sensors on ESA satellites to explore a variety of environmental topics, and to stimulate and support members of the EO and education communities who may be willing to develop and share new education resources in the future. The project builds on the UNESCO Bilko project, which currently supplies free software, tutorials, and example data to users in 175 countries. Most of these users are in academic education or research, but the training resources are also of interest to a growing number of professionals in government, NGOs and private enterprise. Typical users are not remote sensing experts, but see satellite data as one of many observational tools. They want an easy, low-cost means to process, display and analyse data from different satellite sensors as part of their work in environmental research, monitoring and policy development. Many of the software improvements and training materials developed in LearnEO! are in response to requests from this user community. The LearnEO! tutorial and peer-reviewed lessons are designed to teach satellite data processing and analysis skills at different levels, from beginner to advanced - where advanced lessons requires some previous experience with Earth observation techniques. The materials are aimed at students and professionals in various branches of Earth sciences who have not yet specialised in specific EO technologies. The lessons are suitable for self-study, university courses at undergraduate to MSc level, or for continued professional development training. Each lesson comes complete with data, analysis tools and background information required to complete the suggested activities and answer the study questions. Model answers are supplied for users working on their own or with limited specialist support. The web site also provides access to annotated data sets and a lesson developers resource library, both designed to support users who wish to develop their own lessons and tutorials and share these with others. Registered users are encouraged to become involved with the project by providing support for future software and lesson development, testing, and peer review.

Web usability testing with a Hispanic medically underserved population.

PubMed

Moore, Mary; Bias, Randolph G; Prentice, Katherine; Fletcher, Robin; Vaughn, Terry

2009-04-01

Skilled website developers value usability testing to assure user needs are met. When the target audience differs substantially from the developers, it becomes essential to tailor both design and evaluation methods. In this study, researchers carried out a multifaceted usability evaluation of a website (Healthy Texas) designed for Hispanic audiences with lower computer literacy and lower health literacy. METHODS INCLUDED: (1) heuristic evaluation by a usability engineer, (2) remote end-user testing using WebEx software; and (3) face-to-face testing in a community center where use of the website was likely. Researchers found standard usability testing methods needed to be modified to provide interpreters, increased flexibility for time on task, presence of a trusted intermediary such as a librarian, and accommodation for family members who accompanied participants. Participants offered recommendations for website redesign, including simplified language, engaging and relevant graphics, culturally relevant examples, and clear navigation. User-centered design is especially important when website developers are not representative of the target audience. Failure to conduct appropriate usability testing with a representative audience can substantially reduce use and value of the website. This thorough course of usability testing identified improvements that benefit all users but become crucial when trying to reach an underserved audience.

Tobacco users' perceptions of a brief tobacco cessation intervention in community pharmacies.

PubMed

Patwardhan, Pallavi D; Chewning, Betty A

2010-01-01

To explore factors affecting tobacco users' perceived appropriateness of a brief and proactive tobacco cessation counseling program, ask, advise, and refer (AAR), at community pharmacies. Inductive thematic analysis. Southern Wisconsin during fall 2008. 24 tobacco users who had recently received brief and proactive tobacco cessation counseling at a community pharmacy. Semistructured telephone interviews conducted by primary author. Perceptions of a brief and proactive tobacco cessation counseling program conducted at community pharmacies. In conducting the thematic analysis, eight distinct themes were identified. Display of information and resources at pharmacies for use by tobacco users as needed was identified as the most predominant theme and was found to be most helpful by many respondents. Other themes identified in decreasing order of prevalence were: tobacco users' perceptions of the role of pharmacists in health care, tobacco users' belief that smoking could interact with a current medication or health condition, tobacco users' sensitivity toward their tobacco use behavior or being told what to do, nonconfrontational and friendly approach of pharmacists, tobacco users' readiness to quit at the time of AAR counseling, tobacco user initiation of tobacco use discussion, and tobacco users' belief that tobacco use is bad. Overall, this qualitative investigation suggests that several factors might influence tobacco users' perceived appropriateness of AAR counseling at community pharmacies. AAR might be well received by tobacco users and pharmacy patrons as long as it is done in a professional and respectful manner.

The GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Network and Service Suite: Linking S&T Communities and GEOSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plag, Hans-Peter; Jules-Plag, Shelley

2015-04-01

The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) developed by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) aims to provide practice-relevant knowledge in support of decision making in a wide range of societal benefit areas. Generating this practice-relevant knowledge based on Earth observations, socio-economic data and models often depends on research, and utilization of the societal benefits of EOs requires the involvement of science and research communities. Building a GEOSS responding to the needs of a wide range of users necessitates contributions from many science and technology (S&T) communities. In particular, a strong engagement of science and technology (S&T) communities in both the development and use of GEOSS is necessary to address the complex issues associated with the on-going transition out of the Holocene. S&T support is needed to improve interoperability between global observing, modeling, and information systems; to enable data integration across disciplinary boundaries; to facilitate data sharing, archiving, dissemination, and reanalysis; to optimize the recording of observations, assimilation of data into models, and generation of data products; to enhance the value of observations from individual observing systems through their integration in the SBAs; and to harmonize well-calibrated, highly accurate, stable, sustained in-situ and satellite observations of the same variable recorded by different sensors and different agencies. Consequently, the GEO Work Plan includes several Tasks focusing on outreach to S&T communities, and most of the GEO Community of Practice have a strong S&T component. The GEOSS S&T Stakeholder Network facilitates input from S&T communities to GEO. Infrastructure serving and linking S&T users communities and GEOSS has been developed and is integrated into a GEOSS S&T Service Suite (GSTSS). The GSTSS has several outreach components for the demonstration of GEOSS and its value for S&T communities, and for services supporting S&T communities in their linkage to, and use of GEOSS. At the core of the GSTSS, the GEOSS S&T Portfolio includes examples showing GEOSS at work for S&T communities and provides an avenue for S&T groups to feature their contribution to GEOSS. The assessment of datasets is supported through an extensive feedback system. The User Requirements Registry (URR) allows users to publish what they do, how they do it, and what information and observations they need to do it. The URR is currently transitioned into a Socio-Economic and Environmental Information Needs Knowledge Base (SEE IN KB), which focuses on the linkage between societal goals and benefits on the one side and essential earth observations on the other side. The S&T Meeting Web Portal provides a workspace to coordinate and document GEO and GEOSS participation, side events, and presentations at relevant S&T meetings. The GEOSS S&T Stakeholder Network provides an umbrella for all S&T user and provider communities. The idea of a Stakeholder Network bringing together relevant S&T communities was developed by the EC-funded EGIDA project, and the underlying concept assumes that successful outreach to S&T communities requires demonstration of a benefit for these communities. The mission of the GEOSS S&T Stakeholder Network is twofold: to provide a voice for the needs and guidance of S&T communities to GEO, and to promote the use of GEOSS in these stakeholder communities. Workshops of the GEOSS S&T Stakeholder Network are organized within the GSTSS, among others with the goal to link societal goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals, and associated targets to a metric that then can be tied to essential variables to be provided by GEOSS.

Unifying Water Data Sources: How the CUAHSI Water Data Center is Enabling and Improving Access to a Growing Catalog of over 100 Data Providers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollak, J.; Berry, K.; Couch, A.; Arrigo, J.; Hooper, R. P.

2013-12-01

Scientific data about water are collected and distributed by numerous sources which can differ tremendously in scale. As competition for water resources increases, increasing access to and understanding of information about water will be critical. The mission of the new CUAHSI Water Data Center (WDC) is to provide those researchers who collect data a medium to publish their datasets and give those wanting to discover data the proper tools to efficiently find the data that they seek. These tools include standards-based data publication, data discovery tools based upon faceted and telescoping search, and a data analysis tool HydroDesktop that downloads and unifies data in standardized formats. The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) is a community developed and open source system for sharing water data. As a federated, web service oriented system it enables data publication for a diverse user population including scientific investigators (Research Coordination Networks, Critical Zone Observatories), government agencies (USGS, NASA, EPA), and citizen scientists (watershed associations). HydroDesktop is an end user application for data consumption in this system that the WDC supports. This application can be used for finding, downloading, and analyzing data from the HIS. It provides a GIS interface that allows users to incorporate spatial data that are not accessible via HIS, simple analysis tools to facilitate graphing and visualization, tools to export data to common file types, and provides an extensible architecture that developers can build upon. HydroDesktop, however, is just one example of a data access client for HIS. The web service oriented architecture enables data access by an unlimited number of clients provided they can consume the web services used in HIS. One such example developed at the WDC is the 'Faceted Search Client', which capitalizes upon exploratory search concepts to improve accuracy and precision during search. We highlight such features of the CUAHSI-HIS which make it particularly appropriate for providing unified access to several sources of water data. A growing community of researchers and educators are employing these tools for education; including sharing best practices around creating modules, supporting researchers and educators in accessing the services, and cataloging and sharing modules. The CUAHSI WDC is a community governed organization. Our agenda is driven by the community's voice through a Board of Directors and committees that decide strategic direction (new products), tactical decisions (product improvement), and evaluation of usability. By providing the aforementioned services within a community driven framework, we believe the WDC is providing critical services that include improving water data discoverability, accessibility and usability within a sustainable governance structure.

Primary Care Trusts involving the community: is community development the way forward?

PubMed

Crowley, Philip; Green, Judith; Freake, Debbie; Drinkwater, Chris

2002-01-01

Patient and user involvement is central to current government thinking on the NHS. More comprehensive approaches to organised community participation and community development have received less support and examples of effective and genuine participation in key areas such as primary care decision-making are rare. The initiative described in this paper was established in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1995 to promote community participation in decision-making about local health services. It has particular relevance to current concerns about addressing social exclusion and tackling health inequalities since it operates in an area of social disadvantage with a significant black and ethnic minority population (6 percent). This case study is based on an independent evaluation which used multiple research methods, including interviews, questionnaire surveys and direct observation, to assess the project's practice and impact. Describes a community development approach to public participation. An emphasis on inclusive practices has facilitated meaningful involvement of minority groups such as ethnic minority residents and those with disabilities who tend to be marginalised in public debate. Argues that the project has made a significant impact on the ways in which local health services are planned and delivered

iVirus: facilitating new insights in viral ecology with software and community data sets imbedded in a cyberinfrastructure.

PubMed

Bolduc, Benjamin; Youens-Clark, Ken; Roux, Simon; Hurwitz, Bonnie L; Sullivan, Matthew B

2017-01-01

Microbes affect nutrient and energy transformations throughout the world's ecosystems, yet they do so under viral constraints. In complex communities, viral metagenome (virome) sequencing is transforming our ability to quantify viral diversity and impacts. Although some bottlenecks, for example, few reference genomes and nonquantitative viromics, have been overcome, the void of centralized data sets and specialized tools now prevents viromics from being broadly applied to answer fundamental ecological questions. Here we present iVirus, a community resource that leverages the CyVerse cyberinfrastructure to provide access to viromic tools and data sets. The iVirus Data Commons contains both raw and processed data from 1866 samples and 73 projects derived from global ocean expeditions, as well as existing and legacy public repositories. Through the CyVerse Discovery Environment, users can interrogate these data sets using existing analytical tools (software applications known as 'Apps') for assembly, open reading frame prediction and annotation, as well as several new Apps specifically developed for analyzing viromes. Because Apps are web based and powered by CyVerse supercomputing resources, they enable scalable analyses for a broad user base. Finally, a use-case scenario documents how to apply these advances toward new data. This growing iVirus resource should help researchers utilize viromics as yet another tool to elucidate viral roles in nature.

iVirus: facilitating new insights in viral ecology with software and community data sets imbedded in a cyberinfrastructure

PubMed Central

Bolduc, Benjamin; Youens-Clark, Ken; Roux, Simon; Hurwitz, Bonnie L; Sullivan, Matthew B

2017-01-01

Microbes affect nutrient and energy transformations throughout the world's ecosystems, yet they do so under viral constraints. In complex communities, viral metagenome (virome) sequencing is transforming our ability to quantify viral diversity and impacts. Although some bottlenecks, for example, few reference genomes and nonquantitative viromics, have been overcome, the void of centralized data sets and specialized tools now prevents viromics from being broadly applied to answer fundamental ecological questions. Here we present iVirus, a community resource that leverages the CyVerse cyberinfrastructure to provide access to viromic tools and data sets. The iVirus Data Commons contains both raw and processed data from 1866 samples and 73 projects derived from global ocean expeditions, as well as existing and legacy public repositories. Through the CyVerse Discovery Environment, users can interrogate these data sets using existing analytical tools (software applications known as ‘Apps') for assembly, open reading frame prediction and annotation, as well as several new Apps specifically developed for analyzing viromes. Because Apps are web based and powered by CyVerse supercomputing resources, they enable scalable analyses for a broad user base. Finally, a use-case scenario documents how to apply these advances toward new data. This growing iVirus resource should help researchers utilize viromics as yet another tool to elucidate viral roles in nature. PMID:27420028

Earthdata Search: How Usability Drives Innovation To Enable A Broad User Base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reese, M.; Siarto, J.; Lynnes, C.; Shum, D.

2017-12-01

Earthdata Search (https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov) is a modern web application allowing users to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data using a wide array of service offerings. Its goal is to ease the technical burden on data users by providing a high-quality application that makes it simple to interact with NASA Earth observation data, freeing them to spend more effort on innovative endeavors. This talk would detail how we put end users first in our design and development process, focusing on usability and letting usability needs drive requirements for the underlying technology. Just a few examples of how this plays out practically, Earthdata Search teams with a lightning fast metadata repository, allowing it to be an extremely responsive UI that updates as the user changes criteria not only at the dataset level, but also at the file level. This results in a better exploration experience as the time penalty is greatly reduced. Also, since Earthdata Search uses metadata from over 35,000 datasets that are managed by different data providers, metadata standards, quality and consistency will vary. We found that this was negatively impacting users' search and exploration experience. We have resolved this problem with the introduction of "humanizers", which is a community-driven process to both "smooth out" metadata values and provide non-jargonistic representations of some content within the Earthdata Search UI. This is helpful for both the experience data scientist and our users that are brand new to the discipline.

User community development for the space transportation system/Skylab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Archer, J. L.; Beauchamp, N. A.

1974-01-01

The New User Function plan for identifying beneficial uses of space is described. Critical issues such as funding, manpower, and protection of user proprietary rights are discussed along with common barriers which impede the development of a user community. Studies for developing methodologies of identifying new users and uses of the space transportation system are included.

Geospatial-enabled Data Exploration and Computation through Data Infrastructure Building Blocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, C. X.; Biehl, L. L.; Merwade, V.; Villoria, N.

2015-12-01

Geospatial data are present everywhere today with the proliferation of location-aware computing devices and sensors. This is especially true in the scientific community where large amounts of data are driving research and education activities in many domains. Collaboration over geospatial data, for example, in modeling, data analysis and visualization, must still overcome the barriers of specialized software and expertise among other challenges. The GABBs project aims at enabling broader access to geospatial data exploration and computation by developing spatial data infrastructure building blocks that leverage capabilities of end-to-end application service and virtualized computing framework in HUBzero. Funded by NSF Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBS) initiative, GABBs provides a geospatial data architecture that integrates spatial data management, mapping and visualization and will make it available as open source. The outcome of the project will enable users to rapidly create tools and share geospatial data and tools on the web for interactive exploration of data without requiring significant software development skills, GIS expertise or IT administrative privileges. This presentation will describe the development of geospatial data infrastructure building blocks and the scientific use cases that help drive the software development, as well as seek feedback from the user communities.

Sense of Community on Twitter and Instagram: Exploring the Roles of Motives and Parasocial Relationships.

PubMed

Blight, Michael G; Ruppel, Erin K; Schoenbauer, Kelsea V

2017-05-01

Although research has explored the ways in which people form virtual communities to converse about media figures, television shows, and similar topics, little research has examined the link between virtual communities and the parasocial relationships (PSRs) that are often the focus of these conversations and users' experiences in those virtual communities. We examined sense of community (SOC) on Twitter and Instagram as a function of users' motives for use and users' PSR on the sites. In addition to examining the relative importance of different motives for using Twitter and Instagram, we predicted that PSR would mediate the association between motives for use and SOC. Results of an online survey revealed that Instagram users (n = 276) reported stronger social interaction motives than did Twitter users (n = 223). Social interaction and expressive information sharing motives were directly positively associated with SOC for users of both sites. Instagram users also exhibited indirect effects of expressive information sharing and companionship motives on SOC, through PSR. These findings suggest potentially influential differences between Twitter and Instagram, particularly regarding the role of PSR in fostering a general SOC.

The Virtual Geophysics Laboratory (VGL): Scientific Workflows Operating Across Organizations and Across Infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, S. J.; Wyborn, L. A.; Fraser, R.; Rankine, T.; Woodcock, R.; Vote, J.; Evans, B.

2012-12-01

The Virtual Geophysics Laboratory (VGL) is web portal that provides geoscientists with an integrated online environment that: seamlessly accesses geophysical and geoscience data services from the AuScope national geoscience information infrastructure; loosely couples these data to a variety of gesocience software tools; and provides large scale processing facilities via cloud computing. VGL is a collaboration between CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, National Computational Infrastructure, Monash University, Australian National University and the University of Queensland. The VGL provides a distributed system whereby a user can enter an online virtual laboratory to seamlessly connect to OGC web services for geoscience data. The data is supplied in open standards formats using international standards like GeoSciML. A VGL user uses a web mapping interface to discover and filter the data sources using spatial and attribute filters to define a subset. Once the data is selected the user is not required to download the data. VGL collates the service query information for later in the processing workflow where it will be staged directly to the computing facilities. The combination of deferring data download and access to Cloud computing enables VGL users to access their data at higher resolutions and to undertake larger scale inversions, more complex models and simulations than their own local computing facilities might allow. Inside the Virtual Geophysics Laboratory, the user has access to a library of existing models, complete with exemplar workflows for specific scientific problems based on those models. For example, the user can load a geological model published by Geoscience Australia, apply a basic deformation workflow provided by a CSIRO scientist, and have it run in a scientific code from Monash. Finally the user can publish these results to share with a colleague or cite in a paper. This opens new opportunities for access and collaboration as all the resources (models, code, data, processing) are shared in the one virtual laboratory. VGL provides end users with access to an intuitive, user-centered interface that leverages cloud storage and cloud and cluster processing from both the research communities and commercial suppliers (e.g. Amazon). As the underlying data and information services are agnostic of the scientific domain, they can support many other data types. This fundamental characteristic results in a highly reusable virtual laboratory infrastructure that could also be used for example natural hazards, satellite processing, soil geochemistry, climate modeling, agriculture crop modeling.

Current Directions in Adding Value to Earth Observation Products for Decision Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryker, S. J.

2015-12-01

Natural resource managers and infrastructure planners face increasingly complex challenges, given competing demands for resources and changing conditions due to climate and land use change. These pressures create demand for high-quality, timely data; for both one-time decision support and long-term monitoring; and for techniques to articulate the value of resources in monetary and nonmonetary terms. To meet the need for data, the U.S. government invests several billion dollars per year in Earth observations collected from satellite, airborne, terrestrial, and ocean-based systems. Earth observation-based decision support is coming of age; user surveys show that these data are used in an increasing variety of analyses. For example, since the U.S. Department of the Interior/U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) 2008 free and open data policy for the Landsat satellites, downloads from the USGS archive have increased from 20,000 Landsat scenes per year to 10 million per year and climbing, with strong growth in both research and decision support fields. However, Earth observation-based decision support still poses users a number of challenges. Many of those Landsat downloads support a specialized community of remote sensing scientists, though new technologies promise to increase the usability of remotely sensed data for the larger GIS community supporting planning and resource management. Serving this larger community also requires supporting the development of increasingly interpretive products, and of new approaches to host and update products. For example, automating updates will add value to new essential climate variable products such as surface water extent and wildfire burned area extent. Projections of future urbanization in the southeastern U.S. are most useful when long-term land cover trends are integrated with street-level community data and planning tools. The USGS assessment of biological carbon sequestration in vegetation and shallow soils required a significant research investment in satellite and in situ measurements and biogeochemical and climate modeling, and is already providing decision support at a variety of scales; once operationalized, it will be a tool for adaptive management from field-scale soil and wetland conservation projects to national-scale policy.

A Service Oriented Infrastructure for Earth Science exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burnett, M.; Mitchell, A.

2008-12-01

NASA's Earth Science Distributed Information System (ESDIS) program has developed an infrastructure for the exchange of Earth Observation related resources. Fundamentally a platform for Service Oriented Architectures, ECHO provides standards-based interfaces based on the basic interactions for a SOA pattern: Publish, Find and Bind. This infrastructure enables the realization of the benefits of Service Oriented Architectures, namely the reduction of stove-piped systems, the opportunity for reuse and flexibility to meet dynamic business needs, on a global scale. ECHO is the result of the infusion of IT technologies, including those standards of Web Services and Service Oriented Architecture technologies. The infrastructure is based on standards and leverages registries for data, services, clients and applications. As an operational system, ECHO currently representing over 110 million Earth Observation resources from a wide number of provider organizations. These partner organizations each have a primary mission - serving a particular facet of the Earth Observation community. Through ECHO, those partners can serve the needs of not only their target portion of the community, but also enable a wider range of users to discover and leverage their data resources, thereby increasing the value of their offerings. The Earth Observation community benefits from this infrastructure because it provides a set of common mechanisms for the discovery and access to resources from a much wider range of data and service providers. ECHO enables innovative clients to be built for targeted user types and missions. There several examples of those clients already in process. Applications built on this infrastructure can include User-driven, GUI-clients (web-based or thick clients), analysis programs (as intermediate components of larger systems), models or decision support systems. This paper will provide insight into the development of ECHO, as technologies were evaluated for infusion, and a summary of how technologies where leveraged into a significant operational system for the Earth Observation community.

The VERCE Science Gateway: Enabling User Friendly HPC Seismic Wave Simulations.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casarotti, E.; Spinuso, A.; Matser, J.; Leong, S. H.; Magnoni, F.; Krause, A.; Garcia, C. R.; Muraleedharan, V.; Krischer, L.; Anthes, C.

2014-12-01

The EU-funded project VERCE (Virtual Earthquake and seismology Research Community in Europe) aims to deploy technologies which satisfy the HPC and data-intensive requirements of modern seismology.As a result of VERCE official collaboration with the EU project SCI-BUS, access to computational resources, like local clusters and international infrastructures (EGI and PRACE), is made homogeneous and integrated within a dedicated science gateway based on the gUSE framework. In this presentation we give a detailed overview on the progress achieved with the developments of the VERCE Science Gateway, according to a use-case driven implementation strategy. More specifically, we show how the computational technologies and data services have been integrated within a tool for Seismic Forward Modelling, whose objective is to offer the possibility to performsimulations of seismic waves as a service to the seismological community.We will introduce the interactive components of the OGC map based web interface and how it supports the user with setting up the simulation. We will go through the selection of input data, which are either fetched from federated seismological web services, adopting community standards, or provided by the users themselves by accessing their own document data store. The HPC scientific codes can be selected from a number of waveform simulators, currently available to the seismological community as batch tools or with limited configuration capabilities in their interactive online versions.The results will be staged out via a secure GridFTP transfer to a VERCE data layer managed by iRODS. The provenance information of the simulation will be automatically cataloged by the data layer via NoSQL techonologies.Finally, we will show the example of how the visualisation output of the gateway could be enhanced by the connection with immersive projection technology at the Virtual Reality and Visualisation Centre of Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ).

A Multi-User Model for Effectively Communicating Research Through Electronic Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinds, J. J.; Fairley, J. P.

2003-12-01

Electronic media have demonstrated potential for data exchange, dissemination of results to other scientists, communication with community interest groups, and education of the general public regarding scientific advances. Few researchers, however, receive training in the skills required to capture the attention of the broad spectrum of Internet users. Because different people assimilate information in different ways, effective communication is best accomplished using an appropriate mix of photographs, graphics, tables, and text. In addition, effective web page design requires a clear, consistent organizational structure, easily-navigated layout, and attention to details such as page printability, downloading time, and minimal page scrolling. One of the strengths of electronic media is that the user can chose an appropriate level of involvement for his or her interest. In designing a web page for the multidisciplinary NSF/EPSCoR "Biocomplexity in Extreme Environments" project, we divided potential users into three categories based on our perception of the level of detail they required: 1) project participants, 2) non-participants with technical backgrounds, and 3) the general public. By understanding the needs and expectations of potential viewers, it was possible to present each group with an appropriate balance of visual and textural elements. For example, project participants are often most interested in raw data, which can be effectively presented in tabular format. Non-participants with technical backgrounds are more interested in analyzed data, while a project overview, presented through photographs and graphics with minimal text, will be most effective for communicating with the general public. The completed web page illustrates one solution for effectively communicating with a diverse audience, and provides examples for meeting many of the challenges of web page design.

[Deaf communities: patients or citizens?].

PubMed

Muñoz-Baell, Irma M; Ruiz-Cantero, María Teresa; Alvarez-Dardet, Carlos; Ferreiro-Lago, Emilio; Aroca-Fernández, Eva

2011-01-01

The concept of disability is related to discrimination and social exclusion; that is, this issue is a socio-political question whose effects go well beyond the health of the individual. The social and human rights based model of disability points the way to fresh opportunities for action to promote the wellbeing and health of the seventy million Deaf people living in the world today. The key factors in preventing discrimination against the Deaf are recognition of their specific cultural and linguistic identity (including sign languages and Deaf culture), bilingual education, the availability of professional sign language interpreting, and access to information and communication. The present article aims to encourage greater understanding of the significance of adopting this new perspective on disability, its congruence with current national and international legislation on the rights of persons with disabilities in general and of Deaf persons in particular, and its implications in the policies and praxis due to be implemented in Spain over the next few years on enhancing the health of the Deaf community through significant examples of good practice. Examples of good practice for distinct Deaf communities include collaboration between these communities and the health sector, health training for sign language users, the inclusion of the language and culture of Deaf persons in training programs for healthcare professionals, training of Deaf specialists as future health researchers and workers, and health care services that are more accessible via different sign languages. Copyright © 2010 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

LANDSAT Range Resource Information System. [a user evaluation of green forage and rainfall accumulation maps

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyd, W. E.; Harlan, J. C.

1981-01-01

A series of test products were developed from LANDSAT data sets for North Central Texas that paralleled the needs of ranchers, technical personnel, and the media. The products and evaluation questionnaires were mailed to approximately 150 ranchers who had reported an interest in evaluating the information systems. In addition to the rancher group, fourteen media people and a thirty-three member group in the agri business/technical community was also chosen to receive test products. The group responses are analyzed. Examples of the test products and associated questionnaires are included.

ACTRIS aerosol vertical profile data and observations: potentiality and first examples of integrated studies with models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mona, Lucia; Benedetti, Angela; D'Amico, Giuseppe; Myhre, Cathrine Lund; Schulz, Michael; Wandinger, Ulla; Laj, Paolo; Pappalardo, Gelsomina

2016-04-01

The ACTRIS-2 project, funded by Horizon 2020, addresses the scope of integrating state-of-the-art European ground-based stations for long term observations of aerosols, clouds and short lived gases, capitalizing on the work of FP7-ACTRIS. It aims at achieving the construction of a user-oriented RI, unique in the EU-RI landscape for providing 4-D integrated high-quality data from near-surface to high altitude (vertical profiles and total-column) which are relevant to climate and air-quality research. ACTRIS-2 develops and implements, in a large network of stations in Europe and beyond, observational protocols that permit the harmonization of collected data and their dissemination. ACTRIS secures provision and dissemination of a unique set of data and data-products that would not otherwise be available with the same level of quality and standardization. This results from a 10-year plus effort in constructing a research infrastructure capable of responding to community needs and requirements, and has been engaged since the start of the FP5 EU commission program. ACTRIS ensures compliance with reporting requirements (timing, format, traceability) defined by the major global observing networks. EARLINET (European Aerosol research Lidar NETwork), the aerosol vertical profiling component of ACTRIS, is providing since May 2000 vertical profiles of aerosol extinction and backscatter over Europe. A new structure of the EARLINET database has been designed in a more user oriented approach reporting new data products which are more effective for specific uses of different communities. In particular, a new era is starting with the Copernicus program during which the aerosol vertical profiling capability will be fundamental for assimilation and validation purposes. The new data products have been designed thanks to a strong link with EARLINET data users, first of all modeling and satellite communities, established since the beginning of EARLINET and re-enforced within ACTRIS2. The potentiality of the new EARLINET data products and first examples of integrated studies with models will be presented at the conference. Acknowledgments: ACTRIS2 Research Infrastructure Project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement n. 654169 and previously under FP7 grant agreement n. 262254.

In Pursuit of Theoretical Ground in Behavior Change Support Systems: Analysis of Peer-to-Peer Communication in a Health-Related Online Community.

PubMed

Myneni, Sahiti; Cobb, Nathan; Cohen, Trevor

2016-02-02

Research studies involving health-related online communities have focused on examining network structure to understand mechanisms underlying behavior change. Content analysis of the messages exchanged in these communities has been limited to the "social support" perspective. However, existing behavior change theories suggest that message content plays a prominent role reflecting several sociocognitive factors that affect an individual's efforts to make a lifestyle change. An understanding of these factors is imperative to identify and harness the mechanisms of behavior change in the Health 2.0 era. The objective of this work is two-fold: (1) to harness digital communication data to capture essential meaning of communication and factors affecting a desired behavior change, and (2) to understand the applicability of existing behavior change theories to characterize peer-to-peer communication in online platforms. In this paper, we describe grounded theory-based qualitative analysis of digital communication in QuitNet, an online community promoting smoking cessation. A database of 16,492 de-identified public messages from 1456 users from March 1-April 30, 2007, was used in our study. We analyzed 795 messages using grounded theory techniques to ensure thematic saturation. This analysis enabled identification of key concepts contained in the messages exchanged by QuitNet members, allowing us to understand the sociobehavioral intricacies underlying an individual's efforts to cease smoking in a group setting. We further ascertained the relevance of the identified themes to theoretical constructs in existing behavior change theories (eg, Health Belief Model) and theoretically linked techniques of behavior change taxonomy. We identified 43 different concepts, which were then grouped under 12 themes based on analysis of 795 messages. Examples of concepts include "sleepiness," "pledge," "patch," "spouse," and "slip." Examples of themes include "traditions," "social support," "obstacles," "relapse," and "cravings." Results indicate that themes consisting of member-generated strategies such as "virtual bonfires" and "pledges" were related to the highest number of theoretical constructs from the existing behavior change theories. In addition, results indicate that the member-generated communication content supports sociocognitive constructs from more than one behavior change model, unlike the majority of the existing theory-driven interventions. With the onset of mobile phones and ubiquitous Internet connectivity, online social network data reflect the intricacies of human health behavior as experienced by health consumers in real time. This study offers methodological insights for qualitative investigations that examine the various kinds of behavioral constructs prevalent in the messages exchanged among users of online communities. Theoretically, this study establishes the manifestation of existing behavior change theories in QuitNet-like online health communities. Pragmatically, it sets the stage for real-time, data-driven sociobehavioral interventions promoting healthy lifestyle modifications by allowing us to understand the emergent user needs to sustain a desired behavior change.

AXAF user interfaces for heterogeneous analysis environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandel, Eric; Roll, John; Ackerman, Mark S.

1992-01-01

The AXAF Science Center (ASC) will develop software to support all facets of data center activities and user research for the AXAF X-ray Observatory, scheduled for launch in 1999. The goal is to provide astronomers with the ability to utilize heterogeneous data analysis packages, that is, to allow astronomers to pick the best packages for doing their scientific analysis. For example, ASC software will be based on IRAF, but non-IRAF programs will be incorporated into the data system where appropriate. Additionally, it is desired to allow AXAF users to mix ASC software with their own local software. The need to support heterogeneous analysis environments is not special to the AXAF project, and therefore finding mechanisms for coordinating heterogeneous programs is an important problem for astronomical software today. The approach to solving this problem has been to develop two interfaces that allow the scientific user to run heterogeneous programs together. The first is an IRAF-compatible parameter interface that provides non-IRAF programs with IRAF's parameter handling capabilities. Included in the interface is an application programming interface to manipulate parameters from within programs, and also a set of host programs to manipulate parameters at the command line or from within scripts. The parameter interface has been implemented to support parameter storage formats other than IRAF parameter files, allowing one, for example, to access parameters that are stored in data bases. An X Windows graphical user interface called 'agcl' has been developed, layered on top of the IRAF-compatible parameter interface, that provides a standard graphical mechanism for interacting with IRAF and non-IRAF programs. Users can edit parameters and run programs for both non-IRAF programs and IRAF tasks. The agcl interface allows one to communicate with any command line environment in a transparent manner and without any changes to the original environment. For example, the authors routinely layer the GUI on top of IRAF, ksh, SMongo, and IDL. The agcl, based on the facilities of a system called Answer Garden, also has sophisticated support for examining documentation and help files, asking questions of experts, and developing a knowledge base of frequently required information. Thus, the GUI becomes a total environment for running programs, accessing information, examining documents, and finding human assistance. Because the agcl can communicate with any command-line environment, most projects can make use of it easily. New applications are continually being found for these interfaces. It is the authors' intention to evolve the GUI and its underlying parameter interface in response to these needs - from users as well as developers - throughout the astronomy community. This presentation describes the capabilities and technology of the above user interface mechanisms and tools. It also discusses the design philosophies guiding the work, as well as hopes for the future.

The “Translators”: Engaging Former Drug Users as Key Research Staff to Design and Implement a Risk Reduction Program for Rural Cocaine Users

PubMed Central

Stewart, Katharine E.; Wright, Patricia B.; Sims, Desi; Tyner, Kathy Russell; Montgomery, Brooke E. E.

2013-01-01

This manuscript describes lessons learned in the development and implementation of a clinical behavioral trial to reduce sexual risk among African-American cocaine users in rural Arkansas, from the perspectives of a multidisciplinary investigative team and community staff members with a history as local drug users who served as “translators.” Recommendations for investigators doing community-based research with active substance users are provided in the following domains: (a) engaging the community during formative research, (b) establishing bidirectional trust, (c) ensuring community voices are heard, and (d) managing conflict. The “translator’s” role is critical to the success of such projects. PMID:22428822

Recent Progress on Labfit: a Multispectrum Analysis Program for Fitting Lineshapes Including the Htp Model and Temperature Dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cich, Matthew J.; Guillaume, Alexandre; Drouin, Brian; Benner, D. Chris

2017-06-01

Multispectrum analysis can be a challenge for a variety of reasons. It can be computationally intensive to fit a proper line shape model especially for high resolution experimental data. Band-wide analyses including many transitions along with interactions, across many pressures and temperatures are essential to accurately model, for example, atmospherically relevant systems. Labfit is a fast multispectrum analysis program originally developed by D. Chris Benner with a text-based interface. More recently at JPL a graphical user interface was developed with the goal of increasing the ease of use but also the number of potential users. The HTP lineshape model has been added to Labfit keeping it up-to-date with community standards. Recent analyses using labfit will be shown to demonstrate its ability to competently handle large experimental datasets, including high order lineshape effects, that are otherwise unmanageable.

Social structure of Facebook networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Traud, Amanda L.; Mucha, Peter J.; Porter, Mason A.

2012-08-01

We study the social structure of Facebook “friendship” networks at one hundred American colleges and universities at a single point in time, and we examine the roles of user attributes-gender, class year, major, high school, and residence-at these institutions. We investigate the influence of common attributes at the dyad level in terms of assortativity coefficients and regression models. We then examine larger-scale groupings by detecting communities algorithmically and comparing them to network partitions based on user characteristics. We thereby examine the relative importance of different characteristics at different institutions, finding for example that common high school is more important to the social organization of large institutions and that the importance of common major varies significantly between institutions. Our calculations illustrate how microscopic and macroscopic perspectives give complementary insights on the social organization at universities and suggest future studies to investigate such phenomena further.

Smart self management: assistive technology to support people with chronic disease.

PubMed

Zheng, Huiru; Nugent, Chris; McCullagh, Paul; Huang, Yan; Zhang, Shumei; Burns, William; Davies, Richard; Black, Norman; Wright, Peter; Mawson, Sue; Eccleston, Christopher; Hawley, Mark; Mountain, Gail

2010-01-01

We have developed a personalised self management system to support self management of chronic conditions with support from health-care professionals. Accelerometers are used to measure gross levels of activity, for example walking around the house, and used to infer higher level activity states, such as standing, sitting and lying. A smart phone containing an accelerometer and a global positioning system (GPS) module can be used to monitor outdoor activity, providing both activity and location based information. Heart rate, blood pressure and weight are recorded and input to the system by the user. A decision support system (DSS) detects abnormal activity and distinguishes life style patterns. The DSS is used to assess the self management process, and automates feedback to the user, consistent with the achievement of their life goals. We have found that telecare and assistive technology is feasible to support self management for chronic conditions within the home and local community environments.

Advanced situation awareness with localised environmental community observatories in the Future Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabeur, Z. A.; Denis, H.; Nativi, S.

2012-04-01

The phenomenal advances in information and communication technologies over the last decade have led to offering unprecedented connectivity with real potentials for "Smart living" between large segments of human populations around the world. In particular, Voluntary Groups(VGs) and individuals with interest in monitoring the state of their local environment can be connected through the internet and collaboratively generate important localised environmental observations. These could be considered as the Community Observatories(CO) of the Future Internet(FI). However, a set of FI enablers are needed to be deployed for these communities to become effective COs in the Future Internet. For example, these communities will require access to services for the intelligent processing of heterogeneous data and capture of advancend situation awarness about the environment. This important enablement will really unlock the communities true potential for participating in localised monitoring of the environment in addition to their contribution in the creation of business entreprise. Among the eight Usage Areas(UA) projects of the FP7 FI-PPP programme, the ENVIROFI Integrated Project focuses on the specifications of the Future Internet enablers of the Environment UA. The specifications are developed under multiple environmental domains in context of users needs for the development of mash-up applications in the Future Internet. It will enable users access to real-time, on-demand fused information with advanced situation awareness about the environment at localised scales. The mash-up applications shall get access to rich spatio-temporal information from structured fusion services which aggregate COs information with existing environmental monitoring stations data, established by research organisations and private entreprise. These applications are being developed in ENVIROFI for the atmospheric, marine and biodiversity domains, together with a potential to be extended to other domains and scenarios concerning smart and safe living in the Future Internet.

Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

PESP is an EPA partnership program that works with the nation's pesticide-user community to promote IPM practices. Pesticide users can reduce the risks from pests and pesticides. Members include organizations and companies in the pesticide-user community.

A Prototype External Event Broker for LSST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elan Alvarez, Gabriella; Stassun, Keivan; Burger, Dan; Siverd, Robert; Cox, Donald

2015-01-01

LSST plans to have an alerts system that will automatically identify various types of "events" appearing in the LSST data stream. These events will include things such as supernovae, moving objects, and many other types, and it is expected that there will be millions of events nightly. It is expected that there may be tens of millions of events each night. To help the LSST community parse and make full advantage of the LSST alerts stream, we are working to design an external "events alert broker" that will generate real-time notification of LSST events to users and/or robotic telescope facilities based on user-specified criteria. For example, users will be able to specify that they wish to be notified immediately via text message of urgent events, such as GRB counterparts, or notified only occasionally in digest form of less time-sensitive events, such as eclipsing binaries. This poster will summarize results from a survey of scientists for the most important features that such an alerts notification service needs to provide, and will present a preliminary design for our external event broker.

Enabling Communication and Navigation Technologies for Future Near Earth Science Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Israel, David J.; Heckler, Greg; Menrad, Robert J.; Hudiburg, John J.; Boroson, Don M.; Robinson, Bryan S.; Cornwell, Donald M.

2016-01-01

In 2015, the Earth Regimes Network Evolution Study (ERNESt) Team proposed a fundamentally new architectural concept, with enabling technologies, that defines an evolutionary pathway out to the 2040 timeframe in which an increasing user community comprised of more diverse space science and exploration missions can be supported. The architectural concept evolves the current instantiations of the Near Earth Network and Space Network through implementation of select technologies resulting in a global communication and navigation network that provides communication and navigation services to a wide range of space users in the Near Earth regime, defined as an Earth-centered sphere with radius of 2M Km. The enabling technologies include: High Rate Optical Communications, Optical Multiple Access (OMA), Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN), User Initiated Services (UIS), and advanced Position, Navigation, and Timing technology (PNT). This paper describes this new architecture, the key technologies that enable it and their current technology readiness levels. Examples of science missions that could be enabled by the technologies and the projected operational benefits of the architecture concept to missions are also described.

NASA Giovanni: A Tool for Visualizing, Analyzing, and Inter-comparing Soil Moisture Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teng, William; Rui, Hualan; Vollmer, Bruce; deJeu, Richard; Fang, Fan; Lei, Guang-Dih; Parinussa, Robert

2014-01-01

There are many existing satellite soil moisture algorithms and their derived data products, but there is no simple way for a user to inter-compare the products or analyze them together with other related data. An environment that facilitates such inter-comparison and analysis would be useful for validation of satellite soil moisture retrievals against in situ data and for determining the relationships between different soil moisture products. As part of the NASA Giovanni (Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure) family of portals, which has provided users worldwide with a simple but powerful way to explore NASA data, a beta prototype Giovanni Inter-comparison of Soil Moisture Products portal has been developed. A number of soil moisture data products are currently included in the prototype portal. More will be added, based on user requirements and feedback and as resources become available. Two application examples for the portal are provided. The NASA Giovanni Soil Moisture portal is versatile and extensible, with many possible uses, for research and applications, as well as for the education community.

FEDIX: The on-line database retrieval service of government information for colleges, universities, and other organizations. User`s guide: Version 4.0/Release 2.0

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

Not Available

FEDIX is an on-line information service that links the higher education community and the federal government to facilitate research, education, and services. The system provides accurate and timely federal agency information to colleges, universities, and other research organizations. There are no registration fees and no access charges for using FEDIX. Agencies participating in the FEDIX system include: Department of Energy (DOE), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Security Agency (NSA), Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Education (DOEd), Departmentmore » of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Agency for International Development (AID). Additional government agencies are expected to join FEDIX in the near future. This guide is intended to help users access and utilize the FEDIX system. Because the system is frequently updated, however, some menus and tables used as examples in this text may not exactly match those displayed on the live system.« less

The Growth of the User Community of the La Silla Paranal Observatory Science Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romaniello, M.; Arnaboldi, M.; Da Rocha, C.; De Breuck, C.; Delmotte, N.; Dobrzycki, A.; Fourniol, N.; Freudling, W.; Mascetti, L.; Micol, A.; Retzlaff, J.; Sterzik, M.; Sequeiros, I. V.; De Breuck, M. V.

2016-03-01

The archive of the La Silla Paranal Observatory has grown steadily into a powerful science resource for the ESO astronomical community. Established in 1998, the Science Archive Facility (SAF) stores both the raw data generated by all ESO instruments and selected processed (science-ready) data. The growth of the SAF user community is analysed through access and publication statistics. Statistics are presented for archival users, who do not contribute to observing proposals, and contrasted with regular and archival users, who are successful in competing for observing time. Archival data from the SAF contribute to about one paper out of four that use data from ESO facilities. This study reveals that the blend of users constitutes a mixture of the traditional ESO community making novel use of the data and of a new community being built around the SAF.

The Role of A Facilitated Online Workspace Component of A Community of Practice: Knowledge Building and Value Creation for NASA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davey, B.

2014-12-01

This study examined the role of an online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Study participants were 75 Education and Public Outreach community members of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Earth Forum. In this mixed methods study, online workspace metrics were used to track participation and a survey completed by 21 members was used to quantify participation. For a more detailed analysis, 15 community members (5 highly active users, 5 average users, and 5 infrequent users) selected based on survey responses, were interviewed. Finally, survey data was gathered from 7 online facilitators to understand their role in the community. Data collected from these 21 community members and 5 facilitating members suggest that highly active users (logging into the workspace daily), were more likely to have transformative experiences, co-create knowledge, feel ownership of community knowledge, have extended opportunities for community exchange, and find new forms of evaluation. Average users shared some similar characteristics with both the highly active members and infrequent users, representing a group in transition as they become more engaged and active in the online workspace. Inactive users viewed the workspace as having little value, being difficult to navigate, being mainly for gaining basic information about events and community news, and as another demand on their time. Results show the online workspace component of the Earth Science Education and Outreach Forum is playing an important and emerging role for this community by supporting knowledge building and knowledge sharing, and growing in value for those that utilizing it more frequently. The evidence suggests that with increased participation or "usage" comes increased value to the participant and the organization. This research illustrates the possible change in mindset held by participating community members when it comes to the nature of co-location. Additionally, it may be of particular importance in exploring changes in the community members' feelings of connection and belonging.

A Decade of Building a STEM Educational Community of Practice from the Ground Up: Leveraging Technology, Visualization, and Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisut, D.; MacIntosh, E.; McDougall, C.; Peddicord, H.; Russell, E. L.; Zepecki, S., III

2017-12-01

A small group of scientists and museum directors sit in a room and ponder, "What do we do with this thing?" It was ten years ago, and the Science On a Sphere was a nascent educational technology. Since that time, NOAA has built a energetic community of practice, with over 150 institutional network members ranging from museums and aquariums, to scientific laboratories, and even documentary producers. A key to the long term success of this educational community has been its constant evolution - driven by needs assessments of the network partners, NOAA's foresight on how to improve user experiences by integrating new visualizations, storytelling, and improved technology, and the ability of institutions to integrate the technologies into their other STEM offerings. In this talk we'll cover specific examples of the challenges that have arisen, and how NOAA, and its close partner NASA, has evolved the program offerings and technologies to meet the needs of this educational community of practice, along with some thoughts on the future of the Science On a Sphere Collaborative Network and NOAA's STEM educational technology portfolio.

Multilabel user classification using the community structure of online networks.

PubMed

Rizos, Georgios; Papadopoulos, Symeon; Kompatsiaris, Yiannis

2017-01-01

We study the problem of semi-supervised, multi-label user classification of networked data in the online social platform setting. We propose a framework that combines unsupervised community extraction and supervised, community-based feature weighting before training a classifier. We introduce Approximate Regularized Commute-Time Embedding (ARCTE), an algorithm that projects the users of a social graph onto a latent space, but instead of packing the global structure into a matrix of predefined rank, as many spectral and neural representation learning methods do, it extracts local communities for all users in the graph in order to learn a sparse embedding. To this end, we employ an improvement of personalized PageRank algorithms for searching locally in each user's graph structure. Then, we perform supervised community feature weighting in order to boost the importance of highly predictive communities. We assess our method performance on the problem of user classification by performing an extensive comparative study among various recent methods based on graph embeddings. The comparison shows that ARCTE significantly outperforms the competition in almost all cases, achieving up to 35% relative improvement compared to the second best competing method in terms of F1-score.

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

PubMed Central

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

2011-01-01

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

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

PubMed

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

2011-01-01

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

NOAA Operational Model Archive Distribution System (NOMADS): High Availability Applications for Reliable Real Time Access to Operational Model Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpert, J. C.; Wang, J.

2009-12-01

To reduce the impact of natural hazards and environmental changes, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) provide first alert and a preferred partner for environmental prediction services, and represents a critical national resource to operational and research communities affected by climate, weather and water. NOMADS is now delivering high availability services as part of NOAA’s official real time data dissemination at its Web Operations Center (WOC) server. The WOC is a web service used by organizational units in and outside NOAA, and acts as a data repository where public information can be posted to a secure and scalable content server. A goal is to foster collaborations among the research and education communities, value added retailers, and public access for science and development efforts aimed at advancing modeling and GEO-related tasks. The user (client) executes what is efficient to execute on the client and the server efficiently provides format independent access services. Client applications can execute on the server, if it is desired, but the same program can be executed on the client side with no loss of efficiency. In this way this paradigm lends itself to aggregation servers that act as servers of servers listing, searching catalogs of holdings, data mining, and updating information from the metadata descriptions that enable collections of data in disparate places to be simultaneously accessed, with results processed on servers and clients to produce a needed answer. The services used to access the operational model data output are the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP), implemented with the Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) Data Server (GDS), and applications for slicing, dicing and area sub-setting the large matrix of real time model data holdings. This approach insures an efficient use of computer resources because users transmit/receive only the data necessary for their tasks including metadata. Data sets served in this way with a high availability server offer vast possibilities for the creation of new products for value added retailers and the scientific community. We demonstrate how users can use NOMADS services to select the values of Ensemble model runs over the ith Ensemble component, (forecast) time, vertical levels, global horizontal location, and by variable, virtually a 6-Dimensional data cube of access across the internet. The example application called the “Ensemble Probability Tool” make probability predictions of user defined weather events that can be used in remote areas for weather vulnerable circumstances. An application to access data for a verification pilot study is shown in detail in a companion paper (U06) collaboration with the World Bank and is an example of high value, usability and relevance of NCEP products and service capability over a wide spectrum of user and partner needs.

CMAQ Community Survey Results

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 2016, CMAQ users worldwide participated in a survey circulated by the University of North Carolina's Community Modeling and Analysis System (CMAS) center. The aggregated results allow us to better understand the attributes of the CMAQ user community.

Community-Based Information Technology Services 1: What (Some) Users Want.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caldwell, Barrett S.; Robertson, Jenifer W.

1996-01-01

Addresses issues regarding the design of electronic community information services and user preferences for information services. Presents results of surveying 80 Wisconsin residents about their community information needs. The following community information needs were identified: library services, local government and banking, local calendars of…

GI-axe: an access broker framework for the geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boldrini, E.; Nativi, S.; Santoro, M.; Papeschi, F.; Mazzetti, P.

2012-12-01

The efficient and effective discovery of heterogeneous geospatial resources (e.g. data and services) is currently addressed by implementing "Discovery Brokering components"—such as GI-cat which is successfully used by the GEO brokering framework. A related (and subsequent) problem is the access of discovered resources. As for the discovery case, there exists a clear challenge: the geospatial Community makes use of heterogeneous access protocols and data models. In fact, different standards (and best practices) are defined and used by the diverse Geoscience domains and Communities of practice. Besides, through a client application, Users want to access diverse data to be jointly used in a common Geospatial Environment (CGE): a geospatial environment characterized by a spatio-temporal CRS (Coordinate Reference System), resolution, and extension. Users want to define a CGE and get the selected data ready to be used in such an environment. Finally, they want to download data according to a common encoding (either binary or textual). Therefore, it is possible to introduce the concept of "Access Brokering component" which addresses all these intermediation needs, in a transparent way for both clients (i.e. Users) and access servers (i.e. Data Providers). This work presents GI-axe: a flexible Access Broker which is capable to intermediate the different access standards and to get data according to a CGE, previously specified by the User. In doing that, GI-axe complements the capabilities of the brokered access servers, in keeping with the brokering principles. Let's consider a sample use case of a User needing to access a global temperature dataset available online on a THREDDS Data Server and a rainfall dataset accessible through a WFS—she/he may have obtained the datasets as a search result from a discovery broker. Distribution information metadata accompanying the temperature dataset further indicate that a given OPeNDAP service has to be accessed to retrieve it. At this point, the User would be in charge of searching for an existing OPeNDAP client and retrieve the desired data with the desired CGE; worse he/she may need to write his/her own OPeNDAP client. While, the User has to utilize a GIS to access the rainfall data and perform all the necessary transformations to obtain the same CGE. The GI-axe access broker takes this interoperability burden off the User, by bearing the charge of accessing the available services and performing the needed adaptations to get both data according to the same CGE. Actually, GI-axe can also expose both the TDS the WFS as (for example) a WMS, allowing the User to utilize a unique and (perhaps) more familiar client. The User can this way concentrate on less technological aspects more inherent to his/her scientific field. GI-axe has been first developed and experimented in the multidisciplinary interoperability framework of the European Community funded EuroGEOSS project. Presently, is utilized in the GEOSS Discovery & Access Brokering framework.

Interactive web-based mapping: bridging technology and data for health.

PubMed

Highfield, Linda; Arthasarnprasit, Jutas; Ottenweller, Cecelia A; Dasprez, Arnaud

2011-12-23

The Community Health Information System (CHIS) online mapping system was first launched in 1998. Its overarching goal was to provide researchers, residents and organizations access to health related data reflecting the overall health and well-being of their communities within the Greater Houston area. In September 2009, initial planning and development began for the next generation of CHIS. The overarching goal for the new version remained to make health data easily accessible for a wide variety of research audiences. However, in the new version we specifically sought to make the CHIS truly interactive and give the user more control over data selection and reporting. In July 2011, a beta version of the next-generation of the application was launched. This next-generation is also a web based interactive mapping tool comprised of two distinct portals: the Breast Health Portal and Project Safety Net. Both are accessed via a Google mapping interface. Geographic coverage for the portals is currently an 8 county region centered on Harris County, Texas. Data accessed by the application include Census 2000, Census 2010 (underway), cancer incidence from the Texas Cancer Registry (TX Dept. of State Health Services), death data from Texas Vital Statistics, clinic locations for free and low-cost health services, along with service lists, hours of operation, payment options and languages spoken, uninsured and poverty data. The system features query on the fly technology, which means the data is not generated until the query is provided to the system. This allows users to interact in real-time with the databases and generate customized reports and maps. To the author's knowledge, the Breast Health Portal and Project Safety Net are the first local-scale interactive online mapping interfaces for public health data which allow users to control the data generated. For example, users may generate breast cancer incidence rates by Census tract, in real time, for women aged 40-64. Conversely, they could then generate the same rates for women aged 35-55. The queries are user controlled.

Sensitivity Analysis of earth and environmental models: a systematic review to guide scientific advancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagener, Thorsten; Pianosi, Francesca

2016-04-01

Sensitivity Analysis (SA) investigates how the variation in the output of a numerical model can be attributed to variations of its input factors. SA is increasingly being used in earth and environmental modelling for a variety of purposes, including uncertainty assessment, model calibration and diagnostic evaluation, dominant control analysis and robust decision-making. Here we provide some practical advice regarding best practice in SA and discuss important open questions based on a detailed recent review of the existing body of work in SA. Open questions relate to the consideration of input factor interactions, methods for factor mapping and the formal inclusion of discrete factors in SA (for example for model structure comparison). We will analyse these questions using relevant examples and discuss possible ways forward. We aim at stimulating the discussion within the community of SA developers and users regarding the setting of good practices and on defining priorities for future research.

The Victor C++ library for protein representation and advanced manipulation.

PubMed

Hirsh, Layla; Piovesan, Damiano; Giollo, Manuel; Ferrari, Carlo; Tosatto, Silvio C E

2015-04-01

Protein sequence and structure representation and manipulation require dedicated software libraries to support methods of increasing complexity. Here, we describe the VIrtual Constrution TOol for pRoteins (Victor) C++ library, an open source platform dedicated to enabling inexperienced users to develop advanced tools and gathering contributions from the community. The provided application examples cover statistical energy potentials, profile-profile sequence alignments and ab initio loop modeling. Victor was used over the last 15 years in several publications and optimized for efficiency. It is provided as a GitHub repository with source files and unit tests, plus extensive online documentation, including a Wiki with help files and tutorials, examples and Doxygen documentation. The C++ library and online documentation, distributed under a GPL license are available from URL: http://protein.bio.unipd.it/victor/. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

GlobTemperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghent, Darren; Remedios, John; Bruniquel, Jerome; Sardou, Olivier; Trigo, Isabel; Merchant, Chris; Bulgin, Claire; Goettsche, Frank; Olesen, Folke; Prigent, Catherine; Pinnock, Simon

2014-05-01

Land surface temperature (LST) is the mean radiative skin temperature of an area of land resulting from the mean balance of solar heating and land-atmosphere cooling fluxes. It is a basic determinant of the terrestrial thermal behaviour, as it controls the effective radiating temperature of the Earth's surface. The sensitivity of LST to soil moisture and vegetation cover means it is an important component in numerous applications. For instance, LST is a key boundary condition in land surface models, which determine the surface to atmosphere fluxes of heat, water and carbon; thus influencing cloud cover, precipitation and atmospheric chemistry predictions within General Circulation Models. Changes in land-surface cover can affect global climate, and also can be identified by changes in their surface temperatures. With the demand of LST data from Earth Observation currently experiencing considerable growth it is important that the users of this data are appropriately engaged by the LST community. The GlobTemperature project under the Data User Element of ESA's 4th Earth Observation Envelope Programme (2013-2017) aims to promote the wider uptake of global-scale satellite LST by the research and operational user communities. As such, the programme of work is focussed on achieving some innovative milestones for LST data which include: detailed global merged geostationary (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) data sets with estimates of both clear-sky and under-cloud LST; a first Climate Data Record for LST for the ATSR series of instruments; and the provision of a globally representative and consistent in-situ validation and intercomparison matchup database. Furthermore, the strength of such a venture lies in the coherence and openness of the interactions with the LST and user communities. For instance: detailed user input into the specifications and subsequent testing of the LST data sets; sustained access to data in a user-friendly manner through common data formats; and the establishment of an LST working group (LST-WG) involving strong guidance of key international experts. GlobTemperature is thus a timely initiative to both enhance the portfolio of LST products from Earth Observation, while concurrently breaking down the barriers to successful application of such data through a programme of dialogue between the data providers and data users. This will require activities at a range of national facilities. For example, GlobTemperature is supported by the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) in the UK with significant data processing and archiving to be performed on the Climate and Environmental Monitoring from Space (CEMS) facility. The project will have a very beneficial impact on global measurements of LST and will meet a critical need amongst users of LST data. Here we present the key challenges of such a programme of work and the methods to be employed in order to overcome them.

Unidata's Vision for Providing Comprehensive and End-to-end Data Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramamurthy, M. K.

2009-05-01

This paper presents Unidata's vision for providing comprehensive, well-integrated, and end-to-end data services for the geosciences. These include an array of functions for collecting, finding, and accessing data; data management tools for generating, cataloging, and exchanging metadata; and submitting or publishing, sharing, analyzing, visualizing, and integrating data. When this vision is realized, users no matter where they are or how they are connected to the Internetwill be able to find and access a plethora of geosciences data and use Unidata-provided tools and services both productively and creatively in their research and education. What that vision means for the Unidata community is elucidated by drawing a simple analogy. Most of users are familiar with Amazon and eBay e-commerce sites and content sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr. On the eBay marketplace, people can sell practically anything at any time and buyers can share their experience of purchasing a product or the reputation of a seller. Likewise, at Amazon, thousands of merchants sell their goods and millions of customers not only buy those goods, but provide a review or opinion of the products they buy and share their experiences as purchasers. Similarly, YouTube and Flickr are sites tailored to video- and photo-sharing, respectively, where users can upload their own content and share it with millions of other users, including family and friends. What all these sites, together with social-networking applications like MySpace and Facebook, have enabled is a sense of a virtual community in which users can search and browse products or content, comment and rate those products from anywhere, at any time, and via any Internet- enabled device like an iPhone, laptop, or a desktop computer. In essence, these enterprises have fundamentally altered people's buying modes and behavior toward purchases. Unidata believes that similar approaches, appropriately tailored to meet the needs of the scientific community, can be adopted to provide and share geosciences data and actively collaborate in the future. For example, future case-study data access systems, in addition to providing datasets and tools, will provide services that allow users to provide commentaries on a weather event, say a hurricane, as well as provide feedback on the quality, usefulness, and interpretation of the datasets through integrated blogs, forums, and Wikis, along with uploading and sharing products they derive, ancillary materials that users might have gathered (such as photos and videos from the storm), and publications and curricular materials they develop, all through a single data portal. In essence, such case study collections will be "living" or dynamic, allowing users to be also contributors as they add value to and grow existing case study collections.

Web application for detailed real-time database transaction monitoring for CMS condition data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Gruttola, Michele; Di Guida, Salvatore; Innocente, Vincenzo; Pierro, Antonio

2012-12-01

In the upcoming LHC era, database have become an essential part for the experiments collecting data from LHC, in order to safely store, and consistently retrieve, a wide amount of data, which are produced by different sources. In the CMS experiment at CERN, all this information is stored in ORACLE databases, allocated in several servers, both inside and outside the CERN network. In this scenario, the task of monitoring different databases is a crucial database administration issue, since different information may be required depending on different users' tasks such as data transfer, inspection, planning and security issues. We present here a web application based on Python web framework and Python modules for data mining purposes. To customize the GUI we record traces of user interactions that are used to build use case models. In addition the application detects errors in database transactions (for example identify any mistake made by user, application failure, unexpected network shutdown or Structured Query Language (SQL) statement error) and provides warning messages from the different users' perspectives. Finally, in order to fullfill the requirements of the CMS experiment community, and to meet the new development in many Web client tools, our application was further developed, and new features were deployed.

Design of an online health-promoting community: negotiating user community needs with public health goals and service capabilities.

PubMed

Ekberg, Joakim; Timpka, Toomas; Angbratt, Marianne; Frank, Linda; Norén, Anna-Maria; Hedin, Lena; Andersen, Emelie; Gursky, Elin A; Gäre, Boel Andersson

2013-07-04

An online health-promoting community (OHPC) has the potential to promote health and advance new means of dialogue between public health representatives and the general public. The aim of this study was to examine what aspects of an OHPC that are critical for satisfying the needs of the user community and public health goals and service capabilities. Community-based participatory research methods were used for data collection and analysis, and participatory design principles to develop a case study OHPC for adolescents. Qualitative data from adolescents on health appraisals and perspectives on health information were collected in a Swedish health service region and classified into categories of user health information exchange needs. A composite design rationale for the OHPC was completed by linking the identified user needs, user-derived requirements, and technical and organizational systems solutions. Conflicts between end-user requirements and organizational goals and resources were identified. The most prominent health information needs were associated to food, exercise, and well-being. The assessment of the design rationale document and prototype in light of the regional public health goals and service capabilities showed that compromises were needed to resolve conflicts involving the management of organizational resources and responsibilities. The users wanted to discuss health issues with health experts having little time to set aside to the OHPC and it was unclear who should set the norms for the online discussions. OHPCs can be designed to satisfy both the needs of user communities and public health goals and service capabilities. Compromises are needed to resolve conflicts between users' needs to discuss health issues with domain experts and the management of resources and responsibilities in public health organizations.

Communities of Practice Transition Online - Lessons learned from NASA's EPO Online Workspace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davey, B.

2012-12-01

The Earth Forum Education and Public Outreach (EP/O) community has long interacted to better their practice as a community as well as individually. Working together to share knowledge and grow, they function as a community of practice. In 2009, NASA designed and implemented an online workspace in hopes of promoting the communities continued interactions. This study examines the role of an online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Study participants were 75 Education and Public Outreach community members of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Earth Forum. In this mixed methods study, online workspace metrics were used to track participation and a survey completed by 21 members was used to quantify participation. For a more detailed analysis, 15 community members (five highly active users, five average users, and five infrequent users) selected based on survey responses, were interviewed. Finally, survey data was gathered from seven online facilitators to understand their role in the community. Data collected from these 21 community members and five facilitating members suggest that highly active users (logging into the workspace daily), were more likely to have transformative experiences, co-create knowledge, feel ownership of community knowledge, have extended opportunities for community exchange, and find new forms of evaluation. Average users shared some similar characteristics with both the highly active members and infrequent users, representing a group in transition as they become more engaged and active in the online workspace. Inactive users viewed the workspace as having little value, being difficult to navigate, being mainly for gaining basic information about events and community news, and as another demand on their time. Results show the online workspace component of the Earth Science Education and Outreach Forum is playing an important and emerging role for this community by supporting knowledge building and knowledge sharing, and growing in value for those that utilizing it more frequently. The evidence suggests that with increased participation or "usage" comes increased value to the participant and the organization. This research illustrates the possible change in mindset held by participating community members when it comes to the nature of co-location. Additionally, it may be of particular importance in exploring changes in the community members' feelings of connection and belonging.

The Role of Diverse Strategies in Sustainable Knowledge Production

PubMed Central

Wu, Lingfei; Baggio, Jacopo A.; Janssen, Marco A.

2016-01-01

Online communities are becoming increasingly important as platforms for large-scale human cooperation. These communities allow users seeking and sharing professional skills to solve problems collaboratively. To investigate how users cooperate to complete a large number of knowledge-producing tasks, we analyze Stack Exchange, one of the largest question and answer systems in the world. We construct attention networks to model the growth of 110 communities in the Stack Exchange system and quantify individual answering strategies using the linking dynamics on attention networks. We identify two answering strategies. Strategy A aims at performing maintenance by doing simple tasks, whereas strategy B aims at investing time in doing challenging tasks. Both strategies are important: empirical evidence shows that strategy A decreases the median waiting time for answers and strategy B increases the acceptance rate of answers. In investigating the strategic persistence of users, we find that users tends to stick on the same strategy over time in a community, but switch from one strategy to the other across communities. This finding reveals the different sets of knowledge and skills between users. A balance between the population of users taking A and B strategies that approximates 2:1, is found to be optimal to the sustainable growth of communities. PMID:26934733

The Role of Diverse Strategies in Sustainable Knowledge Production.

PubMed

Wu, Lingfei; Baggio, Jacopo A; Janssen, Marco A

2016-01-01

Online communities are becoming increasingly important as platforms for large-scale human cooperation. These communities allow users seeking and sharing professional skills to solve problems collaboratively. To investigate how users cooperate to complete a large number of knowledge-producing tasks, we analyze Stack Exchange, one of the largest question and answer systems in the world. We construct attention networks to model the growth of 110 communities in the Stack Exchange system and quantify individual answering strategies using the linking dynamics on attention networks. We identify two answering strategies. Strategy A aims at performing maintenance by doing simple tasks, whereas strategy B aims at investing time in doing challenging tasks. Both strategies are important: empirical evidence shows that strategy A decreases the median waiting time for answers and strategy B increases the acceptance rate of answers. In investigating the strategic persistence of users, we find that users tends to stick on the same strategy over time in a community, but switch from one strategy to the other across communities. This finding reveals the different sets of knowledge and skills between users. A balance between the population of users taking A and B strategies that approximates 2:1, is found to be optimal to the sustainable growth of communities.

TIM Version 3.0 beta Technical Description and User Guide - Appendix B - Example input file for TIMv3.0

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Terrestrial Investigation Model, TIM, has several appendices to its user guide. This is the appendix that includes an example input file in its preserved format. Both parameters and comments defining them are included.

Outreach Programmes for Education and Training: Contributions from the International Cartographic Association

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cartwright, W. E.; Fairbairn, D.

2012-07-01

Organisations like the International Cartographic Association champion programmes that develop and deliver education and training to cartographers and geospatial scientists, globally. This can be in the form of traditional university and training college programmes, short courses for professional and technical members of mapping agencies and as outreach initiatives to transfer knowledge about the discipline and its contemporary practices. Through its international community, the ICA undertakes the transfer of knowledge about cartography and GI Science by publishing books and special editions of journals and running workshops. Colleagues from the ICA community conduct these workshops on a volunteer basis, generally with the support of the national member organisation of ICA or the national mapping body. For example, the ICA promotes the generation of extensive publications, generally through its Commissions and Working Groups. The publications include books, journals and the ICA Newsletter. Outreach activities are especially pertinent to up skill colleagues from developing countries. Specialist programmes can be offered for professional and 'everyday' map users (from adults to children). The ICA can assist with its current programmes, designed to embrace professional and non-professional cartographers alike. This paper will address how education and outreach programmes can be supported by international associations, by offering programmes independently, or in partnership with sister associations and national and regional organisations and societies. As well, the paper will address the need to deliver education and outreach programmes not to just the professional international community, but also to map users and citizen map publishers.

Evaluation of Visual Analytics Environments: The Road to the Visual Analytics Science and Technology Challenge Evaluation Methodology

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

Scholtz, Jean; Plaisant, Catherine; Whiting, Mark A.

The evaluation of visual analytics environments was a topic in Illuminating the Path [Thomas 2005] as a critical aspect of moving research into practice. For a thorough understanding of the utility of the systems available, evaluation not only involves assessing the visualizations, interactions or data processing algorithms themselves, but also the complex processes that a tool is meant to support (such as exploratory data analysis and reasoning, communication through visualization, or collaborative data analysis [Lam 2012; Carpendale 2007]). Researchers and practitioners in the field have long identified many of the challenges faced when planning, conducting, and executing an evaluation ofmore » a visualization tool or system [Plaisant 2004]. Evaluation is needed to verify that algorithms and software systems work correctly and that they represent improvements over the current infrastructure. Additionally to effectively transfer new software into a working environment, it is necessary to ensure that the software has utility for the end-users and that the software can be incorporated into the end-user’s infrastructure and work practices. Evaluation test beds require datasets, tasks, metrics and evaluation methodologies. As noted in [Thomas 2005] it is difficult and expensive for any one researcher to setup an evaluation test bed so in many cases evaluation is setup for communities of researchers or for various research projects or programs. Examples of successful community evaluations can be found [Chinchor 1993; Voorhees 2007; FRGC 2012]. As visual analytics environments are intended to facilitate the work of human analysts, one aspect of evaluation needs to focus on the utility of the software to the end-user. This requires representative users, representative tasks, and metrics that measure the utility to the end-user. This is even more difficult as now one aspect of the test methodology is access to representative end-users to participate in the evaluation. In many cases the sensitive nature of data and tasks and difficult access to busy analysts puts even more of a burden on researchers to complete this type of evaluation. User-centered design goes beyond evaluation and starts with the user [Beyer 1997, Shneiderman 2009]. Having some knowledge of the type of data, tasks, and work practices helps researchers and developers know the correct paths to pursue in their work. When access to the end-users is problematic at best and impossible at worst, user-centered design becomes difficult. Researchers are unlikely to go to work on the type of problems faced by inaccessible users. Commercial vendors have difficulties evaluating and improving their products when they cannot observe real users working with their products. In well-established fields such as web site design or office software design, user-interface guidelines have been developed based on the results of empirical studies or the experience of experts. Guidelines can speed up the design process and replace some of the need for observation of actual users [heuristics review references]. In 2006 when the visual analytics community was initially getting organized, no such guidelines existed. Therefore, we were faced with the problem of developing an evaluation framework for the field of visual analytics that would provide representative situations and datasets, representative tasks and utility metrics, and finally a test methodology which would include a surrogate for representative users, increase interest in conducting research in the field, and provide sufficient feedback to the researchers so that they could improve their systems.« less

Open Data in Global Environmental Research: The Belmont Forum's Open Data Survey.

PubMed

Schmidt, Birgit; Gemeinholzer, Birgit; Treloar, Andrew

2016-01-01

This paper presents the findings of the Belmont Forum's survey on Open Data which targeted the global environmental research and data infrastructure community. It highlights users' perceptions of the term "open data", expectations of infrastructure functionalities, and barriers and enablers for the sharing of data. A wide range of good practice examples was pointed out by the respondents which demonstrates a substantial uptake of data sharing through e-infrastructures and a further need for enhancement and consolidation. Among all policy responses, funder policies seem to be the most important motivator. This supports the conclusion that stronger mandates will strengthen the case for data sharing.

Version 2.0 AERONET Dust Aerosol properties, Constraints and Application to Asian Dust Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holben, Brent; Eck, Tom; Holben, Brent; Eck, Tom; Siniuk, Aliaksander; Huangand, Jianping; Zang, Wu

2007-01-01

In November 2006, AERONET released Version 2 of the Dubovik and King sky radiance and optical depth inversion. Reanalysis of the entire AERONET database revealed marked differences in aerosol properties in arid and semi arid regions with dust dominated aerosols. The change will be illustrated through sensitivity analysis and examples from the UAE2 (United Arab Emirates Unified Aerosol Experiment) field campaign. Properties of dust dominated aerosols will be presented from regional AERONET sites in China showing variations in dust aerosol properties. The constraints and limitations of the AERONET inversion will be presented that will facilitate analysis by the user community of these data.

ODES (Online Data Extraction Service) for hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosmorduc, Vinca; Birol, Florence; Briol, Frederic; Bronner, Emilie; Dibarboure, Gerald; Guinle, Thierry; Nicolas, Clara; Nino, Fernando; Valladeau, Guillaume

2015-04-01

AVISO+ proposes a new dissemination service, the Online Data Extraction Service (ODES), in order to provide users and applications with a wider range of altimetry-derived data (including high-resolution and experimental data). The platform is designed to distribute both operational products from CNES and partner Agencies (Eumetsat, ESA, NOAA, NASA) but also research-grade data from LEGOS/CTOH and CLS and other contributions from the OSTST research community. An example of use of ODES to extract hydrology experimental expert product (from Pistach processor) for hydrology will be shown. ODES is available at http://odes.altimetry.cnes.fr, download with your Aviso FTP login / password.

ODES (Online Data Extraction Service) for cryosphere studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosmorduc, Vinca; Birol, Florence; Briol, Frederic; Bronner, Emilie; Dibarboure, Gerald; Guinle, Thierry; Nicolas, Clara; Nino, Fernando; Valladeau, Guillaume

2015-04-01

AVISO+ proposes a new dissemination service, the Online Data Extraction Service (ODES), in order to provide users and applications with a wider range of altimetry-derived data (including high-resolution and experimental data). The platform is designed to distribute both operational products from CNES and partner Agencies (Eumetsat, ESA, NOAA, NASA) but also research-grade data from LEGOS/CTOH and CLS and other contributions from the OSTST research community. An example of the use of ODES to extract AltiKa experimental expert products (from PEACHI prototype) over iced areas will be shown. ODES is available at http://odes.altimetry.cnes.fr, download with your Aviso FTP login / password.

Applications of digital image processing techniques to problems of data registration and correlation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, W. B.

1978-01-01

An overview is presented of the evolution of the computer configuration at JPL's Image Processing Laboratory (IPL). The development of techniques for the geometric transformation of digital imagery is discussed and consideration is given to automated and semiautomated image registration, and the registration of imaging and nonimaging data. The increasing complexity of image processing tasks at IPL is illustrated with examples of various applications from the planetary program and earth resources activities. It is noted that the registration of existing geocoded data bases with Landsat imagery will continue to be important if the Landsat data is to be of genuine use to the user community.

Satellite broadcasting system study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The study to develop a system model and computer program representative of broadcasting satellite systems employing community-type receiving terminals is reported. The program provides a user-oriented tool for evaluating performance/cost tradeoffs, synthesizing minimum cost systems for a given set of system requirements, and performing sensitivity analyses to identify critical parameters and technology. The performance/ costing philosophy and what is meant by a minimum cost system is shown graphically. Topics discussed include: main line control program, ground segment model, space segment model, cost models and launch vehicle selection. Several examples of minimum cost systems resulting from the computer program are presented. A listing of the computer program is also included.

PERICLES: a knowledge management programme applied to solar data from International Space Station-Columbus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller, Christian; PERICLES Consortium

2017-06-01

The FP-7 (Framework Programme 7 of the European Union) PERICLES project addresses the life-cycle of large and complex data sets to cater for the evolution of context of data sets and user communities, including groups unanticipated when the data was created. Semantics of data sets are thus also expected to evolve and the project includes elements which could address the reuse of data sets at periods where the data providers and even their institutions are not available any more. This paper presents the PERICLES science case with the example of the SOLAR (SOLAR monitoring observatory) payload on International Space Station-Columbus.

Exposing the Strategies that can Reduce the Obstacles: Improving the Science User Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindsay, F. E.; Brennan, J.; Behnke, J.; Lynnes, C.

2017-12-01

It is now well established that pursuing generic solutions to what seem are common problems in Earth science data access and use can often lead to disappointing results for both system developers and the intended users. This presentation focuses on real-world experience of managing a large and complex data system, NASA's Earth Science Data and Information Science System (EOSDIS), whose mission is to serve both broad user communities and those in smaller niche applications of Earth science data and services. In the talk, we focus on our experiences with known data user obstacles characterizing EOSDIS approaches, including various technological techniques, for engaging and bolstering, where possible, user experiences with EOSDIS. For improving how existing and prospective users discover and access NASA data from EOSDIS we introduce our cross-archive tool: Earthdata Search. This new search and order tool further empowers users to quickly access data sets using clever and intuitive features. The Worldview data visualization tool is also discussed highlighting how many users are now performing extensive data exploration without necessarily downloading data. Also, we explore our EOSDIS data discovery and access webinars, data recipes and short tutorials, targeted technical and data publications, user profiles and and social media as additional tools and methods used for improving our outreach and communications to a diverse user community. These efforts have paid substantial dividends for our user communities by allowing us to target discipline specific community needs. The desired take-away from this presentation will be an improved understanding of how EOSDIS has approached, and in several instances achieved, removing or lowering the barriers to data access and use. As we look ahead to more complex Earth science missions, EOSDIS will continue to focus on our user communities, both broad and specialized, so that our overall data system can continue to serve the needs of science and applications users.

Exposing the Strategies that Can Reduce the Obstacles: Improving the Science User Experience

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindsay, Francis E.; Brennan, Jennifer; Behnke, Jeanne; Lynnes, Chris

2017-01-01

It is now well established that pursuing generic solutions to what seem are common problems in Earth science data access and use can often lead to disappointing results for both system developers and the intended users. This presentation focuses on real-world experience of managing a large and complex data system, NASAs Earth Science Data and Information Science System (EOSDIS), whose mission is to serve both broad user communities and those in smaller niche applications of Earth science data and services. In the talk, we focus on our experiences with known data user obstacles characterizing EOSDIS approaches, including various technological techniques, for engaging and bolstering, where possible, user experiences with EOSDIS. For improving how existing and prospective users discover and access NASA data from EOSDIS we introduce our cross-archive tool: Earthdata Search. This new search and order tool further empowers users to quickly access data sets using clever and intuitive features. The Worldview data visualization tool is also discussed highlighting how many users are now performing extensive data exploration without necessarily downloading data. Also, we explore our EOSDIS data discovery and access webinars, data recipes and short tutorials, targeted technical and data publications, user profiles and social media as additional tools and methods used for improving our outreach and communications to a diverse user community. These efforts have paid substantial dividends for our user communities by allowing us to target discipline specific community needs. The desired take-away from this presentation will be an improved understanding of how EOSDIS has approached, and in several instances achieved, removing or lowering the barriers to data access and use. As we look ahead to more complex Earth science missions, EOSDIS will continue to focus on our user communities, both broad and specialized, so that our overall data system can continue to serve the needs of science and applications users.

Getting nano tattoos right - a checklist of legal and ethical hurdles for an emerging nanomedical technology.

PubMed

Bennett, Michael G; Naranja, R John

2013-08-01

The nano tattoo represents a nascent technology designed to be implanted in the skin to provide continuous and reliable glucose detection for diabetics. Its potential benefits are compelling not only for its ability to prevent diabetic complications and decrease related social costs, but also for its ease of use and relative patient-user comfort. This Note aims to articulate a checklist of fundamental intellectual property, bioethical and system design issues that are appropriately considered in the pre-clinical, pre-commercialization phase of nano tattoo development. Early and regular consideration of these factors can increase the odds of a societally beneficial dissemination of this device by engaging relevant researcher, medical, patient-user and patient-advocate communities concerned with its appropriate application, as well as policymaking communities focused on effectively managing diabetes-related healthcare costs. The checklist of factors includes fundamental issues and is generally applicable to nanomedical inventions. This paper presents a comprehensive list of fundamental intellectual property, bioethical, and system design issues to be considered in the pre-commercialization phase of nanomedicine development, through the specific example of nano tattoo development. Nano tattoo is designed to be implanted in the skin to provide reliable glucose monitoring for diabetics, enabling enhanced prevention of complications and decreased socioeconomic costs. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Establishing a Novel Modeling Tool: A Python-Based Interface for a Neuromorphic Hardware System

PubMed Central

Brüderle, Daniel; Müller, Eric; Davison, Andrew; Muller, Eilif; Schemmel, Johannes; Meier, Karlheinz

2008-01-01

Neuromorphic hardware systems provide new possibilities for the neuroscience modeling community. Due to the intrinsic parallelism of the micro-electronic emulation of neural computation, such models are highly scalable without a loss of speed. However, the communities of software simulator users and neuromorphic engineering in neuroscience are rather disjoint. We present a software concept that provides the possibility to establish such hardware devices as valuable modeling tools. It is based on the integration of the hardware interface into a simulator-independent language which allows for unified experiment descriptions that can be run on various simulation platforms without modification, implying experiment portability and a huge simplification of the quantitative comparison of hardware and simulator results. We introduce an accelerated neuromorphic hardware device and describe the implementation of the proposed concept for this system. An example setup and results acquired by utilizing both the hardware system and a software simulator are demonstrated. PMID:19562085

Establishing a novel modeling tool: a python-based interface for a neuromorphic hardware system.

PubMed

Brüderle, Daniel; Müller, Eric; Davison, Andrew; Muller, Eilif; Schemmel, Johannes; Meier, Karlheinz

2009-01-01

Neuromorphic hardware systems provide new possibilities for the neuroscience modeling community. Due to the intrinsic parallelism of the micro-electronic emulation of neural computation, such models are highly scalable without a loss of speed. However, the communities of software simulator users and neuromorphic engineering in neuroscience are rather disjoint. We present a software concept that provides the possibility to establish such hardware devices as valuable modeling tools. It is based on the integration of the hardware interface into a simulator-independent language which allows for unified experiment descriptions that can be run on various simulation platforms without modification, implying experiment portability and a huge simplification of the quantitative comparison of hardware and simulator results. We introduce an accelerated neuromorphic hardware device and describe the implementation of the proposed concept for this system. An example setup and results acquired by utilizing both the hardware system and a software simulator are demonstrated.

The National Biomedical Communications Network as a Developing Structure *

PubMed Central

Davis, Ruth M.

1971-01-01

The National Biomedical Communications Network has evolved both from a set of conceptual recommendations over the last twelve years and an accumulation of needs manifesting themselves in the requests of members of the medical community. With a short history of three years this network and its developing structure have exhibited most of the stresses of technology interfacing with customer groups, and of a structure attempting to build itself upon many existing fragmentary unconnected segments of a potentially viable resourcesharing capability. In addition to addressing these topics, the paper treats a design appropriate to any network devoted to information transfer in a special interest user community. It discusses fundamentals of network design, highlighting that network structure most appropriate to a national information network. Examples are given of cost analyses of information services and certain conjectures are offered concerning the roles of national networks. PMID:5542912

Data Recipes: Toward Creating How-To Knowledge Base for Earth Science Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shen, Suhung; Lynnes, Chris; Acker, James G.; Beaty, Tammy

2015-01-01

Both the diversity and volume of Earth science data from satellites and numerical models are growing dramatically, due to an increasing population of measured physical parameters, and also an increasing variety of spatial and temporal resolutions for many data products. To further complicate matters, Earth science data delivered to data archive centers are commonly found in different formats and structures. NASA data centers, managed by the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), have developed a rich and diverse set of data services and tools with features intended to simplify finding, downloading, and working with these data. Although most data services and tools have user guides, many users still experience difficulties with accessing or reading data due to varying levels of familiarity with data services, tools, and or formats. The data recipe project at Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) was initiated in late 2012 for enhancing user support. A data recipe is a How-To online explanatory document, with step-by-step instructions and examples of accessing and working with real data (http:disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.govrecipes). The current suite of recipes has been found to be very helpful, especially to first-time-users of particular data services, tools, or data products. Online traffic to the data recipe pages is significant, even though the data recipe topics are still limited. An Earth Science Data System Working Group (ESDSWG) for data recipes was established in the spring of 2014, aimed to initiate an EOSDIS-wide campaign for leveraging the distributed knowledge within EOSDIS and its user communities regarding their respective services and tools. The ESDSWG data recipe group is working on an inventory and analysis of existing data recipes and tutorials, and will provide guidelines and recommendation for writing and grouping data recipes, and for cross linking recipes to data products. This presentation gives an overview of the data recipe activites at GES DISC and ESDSWG. We are seeking requirements and input from a broader data user community to establish a strong knowledge base for Earth science data research and application implementations.

Evolving the NCSA CyberCollaboratory for Distributed Environmental Observatory Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, J.; Liu, Y.; Minsker, B.; Futrelle, J.; Downey, S.; Kim, I.; Rantanen, E.

2007-12-01

Since 2004, NCSA's Cybercollaboratory, which is built on top of the open source Liferay portal framework, has been evolving as part of NCSA's efforts to build national cyberinfrastructure to support collaborative research in environmental engineering and hydrological sciences and allow users to efficiently share contents (sensors, data, model, documents, etc.) in a context-sensitive way (e.g., providing different tools/data based on group affiliation and geospatial contexts). During this period, we provided the CyberCollaboratory to users in CLEANER (Collaborative Large-scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research, now WATer and Environmental Research Systems (WATERS) network) Project Office and several CLEANER /WATERS testbed projects. Preliminary statistics shows that one in four users (among over 400 registered users) provided contents with many other reading/accessing those contents (such as messages, documents, wikis). During the course of this use, and in evaluation by others including representatives from the CUAHSI (Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science) community, we have received significant feedback on issues of usability and suitability to various communities involved in environmental observatories. Much of this feedback applies to collaborative portals in general and some reflect a comparison of portals with newer Web 2.0 style social -networking sites. For example, users working in multiple groups found it difficult to get an overview of all of their activities and found differences in group layouts to be confusing. Users also found the standard account creation and group management processes cumbersome compared to inviting people to be friends on social sites and wanted a better sense of presence and social networks within the portal. The fragmentation of group documents between local stores, the portal document repository and email, and issues of "lost updates" was another significant concern. This poster reviews the usability feedback, identifies key issues that hinder traditional portal-based collaboration environments, and presents design changes made to the Cybercollaboratory to address them. Feedback on the effectiveness of the new design from hydrologists and environmental researchers and preliminary results from a formal usability study will also be presented.

Near Real Time Operational Satellite Ocean Color Products From NOAA OSPO CoastWatch Okeanos System:: Status and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banghua Yan, B.

2016-02-01

Near real-time (NRT) ocean color (OC) satellite operation products are generated and distributed in NOAA Okeanos Operational Product System, by using the CWAPS including the Multi-Sensor Level (MSL) 12 and the chlorophyll-a frontal algorithms. Current OC operational products include daily chlorophyll concentration (anomaly), water turbidity, remote sensing reflectance and chlorophyll frontal products from Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Aqua. The products have been widely applied to USA local and state ecosystem research, ecosystem observations, and fisheries managements for coastal and regional forecasting of ocean water quality, phytoplankton concentrations, and primary production. Users of the products have the National Ocean Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Weather Service, and Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Recently, the OC products are being extended to S-NPP VIIRS to provide global NRT ocean color products to user community suh as National Weatrher Service for application for Global Data Assimilation System and Real-Time Ocean Forecast System. However, there remain some challenges in application of the products due to certain product quality and coverage issues. Recent efforts were made to provide a comprehensive web-based Quality Assurance (QA) tool for monitoring OC products quality in near real time mode, referring to http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/ocean/color_new/color.htm. The new QA monitoring tool includes but not limited to the following advanced features applicable for MODIS/Aqua and NPP/VIIRS OC products: 1) Monitoring product quality in NRT mode; 2) Monitoring the availability and quality of OC products with time; 3) Detecting anomalous OC products due to low valid pixels and other quality issues. As an example, potential application and challenges of the ocean color products to oceanic oil spill detection are investigated. It is thus expected that the Okeanos ocean color operational system in combination with the new QA monitoring tool will more efficiently ensure availability and quality of satellite operational OC products from Okeanos system to the user community. The QA tool also will provide much useful information of OC products quality and statistics to the OC user community.

15 CFR 752.10 - Changes to the SCL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... request for each end-user. Example: end-user XXX is to be “added” and end-user AAA is to be “changed” from... Blocks 1 and 19. In Block 21, cite the end-user requirement or condition (i.e., end-user XXX is requested...

15 CFR 752.10 - Changes to the SCL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... request for each end-user. Example: end-user XXX is to be “added” and end-user AAA is to be “changed” from... Blocks 1 and 19. In Block 21, cite the end-user requirement or condition (i.e., end-user XXX is requested...

15 CFR 752.10 - Changes to the SCL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... request for each end-user. Example: end-user XXX is to be “added” and end-user AAA is to be “changed” from... Blocks 1 and 19. In Block 21, cite the end-user requirement or condition (i.e., end-user XXX is requested...

15 CFR 752.10 - Changes to the SCL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... request for each end-user. Example: end-user XXX is to be “added” and end-user AAA is to be “changed” from... Blocks 1 and 19. In Block 21, cite the end-user requirement or condition (i.e., end-user XXX is requested...

15 CFR 752.10 - Changes to the SCL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... request for each end-user. Example: end-user XXX is to be “added” and end-user AAA is to be “changed” from... Blocks 1 and 19. In Block 21, cite the end-user requirement or condition (i.e., end-user XXX is requested...

Understanding User Behavioral Patterns in Open Knowledge Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Xianmin; Song, Shuqiang; Zhao, Xinshuo; Yu, Shengquan

2018-01-01

Open knowledge communities (OKCs) have become popular in the era of knowledge economy. This study aimed to explore how users collaboratively create and share knowledge in OKCs. In particular, this research identified the behavior distribution and behavioral patterns of users by conducting frequency distribution and lag sequential analyses. Some…

User-Centered Design of Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambropoulos, Niki, Ed.; Zaphiris, Panayiotis, Ed.

2007-01-01

User-centered design (UCD) is gaining popularity in both the educational and business sectors. This is due to the fact that UCD sheds light on the entire process of analyzing, planning, designing, developing, using, evaluating, and maintaining computer-based learning. "User-Centered Design of Online Learning Communities" explains how…

Must Invisible Colleges Be Invisible? An Approach to Examining Large Communities of Network Users.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruth, Stephen R.; Gouet, Raul

1993-01-01

Discussion of characteristics of users of computer-mediated communication systems and scientific networks focuses on a study of the scientific community in Chile. Topics addressed include users and nonusers; productivity; educational level; academic specialty; age; gender; international connectivity; public policy issues; and future research…

Multilabel user classification using the community structure of online networks

PubMed Central

Papadopoulos, Symeon; Kompatsiaris, Yiannis

2017-01-01

We study the problem of semi-supervised, multi-label user classification of networked data in the online social platform setting. We propose a framework that combines unsupervised community extraction and supervised, community-based feature weighting before training a classifier. We introduce Approximate Regularized Commute-Time Embedding (ARCTE), an algorithm that projects the users of a social graph onto a latent space, but instead of packing the global structure into a matrix of predefined rank, as many spectral and neural representation learning methods do, it extracts local communities for all users in the graph in order to learn a sparse embedding. To this end, we employ an improvement of personalized PageRank algorithms for searching locally in each user’s graph structure. Then, we perform supervised community feature weighting in order to boost the importance of highly predictive communities. We assess our method performance on the problem of user classification by performing an extensive comparative study among various recent methods based on graph embeddings. The comparison shows that ARCTE significantly outperforms the competition in almost all cases, achieving up to 35% relative improvement compared to the second best competing method in terms of F1-score. PMID:28278242

The Use of LANCE Imagery Products to Investigate Hazards and Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmaltz, J. E.; Teague, M.; Conover, H.; Regner, K.; Masuoka, E.; Vollmer, B. E.; Durbin, P.; Murphy, K. J.; Boller, R. A.; Davies, D.; Ilavajhala, S.; Thompson, C. K.; Bingham, A.; Rao, S.

2011-12-01

The NASA/GSFC Land Atmospheres Near-real time Capability for EOS (LANCE) has endeavored to integrate a variety of products from the Terra, Aqua, and Aura missions to assist in meeting the needs of the applications user community. This community has a need for imagery products to support the investigation of a wide variety of phenomena including hazards and disasters. The Evjafjallajokull eruption, the tsunamis/flood in Japan, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are recent examples of applications benefiting from the timely and synoptic view afforded by LANCE data. Working with the instrument science teams and the applications community, LANCE has identified 14 applications categories and the LANCE products that will support their investigation. The categories are: Smoke Plumes, Ash Plumes, Dust Storms, Pollution, Severe Storms, Shipping hazards, Fishery hazards, Land Transportation, Fires, Floods, Drought, Vegetation, Agriculture, and Oil Spills. Forty products from AMSR-E, MODIS, AIRS, and OMI have been identified to support analyses and investigations of these phenomena. In each case multiple products from two or more instruments are available which gives a more complete picture of the evolving hazard or disaster. All Level 2 (L2) products are available within 2.5 hours of observation at the spacecraft and the daily L3 products are updated incrementally as new data become available. LANCE provides user access to imagery using two systems: a Web Mapping Service (WMS) and a Google Earth-based interface known as the State of the Earth (SOTE). The latter has resulted from a partnership between LANCE and the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO DAAC). When the user selects one of the 14 categories, the relevant products are established within the WMS (http://lance2.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/wms/). For each application, population density data are available for densities in excess of 100 people/sqkm with user-defined opacity. These data are provided by the EOSDIS Socio-Economic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Certain users may not want to be constrained by the pre-defined categories and related products and all 40 products may be added as potential overlays. The most recent 10 days of near-real time data are available through the WMS. The SOTE provides an interface to the products grouped in the same fashion as the WMS. The SOTE servers stream imagery and data in the OGC KML format and these feeds can be visualized through the Google Earth browser plug-in. SOTE provides visualization through a virtual globe environment by allowing users to interact with the globe via zooming, rotating, and tilting.

In Pursuit of Theoretical Ground in Behavior Change Support Systems: Analysis of Peer-to-Peer Communication in a Health-Related Online Community

PubMed Central

Cobb, Nathan; Cohen, Trevor

2016-01-01

Background Research studies involving health-related online communities have focused on examining network structure to understand mechanisms underlying behavior change. Content analysis of the messages exchanged in these communities has been limited to the “social support” perspective. However, existing behavior change theories suggest that message content plays a prominent role reflecting several sociocognitive factors that affect an individual’s efforts to make a lifestyle change. An understanding of these factors is imperative to identify and harness the mechanisms of behavior change in the Health 2.0 era. Objective The objective of this work is two-fold: (1) to harness digital communication data to capture essential meaning of communication and factors affecting a desired behavior change, and (2) to understand the applicability of existing behavior change theories to characterize peer-to-peer communication in online platforms. Methods In this paper, we describe grounded theory–based qualitative analysis of digital communication in QuitNet, an online community promoting smoking cessation. A database of 16,492 de-identified public messages from 1456 users from March 1-April 30, 2007, was used in our study. We analyzed 795 messages using grounded theory techniques to ensure thematic saturation. This analysis enabled identification of key concepts contained in the messages exchanged by QuitNet members, allowing us to understand the sociobehavioral intricacies underlying an individual’s efforts to cease smoking in a group setting. We further ascertained the relevance of the identified themes to theoretical constructs in existing behavior change theories (eg, Health Belief Model) and theoretically linked techniques of behavior change taxonomy. Results We identified 43 different concepts, which were then grouped under 12 themes based on analysis of 795 messages. Examples of concepts include “sleepiness,” “pledge,” “patch,” “spouse,” and “slip.” Examples of themes include “traditions,” “social support,” “obstacles,” “relapse,” and “cravings.” Results indicate that themes consisting of member-generated strategies such as “virtual bonfires” and “pledges” were related to the highest number of theoretical constructs from the existing behavior change theories. In addition, results indicate that the member-generated communication content supports sociocognitive constructs from more than one behavior change model, unlike the majority of the existing theory-driven interventions. Conclusions With the onset of mobile phones and ubiquitous Internet connectivity, online social network data reflect the intricacies of human health behavior as experienced by health consumers in real time. This study offers methodological insights for qualitative investigations that examine the various kinds of behavioral constructs prevalent in the messages exchanged among users of online communities. Theoretically, this study establishes the manifestation of existing behavior change theories in QuitNet-like online health communities. Pragmatically, it sets the stage for real-time, data-driven sociobehavioral interventions promoting healthy lifestyle modifications by allowing us to understand the emergent user needs to sustain a desired behavior change. PMID:26839162

Towards an Integrated Flood Preparedness and Response: Centralized Data Access, Analysis, and Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.; Krajewski, W. F.

2014-12-01

Recent advances in internet and cyberinfrastucture technologies have provided the capability to understand the hydrological and meteorological systems at space and time scales that are critical for making accurate understanding and prediction of flooding, and emergency preparedness. A novel example of a cyberinfrastructure platform for flood preparedness and response is the Iowa Flood Center's Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS). IFIS is a one-stop web-platform to access community-based flood conditions, forecasts, visualizations, inundation maps and flood-related data, information, and applications. An enormous volume of real-time observational data from a variety of sensors and remote sensing resources (radars, rain gauges, stream sensors, etc.) and complex flood inundation models are staged on a user-friendly maps environment that is accessible to the general public. IFIS has developed into a very successful tool used by agencies, decision-makers, and the general public throughout Iowa to better understand their local watershed and their personal and community flood risk, and to monitor local stream and river levels. IFIS helps communities make better-informed decisions on the occurrence of floods, and alerts communities in advance to help minimize flood damages. IFIS is widely used by general public in Iowa and the Midwest region with over 120,000 unique users, and became main source of information for many newspapers and TV stations in Iowa. IFIS has features for general public to improve emergency preparedness, and for decision makers to support emergency response and recovery efforts. IFIS is also a great platform for educators and local authorities to educate students and public on flooding with games, easy to use interactive environment, and data rich system.

[Evaluation of the family focus and community orientation in the Family Health Strategy].

PubMed

Alencar, Monyk Neves de; Coimbra, Liberata Campos; Morais, Ana Patrícia Pereira; Silva, Antônio Augusto Moura da; Pinheiro, Siane Rocha de Almeida; Queiroz, Rejane Christine de Sousa

2014-02-01

The Family Health Strategy should be focused on the family unit and constructed operationally within the community sphere. The research assessed the family focus and community orientation as attributes of Primary Health Care, comparing if the responses differed among users, professionals and managers. It is an evaluative study of a population-based quantitative approach conducted between January 2010 and March 2011 in São Luís in the state of Maranhão. The study involved a population of 32 managers and 80 professionals with more than six months experience in the Family Health Strategy, and 883 users were selected by means of cluster sampling. Questionnaires validated in Brazil were used based on the components of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool). The composite index of the family focus was 2.7 for users, 4.9 for professionals and 5.3 for managers. In the posttest phase, differences were detected between users and professionals, and users and managers. The composite index of community orientation was 2.9 for users, 3.9 for professionals and 4.8 for managers (p < 0.001). Managers attributed higher percentages in all indicators, followed by professionals and lastly users. Both attributes were rated as being unsatisfactory in the perception of the users.

An incremental community detection method for social tagging systems using locality-sensitive hashing.

PubMed

Wu, Zhenyu; Zou, Ming

2014-10-01

An increasing number of users interact, collaborate, and share information through social networks. Unprecedented growth in social networks is generating a significant amount of unstructured social data. From such data, distilling communities where users have common interests and tracking variations of users' interests over time are important research tracks in fields such as opinion mining, trend prediction, and personalized services. However, these tasks are extremely difficult considering the highly dynamic characteristics of the data. Existing community detection methods are time consuming, making it difficult to process data in real time. In this paper, dynamic unstructured data is modeled as a stream. Tag assignments stream clustering (TASC), an incremental scalable community detection method, is proposed based on locality-sensitive hashing. Both tags and latent interactions among users are incorporated in the method. In our experiments, the social dynamic behaviors of users are first analyzed. The proposed TASC method is then compared with state-of-the-art clustering methods such as StreamKmeans and incremental k-clique; results indicate that TASC can detect communities more efficiently and effectively. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Growing Data User Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiggin, B.

2017-12-01

Preserving data is not only a technical challenge. Perhaps the best way to protect data is to use it. Grassroots efforts to make research-quality copies of federal data continue to energize communities of data users who often did not previously recognize themselves as open earth data users. Beyond "data rescue" events, the Data Refuge project researches how federal climate and environmental data are used downstream in a variety of local communities and municipal governments to address everyday issues: public health, municipal safety, and even the preservation of cultural heritage assets. Documenting the diverse uses made of open earth data beyond the earth sciences research community grows the community who, in making use of data, also helps to preserve it.

Being connected to the local community through a Festival mobile application

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

Han, Kyungsik; Wirth, Richard; Hanrahan, Benjamin

In this paper we report our investigation into how using and interacting with a local festival mobile app enhanced users’ festival experiences and connected them to other local users and their community. We explored the relationship between users’ perceived basic affordances of mobile technology, perceived opportunities of the festival app, and three elements that sustain the local community — attachment, engagement, and social support networks. Based on the usage logs of 348 active users, as well as survey responses from 80 users, we present a mobile-mediated local community framework and found that engagement is a key mediator of mobile experiencesmore » and facets of community.« less

Ethics of Engagement: User-Centered Design and Rhetorical Methodology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salvo, Michael J.

2001-01-01

Explores the shift from observation of users to participation with users, describing and investigating three examples of user-centered design practice in order to consider the new ethical demands being made of technical communicators. Explores Pelle Ehn's participatory design method, Roger Whitehouse's design of tactile signage for blind users,…

Understanding the Social Navigation User Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goecks, Jeremy

2009-01-01

A social navigation system collects data from its users--its community--about what they are doing, their opinions, and their decisions, aggregates this data, and provides the aggregated data--community data--back to individuals so that they can use it to guide behavior and decisions. Social navigation systems empower users with the ability to…

A Missing Link: People, Practice and Some Precarious Research!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higdon, Carolyn Wiles; Higdon, Lawrence W.

2004-01-01

The field of augmentative and alternative communication's (AAC) missing link is the discrepancy between what the research community identifies as needs and what the clinical community, including the AAC user, believes to be the AAC user's needs. An unrealistic picture of the AAC user occurs, developing a top-down effect of limited outcomes,…

Bioinformatics meets user-centred design: a perspective.

PubMed

Pavelin, Katrina; Cham, Jennifer A; de Matos, Paula; Brooksbank, Cath; Cameron, Graham; Steinbeck, Christoph

2012-01-01

Designers have a saying that "the joy of an early release lasts but a short time. The bitterness of an unusable system lasts for years." It is indeed disappointing to discover that your data resources are not being used to their full potential. Not only have you invested your time, effort, and research grant on the project, but you may face costly redesigns if you want to improve the system later. This scenario would be less likely if the product was designed to provide users with exactly what they need, so that it is fit for purpose before its launch. We work at EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), and we consult extensively with life science researchers to find out what they need from biological data resources. We have found that although users believe that the bioinformatics community is providing accurate and valuable data, they often find the interfaces to these resources tricky to use and navigate. We believe that if you can find out what your users want even before you create the first mock-up of a system, the final product will provide a better user experience. This would encourage more people to use the resource and they would have greater access to the data, which could ultimately lead to more scientific discoveries. In this paper, we explore the need for a user-centred design (UCD) strategy when designing bioinformatics resources and illustrate this with examples from our work at EMBL-EBI. Our aim is to introduce the reader to how selected UCD techniques may be successfully applied to software design for bioinformatics.

A user-friendly workflow for analysis of Illumina gene expression bead array data available at the arrayanalysis.org portal.

PubMed

Eijssen, Lars M T; Goelela, Varshna S; Kelder, Thomas; Adriaens, Michiel E; Evelo, Chris T; Radonjic, Marijana

2015-06-30

Illumina whole-genome expression bead arrays are a widely used platform for transcriptomics. Most of the tools available for the analysis of the resulting data are not easily applicable by less experienced users. ArrayAnalysis.org provides researchers with an easy-to-use and comprehensive interface to the functionality of R and Bioconductor packages for microarray data analysis. As a modular open source project, it allows developers to contribute modules that provide support for additional types of data or extend workflows. To enable data analysis of Illumina bead arrays for a broad user community, we have developed a module for ArrayAnalysis.org that provides a free and user-friendly web interface for quality control and pre-processing for these arrays. This module can be used together with existing modules for statistical and pathway analysis to provide a full workflow for Illumina gene expression data analysis. The module accepts data exported from Illumina's GenomeStudio, and provides the user with quality control plots and normalized data. The outputs are directly linked to the existing statistics module of ArrayAnalysis.org, but can also be downloaded for further downstream analysis in third-party tools. The Illumina bead arrays analysis module is available at http://www.arrayanalysis.org . A user guide, a tutorial demonstrating the analysis of an example dataset, and R scripts are available. The module can be used as a starting point for statistical evaluation and pathway analysis provided on the website or to generate processed input data for a broad range of applications in life sciences research.

The Circulation of Scientific Articles in the Sphere of Web-Based Media: Citation Practices, Communities of Interests and Local Ties

PubMed Central

Renard, Julie

2016-01-01

On 5th December 2012, a scientific article reviewing a change in the feeding behaviour of the European catfish, one of the largest freshwater fish, was published in the American scientific journal, PLOS ONE, an open access journal, which also allows the mass publication of pictures and videos. Within a few days following the publication of this article, it was relayed by numerous web sites and generated a media craze. In this paper, we analyse the circulation of this scientific information in the sphere of Web-based media during the two months following its publication, by revealing the citation mechanisms of the original article and the logic of the Internet users participating in its diffusion. In addition, since the circulation of its informational content travelled beyond linguistic and geographical boundaries, we chose to compare the citation modalities and intertextual relationships of documents in the three countries where the article spread the most widely, namely: France, the United States and Great Britain. Even though our study shows that the media circulation of scientific papers operates in a traditional way, the intertextual analysis underlines the grand variety of participants (such as journalists, non-scientists, fishermen, technology enthusiasts and Internet users) involved in the diffusion of this information, each of them mobilizing different intertextual strategies, according to their various targets. They all transformed, reformulated and appropriated the scientific information according to their own, unique interests. This study also emphasizes the importance of journalistic websites as opinion relays. They were the first diffusers involved in spreading the information but this role was rarely acknowledged by the Internet users - through citations, for example. In contrast, we observed that amateurs’ communities (communities of practices and communities of interest of fishermen or of buzz fans), which only became involved in a second temporal phase of the spreading, preferred to build up their credibility through citations of the original article. Finally, this research helps to rethink the mechanisms of the circulation of scientific information in the Web-based media, highlighting both the variety and the inventiveness of the interactions between the academic and public spheres. PMID:27467573

InSAR Scientific Computing Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosen, Paul A.; Sacco, Gian Franco; Gurrola, Eric M.; Zabker, Howard A.

2011-01-01

This computing environment is the next generation of geodetic image processing technology for repeat-pass Interferometric Synthetic Aperture (InSAR) sensors, identified by the community as a needed capability to provide flexibility and extensibility in reducing measurements from radar satellites and aircraft to new geophysical products. This software allows users of interferometric radar data the flexibility to process from Level 0 to Level 4 products using a variety of algorithms and for a range of available sensors. There are many radar satellites in orbit today delivering to the science community data of unprecedented quantity and quality, making possible large-scale studies in climate research, natural hazards, and the Earth's ecosystem. The proposed DESDynI mission, now under consideration by NASA for launch later in this decade, would provide time series and multiimage measurements that permit 4D models of Earth surface processes so that, for example, climate-induced changes over time would become apparent and quantifiable. This advanced data processing technology, applied to a global data set such as from the proposed DESDynI mission, enables a new class of analyses at time and spatial scales unavailable using current approaches. This software implements an accurate, extensible, and modular processing system designed to realize the full potential of InSAR data from future missions such as the proposed DESDynI, existing radar satellite data, as well as data from the NASA UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar), and other airborne platforms. The processing approach has been re-thought in order to enable multi-scene analysis by adding new algorithms and data interfaces, to permit user-reconfigurable operation and extensibility, and to capitalize on codes already developed by NASA and the science community. The framework incorporates modern programming methods based on recent research, including object-oriented scripts controlling legacy and new codes, abstraction and generalization of the data model for efficient manipulation of objects among modules, and well-designed module interfaces suitable for command- line execution or GUI-programming. The framework is designed to allow users contributions to promote maximum utility and sophistication of the code, creating an open-source community that could extend the framework into the indefinite future.

The Circulation of Scientific Articles in the Sphere of Web-Based Media: Citation Practices, Communities of Interests and Local Ties.

PubMed

Lefebvre, Muriel; Renard, Julie

2016-01-01

On 5th December 2012, a scientific article reviewing a change in the feeding behaviour of the European catfish, one of the largest freshwater fish, was published in the American scientific journal, PLOS ONE, an open access journal, which also allows the mass publication of pictures and videos. Within a few days following the publication of this article, it was relayed by numerous web sites and generated a media craze. In this paper, we analyse the circulation of this scientific information in the sphere of Web-based media during the two months following its publication, by revealing the citation mechanisms of the original article and the logic of the Internet users participating in its diffusion. In addition, since the circulation of its informational content travelled beyond linguistic and geographical boundaries, we chose to compare the citation modalities and intertextual relationships of documents in the three countries where the article spread the most widely, namely: France, the United States and Great Britain. Even though our study shows that the media circulation of scientific papers operates in a traditional way, the intertextual analysis underlines the grand variety of participants (such as journalists, non-scientists, fishermen, technology enthusiasts and Internet users) involved in the diffusion of this information, each of them mobilizing different intertextual strategies, according to their various targets. They all transformed, reformulated and appropriated the scientific information according to their own, unique interests. This study also emphasizes the importance of journalistic websites as opinion relays. They were the first diffusers involved in spreading the information but this role was rarely acknowledged by the Internet users - through citations, for example. In contrast, we observed that amateurs' communities (communities of practices and communities of interest of fishermen or of buzz fans), which only became involved in a second temporal phase of the spreading, preferred to build up their credibility through citations of the original article. Finally, this research helps to rethink the mechanisms of the circulation of scientific information in the Web-based media, highlighting both the variety and the inventiveness of the interactions between the academic and public spheres.

Global Village as Virtual Community (On Writing, Thinking, and Teacher Education).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polin, Linda

1993-01-01

Describes virtual communities known as Multi-User Simulated Environment (MUSE) or Multi-User Object Oriented environment (MOO), text-based computer "communities" whose inhabitants are a combination of the real people and constructed objects that people agree to treat as real. Describes their uses in the classroom. (SR)

A power information user (PIU) model to promote information integration in Tennessee's public health community.

PubMed

Sathe, Nila A; Lee, Patricia; Giuse, Nunzia Bettinsoli

2004-10-01

Observation and immersion in the user community are critical factors in designing and implementing informatics solutions; such practices ensure relevant interventions and promote user acceptance. Libraries can adapt these strategies to developing instruction and outreach. While needs assessment is typically a core facet of library instruction, sustained, iterative assessment underlying the development of user-centered instruction is key to integrating resource use into the workflow. This paper describes the Eskind Biomedical Library's (EBL's) recent work with the Tennessee public health community to articulate a training model centered around developing power information users (PIUs). PIUs are community-based individuals with an advanced understanding of information seeking and resource use and are committed to championing information integration. As model development was informed by observation of PIU workflow and information needs, it also allowed for informal testing of the applicability of assessment via domain immersion in library outreach. Though the number of PIUs involved in the project was small, evaluation indicated that the model was useful for promoting information use in PIU workgroups and that the concept of domain immersion was relevant to library-related projects. Moreover, EBL continues to employ principles of domain understanding inherent in the PIU model to develop further interventions for the public health community and library users.

Social Networking Services-Based Communicative Care for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus in Korea.

PubMed

Kim, Hun-Sung; Jeong, Yoo Jin; Baik, Sun Jung; Yang, So Jung; Kim, Tong Min; Kim, Hyunah; Lee, Hyunyong; Lee, Seung-Hwan; Cho, Jae Hyoung; Choi, In-Young; Yoon, Kun-Ho

2016-09-28

Social networking services (SNS)-based online communities are good examples of improving quality of care by incorporating information technology into medicine. Therefore, we created an SNS-based community care webpage for communication among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). We aimed to identify what diabetic patients wanted to know and were interested in by analyzing their posts and classified content in which users were interested. As opposed to the existing physician-focused health information websites, we built a patient-focused experience exchange website, "I love insulin (http://www.iloveinsulin.co.kr)." The DM communication webpage was divided into "My Web-Chart," "My community-free board," and "Life & Health." The contents analysis targeted users' postings, and replies were classified by theme from May 2012 to June 2013. The data included number of questions asked, answers, and question-to-answer (QA) ratio in each category. A total of 264 patients registered on the "I Love Insulin" website. The most frequent topic of posts classified as questions were about diabetes itself (23%), diet (22%), and glucose levels (19%). Conversely, most answers and information provided by users were about daily life with no relationship to diabetes mellitus (54%). While there were many questions about diet, there were very few answers (2%). Whereas there was much provision of knowledge about general DM, sharing diet information was rare. The ratios of answers to questions on diet (ratio=0.059, 1/17), glucose level (ratio=0.067, 1/15), insulin regulation (ratio=0.222, 2/9) and webpage (ratio=0.167, 1/6) were significantly low compared to DM itself (all p < 0.001). Patients in Korea with DM tend to have insufficient knowledge about diet and insulin regulation; continuously providing diet and insulin regulation information are desirable. It is hoped that the patients would be motivated to participate actively by "knowledge sharing." Through this process, patients learn about their diseases not from the physicians but from among themselves.

Involving older people in a multi-centre randomised trial of a complex intervention in pre-hospital emergency care: implementation of a collaborative model.

PubMed

Koniotou, Marina; Evans, Bridie Angela; Chatters, Robin; Fothergill, Rachael; Garnsworthy, Christopher; Gaze, Sarah; Halter, Mary; Mason, Suzanne; Peconi, Julie; Porter, Alison; Siriwardena, A Niroshan; Toghill, Alun; Snooks, Helen

2015-07-10

Health services research is expected to involve service users as active partners in the research process, but few examples report how this has been achieved in practice in trials. We implemented a model to involve service users in a multi-centre randomised controlled trial in pre-hospital emergency care. We used the generic Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) from our Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) as the basis for creating a model to fit the context and population of the SAFER 2 trial. In our model, we planned to involve service users at all stages in the trial through decision-making forums at 3 levels: 1) strategic; 2) site (e.g. Wales; London; East Midlands); 3) local. We linked with charities and community groups to recruit people with experience of our study population. We collected notes of meetings alongside other documentary evidence such as attendance records and study documentation to track how we implemented our model. We involved service users at strategic, site and local level. We also added additional strategic level forums (Task and Finish Groups and Writing Days) where we included service users. Service user involvement varied in frequency and type across meetings, research stages and locations but stabilised and increased as the trial progressed. Involving service users in the SAFER 2 trial showed how it is feasible and achievable for patients, carers and potential patients sharing the demographic characteristics of our study population to collaborate in a multi-centre trial at the level which suited their health, location, skills and expertise. A standard model of involvement can be tailored by adopting a flexible approach to take account of the context and complexities of a multi-site trial. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN60481756. Registered: 13 March 2009.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission contributions to hydrology and societal applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirschbaum, D.; Huffman, G. J.; Skofronick Jackson, G.

2016-12-01

Too much or too little rain can serve as a tipping point for triggering catastrophic flooding and landslides or widespread drought. Knowing when, where and how much rain is falling globally is vital to understanding how vulnerable areas may be more or less impacted by these disasters. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission provides near real-time precipitation data worldwide that is used by a broad range of end users, from tropical cyclone forecasters to agricultural modelers to researchers evaluating the spread of diseases. The GPM constellation provides merged, multi-satellite data products at three latencies that are critical for research and societal applications around the world. This presentation will outline current capabilities in using accurate and timely information of precipitation to directly benefit society, including examples of end user applications within the tropical cyclone forecasting, disasters response, agricultural forecasting, and disease tracking communities, among others. The presentation will also introduce some of the new visualization and access tools developed by the GPM team.

Human-computer interface incorporating personal and application domains

DOEpatents

Anderson, Thomas G [Albuquerque, NM

2011-03-29

The present invention provides a human-computer interface. The interface includes provision of an application domain, for example corresponding to a three-dimensional application. The user is allowed to navigate and interact with the application domain. The interface also includes a personal domain, offering the user controls and interaction distinct from the application domain. The separation into two domains allows the most suitable interface methods in each: for example, three-dimensional navigation in the application domain, and two- or three-dimensional controls in the personal domain. Transitions between the application domain and the personal domain are under control of the user, and the transition method is substantially independent of the navigation in the application domain. For example, the user can fly through a three-dimensional application domain, and always move to the personal domain by moving a cursor near one extreme of the display.

Human-computer interface incorporating personal and application domains

DOEpatents

Anderson, Thomas G.

2004-04-20

The present invention provides a human-computer interface. The interface includes provision of an application domain, for example corresponding to a three-dimensional application. The user is allowed to navigate and interact with the application domain. The interface also includes a personal domain, offering the user controls and interaction distinct from the application domain. The separation into two domains allows the most suitable interface methods in each: for example, three-dimensional navigation in the application domain, and two- or three-dimensional controls in the personal domain. Transitions between the application domain and the personal domain are under control of the user, and the transition method is substantially independent of the navigation in the application domain. For example, the user can fly through a three-dimensional application domain, and always move to the personal domain by moving a cursor near one extreme of the display.

Sustainable Land Imaging User Requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Z.; Snyder, G.; Vadnais, C. M.

2017-12-01

The US Geological Survey (USGS) Land Remote Sensing Program (LRSP) has collected user requirements from a range of applications to help formulate the Landsat 9 follow-on mission (Landsat 10) through the Requirements, Capabilities and Analysis (RCA) activity. The USGS is working with NASA to develop Landsat 10, which is scheduled to launch in the 2027 timeframe as part of the Sustainable Land Imaging program. User requirements collected through RCA will help inform future Landsat 10 sensor designs and mission characteristics. Current Federal civil community users have provided hundreds of requirements through systematic, in-depth interviews. Academic, State, local, industry, and international Landsat user community input was also incorporated in the process. Emphasis was placed on spatial resolution, temporal revisit, and spectral characteristics, as well as other aspects such as accuracy, continuity, sampling condition, data access and format. We will provide an overview of the Landsat 10 user requirements collection process and summary results of user needs from the broad land imagining community.

Enabling interoperability in planetary sciences and heliophysics: The case for an information model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, J. Steven; Crichton, Daniel J.; Raugh, Anne C.; Cecconi, Baptiste; Guinness, Edward A.; Isbell, Christopher E.; Mafi, Joseph N.; Gordon, Mitchell K.; Hardman, Sean H.; Joyner, Ronald S.

2018-01-01

The Planetary Data System has developed the PDS4 Information Model to enable interoperability across diverse science disciplines. The Information Model is based on an integration of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) level standards for trusted digital archives, information model development, and metadata registries. Where controlled vocabularies provides a basic level of interoperability by providing a common set of terms for communication between both machines and humans the Information Model improves interoperability by means of an ontology that provides semantic information or additional related context for the terms. The information model was defined by team of computer scientists and science experts from each of the diverse disciplines in the Planetary Science community, including Atmospheres, Geosciences, Cartography and Imaging Sciences, Navigational and Ancillary Information, Planetary Plasma Interactions, Ring-Moon Systems, and Small Bodies. The model was designed to be extensible beyond the Planetary Science community, for example there are overlaps between certain PDS disciplines and the Heliophysics and Astrophysics disciplines. "Interoperability" can apply to many aspects of both the developer and the end-user experience, for example agency-to-agency, semantic level, and application level interoperability. We define these types of interoperability and focus on semantic level interoperability, the type of interoperability most directly enabled by an information model.

ISMRM Raw Data Format: A Proposed Standard for MRI Raw Datasets

PubMed Central

Inati, Souheil J.; Naegele, Joseph D.; Zwart, Nicholas R.; Roopchansingh, Vinai; Lizak, Martin J.; Hansen, David C.; Liu, Chia-Ying; Atkinson, David; Kellman, Peter; Kozerke, Sebastian; Xue, Hui; Campbell-Washburn, Adrienne E.; Sørensen, Thomas S.; Hansen, Michael S.

2015-01-01

Purpose This work proposes the ISMRM Raw Data (ISMRMRD) format as a common MR raw data format, which promotes algorithm and data sharing. Methods A file format consisting of a flexible header and tagged frames of k-space data was designed. Application Programming Interfaces were implemented in C/C++, MATLAB, and Python. Converters for Bruker, General Electric, Philips, and Siemens proprietary file formats were implemented in C++. Raw data were collected using MRI scanners from four vendors, converted to ISMRMRD format, and reconstructed using software implemented in three programming languages (C++, MATLAB, Python). Results Images were obtained by reconstructing the raw data from all vendors. The source code, raw data, and images comprising this work are shared online, serving as an example of an image reconstruction project following a paradigm of reproducible research. Conclusion The proposed raw data format solves a practical problem for the MRI community. It may serve as a foundation for reproducible research and collaborations. The ISMRMRD format is a completely open and community-driven format, and the scientific community is invited (including commercial vendors) to participate either as users or developers. PMID:26822475

A Community Publication and Dissemination System for Hydrology Education Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruddell, B. L.

2015-12-01

Hosted by CUAHSI and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC), federated by the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), and allied with the Water Data Center (WDC), Hydrologic Information System (HIS), and HydroShare projects, a simple cyberinfrastructure has been launched for the publication and dissemination of data and model driven university hydrology education materials. This lightweight system's metadata describes learning content as a data-driven module with defined data inputs and outputs. This structure allows a user to mix and match modules to create sequences of content that teach both hydrology and computer learning outcomes. Importantly, this modular infrastructure allows an instructor to substitute a module based on updated computer methods for one based on outdated computer methods, hopefully solving the problem of rapid obsolescence that has hampered previous community efforts. The prototype system is now available from CUAHSI and SERC, with some example content. The system is designed to catalog, link to, make visible, and make accessible the existing and future contributions of the community; this system does not create content. Submissions from hydrology educators are eagerly solicited, especially for existing content.

Focus Group in Community Mental Health Research: Need for Adaption.

PubMed

Zupančič, Vesna; Pahor, Majda; Kogovšek, Tina

2018-04-27

The article presents an analysis of the use of focus groups in researching community mental health users, starting with the reasons for using them, their implementation in mental health service users' research, and the adaptations of focus group use when researching the experiences of users. Based on personal research experience and a review of scientific publications in the Google Scholar, Web of Science, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and Scopus databases, 20 articles published between 2010 and 2016 were selected for targeted content analysis. A checklist for reporting on the use of focus groups with community mental health service users, aiming to improve the comparability, verifiability and validity was developed. Adaptations of the implementation of focus groups in relation to participants' characteristics were suggested. Focus groups are not only useful as a scientific research technique, but also for ensuring service users' participation in decision-making in community mental health and evaluating the quality of the mental health system and services .

Assessment of Soil Moisture Data Requirements by the Potential SMAP Data User Community: Review of SMAP Mission User Community

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.; Escobar, Vanessa M.

2013-01-01

NASA's Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) mission is planned for launch in October 2014 and will provide global measurements of soil moisture and freeze thaw state. The project is driven by both basic research and applied science goals. Understanding how application driven end-users will apply SMAP data, prior to the satellite's launch, is an important goal of NASA's applied science program and SMAP mission success. Because SMAP data are unique, there are no direct proxy data sets that can be used in research and operational studies to determine how the data will interact with existing processes. The objective of this study is to solicit data requirements, accuracy needs, and current understanding of the SMAP mission from the potential user community. This study showed that the data to be provided by the SMAP mission did substantially meet the user community needs. Although there was a broad distribution of requirements stated, the SMAP mission fit within these requirements.

Application of open source standards and technologies in the http://climate4impact.eu/ portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plieger, Maarten; Som de Cerff, Wim; Pagé, Christian; Tatarinova, Natalia

2015-04-01

This presentation will demonstrate how to calculate and visualize the climate indice SU (number of summer days) on the climate4impact portal. The following topics will be covered during the demonstration: - Security: Login using OpenID for access to the Earth System Grid Fedeation (ESGF) data nodes. The ESGF works in conjunction with several external websites and systems. The climate4impact portal uses X509 based short lived credentials, generated on behalf of the user with a MyProxy service. Single Sign-on (SSO) is used to make these websites and systems work together. - Discovery: Facetted search based on e.g. variable name, model and institute using the ESGF search services. A catalog browser allows for browsing through CMIP5 and any other climate model data catalogues (e.g. ESSENCE, EOBS, UNIDATA). - Processing using Web Processing Services (WPS): Transform data, subset, export into other formats, and perform climate indices calculations using Web Processing Services implemented by PyWPS, based on NCAR NCPP OpenClimateGIS and IS-ENES2 ICCLIM. - Visualization using Web Map Services (WMS): Visualize data from ESGF data nodes using ADAGUC Web Map Services. The aim of climate4impact is to enhance the use of Climate Research Data and to enhance the interaction with climate effect/impact communities. The portal is based on 21 impact use cases from 5 different European countries, and is evaluated by a user panel consisting of use case owners. It has been developed within the European projects IS-ENES and IS-ENES2 for more than 5 years, and its development currently continues within IS-ENES2 and CLIPC. As the climate impact community is very broad, the focus is mainly on the scientific impact community. This work has resulted in the ENES portal interface for climate impact communities and can be visited at http://climate4impact.eu/ The current main objectives for climate4impact can be summarized in two objectives. The first one is to work on a web interface which automatically generates a graphical user interface on WPS endpoints. The WPS calculates climate indices and subset data using OpenClimateGIS/ICCLIM on data stored in ESGF data nodes. Data is then transmitted from ESGF nodes over secured OpenDAP and becomes available in a new, per user, secured OpenDAP server. The results can then be visualized again using ADAGUC WMS. Dedicated wizards for processing of climate indices will be developed in close collaboration with users. The second one is to expose climate4impact services, so as to offer standardized services which can be used by other portals. This has the advantage to add interoperability between several portals, as well as to enable the design of specific portals aimed at different impact communities, either thematic or national, for example.

User Satisfaction and Service Transactions for a Reference Department in an Illinois Community College Learning Resources Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornish, Nancy M.

Users of the reference library at Blackhawk Community College (Illinois) were surveyed to determine user satisfaction and the total number of transactions. The survey's objective was to pinpoint problem areas, supply objective information, develop guidelines and standards, and support needed improvements or the continued maintenance of good…

Users' Continuance Intention of Virtual Learning Community Services: The Moderating Role of Usage Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Min; Liu, Yupei; Yan, Weiwei; Zhang, Yan

2017-01-01

Users' continuance intention plays a significant role in the process of information system (IS) service, especially virtual learning community (VLC) services. Following the IS success model and IS post-acceptance model, this study explores the determinants of users' intention to continue using VLCs' service from the perspective of quality,…

Satellites for What? Creating User Communities for Space-based Data in France: The Case from LERTS to CESBIO.

PubMed

Cirac-Claveras, Gemma

2018-01-01

This article uses a French case to explore the who, how, and why of satellite remote-sensing development and its transition towards routine utilization in the domain of ecosystems ecology. It discusses the evolution of a community of technology developers promoting remote-sensing capabilities (mostly sponsored by the French space agency). They attempted to legitimate quality scientific practices, establish the authority of satellite remote-sensing data within academic institutions, and build a community of technology users. This article, hence, is intended to contribute to historical interest in how a community of users is constructed for a technological system.

Life span in online communities.

PubMed

Grabowski, A; Kosiński, R A

2010-12-01

Recently online communities have attracted great interest and have become an important medium of information exchange between users. The aim of this work is to introduce a simple model of the evolution of online communities. This model describes (a) the time evolution of users' activity in a web service, e.g., the time evolution of the number of online friends or written posts, (b) the time evolution of the degree distribution of a social network, and (c) the time evolution of the number of active users of a web service. In the second part of the paper we investigate the influence of the users' lifespan (i.e., the total time in which they are active in an online community) on the process of rumor propagation in evolving social networks. Viral marketing is an important application of such method of information propagation.

[Evaluation of a citizenship-oriented intervention: The Citizens' Project of the University of Recovery].

PubMed

Pelletier, Jean-François; Pouliot-Morneau, Denis; Houle, Janie; Bordeleau, Julie; Laroche, Sébastien; Rowe, Michael

Objectives The Global Model of Public Mental Health is "global" not only in the sense of having an international perspective, but in regarding service users as actors at all levels of public mental health exerting collective and organized influence on the social determinants of health, in addition to being recipients of care. Having access to appropriate health and mental health care when needed is a fundamental human right. Having a say over the manner in which care is provided, including partnership in decision making in care planning and ongoing care, has gained increasing support among recipients and providers of care. Over the past few decades in the Canadian province of Quebec, patient participation and partnership in decision-making has been promoted through successive Mental Health Action Plans (MHAP) and other policies. In these documents, participation and partnership are associated with the exercise of citizenship and the promotion of service users' rights, including the rights to participate in one's own care. In this article, using the case example of a citizenship-oriented intervention, namely the Projet citoyen, we discuss the results to a new measure of citizenship, which was developed from a service users' perspective.Methods Employing a mixed methods approach, two types of data were collected from users of mental health care. Quantitative data were generated from administration of a 23-item measure of citizenship with service users in the province of Quebec (N=802), and qualitative data were collected from four focus groups with another sample of 18 service users. They were presented with results from the administration of the measure, and asked to comment on them in regard to their own experience of citizenship.Results Among the five dimensions of the measure of citizenship, participants scored lowest on the 'involvement in the community' dimension, and higher on the other dimensions of 'basic needs,' 'respect by others,' 'self-determination,' and 'access to services.' In focus groups, participants said that there is still prejudice in society and discrimination towards people with mental illnesses that limit their right to participate in public debate and mental health programming. Public health interventions at this level may help to change attitudes and social representations, as they are inclusive of persons with lived experience of mental illness. Public discussion of citizenship issues in relation to mental health also represent an opportunity for participants to confront existing problems, as a first step toward collective action.Conclusion People's lived experience of regaining a sense of citizenship and of belonging to their local neighborhoods and communities, including the scientific micro-community, can help to foster an evolution of public health from disease management to health promotion and community inclusion. More research is needed to compare the sense of citizenship to the rest of the population and to see if specific interventions can have an enduring impact (e.g.: pre/post design).

Exploring engagement in a virtual community of practice in pediatric rehabilitation: who are non-users, lurkers, and posters?

PubMed

Hurtubise, Karen; Pratte, Gabrielle; Rivard, Lisa; Berbari, Jade; Héguy, Léa; Camden, Chantal

2017-12-20

Communities of practice are increasingly recognized in rehabilitation as useful knowledge transfer tools; however, little is known about their users. This exploratory study describes the characteristics of participants and non-participants invited to engage in a pediatric rehabilitation virtual community of practice. In addition, we explored virtual community of practice utilization behaviors, engagement predictors, and the impact of strategies designed to foster engagement. Participants' demographics including information-seeking style and organization e-readiness, as well as online platform frequency of use data were collected and analyzed using descriptive, comparative, and predictive statistics. Seventy-four percent of those invited used the virtual community of practice. Users had less years of experience in pediatric rehabilitation than non-users. Among the users, 71% were classified as "lurkers," who engaged through reading content only; while 29% were classified as "posters," editing online content. Predictive factors were not uncovered, however an increased number of forum visits correlated with being a poster, a non-information seeker, an employee of an organization demonstrating e-readiness, and regularly working with children with the virtual community of practice specific condition. User-engagement strategies increased visits to the forum. These findings will assist rehabilitation leaders in leveraging rehabilitation-specific virtual community of practice to improve knowledge transfer and practice in pediatric rehabilitation and disability management. Implications for Rehabilitation Communities of practice are increasingly recognized as useful knowledge transfer tools for rehabilitation professionals and are made more accessible thanks to virtual technologies. Our virtual community of practice was found to be optimized in health care organizations with an electronic culture, when the topic area had daily relevance to its target audience, and was particularly beneficial for those who have limited years of experience in pediatric rehabilitation. A strongly committed, selected leadership team with the technological skills, content expertise, and designated time to maintain the site and to nurture discussion was deemed vital in fostering knowledge exchange in this context. User-focused engagement strategies showed promise in increasing visits to the virtual community of practice. Our study supports the importance of multi-pronged approaches in enhancing health care professional knowledge and skills Findings from this study will assist rehabilitation leaders in optimally leveraging rehabilitation-specific virtual community of practice to improve knowledge transfer in pediatric rehabilitation and disability management.

Online extremism and the communities that sustain it: Detecting the ISIS supporting community on Twitter.

PubMed

Benigni, Matthew C; Joseph, Kenneth; Carley, Kathleen M

2017-01-01

The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) continues to use social media as an essential element of its campaign to motivate support. On Twitter, ISIS' unique ability to leverage unaffiliated sympathizers that simply retweet propaganda has been identified as a primary mechanism in their success in motivating both recruitment and "lone wolf" attacks. The present work explores a large community of Twitter users whose activity supports ISIS propaganda diffusion in varying degrees. Within this ISIS supporting community, we observe a diverse range of actor types, including fighters, propagandists, recruiters, religious scholars, and unaffiliated sympathizers. The interaction between these users offers unique insight into the people and narratives critical to ISIS' sustainment. In their entirety, we refer to this diverse set of users as an online extremist community or OEC. We present Iterative Vertex Clustering and Classification (IVCC), a scalable analytic approach for OEC detection in annotated heterogeneous networks, and provide an illustrative case study of an online community of over 22,000 Twitter users whose online behavior directly advocates support for ISIS or contibutes to the group's propaganda dissemination through retweets.

Cooperative institutions for sustainable common pool resource management: Application to groundwater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madani, Kaveh; Dinar, Ariel

2012-09-01

Beneficiaries of common pool resources (CPRs) may select available noncooperative and regulatory exogenous institutions for managing the resource, as well as cooperative management institutions. All these institutions may increase the long-term gains, prolong the life of the resource, and help to escape the tragedy of the commons trap. Cooperative game theory approaches can serve as the backbone of cooperative CPR management institutions. This paper formulates and applies several commonly used cooperative game theoretic solution concepts, namely, the core, Nash-Harsanyi, Shapley, and nucleolus. Through a numerical groundwater example, we show how CPR users can share the gains obtained from cooperation in a fair and efficient manner based on these cooperative solution concepts (management institutions). Although, based on their fairness rationales, various cooperative management institutions may suggest different allocations that are potentially acceptable to the users, these allocation solutions may not be stable as some users may find them unfair. This paper discusses how different methods, such as application of the plurality rule and power index, stability index, and propensity to disrupt concepts, can help identify the most stable and likely solutions for enforcing cooperation among the CPR beneficiaries. Furthermore, how the noncooperative managerial characteristics of the CPR users can affect the stability and acceptability of the different cooperative CPR management institutions is discussed, providing valuable policy insights for cooperative CPR management at community levels.

WFIRST: User and mission support at ISOC - IPAC Science Operations Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akeson, Rachel; Armus, Lee; Bennett, Lee; Colbert, James; Helou, George; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Laine, Seppo; Meshkat, Tiffany; Paladini, Roberta; Ramirez, Solange; Wang, Yun; Xie, Joan; Yan, Lin

2018-01-01

The science center for WFIRST is distributed between the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). The main functions of the IPAC Science Operations Center (ISOC) are:* Conduct the GO, archival and theory proposal submission and evaluation process* Support the coronagraph instrument, including observation planning, calibration and data processing pipeline, generation of data products, and user support* Microlensing survey data processing pipeline, generation of data products, and user support* Community engagement including conferences, workshops and general support of the WFIRST exoplanet communityWe will describe the components planned to support these functions and the community of WFIRST users.

Detection of Anomalous Insiders in Collaborative Environments via Relational Analysis of Access Logs

PubMed Central

Chen, You; Malin, Bradley

2014-01-01

Collaborative information systems (CIS) are deployed within a diverse array of environments, ranging from the Internet to intelligence agencies to healthcare. It is increasingly the case that such systems are applied to manage sensitive information, making them targets for malicious insiders. While sophisticated security mechanisms have been developed to detect insider threats in various file systems, they are neither designed to model nor to monitor collaborative environments in which users function in dynamic teams with complex behavior. In this paper, we introduce a community-based anomaly detection system (CADS), an unsupervised learning framework to detect insider threats based on information recorded in the access logs of collaborative environments. CADS is based on the observation that typical users tend to form community structures, such that users with low a nity to such communities are indicative of anomalous and potentially illicit behavior. The model consists of two primary components: relational pattern extraction and anomaly detection. For relational pattern extraction, CADS infers community structures from CIS access logs, and subsequently derives communities, which serve as the CADS pattern core. CADS then uses a formal statistical model to measure the deviation of users from the inferred communities to predict which users are anomalies. To empirically evaluate the threat detection model, we perform an analysis with six months of access logs from a real electronic health record system in a large medical center, as well as a publicly-available dataset for replication purposes. The results illustrate that CADS can distinguish simulated anomalous users in the context of real user behavior with a high degree of certainty and with significant performance gains in comparison to several competing anomaly detection models. PMID:25485309

Supporting Shared Resource Usage for a Diverse User Community: the OSG Experience and Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garzoglio, Gabriele; Levshina, Tanya; Rynge, Mats; Sehgal, Chander; Slyz, Marko

2012-12-01

The Open Science Grid (OSG) supports a diverse community of new and existing users in adopting and making effective use of the Distributed High Throughput Computing (DHTC) model. The LHC user community has deep local support within the experiments. For other smaller communities and individual users the OSG provides consulting and technical services through the User Support area. We describe these sometimes successful and sometimes not so successful experiences and analyze lessons learned that are helping us improve our services. The services offered include forums to enable shared learning and mutual support, tutorials and documentation for new technology, and troubleshooting of problematic or systemic failure modes. For new communities and users, we bootstrap their use of the distributed high throughput computing technologies and resources available on the OSG by following a phased approach. We first adapt the application and run a small production campaign on a subset of “friendly” sites. Only then do we move the user to run full production campaigns across the many remote sites on the OSG, adding to the community resources up to hundreds of thousands of CPU hours per day. This scaling up generates new challenges - like no determinism in the time to job completion, and diverse errors due to the heterogeneity of the configurations and environments - so some attention is needed to get good results. We cover recent experiences with image simulation for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), small-file large volume data movement for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), civil engineering simulation with the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), and accelerator modeling with the Electron Ion Collider group at BNL. We will categorize and analyze the use cases and describe how our processes are evolving based on lessons learned.

Adherence with physical activity monitoring wearable devices in a community-based population: observations from the Washington, D.C., Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment.

PubMed

Yingling, Leah R; Mitchell, Valerie; Ayers, Colby R; Peters-Lawrence, Marlene; Wallen, Gwenyth R; Brooks, Alyssa T; Troendle, James F; Adu-Brimpong, Joel; Thomas, Samantha; Henry, JaWanna; Saygbe, Johnetta N; Sampson, Dana M; Johnson, Allan A; Graham, Avis P; Graham, Lennox A; Wiley, Kenneth L; Powell-Wiley, Tiffany

2017-12-01

Wearable mobile health (mHealth) technologies offer approaches for targeting physical activity (PA) in resource-limited, community-based interventions. We sought to explore user characteristics of PA tracking, wearable technology among a community-based population within a health and needs assessment. In 2014-2015, we conducted the Washington, D.C., Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment in predominantly African-American churches among communities with higher obesity rates and lower household incomes. Participants received a mHealth PA monitor and wirelessly uploaded PA data weekly to church data collection hubs. Participants (n = 99) were 59 ± 12 years, 79% female, and 99% African-American, with a mean body mass index of 33 ± 7 kg/m 2 . Eighty-one percent of participants uploaded PA data to the hub and were termed "PA device users." Though PA device users were more likely to report lower household incomes, no differences existed between device users and non-users for device ownership or technology fluency. Findings suggest that mHealth systems with a wearable device and data collection hub may feasibly target PA in resource-limited communities.

Integrated Web-Based Access to and use of Satellite Remote Sensing Data for Improved Decision Making in Hydrologic Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, W.; Chiu, L.; Kempler, S.; Liu, Z.; Nadeau, D.; Rui, H.

2006-12-01

Using NASA satellite remote sensing data from multiple sources for hydrologic applications can be a daunting task and requires a detailed understanding of the data's internal structure and physical implementation. Gaining this understanding and applying it to data reduction is a time-consuming task that must be undertaken before the core investigation can begin. In order to facilitate such investigations, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) has developed the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure or "Giovanni," which supports a family of Web interfaces (instances) that allow users to perform interactive visualization and analysis online without downloading any data. Two such Giovanni instances are particularly relevant to hydrologic applications: the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS) and the Agricultural Online Visualization and Analysis System (AOVAS), both highly popular and widely used for a variety of applications, including those related to several NASA Applications of National Priority, such as Agricultural Efficiency, Disaster Management, Ecological Forecasting, Homeland Security, and Public Health. Dynamic, context- sensitive Web services provided by TOVAS and AOVAS enable users to seamlessly access NASA data from within, and deeply integrate the data into, their local client environments. One example is between TOVAS and Florida International University's TerraFly, a Web-enabled system that serves a broad segment of the research and applications community, by facilitating access to various textual, remotely sensed, and vector data. Another example is between AOVAS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS)'s Crop Explorer, the primary decision support tool used by FAS to monitor the production, supply, and demand of agricultural commodities worldwide. AOVAS is also part of GES DISC's Agricultural Information System (AIS), which can operationally provide satellite remote sensing data products (e.g., near- real-time rainfall) and analysis services to agricultural users. AIS enables the remote, interoperable access to distributed data, by using the GrADS-Data Server (GDS) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)- compliant MapServer. The latter allows the access of AIS data from any OGC-compliant client, such as the Earth-Sun System Gateway (ESG) or Google Earth. The Giovanni system is evolving towards a Service- Oriented Architecture and is highly customizable (e.g., adding new products or services), thus availing the hydrologic applications user community of Giovanni's simple-to-use and powerful capabilities to improve decision-making.

Groundwater sustainability strategies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gleeson, Tom; VanderSteen, Jonathan; Sophocleous, Marios A.; Taniguchi, Makoto; Alley, William M.; Allen, Diana M.; Zhou, Yangxiao

2010-01-01

Groundwater extraction has facilitated significant social development and economic growth, enhanced food security and alleviated drought in many farming regions. But groundwater development has also depressed water tables, degraded ecosystems and led to the deterioration of groundwater quality, as well as to conflict among water users. The effects are not evenly spread. In some areas of India, for example, groundwater depletion has preferentially affected the poor. Importantly, groundwater in some aquifers is renewed slowly, over decades to millennia, and coupled climate–aquifer models predict that the flux and/or timing of recharge to many aquifers will change under future climate scenarios. Here we argue that communities need to set multigenerational goals if groundwater is to be managed sustainably.

Applications of aerospace technology in industry, a technology transfer profile: Fire safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kottenstette, J. P.; Freeman, J. E.; Heins, C. R.; Hildred, W. M.; Johnson, F. D.; Staskin, E. R.

1971-01-01

The fire safety field is considered as being composed of three parts: an industry, a technology base, and a user base. An overview of the field is presented, including a perspective on the magnitude of the national fire safety problem. Selected NASA contributions to the technology of fire safety are considered. Communication mechanisms, particularly conferences and publications, used by NASA to alert the community to new developments in the fire safety field, are reviewed. Several examples of nonaerospace applications of NASA-generated fire safety technology are also presented. Issues associated with attempts to transfer this technology from the space program to other sectors of the American economy are outlined.

ERIC User Services Manual. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Judith O., Comp.

This manual explains how the user services functions, usually performed by a User Services Coordinator, can be conducted in the 16 ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouses and the various adjunct ERIC Clearinghouses. It provides guidelines, suggestions, and examples of how ERIC components currently perform the user services…

The Gemini Science User Support Department: A community-centered approach to user support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chené, André-Nicolas; Thomas-Osip, Joanna

2016-01-01

The Gemini Science User Support Department (SUSD) was formed a little more than a year ago to create a collaborative community of users and staff and to consolidate existing post-observing support throughout the observatory for more efficient use of resources as well as better visibility amongst our user community. This poster is an opportunity to exchange ideas about how Gemini can improve your experience while working with the Observatory and present details about new avenues of post-observing support coming soon. We encourage your feedback at any time.Shortly after its creation, the SUSD conducted a complete revision of the communication cycle between Gemini and its community of researchers. The cycle was then revisited from the perspective of an astronomer interested in using Gemini for their research. This exercise led to a series of proposed changes that are currently under development, and the implementation of a sub-selection is expected in 2016, including the following. (1) Email notifications: Gemini users will receive new forms of email communications that are more instructive and tailored to their program. The objective is to direct the users more efficiently toward the useful links and documentation all along the lifecycle of the program, from phaseII to after the data are completely reduced. (2) HelpDesk system: The HelpDesk will become more user-friendly and transparent. (3) Webpages: The organization of the Gemini webpages will be redesigned to optimize navigation; especially for anything regarding more critical periods likes phaseIs and phaseIIs. (4) Data Reduction User Forum: Following recommendations from Gemini users, new capabilities were added to the forum, like email notifications, and a voting system, in order to make it more practical. This forum's objective is to bring the Gemini community together to exchange their ideas, thoughts, questions and solutions about data reduction, a sort of Reddit, StackOverflow or Slashdot for Gemini data.

Factors Associated With Weight Change in Online Weight Management Communities: A Case Study in the LoseIt Reddit Community

PubMed Central

Ribeiro, Antonio; Couto Silva, Ana Paula; Meira Jr, Wagner

2017-01-01

Background Recent research has shown that of the 72% of American Internet users who have looked for health information online, 22% have searched for help to lose or control weight. This demand for information has given rise to many online weight management communities, where users support one another throughout their weight loss process. Whether and how user engagement in online communities relates to weight change is not totally understood. Objective We investigated the activity behavior and analyze the semantic content of the messages of active users in LoseIt (r/loseit), a weight management community of the online social network Reddit. We then explored whether these features are associated with weight loss in this online social network. Methods A data collection tool was used to collect English posts, comments, and other public metadata of active users (ie, users with at least one post or comment) on LoseIt from August 2010 to November 2014. Analyses of frequency and intensity of user interaction in the community were performed together with a semantic analysis of the messages, done by a latent Dirichlet allocation method. The association between weight loss and online user activity patterns, the semantics of the messages, and real-world variables was found by a linear regression model using 30-day weight change as the dependent variable. Results We collected posts and comments of 107,886 unique users. Among these, 101,003 (93.62%) wrote at least one comment and 38,981 (36.13%) wrote at least one post. Median percentage of days online was 3.81 (IQR 9.51). The 10 most-discussed semantic topics on posts were related to healthy food, clothing, calorie counting, workouts, looks, habits, support, and unhealthy food. In the subset of 754 users who had gender, age, and 30-day weight change data available, women were predominant and 92.9% (701/754) lost weight. Female gender, body mass index (BMI) at baseline, high levels of online activity, the number of upvotes received per post, and topics discussed within the community were independently associated with weight change. Conclusions Our findings suggest that among active users of a weight management community, self-declaration of higher BMI levels (which may represent greater dissatisfaction with excess weight), high online activity, and engagement in discussions that might provide social support are associated with greater weight loss. These findings have the potential to aid health professionals to assist patients in online interventions by focusing efforts on increasing engagement and/or starting discussions on topics of higher impact on weight change. PMID:28093378

ECS DAAC Data Pools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiebuzinski, A. B.; Bories, C. M.; Kalluri, S.

2002-12-01

As part of its Earth Observing System (EOS), NASA supports operations for several satellites including Landsat 7, Terra, and Aqua. ECS (EOSDIS Core System) is a vast archival and distribution system and includes several Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) located around the United States. EOSDIS reached a milestone in February when its data holdings exceeded one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) in size. It has been operational since 1999 and originally was intended to serve a large community of Earth Science researchers studying global climate change. The Synergy Program was initiated in 2000 with the purpose of exploring and expanding the use of remote sensing data beyond the traditional research community to the applications community including natural resource managers, disaster/emergency managers, urban planners and others. This included facilitating data access at the DAACs to enable non-researchers to exploit the data for their specific applications. The combined volume of data archived daily across the DAACs is of the order of three terabytes. These archived data are made available to the research community and to general users of ECS data. Currently, the average data volume distributed daily is two terabytes, which combined with an ever-increasing need for timely access to these data, taxes the ECS processing and archival resources for more real-time use than was previously intended for research purposes. As a result, the delivery of data sets to users was being delayed in many cases, to unacceptable limits. Raytheon, under the auspices of the Synergy Program, investigated methods at making data more accessible at a lower cost of resources (processing and archival) at the DAACs. Large on-line caches (as big as 70 Terabytes) of data were determined to be a solution that would allow users who require contemporary data to access them without having to pull it from the archive. These on-line caches are referred to as "Data Pools." In the Data Pool concept, data is inserted via subscriptions based on ECS events, for example, arrival of data matching a specific spatial context. Upon acquisition, these data are written to the Data Pools as well as to the permanent archive. The data is then accessed via a public Web interface, which provides a drilldown search, using data group, spatial, temporal and other flags. The result set is displayed as a list of ftp links to the data, which the user can click and directly download. Data Pool holdings are continuously renewed as the data is allowed to expire and is replaced by more current insertions. In addition, the Data Pool may also house data sets that though not contemporary, receive significant user attention, i.e. a Chernobyl-type of incident, a flood, or a forest fire. The benefits are that users who require contemporary data can access the data immediately (within 24 hours of acquisition) under a much improved access technique. Users not requiring contemporary data, benefit from the Data Pools by having greater archival and processing resources (and a shorter processing queue) made available to them. All users benefit now from the capability to have standing data orders for data matching a geographic context (spatial subscription), a capability also developed under the Synergy program. The Data Pools are currently being installed and checked at each of the DAACs. Additionally, several improvements to the search capabilities, data manipulation tools and overall storage capacity are being developed and will be installed in the First Quarter of 2003.

Vaccination in the county jail as a strategy to reach high risk adults during a community-based hepatitis A outbreak among methamphetamine drug users.

PubMed

Vong, Sirenda; Fiore, Anthony E; Haight, Daniel O; Li, Jinfeng; Borgsmiller, Nancy; Kuhnert, Wendi; Pinero, Frances; Boaz, Kathy; Badsgard, Tracy; Mancini, Carmela; Nainan, Omana V; Wiersma, Steven; Bell, Beth P

2005-01-11

Illicit drug use (IDU) is an important risk factor for hepatitis A, but implementing vaccination programs among drug users is difficult. During January 2001-July 2002, 403 hepatitis A cases were reported in Polk County, Florida; 48% were drug users and of these, 80% were recently in jail. To assess the county jail as a potential vaccination venue, we interviewed 280 inmates and conducted a serologic survey during July--August 2002. Of these, 227 (81%) reported a past IDU history. Previous HAV infection was found in 33%. In communities with illicit drug users at risk for hepatitis A and who are frequently jailed, vaccination programs in jails could be an important component of a community-based strategy to control hepatitis A outbreaks among illicit drug users.

Methamphetamine Users in a Community-Based Drug Court: Does Gender Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartman, Jennifer L.; Listwan, Shelley Johnson; Shaffer, Deborah Koetzle

2007-01-01

This paper examines men and women methamphetamine (meth) users who participated in a community-based drug court. The treatment of female drug users is a particularly salient issue because of the concerns with relapse and recidivism. For the current study, we studied the impact of the drug court by gender on a group of high-risk/high-need meth…

Guidelines for NASA Missions to Engage the User Community as a Part of the Mission Life Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escobar, V. M.; Friedl, L.; Bonniksen, C. K.

2017-12-01

NASA continues to improve the Earth Science Directorate in the areas of thematic integration, stakeholder feedback and Project Applications Program tailoring for missions to transfer knowledge between scientists and projects. The integration of application themes and the implementation of application science activities in flight projects have evolved to formally include user feedback and stakeholder integration. NASA's new Flight Applied Science Program Guidelines are designed to bridge NASA Earth Science Directorates in Flight, Applied Sciences and Research and Development by agreeing to integrate the user community into mission life cycles. Thus science development and science applications will guide all new instruments launched by NASAs ESD. The continued integration with the user community has enabled socio-economic considerations into NASA Earth Science projects to advance significantly. Making users a natural part of mission science leverages future socio-economic impact research and provides a platform for innovative and more actionable product to be used in decision support systems by society. This presentation will give an overview of the new NASA Guidelines and provide samples that demonstrate how the user community can be a part of NASA mission designs.

Effects of a recovery management intervention on Chinese heroin users' community recovery through the mediation effect of enhanced service utilization

PubMed Central

Wu, F.; Fu, L.M.; Hser, Y.H.

2015-01-01

Background This study investigates whether a recovery management intervention (RMI) can improve the utilization of community drug treatment and wraparound services among heroin users in China and subsequently lead to positive recovery outcomes. Methods Secondary analysis was conducted drawing data from a randomized controlled trial; 100 heroin users with no severe mental health problems were recruited in two Shanghai districts (Hongkou and Yangpu) upon their release from compulsory rehabilitation facilities. A latent variable modeling approach was utilized to test whether the RMI influences heroin users' perceived motivation and readiness for treatment, enhances treatment and wraparound service participation, and, in turn, predicts better recovery outcomes. Results Enrollment in drug treatment and other social service utilization increased significantly as a result of RMI rather than an individual drug user's motivation and readiness for treatment. Increased service utilization thus led to more positive individual recovery outcomes. In addition to this mediation effect through service utilization, the RMI also improved participants' community recovery directly. Conclusions Findings suggest that better drug treatment enrollment, community service utilization and recovery outcomes can be potentially achieved among heroin users in China with carefully designed case management interventions. PMID:24990956

Supporting community annotation and user collaboration in the integrated microbial genomes (IMG) system.

PubMed

Chen, I-Min A; Markowitz, Victor M; Palaniappan, Krishna; Szeto, Ernest; Chu, Ken; Huang, Jinghua; Ratner, Anna; Pillay, Manoj; Hadjithomas, Michalis; Huntemann, Marcel; Mikhailova, Natalia; Ovchinnikova, Galina; Ivanova, Natalia N; Kyrpides, Nikos C

2016-04-26

The exponential growth of genomic data from next generation technologies renders traditional manual expert curation effort unsustainable. Many genomic systems have included community annotation tools to address the problem. Most of these systems adopted a "Wiki-based" approach to take advantage of existing wiki technologies, but encountered obstacles in issues such as usability, authorship recognition, information reliability and incentive for community participation. Here, we present a different approach, relying on tightly integrated method rather than "Wiki-based" method, to support community annotation and user collaboration in the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system. The IMG approach allows users to use existing IMG data warehouse and analysis tools to add gene, pathway and biosynthetic cluster annotations, to analyze/reorganize contigs, genes and functions using workspace datasets, and to share private user annotations and workspace datasets with collaborators. We show that the annotation effort using IMG can be part of the research process to overcome the user incentive and authorship recognition problems thus fostering collaboration among domain experts. The usability and reliability issues are addressed by the integration of curated information and analysis tools in IMG, together with DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) expert review. By incorporating annotation operations into IMG, we provide an integrated environment for users to perform deeper and extended data analysis and annotation in a single system that can lead to publications and community knowledge sharing as shown in the case studies.

The role of mothers-in-law in antenatal care decision-making in Nepal: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Simkhada, Bibha; Porter, Maureen A; van Teijlingen, Edwin R

2010-07-01

Antenatal care (ANC) has been recognised as a way to improve health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies. However, only 29% of pregnant women receive the recommended four antenatal visits in Nepal but reasons for such low utilisation are poorly understood. As in many countries of South Asia, mothers-in-law play a crucial role in the decisions around accessing health care facilities and providers. This paper aims to explore the mother-in-law's role in (a) her daughter-in-law's ANC uptake; and (b) the decision-making process about using ANC services in Nepal. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 purposively selected antenatal or postnatal mothers (half users, half non-users of ANC), 10 husbands and 10 mothers-in-law in two different (urban and rural) communities. Our findings suggest that mothers-in-law sometime have a positive influence, for example when encouraging women to seek ANC, but more often it is negative. Like many rural women of their generation, all mothers-in-law in this study were illiterate and most had not used ANC themselves. The main factors leading mothers-in-law not to support/encourage ANC check ups were expectations regarding pregnant women fulfilling their household duties, perceptions that ANC was not beneficial based largely on their own past experiences, the scarcity of resources under their control and power relations between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. Individual knowledge and social class of the mothers-in-law of users and non-users differed significantly, which is likely to have had an effect on their perceptions of the benefits of ANC. Mothers-in-law have a strong influence on the uptake of ANC in Nepal. Understanding their role is important if we are to design and target effective community-based health promotion interventions. Health promotion and educational interventions to improve the use of ANC should target women, husbands and family members, particularly mothers-in-law where they control access to family resources.

Applications For Real Time NOMADS At NCEP To Disseminate NOAA's Operational Model Data Base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alpert, J. C.; Wang, J.; Rutledge, G.

2007-05-01

A wide range of environmental information, in digital form, with metadata descriptions and supporting infrastructure is contained in the NOAA Operational Modeling Archive Distribution System (NOMADS) and its Real Time (RT) project prototype at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). NOMADS is now delivering on its goal of a seamless framework, from archival to real time data dissemination for NOAA's operational model data holdings. A process is under way to make NOMADS part of NCEP's operational production of products. A goal is to foster collaborations among the research and education communities, value added retailers, and public access for science and development. In the National Research Council's "Completing the Forecast", Recommendation 3.4 states: "NOMADS should be maintained and extended to include (a) long-term archives of the global and regional ensemble forecasting systems at their native resolution, and (b) re-forecast datasets to facilitate post-processing." As one of many participants of NOMADS, NCEP serves the operational model data base using data application protocol (Open-DAP) and other services for participants to serve their data sets and users to obtain them. Using the NCEP global ensemble data as an example, we show an Open-DAP (also known as DODS) client application that provides a request-and-fulfill mechanism for access to the complex ensemble matrix of holdings. As an example of the DAP service, we show a client application which accesses the Global or Regional Ensemble data set to produce user selected weather element event probabilities. The event probabilities are easily extended over model forecast time to show probability histograms defining the future trend of user selected events. This approach insures an efficient use of computer resources because users transmit only the data necessary for their tasks. Data sets are served by OPeN-DAP allowing commercial clients such as MATLAB or IDL as well as freeware clients such as GrADS to access the NCEP real time database. We will demonstrate how users can use NOMADS services to repackage area subsets and select levels and variables that are sent to a users selected ftp site. NOMADS can also display plots on demand for area subsets, selected levels, time series and selected variables.

Motivation for Knowledge Sharing by Expert Participants in Company-Hosted Online User Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Jingli

2014-01-01

Company-hosted online user communities are increasingly popular as firms continue to search for ways to provide their customers with high quality and reliable support in a low cost and scalable way. Yet, empirical understanding of motivations for knowledge sharing in this type of online communities is lacking, especially with regard to an…

SEDAC information gateway plan V(1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Robert S. (Compiler)

1995-01-01

This annual update of the Information Gateway Plan incorporates changes recommended by the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) User Working Group (UWG) and reflects comments and suggestions from users, collaborators, and the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR). The Information Gateway Plan is a concise and specific plan that outlines SEDAC activities and services in support of the earth and social sciences and other user communities. The SEDAC Information Gateway effort is a primary means by which the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) can link meaningfully with a broad range of social science data sources and users in ways that lead to tangible benefits to the American people. The SEDAC Information Gateway provides interdisciplinary access to socioeconomic and physical science data and information resources held by SEDAC and numerous other institutions and networks around the world. The Plan describes the areas of research of earth scientists and socioeconomic scientists where interchange of data and information is most needed. It sets guidelines for the continued development of SEDAC's directory of social science datasets and establishes priorities for efforts to make data held by SEDAC or accessible through SEDAC available to the user community. The Plan also describes the means by which the SEDAC user community can access information products specified by the SEDAC Data and Applications Development Plan (DADP). Among other major activities, SEDAC will continue to enhance and operate a directory capability, interoperable with the Global Change Master Directory, that provides the socioeconomic community with information about earth science products and the earth science research community with information about socioeconomic data. The Information Gateway also serves as a unique and powerful access pathway for a wide range of users and potential users of socioeconomic and earth science data, including especially remote sensing data.

A mixing evolution model for bidirectional microblog user networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Wei-Guo; Liu, Yun

2015-08-01

Microblogs have been widely used as a new form of online social networking. Based on the user profile data collected from Sina Weibo, we find that the number of microblog user bidirectional friends approximately corresponds with the lognormal distribution. We then build two microblog user networks with real bidirectional relationships, both of which have not only small-world and scale-free but also some special properties, such as double power-law degree distribution, disassortative network, hierarchical and rich-club structure. Moreover, by detecting the community structures of the two real networks, we find both of their community scales follow an exponential distribution. Based on the empirical analysis, we present a novel evolution network model with mixed connection rules, including lognormal fitness preferential and random attachment, nearest neighbor interconnected in the same community, and global random associations in different communities. The simulation results show that our model is consistent with real network in many topology features.

Simulation Credibility: Advances in Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mehta, Unmeel B. (Editor); Eklund, Dean R.; Romero, Vicente J.; Pearce, Jeffrey A.; Keim, Nicholas S.

2016-01-01

Decision makers and other users of simulations need to know quantified simulation credibility to make simulation-based critical decisions and effectively use simulations, respectively. The credibility of a simulation is quantified by its accuracy in terms of uncertainty, and the responsibility of establishing credibility lies with the creator of the simulation. In this volume, we present some state-of-the-art philosophies, principles, and frameworks. The contributing authors involved in this publication have been dedicated to advancing simulation credibility. They detail and provide examples of key advances over the last 10 years in the processes used to quantify simulation credibility: verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification. The philosophies and assessment methods presented here are anticipated to be useful to other technical communities conducting continuum physics-based simulations; for example, issues related to the establishment of simulation credibility in the discipline of propulsion are discussed. We envision that simulation creators will find this volume very useful to guide and assist them in quantitatively conveying the credibility of their simulations.

The Geohazards Exploitation Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laur, Henri; Casu, Francesco; Bally, Philippe; Caumont, Hervé; Pinto, Salvatore

2016-04-01

The Geohazards Exploitation Platform, or Geohazards TEP (GEP), is an ESA originated R&D activity of the EO ground segment to demonstrate the benefit of new technologies for large scale processing of EO data. This encompasses on-demand processing for specific user needs, systematic processing to address common information needs of the geohazards community, and integration of newly developed processors for scientists and other expert users. The platform supports the geohazards community's objectives as defined in the context of the International Forum on Satellite EO and Geohazards organised by ESA and GEO in Santorini in 2012. The GEP is a follow on to the Supersites Exploitation Platform (SSEP) an ESA initiative to support the Geohazards Supersites & Natural Laboratories initiative (GSNL). Today the GEP allows to exploit 70+ Terabyte of ERS and ENVISAT archive and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 data available on line. The platform has already engaged 22 European early adopters in a validation activity initiated in March 2015. Since September, this validation has reached 29 single user projects. Each project is concerned with either integrating an application, running on demand processing or systematically generating a product collection using an application available in the platform. The users primarily include 15 geoscience centres and universities based in Europe: British Geological Survey (UK), University of Leeds (UK), University College London (UK), ETH University of Zurich (CH), INGV (IT), CNR-IREA and CNR-IRPI (IT), University of L'Aquila (IT), NOA (GR), Univ. Blaise Pascal & CNRS (FR), Ecole Normale Supérieure (FR), ISTERRE / University of Grenoble-Alpes (FR). In addition, there are users from Africa and North America with the University of Rabat (MA) and the University of Miami (US). Furthermore two space agencies and four private companies are involved: the German Space Research Centre DLR (DE), the European Space Agency (ESA), Altamira Information (ES), DEIMOS Space (ES), eGEOS (IT) and SATIM (PL). The GEP is now pursuing these projects with early adopters integrating additional conventional and advanced EO processors. It will also expand its user base to gradually reach a total of 60 separate users in pre-operations in 2017 with 6 new pilot projects being taken on board: photogrammetric processing using Optical EO data with University of Strasbourg (FR); optical based processing method for volcanic hazard monitoring with INGV (IT); systematic generation of Interferometric displacement time series based on the Sentinel-1 data with CNR IREA (IT); systematic processing of Sentinel-1 Interferometric Browse imagery with DLR (DE); precise terrain motion mapping with SPN Persistent Scatterers Interferometric chain of Altamira Information (ES); and a campaign to test and exploit GEP applications with the Corinth Rift Laboratory in which Greek and French experts of seismic hazards are engaged. Following the pre-operations phase starting in 2017 the Geohazards platform is intended to support a broad user community and has already established partnerships with large user networks, a particular example of which being the EPOS research infrastructure. Within EPOS, the GEP is intended to act as the main interface for accessing, processing, analysing and sharing products related to the Satellite Data Thematic Service.

Interactive web-based mapping: bridging technology and data for health

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The Community Health Information System (CHIS) online mapping system was first launched in 1998. Its overarching goal was to provide researchers, residents and organizations access to health related data reflecting the overall health and well-being of their communities within the Greater Houston area. In September 2009, initial planning and development began for the next generation of CHIS. The overarching goal for the new version remained to make health data easily accessible for a wide variety of research audiences. However, in the new version we specifically sought to make the CHIS truly interactive and give the user more control over data selection and reporting. Results In July 2011, a beta version of the next-generation of the application was launched. This next-generation is also a web based interactive mapping tool comprised of two distinct portals: the Breast Health Portal and Project Safety Net. Both are accessed via a Google mapping interface. Geographic coverage for the portals is currently an 8 county region centered on Harris County, Texas. Data accessed by the application include Census 2000, Census 2010 (underway), cancer incidence from the Texas Cancer Registry (TX Dept. of State Health Services), death data from Texas Vital Statistics, clinic locations for free and low-cost health services, along with service lists, hours of operation, payment options and languages spoken, uninsured and poverty data. Conclusions The system features query on the fly technology, which means the data is not generated until the query is provided to the system. This allows users to interact in real-time with the databases and generate customized reports and maps. To the author's knowledge, the Breast Health Portal and Project Safety Net are the first local-scale interactive online mapping interfaces for public health data which allow users to control the data generated. For example, users may generate breast cancer incidence rates by Census tract, in real time, for women aged 40-64. Conversely, they could then generate the same rates for women aged 35-55. The queries are user controlled. PMID:22195603

20 year IRIS: impact on seismological research at home and abroad

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Hilst, R. D.

2004-12-01

: The positive impact of IRIS, through its programs (GSN, PASSCAL, DMS, EO) and its workshops, on seismological research and community building can hardly be overestimated. The Data Management System has been very successful in bringing data to users for research and education anywhere in the world; it enables routine, and in many cases real time, analysis of massive amounts of waveform data for a spectacularly diverse range of studies. (I will give examples of surface wave tomography and inverse scattering studies of the core mantle boundary.) The support that PASSCAL provides for the planning and execution of field campaigns allows seismologists to shift attention from operational issues to exciting science, and the required data dissemination through DMS does not only result in tremendously valuable data sets but also contributes to community building through (international) collaboration. Europe, Australia, and Asia also have rich histories of network and portable array seismometry, and in many areas the cumulative station density exceeds that of North America (even, perhaps, with USArray). Moreover, in some cases, such as the use of temporary, roving arrays of broad band seismometers, activities overseas may have preceded and inspired developments in the US. However, the absence of effective central systems for management and dissemination of quality-controlled data has left many unique historical and regional data sets underutilized. This situation is changing, however. As an example I will mention the NERIES initiative to build a better infrastructure for seismological research and education in Europe. Apart from providing an example, through international collaboration IRIS can continue to play an important role in the improvement of the global seismological infrastructure.

Integrating Gridded NASA Hydrological Data into CUAHSI HIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rui, Hualan; Teng, William; Vollmer, Bruce; Mocko, David M.; Beaudoing, Hiroko K.; Whiteaker, Tim; Valentine, David; Maidment, David; Hooper, Richard

2011-01-01

The amount of hydrological data available from NASA remote sensing and modeling systems is vast and ever-increasing;but, one challenge persists:increasing the usefulness of these data for, and thus their use by, end user communities. The Hydrology Data and Information Services Center (HDISC), part of the Goddard Earth Sciences DISC, has continually worked to better understand the hydrological data needs of different end users, to thus better able to bridge the gap between NASA data and end user communities. One effective strategy is integrating the data in to end user community tools and environments. There is an ongoing collaborative effort between NASA HDISC, NASA Hydrological Sciences Branch, and CUAHSI to integrate NASA gridded hydrology data in to the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS).

An automated processing chains for surface temperature monitoring on Earth's most active volcanoes by optical data from multiple satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silvestri, Malvina; Musacchio, Massimo; Fabrizia Buongiorno, Maria

2017-04-01

The Geohazards Exploitation Platform, or GEP is one of six Thematic Exploitation Platforms developed by ESA to serve data user communities. As a new element of the ground segment delivering satellite results to users, these cloud-based platforms provide an online environment to access information, processing tools, computing resources for community collaboration. The aim is to enable the easy extraction of valuable knowledge from vast quantities of satellite-sensed data now being produced by Europe's Copernicus programme and other Earth observation satellites. In this context, the estimation of surface temperature on active volcanoes around the world is considered. E2E processing chains have been developed for different satellite data (ASTER, Landsat8 and Sentinel 3 missions) using thermal infrared (TIR) channels by applying specific algorithms. These chains have been implemented on the GEP platform enabling the use of EO missions and the generation of added value product such as surface temperature map, from not skilled users. This solution will enhance the use of satellite data and improve the dissemination of the results saving valuable time (no manual browsing, downloading or processing is needed) and producing time series data that can be speedily extracted from a single co-registered pixel, to highlight gradual trends within a narrow area. Moreover, thanks to the high-resolution optical imagery of Sentinel 2 (MSI), the detection of lava maps during an eruption can be automatically obtained. The proposed lava detection method is based on a contextual algorithm applied to Sentinel-2 NIR (band 8 - 0.8 micron) and SWIR (band 12 - 2.25 micron) data. Examples derived by last eruptions on active volcanoes are showed.

Beyond The Prime Directive: The MAST Discovery Portal and High Level Science Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleming, Scott W.; Abney, Faith; Donaldson, Tom; Dower, Theresa; Fraquelli, Dorothy A.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Levay, Karen; Matuskey, Jacob; McLean, Brian; Quick, Lee; Rogers, Anthony; Shiao, Bernie; Thompson, Randy; Tseng, Shui-Ay; Wallace, Geoff; White, Richard L.

2015-01-01

The Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) is a NASA-funded archive for a wide range of astronomical missions, primarily supporting space-based UV and optical telescopes. What is less well-known is that MAST provides much more than just a final resting place for primary data products and documentation from these missions. The MAST Discovery Portal is our new search interface that integrates all the missions that MAST supports into a single interface, allowing users to discover (and retrieve) data from other missions that overlap with your targets of interest. In addition to searching MAST, the Portal allows users to search the Virtual Observatory, granting access to data from thousands of collections registered with the VO, including large missions spanning the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., Chandra, SDSS, Spitzer, 2MASS, WISE). The Portal features table import/export, coordinate-based cross-matching, dynamic chart plotting, and the AstroView sky viewer with footprint overlays. We highlight some of these capabilities with science-driven examples. MAST also accepts High Level Science Products (HLSPs) from the community. These HLSPs are user-generated data products that can be related to a MAST-supported mission. MAST provides a permanent archive for these data with linked references, and integrates it within MAST infrastructure and services. We highlight some of the most recent HLSPs MAST has released, including the HST Frontier Fields, GALEX All-Sky Diffuse Radiation Mapping, a survey of the intergalactic medium with HST-COS, and one of the most complete line lists ever derived for a white dwarf using FUSE AND HST-STIS. These HLSPs generate substantial interest from the community, and are an excellent way to increase visibility and ensure the longevity of your data.

Overview of Graphical User Interfaces.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hulser, Richard P.

1993-01-01

Discussion of graphical user interfaces for online public access catalogs (OPACs) covers the history of OPACs; OPAC front-end design, including examples from Indiana University and the University of Illinois; and planning and implementation of a user interface. (10 references) (EA)

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

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

2016-01-01

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

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2016-12-01

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

Improving User Access to the Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffman, George; Bolvin, David; Nelkin, Eric; Kidd, Christopher

2016-04-01

The U.S. Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) team has developed the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) algorithm to take advantage of the international constellation of precipitation-relevant satellites and the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre surface precipitation gauge analysis. The goal is to provide a long record of homogeneous, high-resolution quasi-global estimates of precipitation. While expert scientific researchers are major users of the IMERG products, it is clear that many other user communities and disciplines also desire access to the data for wide-ranging applications. Lessons learned during the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, the predecessor to GPM, led to some basic design choices that provided the framework for supporting multiple user bases. For example, two near-real-time "runs" are computed, the Early and Late (currently 5 and 15 hours after observation time, respectively), then the Final Run about 3 months later. The datasets contain multiple fields that provide insight into the computation of the complete precipitation data field, as well as diagnostic (currently) estimates of the precipitation's phase. In parallel with this, the archive sites are working to provide the IMERG data in a variety of formats, and with subsetting and simple interactive analysis to make the data more easily available to non-expert users. The various options for accessing the data are summarized under the pmm.nasa.gov data access page. The talk will end by considering the feasibility of major user requests, including polar coverage, a simplified Data Quality Index, and reduced data latency for the Early Run. In brief, the first two are challenging, but under the team's control. The last requires significant action by some of the satellite data providers.

Usability Guidelines for Product Recommenders Based on Example Critiquing Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pu, Pearl; Faltings, Boi; Chen, Li; Zhang, Jiyong; Viappiani, Paolo

Over the past decade, our group has developed a suite of decision tools based on example critiquing to help users find their preferred products in e-commerce environments. In this chapter, we survey important usability research work relative to example critiquing and summarize the major results by deriving a set of usability guidelines. Our survey is focused on three key interaction activities between the user and the system: the initial preference elicitation process, the preference revision process, and the presentation of the systems recommendation results. To provide a basis for the derivation of the guidelines, we developed a multi-objective framework of three interacting criteria: accuracy, confidence, and effort (ACE). We use this framework to analyze our past work and provide a specific context for each guideline: when the system should maximize its ability to increase users' decision accuracy, when to increase user confidence, and when to minimize the interaction effort for the users. Due to the general nature of this multi-criteria model, the set of guidelines that we propose can be used to ease the usability engineering process of other recommender systems, especially those used in e-commerce environments. The ACE framework presented here is also the first in the field to evaluate the performance of preference-based recommenders from a user-centric point of view.

Improving User Notification on Frequently Changing HPC Environments

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

Fuson, Christopher B; Renaud, William A

2016-01-01

Today s HPC centers user environments can be very complex. Centers often contain multiple large complicated computational systems each with their own user environment. Changes to a system s environment can be very impactful; however, a center s user environment is, in one-way or another, frequently changing. Because of this, it is vital for centers to notify users of change. For users, untracked changes can be costly, resulting in unnecessary debug time as well as wasting valuable compute allocations and research time. Communicating frequent change to diverse user communities is a common and ongoing task for HPC centers. This papermore » will cover the OLCF s current processes and methods used to communicate change to users of the center s large Cray systems and supporting resources. The paper will share lessons learned and goals as well as practices, tools, and methods used to continually improve and reach members of the OLCF user community.« less

Unified Photo Enhancement by Discovering Aesthetic Communities From Flickr.

PubMed

Hong, Richang; Zhang, Luming; Tao, Dacheng

2016-03-01

Photo enhancement refers to the process of increasing the aesthetic appeal of a photo, such as changing the photo aspect ratio and spatial recomposition. It is a widely used technique in the printing industry, graphic design, and cinematography. In this paper, we propose a unified and socially aware photo enhancement framework which can leverage the experience of photographers with various aesthetic topics (e.g., portrait and landscape). We focus on photos from the image hosting site Flickr, which has 87 million users and to which more than 3.5 million photos are uploaded daily. First, a tagwise regularized topic model is proposed to describe the aesthetic topic of each Flickr user, and coherent and interpretable topics are discovered by leveraging both the visual features and tags of photos. Next, a graph is constructed to describe the similarities in aesthetic topics between the users. Noticeably, densely connected users have similar aesthetic topics, which are categorized into different communities by a dense subgraph mining algorithm. Finally, a probabilistic model is exploited to enhance the aesthetic attractiveness of a test photo by leveraging the photographic experiences of Flickr users from the corresponding communities of that photo. Paired-comparison-based user studies show that our method performs competitively on photo retargeting and recomposition. Moreover, our approach accurately detects aesthetic communities in a photo set crawled from nearly 100000 Flickr users.

Climate Change on Twitter: Topics, Communities and Conversations about the 2013 IPCC Working Group 1 Report

PubMed Central

Pearce, Warren; Holmberg, Kim; Hellsten, Iina; Nerlich, Brigitte

2014-01-01

In September 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its Working Group 1 report, the first comprehensive assessment of physical climate science in six years, constituting a critical event in the societal debate about climate change. This paper analyses the nature of this debate in one public forum: Twitter. Using statistical methods, tweets were analyzed to discover the hashtags used when people tweeted about the IPCC report, and how Twitter users formed communities around their conversational connections. In short, the paper presents the topics and tweeters at this particular moment in the climate debate. The most used hashtags related to themes of science, geographical location and social issues connected to climate change. Particularly noteworthy were tweets connected to Australian politics, US politics, geoengineering and fracking. Three communities of Twitter users were identified. Researcher coding of Twitter users showed how these varied according to geographical location and whether users were supportive, unsupportive or neutral in their tweets about the IPCC. Overall, users were most likely to converse with users holding similar views. However, qualitative analysis suggested the emergence of a community of Twitter users, predominantly based in the UK, where greater interaction between contrasting views took place. This analysis also illustrated the presence of a campaign by the non-governmental organization Avaaz, aimed at increasing media coverage of the IPCC report. PMID:24718388

Climate change on Twitter: topics, communities and conversations about the 2013 IPCC Working Group 1 report.

PubMed

Pearce, Warren; Holmberg, Kim; Hellsten, Iina; Nerlich, Brigitte

2014-01-01

In September 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its Working Group 1 report, the first comprehensive assessment of physical climate science in six years, constituting a critical event in the societal debate about climate change. This paper analyses the nature of this debate in one public forum: Twitter. Using statistical methods, tweets were analyzed to discover the hashtags used when people tweeted about the IPCC report, and how Twitter users formed communities around their conversational connections. In short, the paper presents the topics and tweeters at this particular moment in the climate debate. The most used hashtags related to themes of science, geographical location and social issues connected to climate change. Particularly noteworthy were tweets connected to Australian politics, US politics, geoengineering and fracking. Three communities of Twitter users were identified. Researcher coding of Twitter users showed how these varied according to geographical location and whether users were supportive, unsupportive or neutral in their tweets about the IPCC. Overall, users were most likely to converse with users holding similar views. However, qualitative analysis suggested the emergence of a community of Twitter users, predominantly based in the UK, where greater interaction between contrasting views took place. This analysis also illustrated the presence of a campaign by the non-governmental organization Avaaz, aimed at increasing media coverage of the IPCC report.

Services, systems, and policies affecting mobility device users' community mobility: A scoping review: Services, systèmes et politiques influençant la mobilité dans la communauté des utilisateurs d'aides à la mobilité : examen de la portée.

PubMed

Jónasdóttir, Sigrún Kristín; Polgar, Jan Miller

2018-04-01

Opportunities to travel from one place to another in the community, or community mobility, are especially important for mobility device users' ability to participate fully in society. However, contextual challenges to such mobility exist. This study summarizes the literature on existing community mobility barriers and facilitators of mobility device users created by services, systems, and policies as defined by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). Arksey and O'Malley's approach for scoping studies was used for the review. The extraction chart was organized following the ICF, and frequency counts were used to report the data. The findings suggest that certain factors, such as transportation, open-space planning, and architecture and construction, influence community mobility opportunities. However, little attention has been paid to services, systems, and policies in the research literature, limiting the knowledge on the subject. Further research is needed to examine the relationship between specific services, systems, and policies and mobility device users' mobility within their communities.

Online extremism and the communities that sustain it: Detecting the ISIS supporting community on Twitter

PubMed Central

Joseph, Kenneth; Carley, Kathleen M.

2017-01-01

The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) continues to use social media as an essential element of its campaign to motivate support. On Twitter, ISIS’ unique ability to leverage unaffiliated sympathizers that simply retweet propaganda has been identified as a primary mechanism in their success in motivating both recruitment and “lone wolf” attacks. The present work explores a large community of Twitter users whose activity supports ISIS propaganda diffusion in varying degrees. Within this ISIS supporting community, we observe a diverse range of actor types, including fighters, propagandists, recruiters, religious scholars, and unaffiliated sympathizers. The interaction between these users offers unique insight into the people and narratives critical to ISIS’ sustainment. In their entirety, we refer to this diverse set of users as an online extremist community or OEC. We present Iterative Vertex Clustering and Classification (IVCC), a scalable analytic approach for OEC detection in annotated heterogeneous networks, and provide an illustrative case study of an online community of over 22,000 Twitter users whose online behavior directly advocates support for ISIS or contibutes to the group’s propaganda dissemination through retweets. PMID:29194446

The climate4impact portal: bridging the CMIP5 and CORDEX data infrastructure to impact users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plieger, Maarten; Som de Cerff, Wim; Pagé, Christian; Tatarinova, Natalia; Cofiño, Antonio; Vega Saldarriaga, Manuel; Hutjes, Ronald; de Jong, Fokke; Bärring, Lars; Sjökvist, Elin

2015-04-01

The aim of climate4impact is to enhance the use of Climate Research Data and to enhance the interaction with climate effect/impact communities. The portal is based on 21 impact use cases from 5 different European countries, and is evaluated by a user panel consisting of use case owners. It has been developed within the European projects IS-ENES and IS-ENES2 for more than 5 years, and its development currently continues within IS-ENES2 and CLIPC. As the climate impact community is very broad, the focus is mainly on the scientific impact community. This work has resulted in the ENES portal interface for climate impact communities and can be visited at www.climate4impact.eu. The climate4impact is connected to the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) nodes containing global climate model data (GCM data) from the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) and regional climate model data (RCM) data from the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX). This global network of climate model data centers offers services for data description, discovery and download. The climate4impact portal connects to these services using OpenID, and offers a user interface for searching, visualizing and downloading global climate model data and more. A challenging task was to describe the available model data and how it can be used. The portal tries to inform users about possible caveats when using climate model data. All impact use cases are described in the documentation section, using highlighted keywords pointing to detailed information in the glossary. During the project, the content management system Drupal was used to enable partners to contribute on the documentation section. In this presentation the architecture and following items will be detailed: - Visualization: Visualize data from ESGF data nodes using ADAGUC Web Map Services. - Processing: Transform data, subset, export into other formats, and perform climate indices calculations using Web Processing Services implemented by PyWPS, based on NCAR NCPP OpenClimateGIS and IS-ENES2 icclim. - Security: Login using OpenID for access to the ESGF data nodes. The ESGF works in conjunction with several external websites and systems. The climate4impact portal uses X509 based short lived credentials, generated on behalf of the user with a MyProxy service. Single Sign-on (SSO) is used to make these websites and systems work together. - Discovery: Facetted search based on e.g. variable name, model and institute using the ESGF search services. A catalog browser allows for browsing through CMIP5 and any other climate model data catalogues (e.g. ESSENCE, EOBS, UNIDATA). - Download: Directly from ESGF nodes and other THREDDS catalogs This architecture will also be used for the future Copernicus platform, developed in the EU FP7 CLIPC project. - Connection with the downscaling portal of the university of Cantabria - Experiences on the question and answer site via Askbot The current main objectives for climate4impact can be summarized in two objectives. The first one is to work on a web interface which automatically generates a graphical user interface on WPS endpoints. The WPS calculates climate indices and subset data using OpenClimateGIS/icclim on data stored in ESGF data nodes. Data is then transmitted from ESGF nodes over secured OpenDAP and becomes available in a new, per user, secured OpenDAP server. The results can then be visualized again using ADAGUC WMS. Dedicated wizards for processing of climate indices will be developed in close collaboration with users. The second one is to expose climate4impact services, so as to offer standardized services which can be used by other portals. This has the advantage to add interoperability between several portals, as well as to enable the design of specific portals aimed at different impact communities, either thematic or national, for example.

The Evolution of the Internet Community and the"Yet-to-Evolve" Smart Grid Community: Parallels and Lessons-to-be-Learned

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

McParland, Charles

The Smart Grid envisions a transformed US power distribution grid that enables communicating devices, under human supervision, to moderate loads and increase overall system stability and security. This vision explicitly promotes increased participation from a community that, in the past, has had little involvement in power grid operations -the consumer. The potential size of this new community and its member's extensive experience with the public Internet prompts an analysis of the evolution and current state of the Internet as a predictor for best practices in the architectural design of certain portions of the Smart Grid network. Although still evolving, themore » vision of the Smart Grid is that of a community of communicating and cooperating energy related devices that can be directed to route power and modulate loads in pursuit of an integrated, efficient and secure electrical power grid. The remaking of the present power grid into the Smart Grid is considered as fundamentally transformative as previous developments such as modern computing technology and high bandwidth data communications. However, unlike these earlier developments, which relied on the discovery of critical new technologies (e.g. the transistor or optical fiber transmission lines), the technologies required for the Smart Grid currently exist and, in many cases, are already widely deployed. In contrast to other examples of technical transformations, the path (and success) of the Smart Grid will be determined not by its technology, but by its system architecture. Fortunately, we have a recent example of a transformative force of similar scope that shares a fundamental dependence on our existing communications infrastructure - namely, the Internet. We will explore several ways in which the scale of the Internet and expectations of its users have shaped the present Internet environment. As the presence of consumers within the Smart Grid increases, some experiences from the early growth of the Internet are expected to be informative and pertinent.« less

Queer as F**k: Reaching and Engaging Gay Men in Sexual Health Promotion through Social Networking Sites

PubMed Central

Hellard, Margaret; Gold, Judy; Ata, Nadine; Chang, Shanton; Howard, Steve; Asselin, Jason; Ilic, Olivia; Batrouney, Colin; Stoove, Mark

2013-01-01

Background A growing number of health promotion interventions are taking advantage of the popularity and interactivity of new social media platforms to foster and engage communities for health promotion. However, few health promotion interventions using social networking sites (SNS) have been rigorously evaluated. "Queer as F**k"(QAF) began as pilot project in 2010 to deliver sexual health promotion via short "webisodes" on SNS to gay men. Now in its fifth season, QAF is among the few published examples internationally to demonstrate the sexual health promotion potential of SNS. Objective The objective of this evaluation is to assess reach, interactivity, and engagement generated by QAF to inform future health interventions and evaluations using SNS. Methods We undertook a mixed method process evaluation using an uncontrolled longitudinal study design that compared multiple measurements over time to assess changes in reach and engagement. We adapted evaluation methods from the health promotion, information systems, and creative spheres. We incorporated online usage statistics, interviews informed by user diary-scrapbooks, and user focus groups to assess intervention reach and engagement. Results During Series 1-3 (April 2010 to April 2011), 32 webisodes were posted on the QAF Facebook and YouTube pages. These webisodes attracted over 30,000 views; ranging from 124-3092 views per individual episode. By April 2011, the QAF Facebook page had 2929 predominantly male fans. Interview and focus group participants supported the balance of education and entertainment. They endorsed the narrative "soap opera" format as an effective way to deliver sexual health messages in an engaging, informative, and accessible manner that encouraged online peer discussion of sexual health and promoted community engagement. Conclusions QAF offers a successful example of exploiting the reach, interactivity, and engagement potential of SNS; findings from this process evaluation provide a model to inform the delivery and evaluation of future health promotion interventions on SNS. PMID:23391459

Queer as F**k: reaching and engaging gay men in sexual health promotion through social networking sites.

PubMed

Pedrana, Alisa; Hellard, Margaret; Gold, Judy; Ata, Nadine; Chang, Shanton; Howard, Steve; Asselin, Jason; Ilic, Olivia; Batrouney, Colin; Stoove, Mark

2013-02-07

A growing number of health promotion interventions are taking advantage of the popularity and interactivity of new social media platforms to foster and engage communities for health promotion. However, few health promotion interventions using social networking sites (SNS) have been rigorously evaluated. "Queer as F**k"(QAF) began as pilot project in 2010 to deliver sexual health promotion via short "webisodes" on SNS to gay men. Now in its fifth season, QAF is among the few published examples internationally to demonstrate the sexual health promotion potential of SNS. The objective of this evaluation is to assess reach, interactivity, and engagement generated by QAF to inform future health interventions and evaluations using SNS. We undertook a mixed method process evaluation using an uncontrolled longitudinal study design that compared multiple measurements over time to assess changes in reach and engagement. We adapted evaluation methods from the health promotion, information systems, and creative spheres. We incorporated online usage statistics, interviews informed by user diary-scrapbooks, and user focus groups to assess intervention reach and engagement. During Series 1-3 (April 2010 to April 2011), 32 webisodes were posted on the QAF Facebook and YouTube pages. These webisodes attracted over 30,000 views; ranging from 124-3092 views per individual episode. By April 2011, the QAF Facebook page had 2929 predominantly male fans. Interview and focus group participants supported the balance of education and entertainment. They endorsed the narrative "soap opera" format as an effective way to deliver sexual health messages in an engaging, informative, and accessible manner that encouraged online peer discussion of sexual health and promoted community engagement. QAF offers a successful example of exploiting the reach, interactivity, and engagement potential of SNS; findings from this process evaluation provide a model to inform the delivery and evaluation of future health promotion interventions on SNS.

Effective Levels of Adaptation to Different Types of Users in Interactive Museum Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paterno, F.; Mancini, C.

2000-01-01

Discusses user interaction with museum application interfaces and emphasizes the importance of adaptable and adaptive interfaces to meet differing user needs. Considers levels of support that can be given to different users during navigation of museum hypermedia information, using examples from the Web site for the Marble Museum (Italy).…

The User Perspective in Performance Auditing--A Case Study of Norway

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arthur, Arnfrid; Rydland, Lars Tore; Amundsen, Kristin

2012-01-01

The user perspective is an important contextual factor for Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). This article provides examples from performance audits in Norway and explores why the user perspective has become important in performance audit practices. It shows that user satisfaction can be employed as a key performance indicator of effectiveness of…

Use Cases for Combining Web Services with ArcPython Tools for Enabling Quality Control of Land Remote Sensing Data Products.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krehbiel, C.; Maiersperger, T.; Friesz, A.; Harriman, L.; Quenzer, R.; Impecoven, K.

2016-12-01

Three major obstacles facing big Earth data users include data storage, management, and analysis. As the amount of satellite remote sensing data increases, so does the need for better data storage and management strategies to exploit the plethora of data now available. Standard GIS tools can help big Earth data users whom interact with and analyze increasingly large and diverse datasets. In this presentation we highlight how NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) is tackling these big Earth data challenges. We provide a real life use case example to describe three tools and services provided by the LP DAAC to more efficiently exploit big Earth data in a GIS environment. First, we describe the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP), which calls to specific data, minimizing the amount of data that a user downloads and improves the efficiency of data downloading and processing. Next, we cover the LP DAAC's Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS), a web application interface for extracting and analyzing land remote sensing data. From there, we review an ArcPython toolbox that was developed to provide quality control services to land remote sensing data products. Locating and extracting specific subsets of larger big Earth datasets improves data storage and management efficiency for the end user, and quality control services provides a straightforward interpretation of big Earth data. These tools and services are beneficial to the GIS user community in terms of standardizing workflows and improving data storage, management, and analysis tactics.

Did Somebody Say Community? Young People’s Critiques of Conventional Community Narratives in the Context of a Local Drug Scene

PubMed Central

Fast, Danya; Shoveller, Jean; Small, Will; Kerr, Thomas

2014-01-01

The language of community is ubiquitous in academic, public health, and policy discourse about drug using populations. Yet, it has been argued that in some settings, the parameters of “the drug user community” are far from self-evident. We undertook this ethnographic investigation to explore experiences and understandings of a “drug user community” (sometimes referred to more specifically as a “street youth community”) among young people entrenched in Vancouver’s inner city drug scene. Our findings revealed that in this context, conventional notions of community—that is, a social network characterized by commonality, mutual responsibility, solidarity, and/or stability—resonated with some youth. However, most questioned the value of membership within this community, in which what they had in common with other youth were ongoing experiences of poverty, marginalization, and social exclusion. Many felt membership in the drug user community precluded their ability to be responsible and productive citizens within the wider community of “mainstream society.” Experiences of resource deprivation and everyday violence on the streets led many participants to emphasize the limited possibilities for community among their peers. We argue that it is important to critically examine heretofore essentializing assumptions about the nature of inner city drug user or street youth communities in order to better understand young people’s needs and desires in these settings. PMID:24634540

More than just a bed: mental health service users' experiences of self-referral admission.

PubMed

Olsø, Turid Møller; Gudde, Camilla Buch; Moljord, Inger Elise Opheim; Evensen, Gretha Helen; Antonsen, Dag Øivind; Eriksen, Lasse

2016-01-01

Several community mental health centres and mental hospitals in Norway now allow users with a diagnosis of severe mental illness to self-refer for admission. This give a group of service users who are well-known to service providers the opportunity to refer themselves for short inpatient stays without contacting their doctor, a duty doctor or emergency department. Evidence on self-referral admissions is lacking. To explore service users' experiences of having the opportunity to refer themselves for a short inpatient stay. Forty-two qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken between 2010 and 2014 in a group of 28 service users with serious mental illness and with or without substance abuse problems. All respondents had a contract which allowed them to self-refer for inpatient treatment. Systematic text condensation was applied in the analyses. Self-referral inpatient admission is more than just a bed. It was perceived as a new, unconventional health service, which differed substantially from earlier experiences of inpatient care and was characterised by different values and treatment principles. The differences were related to the content, quality and organisation of treatment. Having the option to decide about admission for oneself and having access to services focusing on individual needs seem to enhance service users' confidence, both in the services they use and in their own ability to cope with everyday life. Self-referral inpatient admission is a concrete example of how a user involvement policy can be implemented in mental health services. It is important to emphasise that the self-referral admission process described here is an offer in development and that we are awaiting findings from a larger RCT study. More evidence is needed to determine what aspects of the service are helpful to service users, the long-term effects, appropriateness and cost-effectiveness, and how the service can be integrated into the mental health system.

Advanced Optical Burst Switched Network Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nejabati, Reza; Aracil, Javier; Castoldi, Piero; de Leenheer, Marc; Simeonidou, Dimitra; Valcarenghi, Luca; Zervas, Georgios; Wu, Jian

In recent years, as the bandwidth and the speed of networks have increased significantly, a new generation of network-based applications using the concept of distributed computing and collaborative services is emerging (e.g., Grid computing applications). The use of the available fiber and DWDM infrastructure for these applications is a logical choice offering huge amounts of cheap bandwidth and ensuring global reach of computing resources [230]. Currently, there is a great deal of interest in deploying optical circuit (wavelength) switched network infrastructure for distributed computing applications that require long-lived wavelength paths and address the specific needs of a small number of well-known users. Typical users are particle physicists who, due to their international collaborations and experiments, generate enormous amounts of data (Petabytes per year). These users require a network infrastructures that can support processing and analysis of large datasets through globally distributed computing resources [230]. However, providing wavelength granularity bandwidth services is not an efficient and scalable solution for applications and services that address a wider base of user communities with different traffic profiles and connectivity requirements. Examples of such applications may be: scientific collaboration in smaller scale (e.g., bioinformatics, environmental research), distributed virtual laboratories (e.g., remote instrumentation), e-health, national security and defense, personalized learning environments and digital libraries, evolving broadband user services (i.e., high resolution home video editing, real-time rendering, high definition interactive TV). As a specific example, in e-health services and in particular mammography applications due to the size and quantity of images produced by remote mammography, stringent network requirements are necessary. Initial calculations have shown that for 100 patients to be screened remotely, the network would have to securely transport 1.2 GB of data every 30 s [230]. According to the above explanation it is clear that these types of applications need a new network infrastructure and transport technology that makes large amounts of bandwidth at subwavelength granularity, storage, computation, and visualization resources potentially available to a wide user base for specified time durations. As these types of collaborative and network-based applications evolve addressing a wide range and large number of users, it is infeasible to build dedicated networks for each application type or category. Consequently, there should be an adaptive network infrastructure able to support all application types, each with their own access, network, and resource usage patterns. This infrastructure should offer flexible and intelligent network elements and control mechanism able to deploy new applications quickly and efficiently.

U-Science (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borne, K. D.

2009-12-01

The emergence of e-Science over the past decade as a paradigm for Internet-based science was an inevitable evolution of science that built upon the web protocols and access patterns that were prevalent at that time, including Web Services, XML-based information exchange, machine-to-machine communication, service registries, the Grid, and distributed data. We now see a major shift in web behavior patterns to social networks, user-provided content (e.g., tags and annotations), ubiquitous devices, user-centric experiences, and user-led activities. The inevitable accrual of these social networking patterns and protocols by scientists and science projects leads to U-Science as a new paradigm for online scientific research (i.e., ubiquitous, user-led, untethered, You-centered science). U-Science applications include components from semantic e-science (ontologies, taxonomies, folksonomies, tagging, annotations, and classification systems), which is much more than Web 2.0-based science (Wikis, blogs, and online environments like Second Life). Among the best examples of U-Science are Citizen Science projects, including Galaxy Zoo, Stardust@Home, Project Budburst, Volksdata, CoCoRaHS (the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow network), and projects utilizing Volunteer Geographic Information (VGI). There are also scientist-led projects for scientists that engage a wider community in building knowledge through user-provided content. Among the semantic-based U-Science projects for scientists are those that specifically enable user-based annotation of scientific results in databases. These include the Heliophysics Knowledgebase, BioDAS, WikiProteins, The Entity Describer, and eventually AstroDAS. Such collaborative tagging of scientific data addresses several petascale data challenges for scientists: how to find the most relevant data, how to reuse those data, how to integrate data from multiple sources, how to mine and discover new knowledge in large databases, how to represent and encode the new knowledge, and how to curate the discovered knowledge. This talk will address the emergence of U-Science as a type of Semantic e-Science, and will explore challenges, implementations, and results. Semantic e-Science and U-Science applications and concepts will be discussed within the context of one particular implementation (AstroDAS: Astronomy Distributed Annotation System) and its applicability to petascale science projects such as the LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope), coming online within the next few years.

A survey of potential users of the High Altitude Powered Platform (HAPP) in the ocean/coastal zone community

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Escoe, D.; Rigternik, P.

1979-01-01

The results of a survey of the ocean/coastal zone community to determine potential applications of a High Altitude Powered Platform (HAPP) are reported. Such a platform, capable of stationkeeping for periods up to a year over a given location, could make frequent and repeated high resolution observations over a given region or serve as a high-altitude regional communications link. Users were surveyed in person and via a questionnaire to determine the desirability of the HAPP within the ocean/coastal zone community. The results of the survey indicated that there is strong interest in all areas of the user community (research and development, operational agencies, and private industry) in having NASA develop the HAPP.

Supporting community annotation and user collaboration in the integrated microbial genomes (IMG) system

DOE PAGES

Chen, I-Min A.; Markowitz, Victor M.; Palaniappan, Krishna; ...

2016-04-26

Background: The exponential growth of genomic data from next generation technologies renders traditional manual expert curation effort unsustainable. Many genomic systems have included community annotation tools to address the problem. Most of these systems adopted a "Wiki-based" approach to take advantage of existing wiki technologies, but encountered obstacles in issues such as usability, authorship recognition, information reliability and incentive for community participation. Results: Here, we present a different approach, relying on tightly integrated method rather than "Wiki-based" method, to support community annotation and user collaboration in the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system. The IMG approach allows users to use existingmore » IMG data warehouse and analysis tools to add gene, pathway and biosynthetic cluster annotations, to analyze/reorganize contigs, genes and functions using workspace datasets, and to share private user annotations and workspace datasets with collaborators. We show that the annotation effort using IMG can be part of the research process to overcome the user incentive and authorship recognition problems thus fostering collaboration among domain experts. The usability and reliability issues are addressed by the integration of curated information and analysis tools in IMG, together with DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) expert review. Conclusion: By incorporating annotation operations into IMG, we provide an integrated environment for users to perform deeper and extended data analysis and annotation in a single system that can lead to publications and community knowledge sharing as shown in the case studies.« less

Supporting community annotation and user collaboration in the integrated microbial genomes (IMG) system

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

Chen, I-Min A.; Markowitz, Victor M.; Palaniappan, Krishna

Background: The exponential growth of genomic data from next generation technologies renders traditional manual expert curation effort unsustainable. Many genomic systems have included community annotation tools to address the problem. Most of these systems adopted a "Wiki-based" approach to take advantage of existing wiki technologies, but encountered obstacles in issues such as usability, authorship recognition, information reliability and incentive for community participation. Results: Here, we present a different approach, relying on tightly integrated method rather than "Wiki-based" method, to support community annotation and user collaboration in the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system. The IMG approach allows users to use existingmore » IMG data warehouse and analysis tools to add gene, pathway and biosynthetic cluster annotations, to analyze/reorganize contigs, genes and functions using workspace datasets, and to share private user annotations and workspace datasets with collaborators. We show that the annotation effort using IMG can be part of the research process to overcome the user incentive and authorship recognition problems thus fostering collaboration among domain experts. The usability and reliability issues are addressed by the integration of curated information and analysis tools in IMG, together with DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) expert review. Conclusion: By incorporating annotation operations into IMG, we provide an integrated environment for users to perform deeper and extended data analysis and annotation in a single system that can lead to publications and community knowledge sharing as shown in the case studies.« less

Hybrid 2-D and 3-D Immersive and Interactive User Interface for Scientific Data Visualization

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-01

visualization, 3-D interactive visualization, scientific visualization, virtual reality, real -time ray tracing 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17...scientists to employ in the real world. Other than user-friendly software and hardware setup, scientists also need to be able to perform their usual...and scientific visualization communities mostly have different research priorities. For the VR community, the ability to support real -time user

A Novel Wearable Sensor-Based Human Activity Recognition Approach Using Artificial Hydrocarbon Networks.

PubMed

Ponce, Hiram; Martínez-Villaseñor, María de Lourdes; Miralles-Pechuán, Luis

2016-07-05

Human activity recognition has gained more interest in several research communities given that understanding user activities and behavior helps to deliver proactive and personalized services. There are many examples of health systems improved by human activity recognition. Nevertheless, the human activity recognition classification process is not an easy task. Different types of noise in wearable sensors data frequently hamper the human activity recognition classification process. In order to develop a successful activity recognition system, it is necessary to use stable and robust machine learning techniques capable of dealing with noisy data. In this paper, we presented the artificial hydrocarbon networks (AHN) technique to the human activity recognition community. Our artificial hydrocarbon networks novel approach is suitable for physical activity recognition, noise tolerance of corrupted data sensors and robust in terms of different issues on data sensors. We proved that the AHN classifier is very competitive for physical activity recognition and is very robust in comparison with other well-known machine learning methods.

WFIRST: Data/Instrument Simulation Support at IPAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laine, Seppo; Akeson, Rachel; Armus, Lee; Bennett, Lee; Colbert, James; Helou, George; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Meshkat, Tiffany; Paladini, Roberta; Ramirez, Solange; Wang, Yun; Xie, Joan; Yan, Lin

2018-01-01

As part of WFIRST Science Center preparations, the IPAC Science Operations Center (ISOC) maintains a repository of 1) WFIRST data and instrument simulations, 2) tools to facilitate scientific performance and feasibility studies using the WFIRST, and 3) parameters summarizing the current design and predicted performance of the WFIRST telescope and instruments. The simulation repository provides access for the science community to simulation code, tools, and resulting analyses. Examples of simulation code with ISOC-built web-based interfaces include EXOSIMS (for estimating exoplanet yields in CGI surveys) and the Galaxy Survey Exposure Time Calculator. In the future the repository will provide an interface for users to run custom simulations of a wide range of coronagraph instrument (CGI) observations and sophisticated tools for designing microlensing experiments. We encourage those who are generating simulations or writing tools for exoplanet observations with WFIRST to contact the ISOC team so we can work with you to bring these to the attention of the broader astronomical community as we prepare for the exciting science that will be enabled by WFIRST.

Spatial fingerprints of community structure in human interaction network for an extensive set of large-scale regions.

PubMed

Kallus, Zsófia; Barankai, Norbert; Szüle, János; Vattay, Gábor

2015-01-01

Human interaction networks inferred from country-wide telephone activity recordings were recently used to redraw political maps by projecting their topological partitions into geographical space. The results showed remarkable spatial cohesiveness of the network communities and a significant overlap between the redrawn and the administrative borders. Here we present a similar analysis based on one of the most popular online social networks represented by the ties between more than 5.8 million of its geo-located users. The worldwide coverage of their measured activity allowed us to analyze the large-scale regional subgraphs of entire continents and an extensive set of examples for single countries. We present results for North and South America, Europe and Asia. In our analysis we used the well-established method of modularity clustering after an aggregation of the individual links into a weighted graph connecting equal-area geographical pixels. Our results show fingerprints of both of the opposing forces of dividing local conflicts and of uniting cross-cultural trends of globalization.

The JASMIN Cloud: specialised and hybrid to meet the needs of the Environmental Sciences Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kershaw, Philip; Lawrence, Bryan; Churchill, Jonathan; Pritchard, Matt

2014-05-01

Cloud computing provides enormous opportunities for the research community. The large public cloud providers provide near-limitless scaling capability. However, adapting Cloud to scientific workloads is not without its problems. The commodity nature of the public cloud infrastructure can be at odds with the specialist requirements of the research community. Issues such as trust, ownership of data, WAN bandwidth and costing models make additional barriers to more widespread adoption. Alongside the application of public cloud for scientific applications, a number of private cloud initiatives are underway in the research community of which the JASMIN Cloud is one example. Here, cloud service models are being effectively super-imposed over more established services such as data centres, compute cluster facilities and Grids. These have the potential to deliver the specialist infrastructure needed for the science community coupled with the benefits of a Cloud service model. The JASMIN facility based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory was established in 2012 to support the data analysis requirements of the climate and Earth Observation community. In its first year of operation, the 5PB of available storage capacity was filled and the hosted compute capability used extensively. JASMIN has modelled the concept of a centralised large-volume data analysis facility. Key characteristics have enabled success: peta-scale fast disk connected via low latency networks to compute resources and the use of virtualisation for effective management of the resources for a range of users. A second phase is now underway funded through NERC's (Natural Environment Research Council) Big Data initiative. This will see significant expansion to the resources available with a doubling of disk-based storage to 12PB and an increase of compute capacity by a factor of ten to over 3000 processing cores. This expansion is accompanied by a broadening in the scope for JASMIN, as a service available to the entire UK environmental science community. Experience with the first phase demonstrated the range of user needs. A trade-off is needed between access privileges to resources, flexibility of use and security. This has influenced the form and types of service under development for the new phase. JASMIN will deploy a specialised private cloud organised into "Managed" and "Unmanaged" components. In the Managed Cloud, users have direct access to the storage and compute resources for optimal performance but for reasons of security, via a more restrictive PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) interface. The Unmanaged Cloud is deployed in an isolated part of the network but co-located with the rest of the infrastructure. This enables greater liberty to tenants - full IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) capability to provision customised infrastructure - whilst at the same time protecting more sensitive parts of the system from direct access using these elevated privileges. The private cloud will be augmented with cloud-bursting capability so that it can exploit the resources available from public clouds, making it effectively a hybrid solution. A single interface will overlay the functionality of both the private cloud and external interfaces to public cloud providers giving users the flexibility to migrate resources between infrastructures as requirements dictate.

Diamond Light Source: status and perspectives.

PubMed

Materlik, Gerhard; Rayment, Trevor; Stuart, David I

2015-03-06

Diamond Light Source, a third-generation synchrotron radiation (SR) facility in the UK, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012. A private limited company was set up in April 2002 to plan, construct and operate the new user-oriented SR facility, called in brief Diamond. It succeeded the Synchrotron Radiation Source in Daresbury, a second-generation synchrotron that opened in 1980 as the world's first dedicated X-ray-providing facility, closing finally in 2008, by which time Diamond's accelerators and first beamlines were operating and user experiments were under way. This theme issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A gives some examples of the rich diversity of research done in the initial five years, with some glimpses of activity up to 2014. Speakers at the 10 year anniversary symposium were drawn from a small number of major thematic areas and each theme was elaborated by a few speakers whose contributions were placed into a broader context by a leading member of the UK academic community in the role of rapporteur. This introduction gives a summary of the design choices and strategic planning of Diamond as a coherent user facility, a snapshot of its present status and some consideration of future perspectives. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Implementation of noise budgets for civil airports

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

Bishop, D.E.

1982-01-01

An increasing number of airports are faced with the need for establishing a lid on the noise from aircraft operations and for developing programs for reducing airport noise on a year-to-year basis. As an example, the California Airport Noise Standard acts to impose such programs on a number of airports in California. Any airport faced with the need to establish a quantitative reduction of noise obviously wants to achieve this reduction with the least impact on numbers of operations and reduction in air transportation services to the community. A reduction in noise and an increase in operations usually can bemore » achieved only by encouraging use of the quietest aircraft available and, further adding incentives for operating procedures that minimize noise. One approach in administering airport noise reduction is to adopt an airport noise budget. As used in this paper, the noise budget concept implies that quantitative limits on the noise environment and on the noise contributions by major airport users will be established. Having methods for enforcing compliance with the airport budget for those airport users that exceed their budget will be established. Thus, the noise budget provides airport management, and major airport users, with quantitative measures for defining noise goals, and actual progress in achieving such goals.« less

Access to Emissions Distributions and Related Ancillary Data through the ECCAD database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darras, Sabine; Granier, Claire; Liousse, Catherine; De Graaf, Erica; Enriquez, Edgar; Boulanger, Damien; Brissebrat, Guillaume

2017-04-01

The ECCAD database (Emissions of atmospheric Compounds and Compilation of Ancillary Data) provides a user-friendly access to global and regional surface emissions for a large set of chemical compounds and ancillary data (land use, active fires, burned areas, population,etc). The emissions inventories are time series gridded data at spatial resolution from 1x1 to 0.1x0.1 degrees. ECCAD is the emissions database of the GEIA (Global Emissions InitiAtive) project and a sub-project of the French Atmospheric Data Center AERIS (http://www.aeris-data.fr). ECCAD has currently more than 2200 users originating from more than 80 countries. The project benefits from this large international community of users to expand the number of emission datasets made available. ECCAD provides detailed metadata for each of the datasets and various tools for data visualization, for computing global and regional totals and for interactive spatial and temporal analysis. The data can be downloaded as interoperable NetCDF CF-compliant files, i.e. the data are compatible with many other client interfaces. The presentation will provide information on the datasets available within ECCAD, as well as examples of the analysis work that can be done online through the website: http://eccad.aeris-data.fr.

Access to Emissions Distributions and Related Ancillary Data through the ECCAD database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darras, Sabine; Enriquez, Edgar; Granier, Claire; Liousse, Catherine; Boulanger, Damien; Fontaine, Alain

2016-04-01

The ECCAD database (Emissions of atmospheric Compounds and Compilation of Ancillary Data) provides a user-friendly access to global and regional surface emissions for a large set of chemical compounds and ancillary data (land use, active fires, burned areas, population,etc). The emissions inventories are time series gridded data at spatial resolution from 1x1 to 0.1x0.1 degrees. ECCAD is the emissions database of the GEIA (Global Emissions InitiAtive) project and a sub-project of the French Atmospheric Data Center AERIS (http://www.aeris-data.fr). ECCAD has currently more than 2200 users originating from more than 80 countries. The project benefits from this large international community of users to expand the number of emission datasets made available. ECCAD provides detailed metadata for each of the datasets and various tools for data visualization, for computing global and regional totals and for interactive spatial and temporal analysis. The data can be downloaded as interoperable NetCDF CF-compliant files, i.e. the data are compatible with many other client interfaces. The presentation will provide information on the datasets available within ECCAD, as well as examples of the analysis work that can be done online through the website: http://eccad.aeris-data.fr.

Digital stereoscopic convergence where video games and movies for the home user meet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schur, Ethan

2009-02-01

Today there is a proliferation of stereoscopic 3D display devices, 3D content, and 3D enabled video games. As we in the S-3D community bring stereoscopic 3D to the home user we have a real opportunity of using stereoscopic 3D to bridge the gap between exciting immersive games and home movies. But to do this, we cannot limit ourselves to current conceptions of gaming and movies. We need, for example, to imagine a movie that is fully rendered using avatars in a stereoscopic game environment. Or perhaps to imagine a pervasive drama where viewers can play too and become an essential part of the drama - whether at home or on the go on a mobile platform. Stereoscopic 3D is the "glue" that will bind these video and movie concepts together. As users feel more immersed, the lines between current media will blur. This means that we have the opportunity to shape the way that we, as humans, view and interact with each other, our surroundings and our most fundamental art forms. The goal of this paper is to stimulate conversation and further development on expanding the current gaming and home theatre infrastructures to support greatly-enhanced experiential entertainment.

Engaging a community towards marine cyberinfrastructure: Lessons Learned from The Marine Metadata Interoperability initiative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galbraith, N. R.; Graybeal, J.; Bermudez, L. E.; Wright, D.

2005-12-01

The Marine Metadata Interoperability (MMI) initiative promotes the exchange, integration and use of marine data through enhanced data publishing, discovery, documentation and accessibility. The project, operating since late 2004, presents several cultural organizational challenges because of the diversity of participants: scientists, technical experts, and data managers from around the world, all working in organizations with different corporate cultures, funding structures, and systems of decision-making. MMI provides educational resources at several levels. For instance, short introductions to metadata concepts are available, as well as guides and "cookbooks" for the quick and efficient preparation of marine metadata. For those who are building major marine data systems, including ocean-observing capabilities, there are training materials, marine metadata content examples, and resources for mapping elements between different metadata standards. The MMI also provides examples of good metadata practices in existing data systems, including the EU's Marine XML project, and functioning ocean/coastal clearinghouses and atlases developed by MMI team members. Communication tools that help build community: 1) Website, used to introduce the initiative to new visitors, and to provide in-depth guidance and resources to members and visitors. The site is built using Plone, an open source web content management system. Plone allows the site to serve as a wiki, to which every user can contribute material. This keeps the membership engaged and spreads the responsibility for the tasks of updating and expanding the site. 2) Email-lists, to engage the broad ocean sciences community. The discussion forums "news," "ask," and "site-help" are available for receiving regular updates on MMI activities, seeking advice or support on projects and standards, or for assistance with using the MMI site. Internal email lists are provided for the Technical Team, the Steering Committee and Executive Committee, and for several content-centered teams. These lists help keep committee members connected, and have been very successful in building consensus and momentum. 3) Regularly scheduled telecons, to provide the chance for interaction between members without the need to physically attend meetings. Both the steering committee and the technical team convene via phone every month. Discussions are guided by agendas published in advance, and minutes are kept on-line for reference. These telecons have been an important tool in moving the MMI project forward; they give members an opportunity for informal discussion and provide a timeframe for accomplishing tasks. 4) Workshops, to make progress towards community agreement, such as the technical workshop "Advancing Domain Vocabularies" August 9-11, 2005, in Boulder, Colorado, where featured domain and metadata experts developed mappings between existing marine metadata vocabularies. Most of the work of the meeting was performed in six small, carefully organized breakout teams, oriented around specific domains. 5) Calendar of events, to keep update the users and where any event related to marine metadata and interoperability can be posted. 6) Specific tools to reach agreements among distributed communities. For example, we developed a tool called Vocabulary Integration Environment (VINE), that allows formalized agreements of mappings across different vocabularies.

Internet-Based Software Tools for Analysis and Processing of LIDAR Point Cloud Data via the OpenTopography Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nandigam, V.; Crosby, C. J.; Baru, C.; Arrowsmith, R.

2009-12-01

LIDAR is an excellent example of the new generation of powerful remote sensing data now available to Earth science researchers. Capable of producing digital elevation models (DEMs) more than an order of magnitude higher resolution than those currently available, LIDAR data allows earth scientists to study the processes that contribute to landscape evolution at resolutions not previously possible, yet essential for their appropriate representation. Along with these high-resolution datasets comes an increase in the volume and complexity of data that the user must efficiently manage and process in order for it to be scientifically useful. Although there are expensive commercial LIDAR software applications available, processing and analysis of these datasets are typically computationally inefficient on the conventional hardware and software that is currently available to most of the Earth science community. We have designed and implemented an Internet-based system, the OpenTopography Portal, that provides integrated access to high-resolution LIDAR data as well as web-based tools for processing of these datasets. By using remote data storage and high performance compute resources, the OpenTopography Portal attempts to simplify data access and standard LIDAR processing tasks for the Earth Science community. The OpenTopography Portal allows users to access massive amounts of raw point cloud LIDAR data as well as a suite of DEM generation tools to enable users to generate custom digital elevation models to best fit their science applications. The Cyberinfrastructure software tools for processing the data are freely available via the portal and conveniently integrated with the data selection in a single user-friendly interface. The ability to run these tools on powerful Cyberinfrastructure resources instead of their own labs provides a huge advantage in terms of performance and compute power. The system also encourages users to explore data processing methods and the variations in algorithm parameters since all of the processing is done remotely and numerous jobs can be submitted in sequence. The web-based software also eliminates the need for users to deal with the hassles and costs associated with software installation and licensing while providing adequate disk space for storage and personal job archival capability. Although currently limited to data access and DEM generation tasks, the OpenTopography system is modular in design and can be modified to accommodate new processing tools as they become available. We are currently exploring implementation of higher-level DEM analysis tasks in OpenTopography, since such processing is often computationally intensive and thus lends itself to utilization of cyberinfrastructure. Products derived from OpenTopography processing are available in a variety of formats ranging from simple Google Earth visualizations of LIDAR-derived hillshades to various GIS-compatible grid formats. To serve community users less interested in data processing, OpenTopography also hosts 1 km^2 digital elevation model tiles as well as Google Earth image overlays for a synoptic view of the data.

A critical evaluation of ecological indices for the comparative analysis of microbial communities based on molecular datasets.

PubMed

Lucas, Rico; Groeneveld, Jürgen; Harms, Hauke; Johst, Karin; Frank, Karin; Kleinsteuber, Sabine

2017-01-01

In times of global change and intensified resource exploitation, advanced knowledge of ecophysiological processes in natural and engineered systems driven by complex microbial communities is crucial for both safeguarding environmental processes and optimising rational control of biotechnological processes. To gain such knowledge, high-throughput molecular techniques are routinely employed to investigate microbial community composition and dynamics within a wide range of natural or engineered environments. However, for molecular dataset analyses no consensus about a generally applicable alpha diversity concept and no appropriate benchmarking of corresponding statistical indices exist yet. To overcome this, we listed criteria for the appropriateness of an index for such analyses and systematically scrutinised commonly employed ecological indices describing diversity, evenness and richness based on artificial and real molecular datasets. We identified appropriate indices warranting interstudy comparability and intuitive interpretability. The unified diversity concept based on 'effective numbers of types' provides the mathematical framework for describing community composition. Additionally, the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity as a beta-diversity index was found to reflect compositional changes. The employed statistical procedure is presented comprising commented R-scripts and example datasets for user-friendly trial application. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

DataBase on Demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaspar Aparicio, R.; Gomez, D.; Coterillo Coz, I.; Wojcik, D.

2012-12-01

At CERN a number of key database applications are running on user-managed MySQL database services. The database on demand project was born out of an idea to provide the CERN user community with an environment to develop and run database services outside of the actual centralised Oracle based database services. The Database on Demand (DBoD) empowers the user to perform certain actions that had been traditionally done by database administrators, DBA's, providing an enterprise platform for database applications. It also allows the CERN user community to run different database engines, e.g. presently open community version of MySQL and single instance Oracle database server. This article describes a technology approach to face this challenge, a service level agreement, the SLA that the project provides, and an evolution of possible scenarios.

Extremely frequent behavior in consumer research: theory and empirical evidence for chronic casino gambling.

PubMed

Perfetto, Ralph; Woodside, Arch G

2009-09-01

The present study informs understanding of customer segmentation strategies by extending Twedt's heavy-half propositions to include a segment of users that represent less than 2% of all households-consumers demonstrating extremely frequent behavior (EFB). Extremely frequent behavior (EFB) theory provides testable propositions relating to the observation that few (2%) consumers in many product and service categories constitute more than 25% of the frequency of product or service use. Using casino gambling as an example for testing EFB theory, an analysis of national survey data shows that extremely frequent casino gamblers do exist and that less than 2% of all casino gamblers are responsible for nearly 25% of all casino gambling usage. Approximately 14% of extremely frequent casino users have very low-household income, suggesting somewhat paradoxical consumption patterns (where do very low-income users find the money to gamble so frequently?). Understanding the differences light, heavy, and extreme users and non-users can help marketers and policymakers identify and exploit "blue ocean" opportunities (Kim and Mauborgne, Blue ocean strategy, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2005), for example, creating effective strategies to convert extreme users into non-users or non-users into new users.

Dependence and resistance in community mental health care-Negotiations of user participation between staff and users.

PubMed

Femdal, I; Knutsen, I R

2017-10-01

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Implementation of user participation is described as a change from a paternalistic healthcare system to ideals of democratization where users' voices are heard in relational interplays with health professionals. The ideological shift involves a transition from welfare dependency and professional control towards more active service-user roles with associated rights and responsibilities. A collaborative relationship between users and professionals in mental health services is seen as important by both parties. Nevertheless, the health professionals find it challenging in practice to reorient their roles and to find productive ways to cooperate. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This study illuminates how user participation is negotiated and involves multiple and shifting subject positions in the collaboration between users and professionals in community mental health care. By taking different positions, the relationship between users and professionals develops through dynamic interaction. This study challenges understandings of equality and implicit "truths" in user participation by illuminating subtle forms of power and dilemmas that arise in user-professional negotiations. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Instead of denying the appearance of power, it is important to question the execution of power in the interplay between users and professionals. Focusing on the negotiation processes between users and professionals is important for increasing reflection on and improving understanding of the dynamic in collaboration and speech. By focusing on negotiations, power can be used in productive ways in user-professional relationships. Introduction Implementation of user participation is considered important in today's mental health care. Research shows, however, that user participation lacks clarity and provokes uncertainty regarding shifting roles. Aim To investigate negotiation of user participation in a microstudy of interplay between users and health professionals in community mental health care. Method This qualitative study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews, involving ten service users and ten professionals in community mental health care in Norway. The analysis is inspired by Willig's model for Foucauldian discourse analysis. Results The study illuminates the dynamic nature of user participation that arises through negotiation between users' and professionals' positions as change enablers, dependents, resisters, persuaders and knowledge holders. Discussion Discourses of user participation allow for different subject positions in mental health care. User participation also involves government and questions of power, as well as ambitions of change and control. Professionals act in different ways to make and keep users active, participating, enterprising and self-governing, and users respond and take part within the same discursive framework. Implications for practice Awareness of subjects' positions in discourses is important to increase reflection on the dynamic interplay in user-professional collaboration. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Detection of adverse drug reactions among ordinary users of liraglutide on the occasion of drug dispensing in the community pharmacy setting.

PubMed

Christensen, Søren Troels; Bjerrum, Ole Jannik

2013-12-01

Postmarketing studies of drugs forms an essential part of safety surveillance. In particular, this concerns new drugs as safety information of these by large rests on randomized clinical studies conducted on a limited number of subjects before licensing. Pharmacists in community pharmacies are in a unique position for detection of user experienced adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in relation to drug dispensing. The study reports from a research initiative exploring prompt and proactive ADR detection of liraglutide and reporting facilitated by pharmacy students undertaking internship in a community pharmacy in Denmark. Nineteen pharmacy students undertaking regular 6 months' internship--eighth semester--in a Danish community pharmacy participated in the data collection. Before the data collection, students attended an interactive training seminar addressing ADRs in general, organ symptoms, diagnostic classification, and pharmacovigilance systems. Pharmacy students approached recurrent drug users purchasing liraglutide. Participating users were asked about experienced ADRs linked to liraglutide use. Reported ADRs were collected and analyzed. Sixty-two liraglutide users participated in the study, of whom, 38 reported 84 ADRs possibly linked to liraglutide usage. Nausea was by far the most reported ADR followed by decreased appetite, diarrhea, fatigue, and abdominal pain (upper). The reported ADRs are in accordance with previously reported ADRs. The study has demonstrated the feasibility of community pharmacy driven pharmacovigilance. The study supports the thesis that community pharmacists in the future may play a proactive and prominent role in patient-centered pharmacovigilance.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby, but...

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fayen, Emily Gallup

An online library system is an example of a complex computer system in that it supports a variety of users, both patrons and staff, and is made up of many intricate programs with complex relationships among them. Certain features are essential to a user friendly system: (1) users cannot get lost in the system; (2) users cannot enter illegal…

MADS Users' Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moerder, Daniel D.

2014-01-01

MADS (Minimization Assistant for Dynamical Systems) is a trajectory optimization code in which a user-specified performance measure is directly minimized, subject to constraints placed on a low-order discretization of user-supplied plant ordinary differential equations. This document describes the mathematical formulation of the set of trajectory optimization problems for which MADS is suitable, and describes the user interface. Usage examples are provided.

Social Tagging of Mission Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norris, Jeffrey S.; Wallick, Michael N.; Joswig, Joseph C.; Powell, Mark W.; Torres, Recaredo J.; Mittman, David S.; Abramyan, Lucy; Crockett, Thomas M.; Shams, Khawaja S.; Fox, Jason M.;

Sociodemographic correlates of energy drink consumption with and without alcohol: results of a community survey.

PubMed

Berger, Lisa K; Fendrich, Michael; Chen, Han-Yang; Arria, Amelia M; Cisler, Ron A

2011-05-01

We examined the sociodemographic correlates of energy drink use and the differences between those who use them with and without alcohol in a representative community sample. A random-digit-dial landline telephone survey of adults in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area responded to questions about energy drink and alcohol plus energy drink use. Almost one-third of respondents consumed at least one energy drink in their lifetime, while slightly over 25% used energy drinks in the past year and 6% were past-year alcohol plus energy drink users. There were important racial/ethnic differences in consumption patterns. Compared to non-users, past-year energy drink users were more likely to be non-Black minorities; and past-year alcohol plus energy drink users when compared to energy drink users only were more likely to be White and younger. Alcohol plus energy drink users also were more likely to be hazardous drinkers. Our results which are among the first from a community sample suggest a bifurcated pattern of energy drink use highlighting important population consumption differences between users of energy drinks only and those who use alcohol and energy drinks together. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sociodemographic Correlates of Energy Drink Consumption With and Without Alcohol: Results of a Community Survey

PubMed Central

Berger, Lisa K.; Fendrich, Michael; Chen, Han-Yang; Arria, Amelia M.; Cisler, Ron A.

2010-01-01

Objective We examined the sociodemographic correlates of energy drink use and the differences between those who use them with and without alcohol in a representative community sample. Methods A random-digit-dial landline telephone survey of adults in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area responded to questions about energy drink and alcohol plus energy drink use. Results Almost one-third of respondents consumed at least one energy drink in their lifetime, while slightly over 25% used energy drinks in the past year and 6% were past-year alcohol plus energy drink users. There were important racial/ethnic differences in consumption patterns. Compared to non-users, past-year energy drink users were more likely to be non-Black minorities; and past-year alcohol plus energy drink users when compared to energy drink users only were more likely to be White and younger. Alcohol plus energy drink users also were more likely to be hazardous drinkers. Conclusions Our results which are among the first from a community sample suggest a bifurcated pattern of energy drink use highlighting important population consumption differences between users of energy drinks only and those who use alcohol and energy drinks together. PMID:21276661

How Relations are Built within a SNS World -- Social Network Analysis on Mixi --

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsuo, Yutaka; Yasud, Yuki

Our purpose here is to (1) investigate the structure of the personal networks developed on mixi, a Japanese social networking service (SNS), and (2) to consider the governing mechanism which guides participants of a SNS to form an aggregate network. Our findings are as follows:the clustering coefficient of the network is as high as 0.33 while the characteristic path lenght is as low as 5.5. A network among central users (over 300 edges) consist of two cliques, which seems to be very fragile. Community-affiliation network suggests there are several easy-entry communities which later lead users to more high-entry, unique-theme communities. The analysis on connectedness within a community reveals the importance of real-world interaction. Lastly, we depict a probable image of the entire ecology on {\\\\em mixi} among users and communities, which contributes broadly to social systems on the Web.

Bioinformatics training: selecting an appropriate learning content management system--an example from the European Bioinformatics Institute.

PubMed

Wright, Victoria Ann; Vaughan, Brendan W; Laurent, Thomas; Lopez, Rodrigo; Brooksbank, Cath; Schneider, Maria Victoria

2010-11-01

Today's molecular life scientists are well educated in the emerging experimental tools of their trade, but when it comes to training on the myriad of resources and tools for dealing with biological data, a less ideal situation emerges. Often bioinformatics users receive no formal training on how to make the most of the bioinformatics resources and tools available in the public domain. The European Bioinformatics Institute, which is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-EBI), holds the world's most comprehensive collection of molecular data, and training the research community to exploit this information is embedded in the EBI's mission. We have evaluated eLearning, in parallel with face-to-face courses, as a means of training users of our data resources and tools. We anticipate that eLearning will become an increasingly important vehicle for delivering training to our growing user base, so we have undertaken an extensive review of Learning Content Management Systems (LCMSs). Here, we describe the process that we used, which considered the requirements of trainees, trainers and systems administrators, as well as taking into account our organizational values and needs. This review describes the literature survey, user discussions and scripted platform testing that we performed to narrow down our choice of platform from 36 to a single platform. We hope that it will serve as guidance for others who are seeking to incorporate eLearning into their bioinformatics training programmes.

Dynamic PROOF clusters with PoD: architecture and user experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manafov, Anar

2011-12-01

PROOF on Demand (PoD) is a tool-set, which sets up a PROOF cluster on any resource management system. PoD is a user oriented product with an easy to use GUI and a command-line interface. It is fully automated. No administrative privileges or special knowledge is required to use it. PoD utilizes a plug-in system, to use different job submission front-ends. The current PoD distribution is shipped with LSF, Torque (PBS), Grid Engine, Condor, gLite, and SSH plug-ins. The product is to be extended. We therefore plan to implement a plug-in for AliEn Grid as well. Recently developed algorithms made it possible to efficiently maintain two types of connections: packet-forwarding and native PROOF connections. This helps to properly handle most kinds of workers, with and without firewalls. PoD maintains the PROOF environment automatically and, for example, prevents resource misusage in case when workers idle for too long. As PoD matures as a product and provides more plug-ins, it's used as a standard for setting up dynamic PROOF clusters in many different institutions. The GSI Analysis Facility (GSIAF) is in production since 2007. The static PROOF cluster has been phased out end of 2009. GSIAF is now completely based on PoD. Users create private dynamic PROOF clusters on the general purpose batch farm. This provides an easier resource sharing between interactive local batch and Grid usage. The main user communities are FAIR and ALICE.

Short-Term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center: Transitioning Satellite Data to Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zavodsky, Bradley

2012-01-01

The Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center located at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center has been conducting testbed activities aimed at transitioning satellite products to National Weather Service operational end users for the last 10 years. SPoRT is a NASA/NOAA funded project that has set the bar for transition of products to operational end users through a paradigm of understanding forecast challenges and forecaster needs, displaying products in end users decision support systems, actively assessing the operational impact of these products, and improving products based on forecaster feedback. Aiming for quality partnerships rather than a large quantity of data users, SPoRT has become a community leader in training operational forecasters on the use of up-and-coming satellite data through the use of legacy instruments and proxy data. Traditionally, SPoRT has supplied satellite imagery and products from NASA instruments such as the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). However, recently, SPoRT has been funded by the GOES-R and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Proving Grounds to accelerate the transition of selected imagery and products to help improve forecaster awareness of upcoming operational data from the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). This presentation provides background on the SPoRT Center, the SPoRT paradigm, and some example products that SPoRT is excited to work with forecasters to evaluate.

Looking to the Future: Communicating with an expanding cryospheric user community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gergely, K.; Scott, D.; Booker, L.

2009-12-01

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado is known for its customer service. Through the User Services Office (USO) NSIDC provides end-to-end data support with timely, friendly, and professional assistance. This service includes expertise in selecting, obtaining, and handling of data, as well as the dissemination of information related to NSIDC’s cryospheric data and information. This dissemination happens across many mediums, such as email, newsletters, and Web-published data documentation. With surveys like the American Customer Service Index, we are learning more and more about what the user’s informational needs are, and beginning to anticipate what the user's needs might be in the future. In this presentation, we will examine the current USO processes for communicating with our user community, and explore how social networking tools, such as Twitter, Blogging, or Facebook may enhance the overall user experience. We will assess a communication approach that combines mainstream and emerging technologies in order to maintain a high standard of customer service with an expanding cryospheric user community.

SAFRR AND Physics-Based Scenarios: The Power of Scientifically Credible Stories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, D. A.; Jones, L.

2015-12-01

USGS's SAFRR (Science Application for Risk Reduction) Project and its predecessor, the Multi Hazards Demonstration Project, uses the latest earth science to develop scenarios so that communities can improve disaster resilience. SAFRR has created detailed physics-based natural-disaster scenarios of a M7.8 San Andreas earthquake in southern California (ShakeOut), atmospheric-river storms rivaling the Great California Flood of 1862 (ARkStorm), a Tohoku-sized earthquake and tsunami in the eastern Aleutians (SAFRR Tsunami), and now a M7.05 quake on the Hayward Fault in the San Francisco Bay area (HayWired), as novel ways of providing science for decision making. Each scenario is scientifically plausible, deterministic, and large enough to demand attention but not too large to be believable. The scenarios address interacting hazards, requiring involvement of multiple science disciplines and user communities. The scenarios routinely expose hitherto unknown or ignored vulnerabilities, most often in cascading effects missed when impacts are considered in isolation. They take advantage of story telling to provide decision makers with clear explanations and justifications for mitigation and preparedness actions, and have been used for national-to-local disaster response exercises and planning. Effectiveness is further leveraged by downscaling the scenarios to local levels. For example, although the ARkStorm scenario describes state-scale events and has been used that way by NASA and the Navy, SAFRR also partnered with FEMA to focus on two local areas, Ventura County in the coastal plain and the mountain setting of Lake Tahoe with downstream impacts in Reno, Sparks and Carson City. Downscaling and focused analyses increased usefulness to user communities, drawing new participants into the study. SAFRR scenarios have also motivated new research to answer questions uncovered by stakeholders, closing the circle of co-evolving disaster-science and disaster-response improvements.

The MMI Semantic Framework: Rosetta Stones for Earth Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rueda, C.; Bermudez, L. E.; Graybeal, J.; Alexander, P.

2009-12-01

Semantic interoperability—the exchange of meaning among computer systems—is needed to successfully share data in Ocean Science and across all Earth sciences. The best approach toward semantic interoperability requires a designed framework, and operationally tested tools and infrastructure within that framework. Currently available technologies make a scientific semantic framework feasible, but its development requires sustainable architectural vision and development processes. This presentation outlines the MMI Semantic Framework, including recent progress on it and its client applications. The MMI Semantic Framework consists of tools, infrastructure, and operational and community procedures and best practices, to meet short-term and long-term semantic interoperability goals. The design and prioritization of the semantic framework capabilities are based on real-world scenarios in Earth observation systems. We describe some key uses cases, as well as the associated requirements for building the overall infrastructure, which is realized through the MMI Ontology Registry and Repository. This system includes support for community creation and sharing of semantic content, ontology registration, version management, and seamless integration of user-friendly tools and application programming interfaces. The presentation describes the architectural components for semantic mediation, registry and repository for vocabularies, ontology, and term mappings. We show how the technologies and approaches in the framework can address community needs for managing and exchanging semantic information. We will demonstrate how different types of users and client applications exploit the tools and services for data aggregation, visualization, archiving, and integration. Specific examples from OOSTethys (http://www.oostethys.org) and the Ocean Observatories Initiative Cyberinfrastructure (http://www.oceanobservatories.org) will be cited. Finally, we show how semantic augmentation of web services standards could be performed using framework tools.

DAsHER CD: Developing a Data-Oriented Human-Centric Enterprise Architecture for EarthCube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, C. P.; Yu, M.; Sun, M.; Qin, H.; Robinson, E.

2015-12-01

One of the biggest challenges that face Earth scientists is the resource discovery, access, and sharing in a desired fashion. EarthCube is targeted to enable geoscientists to address the challenges by fostering community-governed efforts that develop a common cyberinfrastructure for the purpose of collecting, accessing, analyzing, sharing and visualizing all forms of data and related resources, through the use of advanced technological and computational capabilities. Here we design an Enterprise Architecture (EA) for EarthCube to facilitate the knowledge management, communication and human collaboration in pursuit of the unprecedented data sharing across the geosciences. The design results will provide EarthCube a reference framework for developing geoscience cyberinfrastructure collaborated by different stakeholders, and identifying topics which should invoke high interest in the community. The development of this EarthCube EA framework leverages popular frameworks, such as Zachman, Gartner, DoDAF, and FEAF. The science driver of this design is the needs from EarthCube community, including the analyzed user requirements from EarthCube End User Workshop reports and EarthCube working group roadmaps, and feedbacks or comments from scientists obtained by organizing workshops. The final product of this Enterprise Architecture is a four-volume reference document: 1) Volume one is this document and comprises an executive summary of the EarthCube architecture, serving as an overview in the initial phases of architecture development; 2) Volume two is the major body of the design product. It outlines all the architectural design components or viewpoints; 3) Volume three provides taxonomy of the EarthCube enterprise augmented with semantics relations; 4) Volume four describes an example of utilizing this architecture for a geoscience project.

NUNOA: a computer simulator of individuals, families, and extended families of the high-altitude Quechua

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

Brandt, C.C.; Weinstein, D.A.; Shugart, H.H.

1980-10-01

The Quechua Indians of the Peruvian Andes are an example of a human population which has developed special cultural adaptations to deal with hypocaloric stress imposed by a harsh environment. A highly detailed human ecosystem model, NUNOA, which simulates the yearly energy balance of individuals, families, and extended families in a hypothetical farming and herding Quechua community of the high Andes was developed. Unlike most population models which use sets of differential equations in which individuals are aggregated into groups, this model considers the response of each individual to a stochastic environment. The model calculates the yearly energy demand formore » each family based on caloric requirements of its members. For each family, the model simulates the cultivation of seven different crops and the impact of precipitation, temperature, and disease on yield. Herding, slaughter, and market sales of three different animal species are also simulated. Any energy production in excess of the family's energy demand is placed into extended family storage for possible redistribution. A family failing to meet their annual energy demand may slaughter additional herd animals, temporarily migrate from the community, or borrow food from the extended family storage. The energy balance is used in determining births, deaths, marriages, and resource sharing in the Indian community. In addition, the model maintains a record of each individual's ancestry as well as seven genetic traits for use in tracing lineage and gene flow. The model user has the opportunity to investigate the effect of changes in marriage patterns, resource sharing patterns, or subsistence activities on the ability of the human population to survive in the harsh Andean environment. In addition, the user may investigate the impact of external technology on the Indian culture.« less

Guidelines for spaceborne microwave remote sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Litman, V.; Nicholas, J.

1982-01-01

A handbook was developed to provide information and support to the spaceborne remote sensing and frequency management communities: to guide sensor developers in the choice of frequencies; to advise regulators on sensor technology needs and sharing potential; to present sharing analysis models and, through example, methods for determining sensor sharing feasibility; to introduce developers to the regulatory process; to create awareness of proper assignment procedures; to present sensor allocations; and to provide guidelines on the use and limitations of allocated bands. Controlling physical factors and user requirements and the regulatory environment are discussed. Sensor frequency allocation achievable performance and usefulness are reviewed. Procedures for national and international registration, the use of non-allocated bands and steps for obtaining new frequency allocations, and procedures for reporting interference are also discussed.

ATCA/muTCA for Physics

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

Jezynski, Tomasz; /DESY; Larsen, Raymond

ATCA/{mu}TCA platforms are attractive because of the modern serial link architecture, high availability features and many packaging options. Less-demanding availability applications can be met economically by scaling back speed and redundancy. The ATCA specification was originally targeted for the Telecom industry but has gained recently a much wider user audience. The purpose of this paper is to report on present hardware and software R and D efforts where ATCA and {mu}TCA are planned, already being used or in development using selected examples for accelerator and detectors in the Physics community. It will present also the status of a proposal formore » physics extensions to ATCA/{mu}TCA specifications to promote inter-operability of laboratory and industry designs for physics.« less

Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI): Resources for Mining Mouse Genetic, Genomic, and Biological Data in Support of Primary and Translational Research.

PubMed

Eppig, Janan T; Smith, Cynthia L; Blake, Judith A; Ringwald, Martin; Kadin, James A; Richardson, Joel E; Bult, Carol J

2017-01-01

The Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI), resource ( www.informatics.jax.org ) has existed for over 25 years, and over this time its data content, informatics infrastructure, and user interfaces and tools have undergone dramatic changes (Eppig et al., Mamm Genome 26:272-284, 2015). Change has been driven by scientific methodological advances, rapid improvements in computational software, growth in computer hardware capacity, and the ongoing collaborative nature of the mouse genomics community in building resources and sharing data. Here we present an overview of the current data content of MGI, describe its general organization, and provide examples using simple and complex searches, and tools for mining and retrieving sets of data.

Allowing for crystalline structure effects in Geant4

DOE PAGES

Bagli, Enrico; Asai, Makoto; Dotti, Andrea; ...

2017-03-24

In recent years, the Geant4 toolkit for the Monte Carlo simulation of radiation with matter has seen large growth in its divers user community. A fundamental aspect of a successful physics experiment is the availability of a reliable and precise simulation code. Geant4 currently does not allow for the simulation of particle interactions with anything other than amorphous matter. To overcome this limitation, the GECO (GEant4 Crystal Objects) project developed a general framework for managing solid-state structures in the Geant4 kernel and validate it against experimental data. As a result, accounting for detailed geometrical structures allows, for example, simulation ofmore » diffraction from crystal planes or the channeling of charged particle.« less

Interfaces for End-User Information Seeking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchionini, Gary

1992-01-01

Discusses essential features of interfaces to support end-user information seeking. Highlights include cognitive engineering; task models and task analysis; the problem-solving nature of information seeking; examples of systems for end-users, including online public access catalogs (OPACs), hypertext, and help systems; and suggested research…

Similarity between community structures of different online social networks and its impact on underlying community detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, W.; Yeung, K. H.

2015-03-01

As social networking services are popular, many people may register in more than one online social network. In this paper we study a set of users who have accounts of three online social networks: namely Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter. Community structure of this set of users may be reflected in these three online social networks. Therefore, high correlation between these reflections and the underlying community structure may be observed. In this work, community structures are detected in all three online social networks. Also, we investigate the similarity level of community structures across different networks. It is found that they show strong correlation with each other. The similarity between different networks may be helpful to find a community structure close to the underlying one. To verify this, we propose a method to increase the weights of some connections in networks. With this method, new networks are generated to assist community detection. By doing this, value of modularity can be improved and the new community structure match network's natural structure better. In this paper we also show that the detected community structures of online social networks are correlated with users' locations which are identified on Foursquare. This information may also be useful for underlying community detection.

Definition of performance specifications for automated Analytical Electrophoresis Facility (AAEF)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, D. E.

1976-01-01

In order to provide specifications for the automated Analytical Electrophoresis Facility (AAEF) that would satisfy the broadest variety of demands of a future user community, a survey was carried out of all those people who were identified as having published papers on cell electrophoresis in the past four years. A computer search was conducted of the relevant literature from which a list of 87 investigators was derived and defined as the user community for purposes of the mailing. A questionnaire was developed covering the areas of performance which required definition which was subsequently circulated to the user community. Based on the response to this survey performance specifications were assembled.

XML Based Markup Languages for Specific Domains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varde, Aparna; Rundensteiner, Elke; Fahrenholz, Sally

A challenging area in web based support systems is the study of human activities in connection with the web, especially with reference to certain domains. This includes capturing human reasoning in information retrieval, facilitating the exchange of domain-specific knowledge through a common platform and developing tools for the analysis of data on the web from a domain expert's angle. Among the techniques and standards related to such work, we have XML, the eXtensible Markup Language. This serves as a medium of communication for storing and publishing textual, numeric and other forms of data seamlessly. XML tag sets are such that they preserve semantics and simplify the understanding of stored information by users. Often domain-specific markup languages are designed using XML, with a user-centric perspective. Standardization bodies and research communities may extend these to include additional semantics of areas within and related to the domain. This chapter outlines the issues to be considered in developing domain-specific markup languages: the motivation for development, the semantic considerations, the syntactic constraints and other relevant aspects, especially taking into account human factors. Illustrating examples are provided from domains such as Medicine, Finance and Materials Science. Particular emphasis in these examples is on the Materials Markup Language MatML and the semantics of one of its areas, namely, the Heat Treating of Materials. The focus of this chapter, however, is not the design of one particular language but rather the generic issues concerning the development of domain-specific markup languages.

Indigenous Knowledge and Long-term Ecological Change: Detection, Interpretation, and Responses to Changing Ecological Conditions in Pacific Island Communities

PubMed Central

Aswani, Shankar

2010-01-01

When local resource users detect, understand, and respond to environmental change they can more effectively manage environmental resources. This article assesses these abilities among artisanal fishers in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. In a comparison of two villages, it documents local resource users’ abilities to monitor long-term ecological change occurring to seagrass meadows near their communities, their understandings of the drivers of change, and their conceptualizations of seagrass ecology. Local observations of ecological change are compared with historical aerial photography and IKONOS satellite images that show 56 years of actual changes in seagrass meadows from 1947 to 2003. Results suggest that villagers detect long-term changes in the spatial cover of rapidly expanding seagrass meadows. However, for seagrass meadows that showed no long-term expansion or contraction in spatial cover over one-third of respondents incorrectly assumed changes had occurred. Examples from a community-based management initiative designed around indigenous ecological knowledge and customary sea tenure governance show how local observations of ecological change shape marine resource use and practices which, in turn, can increase the management adaptability of indigenous or hybrid governance systems. PMID:20336296

Service users' expectations of treatment and support at the Community Mental Health Centre in their recovery.

PubMed

Biringer, Eva; Davidson, Larry; Sundfør, Bengt; Ruud, Torleif; Borg, Marit

2017-09-01

Focus on service users' needs, coping and empowerment, user involvement, and comprehensiveness are supposed to be key elements of the Community Mental Health Centres in Norway. Taking a user-oriented approach means acknowledging the individual's own expectations, aims and hopes. However, studies that have investigated service users' expectations of treatment and support at Community Mental Health Centres are hard to find. The aim of the study was therefore to explore service users' expectations at the start of treatment at a Community Mental Health Centre. Within a collaborative framework, taking a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach, ten service users participated in in-depth interviews about their expectations, hopes and aims for treatment and recovery. The participants sought help due to various mental health issues that had interfered with their lives and created disability and suffering. A data-driven stepwise approach in line with thematic analysis was used. The study was approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services. The following four main themes representing participants' expectations at the start of treatment were elicited: hope for recovery, developing understanding, finding tools for coping and receiving counselling and practical assistance. Participants' expectations about treatment were tightly interwoven with their personal aims and hopes for their future life, and expectations were often related to practical and financial problems, the solution of which being deemed necessary to gain a safe basis for recovery in the long run. The transferability of the results may be limited by the small number of participants. The study emphasises how important it is that service users' personal aims and expectations guide the collaborative treatment process. In addition to providing treatment aimed at improving symptoms, Community Mental Health Centres should take a more comprehensive approach than today by providing more support with family issues, social life, education, work and financial issues. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Forumclínic: the shaping of virtual communities to assist patients with chronic diseases.

PubMed

Grau, Immaculada; Grajales Iii, Francisco J; Gene-Badia, Joan; Siso, Antoni; de Semir, Marc

2013-01-01

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide new opportunities to complement traditional care while enhancing patient autonomy. With the objective to supplement patient care, a group of health professionals at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona created Forumclínic, an online networking website in Spanish and Catalan. In 2008, seven web- and DVD-based chronic disease portals (Diabetes, Schizophrenia, Cardiac Ischemia, COPD, Depression, Breast Cancer and cardiovascular risk) were created with the following resources: multimedia patient education material; physician-specialist transcribed research (articles) news; an open question forum (for clinician-user and user-to-user interaction); and patient and specialist interview videos on the progress of disease, common diagnosis and treatment procedures; and information on the best or worst prognoses. Using data from Google Analytics, server logs were used to observe online behaviour patterns and user postings. This data combined with a mixed methods approach were used to evaluate the development of a virtual community (VC). A virtual community was developed when the number of forum visits was greater than those in the disease portal (definition). While nearly half of the visitors were from the Americas, the Schizophrenia, Breast Cancer, Depression and COPD forums met the criteria for and developed a virtual community. However, the Diabetes and Cardiac Ischemia forums did not reach VC status. It is also interesting to note that users in their late thirties and early forties were primarily women. The development of four virtual communities in Forumclínic seems to support the self-care needs of virtual patients. Users also reported appreciating the increased interaction with experts online and commonly collaborated with the forum moderator to guide and support other users with similar conditions in managing their health. Thence, we believe that Forumclínic is a good model to complement traditional patient care. A formal evaluation of this adjuvant form of care, from both the users' and moderators' perspective, is currently in its final stages.

Evolving a NASA Digital Object Identifiers System with Community Engagement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wanchoo, Lalit; James, Nathan

2016-01-01

To demonstrate how the ESDIS (Earth Science Data and Information System) DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system and its processes have evolved over these years based on the recommendations provided by the user community (whether the community members create and manage DOI information or use DOIs in the data citations). The user community is comprised of people with common interests and needs for data identifiers who are actively involved in the creation and usage process. Engagement describes the interactive context wherein the community provides information, evaluates the proposed processes, and provides guidance in the area of identifiers.

Analysis of the request patterns to the NSSDC on-line archive

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Theodore

1994-01-01

NASA missions, both for earth science and for space science, collect huge amounts of data, and the rate at which data is being gathered is increasing. For example, the EOSDIS project is expected to collect petabytes per year. In addition, these archives are being made available to remote users over the Internet. The ability to manage the growth of the size and request activity of scientific archives depends on an understanding of the access patterns of scientific users. The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has run their on-line mass storage archive of space data, the National Data Archive and Distribution Service (NDADS), since November 1991. A large world-wide space research community makes use of NSSDC, requesting more than 20,000 files per month. Since the initiation of their service, they have maintained log files which record all accesses the archive. In this report, we present an analysis of the NDADS log files. We analyze the log files, and discuss several issues, including caching, reference patterns, clustering, and system loading.

Formalizing and Promoting Collaboration in 3D Virtual Environments - A Blueprint for the Creation of Group Interaction Patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmeil, Andreas; Eppler, Martin J.

Despite the fact that virtual worlds and other types of multi-user 3D collaboration spaces have long been subjects of research and of application experiences, it still remains unclear how to best benefit from meeting with colleagues and peers in a virtual environment with the aim of working together. Making use of the potential of virtual embodiment, i.e. being immersed in a space as a personal avatar, allows for innovative new forms of collaboration. In this paper, we present a framework that serves as a systematic formalization of collaboration elements in virtual environments. The framework is based on the semiotic distinctions among pragmatic, semantic and syntactic perspectives. It serves as a blueprint to guide users in designing, implementing, and executing virtual collaboration patterns tailored to their needs. We present two team and two community collaboration pattern examples as a result of the application of the framework: Virtual Meeting, Virtual Design Studio, Spatial Group Configuration, and Virtual Knowledge Fair. In conclusion, we also point out future research directions for this emerging domain.

Collective dynamics of social annotation

PubMed Central

Cattuto, Ciro; Barrat, Alain; Baldassarri, Andrea; Schehr, Gregory; Loreto, Vittorio

2009-01-01

The enormous increase of popularity and use of the worldwide web has led in the recent years to important changes in the ways people communicate. An interesting example of this fact is provided by the now very popular social annotation systems, through which users annotate resources (such as web pages or digital photographs) with keywords known as “tags.” Understanding the rich emergent structures resulting from the uncoordinated actions of users calls for an interdisciplinary effort. In particular concepts borrowed from statistical physics, such as random walks (RWs), and complex networks theory, can effectively contribute to the mathematical modeling of social annotation systems. Here, we show that the process of social annotation can be seen as a collective but uncoordinated exploration of an underlying semantic space, pictured as a graph, through a series of RWs. This modeling framework reproduces several aspects, thus far unexplained, of social annotation, among which are the peculiar growth of the size of the vocabulary used by the community and its complex network structure that represents an externalization of semantic structures grounded in cognition and that are typically hard to access. PMID:19506244

BEATBOX v1.0: Background Error Analysis Testbed with Box Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knote, Christoph; Barré, Jérôme; Eckl, Max

2018-02-01

The Background Error Analysis Testbed (BEATBOX) is a new data assimilation framework for box models. Based on the BOX Model eXtension (BOXMOX) to the Kinetic Pre-Processor (KPP), this framework allows users to conduct performance evaluations of data assimilation experiments, sensitivity analyses, and detailed chemical scheme diagnostics from an observation simulation system experiment (OSSE) point of view. The BEATBOX framework incorporates an observation simulator and a data assimilation system with the possibility of choosing ensemble, adjoint, or combined sensitivities. A user-friendly, Python-based interface allows for the tuning of many parameters for atmospheric chemistry and data assimilation research as well as for educational purposes, for example observation error, model covariances, ensemble size, perturbation distribution in the initial conditions, and so on. In this work, the testbed is described and two case studies are presented to illustrate the design of a typical OSSE experiment, data assimilation experiments, a sensitivity analysis, and a method for diagnosing model errors. BEATBOX is released as an open source tool for the atmospheric chemistry and data assimilation communities.

Savant Genome Browser 2: visualization and analysis for population-scale genomics.

PubMed

Fiume, Marc; Smith, Eric J M; Brook, Andrew; Strbenac, Dario; Turner, Brian; Mezlini, Aziz M; Robinson, Mark D; Wodak, Shoshana J; Brudno, Michael

2012-07-01

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies are providing an unprecedented capacity for data generation, and there is a corresponding need for efficient data exploration and analysis capabilities. Although most existing tools for HTS data analysis are developed for either automated (e.g. genotyping) or visualization (e.g. genome browsing) purposes, such tools are most powerful when combined. For example, integration of visualization and computation allows users to iteratively refine their analyses by updating computational parameters within the visual framework in real-time. Here we introduce the second version of the Savant Genome Browser, a standalone program for visual and computational analysis of HTS data. Savant substantially improves upon its predecessor and existing tools by introducing innovative visualization modes and navigation interfaces for several genomic datatypes, and synergizing visual and automated analyses in a way that is powerful yet easy even for non-expert users. We also present a number of plugins that were developed by the Savant Community, which demonstrate the power of integrating visual and automated analyses using Savant. The Savant Genome Browser is freely available (open source) at www.savantbrowser.com.

Savant Genome Browser 2: visualization and analysis for population-scale genomics

PubMed Central

Smith, Eric J. M.; Brook, Andrew; Strbenac, Dario; Turner, Brian; Mezlini, Aziz M.; Robinson, Mark D.; Wodak, Shoshana J.; Brudno, Michael

2012-01-01

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies are providing an unprecedented capacity for data generation, and there is a corresponding need for efficient data exploration and analysis capabilities. Although most existing tools for HTS data analysis are developed for either automated (e.g. genotyping) or visualization (e.g. genome browsing) purposes, such tools are most powerful when combined. For example, integration of visualization and computation allows users to iteratively refine their analyses by updating computational parameters within the visual framework in real-time. Here we introduce the second version of the Savant Genome Browser, a standalone program for visual and computational analysis of HTS data. Savant substantially improves upon its predecessor and existing tools by introducing innovative visualization modes and navigation interfaces for several genomic datatypes, and synergizing visual and automated analyses in a way that is powerful yet easy even for non-expert users. We also present a number of plugins that were developed by the Savant Community, which demonstrate the power of integrating visual and automated analyses using Savant. The Savant Genome Browser is freely available (open source) at www.savantbrowser.com. PMID:22638571

A critical analysis of the literature on the Internet and consumer health information.

PubMed

Powell, J A; Lowe, P; Griffiths, F E; Thorogood, M

2005-01-01

A critical review of the published literature investigating the Internet and consumer health information was undertaken in order to inform further research and policy. A qualitative, narrative method was used, consisting of a three-stage process of identification and collation, thematic coding, and critical analysis. This analysis identified five main themes in the research in this area: (1) the quality of online health information for consumers; (2) consumer use of the Internet for health information; (3) the effect of e-health on the practitioner-patient relationship; (4) virtual communities and online social support and (5) the electronic delivery of information-based interventions. Analysis of these themes revealed more about the concerns of health professionals than about the effect of the Internet on users. Much of the existing work has concentrated on quantifying characteristics of the Internet: for example, measuring the quality of online information, or describing the numbers of users in different health-care settings. There is a lack of qualitative research that explores how citizens are actually using the Internet for health care.

Progress and Plans in Support of the Polar Community

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olsen, Lola M.; Meaux, Melanie F.

2006-01-01

Feedback provided by the Antarctic community has proven instrumental in positively influencing the direction of the GCMD's development. For example, in response to requests for a stand alone metadata authoring tool, a new shareable software package called docBUILDER solo will be released to the public in March 2006. This tool permits researchers to document their data during experiments and observational periods in the field. The international polar community has also played a key role in encouraging support for the foreign language character set in the metadata display and tools (10% of the records in the AMD hold foreign characters). In the upcoming release, the full ISO character set, which also includes mathematical symbols, will be supported. Additional upgrades include the ability for users to search for data sets based on pre-selected temporal and spatial resolution ranges. Data providers are strongly encouraged to populate the resolution fields for their data sets, although these fields are not currently required. In prior versions, browser incompatibilities often resulted in unreliable performance for users attempting to initiate a spatial search using a map based on Java applet technology. The GCMD will offer an integrated Google map and date search, replacing the applet technology and enhancing the geospatial and temporal searches. It is estimated that 30% of the records in the AMD have direct access to data. A growing number of these records can be accessed through data service links. Related data services are therefore becoming valuable assets in facilitating the use and visualization of data. Users will gain the ability to refine services using the same options as those available for data set searches. Data providers are encouraged to describe available data-related services through the directory. Future plans include offering web services through a SOAP interface and extending semantic queries for the polar regions through the use of ontologies. The Open Archives Initiative's (OAI) Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (PMH) has been successfully tested with several organizations and appears to be a prime candidate for sharing metadata within the community. The GCMD anticipates contributing to the design of the data management system for the International Polar Year and to the ongoing efforts in the years to come. Further enhancements will be discussed at the meeting.

DART: Tools and Support for Ensemble Data Assimilation Research, Operations, and Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoar, T. J.; Anderson, J. L.; Collins, N.; Raeder, K.; Kershaw, H.; Romine, G. S.; Mizzi, A. P.; Chatterjee, A.; Karspeck, A. R.; Zarzycki, C. M.; Ha, S. Y.; Barre, J.; Gaubert, B.

2014-12-01

The Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART) is a community facility for ensemble data assimilation developed and supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. DART provides a comprehensive suite of software, documentation, examples and tutorials that can be used for ensemble data assimilation research, operations, and education. Scientists and software engineers from the Data Assimilation Research Section at NCAR are available to actively support DART users who want to use existing DART products or develop their own new applications. Current DART users range from university professors teaching data assimilation, to individual graduate students working with simple models, through national laboratories doing operational prediction with large state-of-the-art models. DART runs efficiently on many computational platforms ranging from laptops through thousands of cores on the newest supercomputers. This poster focuses on several recent research activities using DART with geophysical models. First, DART is being used with the Community Atmosphere Model Spectral Element (CAM-SE) and Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) global atmospheric models that support locally enhanced grid resolution. Initial results from ensemble assimilation with both models are presented. DART is also being used to produce ensemble analyses of atmospheric tracers, in particular CO, in both the global CAM-Chem model and the regional Weather Research and Forecast with chemistry (WRF-Chem) model by assimilating observations from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instruments. Results from ensemble analyses in both models are presented. An interface between DART and the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) model has been completed and ensemble land surface analyses with DART/CABLE will be discussed. Finally, an update on ensemble analyses in the fully-coupled Community Earth System (CESM) is presented. The poster includes instructions on how to get started using DART for research or educational applications.

Using a social marketing framework to evaluate recruitment of a prospective study of genetic counseling and testing for the deaf community.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Yoko; Boudreault, Patrick; Hill, Karin; Sinsheimer, Janet S; Palmer, Christina G S

2013-11-25

Recruiting deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, particularly sign language-users, for genetics health service research is challenging due to communication barriers, mistrust toward genetics, and researchers' unfamiliarity with deaf people. Feelings of social exclusion and lack of social cohesion between researchers and the Deaf community are factors to consider. Social marketing is effective for recruiting hard-to-reach populations because it fosters social inclusion and cohesion by focusing on the targeted audience's needs. For the deaf population this includes recognizing their cultural and linguistic diversity, their geography, and their systems for information exchange. Here we use concepts and language from social marketing to evaluate our effectiveness to engage a U.S. deaf population in a prospective, longitudinal genetic counseling and testing study. The study design was interpreted in terms of a social marketing mix of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Price addressed linguistic diversity by including a variety of communication technologies and certified interpreters to facilitate communication; Place addressed geography by including community-based participation locations; Promotion addressed information exchange by using multiple recruitment strategies. Regression analyses examined the study design's effectiveness in recruiting a culturally and linguistically diverse sample. 271 individuals were enrolled, with 66.1% American Sign Language (ASL)-users, 19.9% ASL + English-users, 12.6% English-users. Language was significantly associated with communication technology, participation location, and recruitment. Videophone and interpreters were more likely to be used for communication between ASL-users and researchers while voice telephone and no interpreters were preferred by English-users (Price). ASL-users were more likely to participate in community-based locations while English-users preferred medically-based locations (Place). English-users were more likely to be recruited through mass media (Promotion) while ASL-users were more likely to be recruited through community events and to respond to messaging that emphasized inclusion of a Deaf perspective. This study design effectively engaged the deaf population, particularly sign language-users. Results suggest that the deaf population's cultural and linguistic diversity, geography, and forms of information exchange must be taken into account in study designs for successful recruitment. A social marketing approach that incorporates critical social determinants of health provides a novel and important framework for genetics health service research targeting specific, and hard-to-reach, underserved groups.

Using a social marketing framework to evaluate recruitment of a prospective study of genetic counseling and testing for the deaf community

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Recruiting deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, particularly sign language-users, for genetics health service research is challenging due to communication barriers, mistrust toward genetics, and researchers’ unfamiliarity with deaf people. Feelings of social exclusion and lack of social cohesion between researchers and the Deaf community are factors to consider. Social marketing is effective for recruiting hard-to-reach populations because it fosters social inclusion and cohesion by focusing on the targeted audience’s needs. For the deaf population this includes recognizing their cultural and linguistic diversity, their geography, and their systems for information exchange. Here we use concepts and language from social marketing to evaluate our effectiveness to engage a U.S. deaf population in a prospective, longitudinal genetic counseling and testing study. Methods The study design was interpreted in terms of a social marketing mix of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Price addressed linguistic diversity by including a variety of communication technologies and certified interpreters to facilitate communication; Place addressed geography by including community-based participation locations; Promotion addressed information exchange by using multiple recruitment strategies. Regression analyses examined the study design’s effectiveness in recruiting a culturally and linguistically diverse sample. Results 271 individuals were enrolled, with 66.1% American Sign Language (ASL)-users, 19.9% ASL + English-users, 12.6% English-users. Language was significantly associated with communication technology, participation location, and recruitment. Videophone and interpreters were more likely to be used for communication between ASL-users and researchers while voice telephone and no interpreters were preferred by English-users (Price). ASL-users were more likely to participate in community-based locations while English-users preferred medically-based locations (Place). English-users were more likely to be recruited through mass media (Promotion) while ASL-users were more likely to be recruited through community events and to respond to messaging that emphasized inclusion of a Deaf perspective. Conclusions This study design effectively engaged the deaf population, particularly sign language-users. Results suggest that the deaf population’s cultural and linguistic diversity, geography, and forms of information exchange must be taken into account in study designs for successful recruitment. A social marketing approach that incorporates critical social determinants of health provides a novel and important framework for genetics health service research targeting specific, and hard-to-reach, underserved groups. PMID:24274380

European grid services for global earth science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brewer, S.; Sipos, G.

2012-04-01

This presentation will provide an overview of the distributed computing services that the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) offers to the Earth Sciences community and also explain the processes whereby Earth Science users can engage with the infrastructure. One of the main overarching goals for EGI over the coming year is to diversify its user-base. EGI therefore - through the National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) that provide the bulk of resources that make up the infrastructure - offers a number of routes whereby users, either individually or as communities, can make use of its services. At one level there are two approaches to working with EGI: either users can make use of existing resources and contribute to their evolution and configuration; or alternatively they can work with EGI, and hence the NGIs, to incorporate their own resources into the infrastructure to take advantage of EGI's monitoring, networking and managing services. Adopting this approach does not imply a loss of ownership of the resources. Both of these approaches are entirely applicable to the Earth Sciences community. The former because researchers within this field have been involved with EGI (and previously EGEE) as a Heavy User Community and the latter because they have very specific needs, such as incorporating HPC services into their workflows, and these will require multi-skilled interventions to fully provide such services. In addition to the technical support services that EGI has been offering for the last year or so - the applications database, the training marketplace and the Virtual Organisation services - there now exists a dynamic short-term project framework that can be utilised to establish and operate services for Earth Science users. During this talk we will present a summary of various on-going projects that will be of interest to Earth Science users with the intention that suggestions for future projects will emerge from the subsequent discussions: • The Federated Cloud Task Force is already providing a cloud infrastructure through a few committed NGIs. This is being made available to research communities participating in the Task Force and the long-term aim is to integrate these national clouds into a pan-European infrastructure for scientific communities. • The MPI group provides support for application developers to port and scale up parallel applications to the global European Grid Infrastructure. • A lively portal developer and provider community that is able to setup and operate custom, application and/or community specific portals for members of the Earth Science community to interact with EGI. • A project to assess the possibilities for federated identity management in EGI and the readiness of EGI member states for federated authentication and authorisation mechanisms. • Operating resources and user support services to process data with new types of services and infrastructures, such as desktop grids, map-reduce frameworks, GPU clusters.

Effects of a recovery management intervention on Chinese heroin users' community recovery through the mediation effect of enhanced service utilization.

PubMed

Wu, F; Fu, L M; Hser, Y H

2015-09-01

This study investigates whether a recovery management intervention (RMI) can improve the utilization of community drug treatment and wraparound services among heroin users in China and subsequently lead to positive recovery outcomes. Secondary analysis was conducted drawing data from a randomized controlled trial; 100 heroin users with no severe mental health problems were recruited in two Shanghai districts (Hongkou and Yangpu) upon their release from compulsory rehabilitation facilities. A latent variable modeling approach was utilized to test whether the RMI influences heroin users' perceived motivation and readiness for treatment, enhances treatment and wraparound service participation, and, in turn, predicts better recovery outcomes. Enrollment in drug treatment and other social service utilization increased significantly as a result of RMI rather than an individual drug user's motivation and readiness for treatment. Increased service utilization thus led to more positive individual recovery outcomes. In addition to this mediation effect through service utilization, the RMI also improved participants' community recovery directly. Findings suggest that better drug treatment enrollment, community service utilization and recovery outcomes can be potentially achieved among heroin users in China with carefully designed case management interventions. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Discrete Abstractions of Hybrid Systems: Verification of Safety and Application to User-Interface Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oishi, Meeko; Tomlin, Claire; Degani, Asaf

2003-01-01

Human interaction with complex hybrid systems involves the user, the automation's discrete mode logic, and the underlying continuous dynamics of the physical system. Often the user-interface of such systems displays a reduced set of information about the entire system. In safety-critical systems, how can we identify user-interface designs which do not have adequate information, or which may confuse the user? Here we describe a methodology, based on hybrid system analysis, to verify that a user-interface contains information necessary to safely complete a desired procedure or task. Verification within a hybrid framework allows us to account for the continuous dynamics underlying the simple, discrete representations displayed to the user. We provide two examples: a car traveling through a yellow light at an intersection and an aircraft autopilot in a landing/go-around maneuver. The examples demonstrate the general nature of this methodology, which is applicable to hybrid systems (not fully automated) which have operational constraints we can pose in terms of safety. This methodology differs from existing work in hybrid system verification in that we directly account for the user's interactions with the system.

User-Centered Design Guidelines for Collaborative Software for Intelligence Analysis

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

Scholtz, Jean; Endert, Alexander

In this position paper we discuss the necessity of using User-Centered Design (UCD) methods in order to design collaborative software for the intelligence community. We discuss a number of studies of collaboration in the intelligence community and use this information to provide some guidelines for collaboration software.

Open Source, Meet "User-Generated Science"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huwe, Terence K.

2009-01-01

This article discusses Research Blogging, a community-run nonprofit organization that is promoting a suite of blogging software to scholars. Research Blogging itself does two things. First, it extends an invitation to a community, and it is open to anyone. Second, it requires its users to follow guidelines. The combination of rigorous guidelines…

MOOsburg: Multi-User Domain Support for a Community Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carroll, John M.; Rosson, Mary Beth; Isenhour, Philip L.; Van Metre, Christina; Schafer, Wendy A.; Ganoe, Craig H.

2001-01-01

Explains MOOsburg, a community-oriented MOO that models the geography of the town of Blacksburg, Virginia and is designed to be used by local residents. Highlights include the software architecture; client-server communication; spatial database; user interface; interaction; map-based navigation; application development; and future plans. (LRW)

Human-computer interface

DOEpatents

Anderson, Thomas G.

2004-12-21

The present invention provides a method of human-computer interfacing. Force feedback allows intuitive navigation and control near a boundary between regions in a computer-represented space. For example, the method allows a user to interact with a virtual craft, then push through the windshield of the craft to interact with the virtual world surrounding the craft. As another example, the method allows a user to feel transitions between different control domains of a computer representation of a space. The method can provide for force feedback that increases as a user's locus of interaction moves near a boundary, then perceptibly changes (e.g., abruptly drops or changes direction) when the boundary is traversed.

A vision for end-to-end data services to foster international partnerships through data sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramamurthy, M.; Yoksas, T.

2009-04-01

Increasingly, the conduct of science requires scientific partnerships and sharing of knowledge, information, and other assets. This is particularly true in our field where the highly-coupled Earth system and its many linkages have heightened the importance of collaborations across geographic, disciplinary, and organizational boundaries. The climate system, for example, is far too complex a puzzle to be unraveled by individual investigators or nations. As articulated in the NSF Strategic Plan: FY 2006-2011, "…discovery increasingly requires expertise of individuals from different disciplines, with diverse perspectives, and often from different nations, working together to accommodate the extraordinary complexity of today's science and engineering challenges." The Nobel Prize winning IPCC assessments are a prime example of such an effort. Earth science education is also uniquely suited to drawing connections between the dynamic Earth system and societal issues. Events like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina provide ample evidence of this relevance, as they underscore the importance of timely and interdisciplinary integration and synthesis of data. Our success in addressing such complex problems and advancing geosciences depends on the availability of a state-of-the-art and robust cyberinfrastructure, transparent and timely access to high-quality data from diverse sources, and requisite tools to integrate and use the data effectively, toward creating new knowledge. To that end, Unidata's vision calls for providing comprehensive, well-integrated, and end-to-end data services for the geosciences. These include an array of functions for collecting, finding, and accessing data; data management tools for generating, cataloging, and exchanging metadata; and submitting or publishing, sharing, analyzing, visualizing, and integrating data. When this vision is realized, users — no matter where they are, how they are connected to the Internet, or what computing device they use — will be able to find and access a plethora of geosciences data, experience how all of the aforementioned services work together, and use our tools and services both productively and creatively in their research, education, and other activities. Permit me to elucidate on what that vision really means for you by drawing a simple analogy. Most of you are familiar with Amazon and eBay e-commerce sites and content sharing sites like You Tube and Flickr. On the eBay marketplace, people can sell practically anything at any time and buyers can share their experience of purchasing a product or the reputation of a seller. Likewise, at Amazon, thousands of merchants sell their goods and millions of customers not only buy those goods, but provide a review or opinion of the products they buy and share their experiences with the purchase. Similarly, You Tube and Flickr are sites tailored to video- and photo-sharing, respectively, where users can upload their own content and share them with millions of other users, including family and friends. What all these sites have enabled is a sense of a virtual community in which users can search and browse products or content, comment and rate those products from anywhere, at any time, and via any Internet-enabled device like an iPhone, laptop, or a desktop computer. In essence, these enterprises have fundamentally altered people's buying modes and behavior toward purchases. I believe that similar approaches, appropriately tailored to meet the needs of the scientific community, can be adopted to provide and share geosciences data in the future. For example, future case-study data access systems, in addition to providing datasets and tools, will provide services that allow users to provide commentaries of a weather event, say a hurricane, as well as provide feedback on the quality, usefulness and interpretation of the datasets through integrated blogs, forums and Wikis, upload and share products they derive, ancillary materials that users might have gathered (such as photos and videos from the storm), and publications and curricular materials they develop, all through a single data portal. In essence, such case study collections will be "living" or dynamic, allowing users to be also contributors as they add value to and grow existing case study collections. At Unidata, our goal is to provide a portfolio of integrated data services toward realizing the vision presented here so that the geosciences community can continue to address societally relevant problems such as weather prediction, atmospheric and oceanic variability, climate change, and the water cycle, and advance scientific discovery.

Network Monitoring for Web-Based Threats

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

string to access files or folders that were not intended (see Figure 4-1). http://example.com/getUserProfile.jsp?item=../../../../etc/ passwd Figure...applied to vulnerable fields within a cookie (see Figure 4-2). Cookie: USER=1826cc8f:PSTYLE=../../../../etc/ passwd Figure 4-2: Path Traversal...further privileges. − For example, http://host/cgi- bin/lame.cgi?file=../../../../etc/ passwd • %00 requests − This is the hexadecimal value of a

Contribution of the EVER-EST project to the community of the Geohazard Supersites initiative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trasatti, Elisa; Rubbia, Giuliana; Romaniello, Vito; Merucci, Luca; Corradini, Stefano; Spinetti, Claudia; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Borgstrom, Sven; Salvi, Stefano; Parks, Michelle; Dürig, Tobias; Sigmundsson, Freysteinn

2017-04-01

The EVER-EST project (European Virtual Environment for Research - Earth Science Themes: a solution) is a H2020 project (2015-2018) aimed at the creation of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) focused on the requirements of the Earth Science community. The VRE is intended to enhance the ability to collaborate, interoperate and share knowledge and experience between all relevant stakeholders, including researchers, monitoring teams and civil protection agencies. Among the innovations of the project is the exploitation of the "Research Object" concept (http://www.rohub.org), i.e. "digital objects that encapsulate essential information about experiments and investigations to facilitate their reusability, reproducibility and better understanding". Research Objects encapsulate not only data and publications, but also algorithms, codes, results, and workflows that can be stored, shared and re-used. The European subgroup of the GEO Geohazard Supersites community involved in the project (INGV, University of Iceland) has provided user requirements and user scenarios, as well as created Research Objects embedding research activities and workflows on the Permanent Supersites Campi Flegrei, Mount Etna and Icelandic Volcanoes. These Supersites play the role of test sites for the platform, but during the last year of the project other Supersites may also be involved, to demonstrate the added value of the collaborative environment in research activities aiming to support Disaster Risk Reduction. Using the VRE, the Supersite scientists should be able to collaborate with colleagues located in different parts of the world, in a simple and effective way. This includes being able to remotely access and share data, research results and ideas, to carry out training sessions and discussions, to compare different results and models, and to synthesize many different pieces of information in a single consensus product to be disseminated to end-users. A further need of the Supersite scientists, which can be fulfilled by EVER-EST especially in less developed countries, is the need to access computing resources and software codes for data processing and modelling, as well as tutoring in data analysis and interpretation. Examples and results illustrating the effective use of the first release of the VRE will be presented at the conference.

The EVER-EST Virtual Research Environment for the European Volcano Supersites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvi, S.; Trasatti, E.; Rubbia, G.; Romaniello, V.; Marelli, F.

2017-12-01

EVER-EST (European Virtual Environment for Research - Earth Science Themes) is an European H2020 project (2015-2018) aimed at the creation of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for the Earth Sciences. The VRE is intended to enhance the ability to collaborate and share knowledge and experience among scientists. One of the innovations of the project is the exploitation of the "Research Object" concept (http://www.rohub.org). Research Objects encapsulate not only data and publications, but also algorithms, codes, results, and workflows that can be stored, shared and re-used. Four scientific communities are involved in the EVER-EST project: land monitoring, natural hazards, marine biology, and the GEO Geohazard Supersites community (http://www.earthobservations.org/gsnl.php). The latter is represented in the project by INGV and the University of Iceland, and has provided user requirements to tailor the VRE to the common needs of the worldwide Supersite communities. To develop and test the VRE we have defined user scenarios and created Research Objects embedding research activities and workflows on the Permanent Supersites Campi Flegrei, Mount Etna and Icelandic Volcanoes (http://vm1.everest.psnc.pl/supersites/). While these Supersites are test sites for the platform, during the last year of the project other Supersites may also be involved to demonstrate the added value of the collaborative environment in research activities aiming to support Disaster Risk Reduction. Using the VRE, scientists are able to collaborate with colleagues located in different parts of the world, in a simple and effective way. This includes being able to remotely access and share data, research results and ideas, to carry out training sessions and discussions, to compare different results and models, and to synthesize many different pieces of information in a single consensus product to be disseminated to end-users. In particular, a further need of the Supersite scientists, which can be fulfilled by EVER-EST especially in less developed countries, is the need to access computing resources and software codes for data processing and modelling, as well as tutoring in data analysis and interpretation. Examples and results illustrating the effective use of the VRE will be presented at the conference.

Library Users: How They Adapt to Changing Roles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miido, Helis

Traditional library tasks, for example database searching, are increasingly performed by library users, forcing both the librarian and the user to assume at times dichotomous roles of teacher and student. Modern librarians install new software and guide organizations in multimedia applications. Librarians need to be cognizant of the human factor,…

Granular Security in a Graph Database

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

have a presence in more than one layer. For example, a single social media user may have an account in Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with... Instagram layers. This restriction re- flects the reality that user A’s Facebook account cannot connect directly to user B’s Twitter account. A security

The Rural Wings Project: Bridging the Digital Divide with Satellite-Provided Internet. Phase I--Identifying and Analysing the Learning Needs of 31 Communities in 10 Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansson, Henrik; Mihailidis, Paul; Larsson, Ken; Sotiriou, Menelaos; Sotiriou, Sofoklis; Uzunoglu, Nikolaos; Gargalakos, Michail

2007-01-01

The digitally marginalised communities are in focus in the EU-funded Rural Wings project 2006-2008. The aim is to identify and analyse the user learning needs in non-connected communities and to meet these needs by providing satellite Internet broadband connections, education and tools. This article reports the findings of the user needs…

Incorporating profile information in community detection for online social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, W.; Yeung, K. H.

2014-07-01

Community structure is an important feature in the study of complex networks. It is because nodes of the same community may have similar properties. In this paper we extend two popular community detection methods to partition online social networks. In our extended methods, the profile information of users is used for partitioning. We apply the extended methods in several sample networks of Facebook. Compared with the original methods, the community structures we obtain have higher modularity. Our results indicate that users' profile information is consistent with the community structure of their friendship network to some extent. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to discuss how profile information can be used to improve community detection in online social networks.

The relationship between community structural characteristics, the context of crack use and HIV risk behaviors in San Salvador, El Salvador1

PubMed Central

Dickson-Gomez, Julia; McAuliffe, Timothy; de Mendoza, Lorena Rivas; Glasman, Laura; Gaborit, Mauricio

2012-01-01

This paper explores community structural factors in different low-income communities in the San Salvador, El Salvador that account for differences in the social context in which crack is used and in the HIV risk behaviors among crack users. Results suggest that both more distal (type of low-income community, level of violent crime and poverty) and proximate structural factors (type of site where drugs are used, and whether drugs are used within or outside of community of residence) influence HIV risk behaviors among drug users. Additionally, our results suggest that community structural factors influence the historical and geographic variation in drug use sites. PMID:22217125

Integrated Knowledge Translation: illustrated with outcome research in mental health.

PubMed

Preyde, Michele; Carter, Jeff; Penney, Randy; Lazure, Kelly; Vanderkooy, John; Chevalier, Pat

2015-01-01

Through this article the authors present a case summary of the early phases of research conducted with an Integrated Knowledge Translation (iKT) approach utilizing four factors: research question, research approach, feasibility, and outcome. iKT refers to an approach for conducting research in which community partners, referred to as knowledge users, are engaged in the entire research process. In this collaborative approach, knowledge users and researchers jointly devise the entire research agenda beginning with the development of the research question(s), determination of a feasible research design and feasible methods, interpretation of the results, dissemination of the findings, and the translation of knowledge into practice or policy decisions. Engaging clinical or community partners in the research enterprise can enhance the utility of the research results and facilitate its uptake. This collaboration can be a complex arrangement and flexibility may be required to accommodate the various configurations that the collaboration can take. For example, the research question can be jointly determined and refined; however, one person must take the responsibility for orchestrating the project, including preparing the proposal and application to the Research Ethics Board. This collaborative effort also requires the simultaneous navigation of barriers and facilitators to the research enterprise. Navigating these elements becomes part of the conduct of research with the potential for rewarding results, including an enriched work experience for clinical partners and investigators. One practice implication is that iKT may be considered of great utility to service providers due to its field friendly nature.

Unidata: 30 Years of FOSS for the Geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, E.; Ramamurthy, M. K.; Young, J. W.; Fisher, W. I.; Rew, R. K.

2015-12-01

Unidata's core mission is to serve academic research and education communities by facilitating access and use of real-time weather data. To this end, Unidata develops, distributes, and supports several Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) packages. These packages are largely focused on data management, access, analysis and visualization. This presentation will discuss the lessons Unidata has gathered over thirty years of FOSS development, support, and community building. These lessons include what it takes to be a successful FOSS organization, how to adapt to changing "best practices" and the emergence of new FOSS tools and services, and techniques for dealing with software end-of-life. We will also discuss our approach when supporting a varied user community spanning end users and software developers. Strong user support has been an important key to Unidata's successful community building.

Leveraging Social Media to Promote Public Health Knowledge: Example of Cancer Awareness via Twitter

PubMed Central

Costello, Kaitlin L; Xing, Cathleen Y; Demissie, Kitaw

2016-01-01

Background As social media becomes increasingly popular online venues for engaging in communication about public health issues, it is important to understand how users promote knowledge and awareness about specific topics. Objective The aim of this study is to examine the frequency of discussion and differences by race and ethnicity of cancer-related topics among unique users via Twitter. Methods Tweets were collected from April 1, 2014 through January 21, 2015 using the Twitter public streaming Application Programming Interface (API) to collect 1% of public tweets. Twitter users were classified into racial and ethnic groups using a new text mining approach applied to English-only tweets. Each ethnic group was then analyzed for frequency in cancer-related terms within user timelines, investigated for changes over time and across groups, and measured for statistical significance. Results Observable usage patterns of the terms "cancer", "breast cancer", "prostate cancer", and "lung cancer" between Caucasian and African American groups were evident across the study period. We observed some variation in the frequency of term usage during months known to be labeled as cancer awareness months, particularly September, October, and November. Interestingly, we found that of the terms studied, "colorectal cancer" received the least Twitter attention. Conclusions The findings of the study provide evidence that social media can serve as a very powerful and important tool in implementing and disseminating critical prevention, screening, and treatment messages to the community in real-time. The study also introduced and tested a new methodology of identifying race and ethnicity among users of the social media. Study findings highlight the potential benefits of social media as a tool in reducing racial and ethnic disparities. PMID:27227152

Leveraging Social Media to Promote Public Health Knowledge: Example of Cancer Awareness via Twitter.

PubMed

Xu, Songhua; Markson, Christopher; Costello, Kaitlin L; Xing, Cathleen Y; Demissie, Kitaw; Llanos, Adana Am

2016-01-01

As social media becomes increasingly popular online venues for engaging in communication about public health issues, it is important to understand how users promote knowledge and awareness about specific topics. The aim of this study is to examine the frequency of discussion and differences by race and ethnicity of cancer-related topics among unique users via Twitter. Tweets were collected from April 1, 2014 through January 21, 2015 using the Twitter public streaming Application Programming Interface (API) to collect 1% of public tweets. Twitter users were classified into racial and ethnic groups using a new text mining approach applied to English-only tweets. Each ethnic group was then analyzed for frequency in cancer-related terms within user timelines, investigated for changes over time and across groups, and measured for statistical significance. Observable usage patterns of the terms "cancer", "breast cancer", "prostate cancer", and "lung cancer" between Caucasian and African American groups were evident across the study period. We observed some variation in the frequency of term usage during months known to be labeled as cancer awareness months, particularly September, October, and November. Interestingly, we found that of the terms studied, "colorectal cancer" received the least Twitter attention. The findings of the study provide evidence that social media can serve as a very powerful and important tool in implementing and disseminating critical prevention, screening, and treatment messages to the community in real-time. The study also introduced and tested a new methodology of identifying race and ethnicity among users of the social media. Study findings highlight the potential benefits of social media as a tool in reducing racial and ethnic disparities.

Ubiquitous User Localization in LBS - The Need for Implementing Ethical Thinking in Our Research Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Retscher, Guenther; Obex, Franz

2015-12-01

Location-based Services (LBS) influence nowadays every individual's life due to the emerging market penetration of smartphones and other mobile devices. For smartphone Apps localization technologies are developed ranging from GNSS beyond to other alternative ubiquitous positioning methods as well as the use of the in-built inertial sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometer, barometer, etc. Moreover, signals-of-opportunity which are not intended for positioning at the first sight but are receivable in many environments such as in buildings and public spaces are more and more utilized for positioning and navigation. The use of Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) is a typical example. These technologies, however, have become very powerful tools as the enable to track an individual or even a group of users. Most technical researchers imply that it is mainly about further enhancing technologies and algorithms including the development of new advanced Apps to improve personal navigation and to deliver location oriented information just in time to a single LBS user or group of users. The authors claim that there is a need that ethical and political issues have to be addressed within our research community from the very beginning. Although there is a lot of research going on in developing algorithms to keep ones data and LBS search request in private, researchers can no longer keep their credibility without cooperating with ethical experts or an ethical committee. In a study called InKoPoMoVer (Cooperative Positioning for Real-time User Assistance and Guidance at Multi-modal Public Transit Junctions) a cooperation with social scientists was initiated for the first time at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, in this context. The major aims of this study in relation to ethical questions are addressed in this paper.

Online Video-Based Training in the Use of Hydrologic Models: A Case Example Using SWAT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frankenberger, J.

2009-12-01

Hydrologic models are increasingly important tools in public decision-making. For example, watershed models are used to develop Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plans, quantify pollutant loads, and estimate the effects of watershed restoration efforts funded by the public. One widely-used tool is the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), which has been applied by state and federal agencies, consultants, and university researchers to assess sources of nonpoint source pollution and the effects of potential solutions, and used in testimony in at least one lawsuit. The SWAT model has the capability to evaluate the relative effects of different management scenarios on water quality, sediment, and agricultural chemical yield at the watershed scale. As with all models, the model user and the decisions that s/he makes in the modeling process are important determinants of model performance. The SWAT model has an open structure, leaving most decisions up to the model user, which was especially appropriate when the model was primarily used in research by highly-experienced modelers. However, as the model has become more widely applied in planning and assessment, by people who may have limited hydrology background and modeling knowledge, the possibility that users may be using the model inconsistently or even incorrectly becomes a concern. Consistent training can lead to a minimum standard of knowledge that model users are expected to have, and therefore to higher use of best practices in modeling efforts. In addition, widespread availability of training can lead to better decisions about when and where using the model is appropriate, and what level of data needs to be available for confidence in predictions. Currently, most training in model use takes place in occasional face-to-face workshops, courses offered at a few universities, and a short tutorial available in the manual. Many new users simply acquire the model and learn from the manual, other users, trial and error, and posing questions to the web-based group. Although excellent model documentation is available (http://www.brc.tamus.edu/swat/), the extent to which users conduct careful study to ensure that their understanding goes beyond the superficial level is unknown. Online video-on-demand technology provides a way for users to learn consistent content while saving travel resources, and allows for training to fit into people’s schedule. Online videos were created to teach the basics of setting up the model, acquiring input data, parameterizing, calibrating and evaluating model results, and analyzing outputs, as well as model science, uncertainty, and appropriate use. Feedback was sought from the SWAT modeling community to determine typical backgrounds of model users and how the video training fits into the available means of learning SWAT. Evaluation is being undertaken to assess results. The processes used in developing and evaluating the online SWAT training could be applied to other computer models for which use among broader groups of people is increasing or has the potential to grow.

Constructing a High-Stakes Community in the Classroom: A Case Study of One Urban Middle-School Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothrock, Racheal M.

2017-01-01

A teacher at an urban middle school worked to become part of her students' communities and utilized the notion of community within her pedagogy. Her example offers hope that engaging with students' communities and building community within the classroom are attainable and valuable goals. Her example also demonstrates that the concept of community…

MycoCosm, an Integrated Fungal Genomics Resource

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

Shabalov, Igor; Grigoriev, Igor

2012-03-16

MycoCosm is a web-based interactive fungal genomics resource, which was first released in March 2010, in response to an urgent call from the fungal community for integration of all fungal genomes and analytical tools in one place (Pan-fungal data resources meeting, Feb 21-22, 2010, Alexandria, VA). MycoCosm integrates genomics data and analysis tools to navigate through over 100 fungal genomes sequenced at JGI and elsewhere. This resource allows users to explore fungal genomes in the context of both genome-centric analysis and comparative genomics, and promotes user community participation in data submission, annotation and analysis. MycoCosm has over 4500 unique visitors/monthmore » or 35000+ visitors/year as well as hundreds of registered users contributing their data and expertise to this resource. Its scalable architecture allows significant expansion of the data expected from JGI Fungal Genomics Program, its users, and integration with external resources used by fungal community.« less

Data Publishing - View from the Front

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlson, David; Pfeiffenberger, Hans

2014-05-01

As data publishing journals - Earth System Science Data (ESSD, Copernicus, since 2009), Geophysical Data Journal (GDJ, Wiley, recent) and Scientific Data (SD, Nature Publishing Group, anticipated from May 2014) - expose data sets, implement data description and data review practices, and develop partnerships with data centres and data providers, we anticipate substantial benefits for the broad earth system and environmental research communities but also substantial challenges for all parties. A primary advantage emerges from open access to convergent data: subsurface hydrographic data near Antarctica, for example, now available for combination and comparison with nearby atmospheric data (both documented in ESSD), basin-scale precipitation data (accessed through GDJ) for comparison and interpolation with long-term global precipitation records (accessed from ESSD), or, imagining not too far into the future, stomach content and abundance data for European fish (from ESSD) linked to genetic or nutritional data (from SD). In addition to increased opportunity for discovery and collaboration, we also notice parallel developments of new tools for (published) data visualization and display and increasing acceptance of data publication as a useful and anticipated dissemination step included in project- and institution-based data management plans. All parties - providers, publishers and users - will benefit as various indexing services (SCI, SCOPUS, DCI etc.) acknowledge the creative, intellectual and meritorious efforts of data preparation and data provision. The challenges facing data publication, in most cases very familiar to the data community but made more acute by the advances in data publishing, include diverging metadata standards (among biomedical, green ocean modeling and meteorological communities, for example), adhering to standards and practices for permanent identification while also accommodating 'living' data, and maintaining prompt but rigorous review and evaluation processes in the face of unfamiliarity and overwhelming workloads.

Articulation Research System: A New Direction in Curriculum Evaluation. User's Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Russell; Delaino, G. Thomas

This user's manual explains the Articulation Research System (ARS), which was created by Santa Fe Community College, and its database. As introductory material notes, the ARS was designed to: (1) follow former community college students through their bachelor's degree programs in the Florida State University System (SUS); (2) compare student…

Educational MOO: Text-Based Virtual Reality for Learning in Community. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turbee, Lonnie

MOO stands for "Multi-user domain, Object-Oriented." Early multi-user domains, or "MUDs," began as net-based dungeons-and-dragons type games, but MOOs have evolved from these origins to become some of cyberspace's most fascinating and engaging online communities. MOOs are social environments in a text-based virtual reality…

The Benefits and Limitations of Social Networking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strom, Paris; Strom, Robert

2012-01-01

The Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California surveys 2,000 households each year to find out how online technology affects Internet users. Findings in the latest report show social networks are increasing and a majority of users report feeling as strongly about their communities online as their real-world communities.…

User's Manual for the Object User Interface (OUI): An Environmental Resource Modeling Framework

USGS Publications Warehouse

Markstrom, Steven L.; Koczot, Kathryn M.

2008-01-01

The Object User Interface is a computer application that provides a framework for coupling environmental-resource models and for managing associated temporal and spatial data. The Object User Interface is designed to be easily extensible to incorporate models and data interfaces defined by the user. Additionally, the Object User Interface is highly configurable through the use of a user-modifiable, text-based control file that is written in the eXtensible Markup Language. The Object User Interface user's manual provides (1) installation instructions, (2) an overview of the graphical user interface, (3) a description of the software tools, (4) a project example, and (5) specifications for user configuration and extension.

Serving Satellite Remote Sensing Data to User Community through the OGC Interoperability Protocols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

di, L.; Yang, W.; Bai, Y.

2005-12-01

Remote sensing is one of the major methods for collecting geospatial data. Hugh amount of remote sensing data has been collected by space agencies and private companies around the world. For example, NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is generating more than 3 Tb of remote sensing data per day. The data collected by EOS are processed, distributed, archived, and managed by the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Currently, EOSDIS is managing several petabytes of data. All of those data are not only valuable for global change research, but also useful for local and regional application and decision makings. How to make the data easily accessible to and usable by the user community is one of key issues for realizing the full potential of these valuable datasets. In the past several years, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has developed several interoperability protocols aiming at making geospatial data easily accessible to and usable by the user community through Internet. The protocols particularly relevant to the discovery, access, and integration of multi-source satellite remote sensing data are the Catalog Service for Web (CS/W) and Web Coverage Services (WCS) Specifications. The OGC CS/W specifies the interfaces, HTTP protocol bindings, and a framework for defining application profiles required to publish and access digital catalogues of metadata for geographic data, services, and related resource information. The OGC WCS specification defines the interfaces between web-based clients and servers for accessing on-line multi-dimensional, multi-temporal geospatial coverage in an interoperable way. Based on definitions by OGC and ISO 19123, coverage data include all remote sensing images as well as gridded model outputs. The Laboratory for Advanced Information Technology and Standards (LAITS), George Mason University, has been working on developing and implementing OGC specifications for better serving NASA Earth science data to the user community for many years. We have developed the NWGISS software package that implements multiple OGC specifications, including OGC WMS, WCS, CS/W, and WFS. As a part of NASA REASON GeoBrain project, the NWGISS WCS and CS/W servers have been extended to provide operational access to NASA EOS data at data pools through OGC protocols and to make both services chainable in the web-service chaining. The extensions in the WCS server include the implementation of WCS 1.0.0 and WCS 1.0.2, and the development of WSDL description of the WCS services. In order to find the on-line EOS data resources, the CS/W server is extended at the backend to search metadata in NASA ECHO. This presentation reports those extensions and discuss lessons-learned on the implementation. It also discusses the advantage, disadvantages, and future improvement of OGC specifications, particularly the WCS.

Open Clients for Distributed Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chayes, D. N.; Arko, R. A.

2001-12-01

We are actively developing a collection of open source example clients that demonstrate use of our "back end" data management infrastructure. The data management system is reported elsewhere at this meeting (Arko and Chayes: A Scaleable Database Infrastructure). In addition to their primary goal of being examples for others to build upon, some of these clients may have limited utility in them selves. More information about the clients and the data infrastructure is available on line at http://data.ldeo.columbia.edu. The available examples to be demonstrated include several web-based clients including those developed for the Community Review System of the Digital Library for Earth System Education, a real-time watch standers log book, an offline interface to use log book entries, a simple client to search on multibeam metadata and others are Internet enabled and generally web-based front ends that support searches against one or more relational databases using industry standard SQL queries. In addition to the web based clients, simple SQL searches from within Excel and similar applications will be demonstrated. By defining, documenting and publishing a clear interface to the fully searchable databases, it becomes relatively easy to construct client interfaces that are optimized for specific applications in comparison to building a monolithic data and user interface system.

Spaceflight Operations Services Grid (SOSG)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bradford, Robert N.; Thigpen, William W.

2004-01-01

In an effort to adapt existing space flight operations services to new emerging Grid technologies we are developing a Grid-based prototype space flight operations Grid. This prototype is based on the operational services being provided to the International Space Station's Payload operations located at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama. The prototype services will be Grid or Web enabled and provided to four user communities through portal technology. Users will have the opportunity to assess the value and feasibility of Grid technologies to their specific areas or disciplines. In this presentation descriptions of the prototype development, User-based services, Grid-based services and status of the project will be presented. Expected benefits, findings and observations (if any) to date will also be discussed. The focus of the presentation will be on the project in general, status to date and future plans. The End-use services to be included in the prototype are voice, video, telemetry, commanding, collaboration tools and visualization among others. Security is addressed throughout the project and is being designed into the Grid technologies and standards development. The project is divided into three phases. Phase One establishes the baseline User-based services required for space flight operations listed above. Phase Two involves applying Gridlweb technologies to the User-based services and development of portals for access by users. Phase Three will allow NASA and end users to evaluate the services and determine the future of the technology as applied to space flight operational services. Although, Phase One, which includes the development of the quasi-operational User-based services of the prototype, development will be completed by March 2004, the application of Grid technologies to these services will have just begun. We will provide status of the Grid technologies to the individual User-based services. This effort will result in an extensible environment that incorporates existing and new spaceflight services into a standards-based framework providing current and future NASA programs with cost savings and new and evolvable methods to conduct science. This project will demonstrate how the use of new programming paradigms such as web and grid services can provide three significant benefits to the cost-effective delivery of spaceflight services. They will enable applications to operate more efficiently by being able to utilize pooled resources. They will also permit the reuse of common services to rapidly construct new and more powerful applications. Finally they will permit easy and secure access to services via a combination of grid and portal technology by a distributed user community consisting of NASA operations centers, scientists, the educational community and even the general population as outreach. The approach will be to deploy existing mission support applications such as the Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) and new applications under development, such as the Grid Video Distribution System (GViDS), together with existing grid applications and services such as high-performance computing and visualization services provided by NASA s Information Power Grid (IPG) in the MSFC s Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) HOSC Annex. Once the initial applications have been moved to the grid, a process will begin to apply the new programming paradigms to integrate them where possible. For example, with GViDS, instead of viewing the Distribution service as an application that must run on a single node, the new approach is to build it such that it can be dispatched across a pool of resources in response to dynamic loads. To make this a reality, reusable services will be critical, such as a brokering service to locate appropriate resource within the pool. This brokering service can then be used by other applications such as the TReK. To expand further, if the GViDS application is constructed using a services-based mel, then other applications such as the Video Auditorium can then use GViDS as a service to easily incorporate these video streams into a collaborative conference. Finally, as these applications are re-factored into this new services-based paradigm, the construction of portals to integrate them will be a simple process. As a result, portals can be tailored to meet the requirements of specific user communities.

Perceptions of Community Benefits from Two Wild and Scenic Rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Jordan W.; Moore, Roger L.

2011-05-01

Wild and Scenic Rivers provide a host of psychological, social, ecological, and economic benefits to local communities. In this study, we use data collected from recreational users of two Wild and Scenic Rivers to examine perceptions of the benefits provided by the rivers to local communities. Our purposes are (1) to determine if similar perceptions of community benefits exist across the two rivers, (2) to determine if individuals' proximity to the rivers are related to the benefits they perceive, (3) to determine if individuals' prior recreation experience on the river is related to variations in perceived benefits, (4) to determine if users' sociodemographic characteristics are related to perceived community benefits, and (5) to determine if the influence of these characteristics on perceived community benefits is similar across the two resource areas. Perceived benefits were found to be analogous across both rivers as individuals consistently ranked ecological/affective benefits as well as tangible benefits similarly. Recreationists living further from the river ranked ecological and affective benefits as significantly less important than those individuals living closer to the river. Women perceived the community benefits produced by the resource areas to be significantly more important when compared to men. Significant relationships were also found between perceived benefits and recreationists' previous use of the river, their age, and their level of education. With the exception of resource proximity and prior use history, the effects of user characteristics on perceived community benefits were not statistically different across the two rivers. These findings imply similar patterns of perceived community benefits exist across distinct resource areas and that the relationships between user characteristics and perceived benefits are also similar across the study rivers.

Tackling community integration in mental health home visit integration in Finland.

PubMed

Raitakari, Suvi; Haahtela, Riikka; Juhila, Kirsi

2016-09-01

Integration - and its synonym inclusion - is emphasised in the western welfare states and in the European Union in particular. Integration is also a central topic in the social sciences and in current mental health and homelessness research and practice. As mental healthcare has shifted from psychiatric hospitals to the community, it has inevitably become involved with housing and integration issues. This article explores how community integration is understood and tackled in mental health floating support services (FSSs) and, more precisely, in service user-practitioner home visit interaction. The aim, through shedding light on how the idea of integration is present and discussed in front-line mental health practices, is to offer a 'template' on how we might, in a systematic and reflective way, develop community integration research and practice. The analysis is based on ethnomethodological and micro-sociological interaction research. The research settings are two FSSs located in a large Finnish city. The data contain 24 audio-recorded and transcribed home visits conducted in 2011 and 2012 with 16 different service users. The study shows how the participants in service user-practitioner interaction give meaning to community integration and make decisions about how it should (or should not) be enhanced in each individual case. This activity is called community integration work in action. Community integration work in action is based on various dimensions of integration: getting out of the house, participating in group activities and getting along with those involved in one's life and working life. Additionally, the analysis demonstrates how community integration work is accomplished by discursive devices (resistance, positioning, excuses and justifications, delicacy and advice-giving). The article concludes that community integration is about interaction: it is not only service users' individual challenge but also a social challenge, our challenge. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Interface through Cooperative Agreements: Eleven Examples of How It Can Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jellison, Holly M., Ed.

Designed as a resource for community colleges wishing to initiate a cooperative agreement with a local agency to offer community education programs, this publication offers 11 representative examples of such agreements. After explaining that the Center for Community Education collected the agreements as part of a 1981 study of community education…

Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) User Manual: A ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program is developing methodologies, resources, and tools to assist community members and local decision makers in implementing policy choices that facilitate sustainable approaches in managing their resources affecting the built environment, natural environment, and human health. In order to assist communities and decision makers in implementing sustainable practices, EPA is developing computer-based systems including models, databases, web tools, and web browsers to help communities decide upon approaches that support their desired outcomes. Communities need access to resources that will allow them to achieve their sustainability objectives through intelligent decisions in four key sustainability areas: • Land Use • Buildings and Infrastructure • Transportation • Materials Management (i.e., Municipal Solid Waste [MSW] processing and disposal) The Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) is designed to support sustainable decision-making for communities, local and regional planners, and policy and decision makers. Document is an EPA Technical Report, which is the user manual for the Multi-Sector Sustainability Browser (MSSB) tool. The purpose of the document is to provide basic guidance on use of the tool for users

The impact of realignment on utilization and cost of community-based mental health services in California.

PubMed

Scheffler, R; Zhang, A; Snowden, L

2001-11-01

Decentralization of California's public mental health system under program realignment has changed the utilization and cost of community-based mental health services. This study examined a sample of 75,951 users, representing 1.5 million adults who visited California's public mental health services during a 6-year period (FY 1988-1990 and FY 1992-1994). Regression analysis was performed to examine cost and utilization reduction over time, across regions, and across psychiatric diagnoses. Overall utilization and cost of community-based mental health services dropped significantly after the implementation of realignment. They were significantly lower for (a) 24-hour services in the urban industrialized Southern Region and (b) outpatient services in the agricultural Central Region of the state. Users diagnosed with mood disorders took a greater portion, but were associated with significantly less treatment and cost than other users in the post-realignment period. When local communities bear the financial risks and rewards, they find more efficient methods of delivering community-based mental health services.

Community Data Management and the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duerr, R.; Pulsifer, P. L.; Strawhacker, C.; Mccann, H. S.

2016-12-01

The mission of the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) is to facilitate the collection, preservation, exchange, and use of local observations and knowledge by Indigenous communities in the Arctic by providing data management services and user support, and by fostering collaboration between resident Arctic experts and visiting researchers. ELOKA's overarching philosophy is that Local and Traditional Knowledge (LTK) and scientific data and expertise are complementary and reinforcing ways of understanding the Arctic system. Collecting, documenting, preserving, and sharing knowledge is a cooperative endeavor, and ELOKA is dedicated to fostering ethical knowledge sharing among Arctic residents and communities, scientists, educators, policy makers, and the general public. But what does that mean in practice and what are the next steps for ELOKA in the coming years? In this presentation, we discuss the ethical issues involved with data management for LTK and community-based projects, some of the tools ELOKA has developed for interacting with communities and researchers and for managing LTK data, and our plans for the future. These include a discussion of the considerations local and community-based projects should make when planning and conducting research. It is clear, for example, that research projects should either include Indigenous voices at the outset of the project or have a prominent Indigenous voice so that appropriate methods or approaches can be adopted. Discussion of data access and funder obligations will be included. The data management tools that ELOKA employs and is developing for the future that can manage the wide range of data types typical of a community or LTK project will also be described, as will ELOKA's program for transferring long-term data management skills to communities that wish to take that on. Finally, ELOKA's plans for the future will be described.

OA39 Digging a hole… planting a seed… water it and watch it start to grow, grow, grow.

PubMed

Lloyd, Rebecca; McLoughlin, Kathleen; McGloughlin, Carmelia; Macken, Caroline; Richardson, Marie; Rhatigan, Jim

2015-04-01

Milford Care Centre's Compassionate Communities Project uses a seed grant scheme to engage with communities around illness, dying, death and bereavement. The scheme, now in it's 3(rd) cycle strives to inspire and support the work of local groups, organisations and individuals who wish to mark in some tangible way their response to the universal realities of death, dying, loss and care as lived and experienced by those living within their communities. A key requirement for the receipt of a grant is that the level of funding must be matched either in cash or in kind. This presentation will report on the projects supported, describing the short and medium term impact they have had on the local community. A short film will showcase the projects. Qualitative interviews were conducted with all grant recipients to determine the impact of the seed grant at a community level. Seed grants were used in a variety of ways, for example: Supporting a community group to develop a reflection space Supporting a youth project to explore what death, dying, loss and care means to service users through the creative arts. Supporting a library to develop a bereavement information 'resource'. Supporting local groups to run a community event aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge about 'healthy' ways of coping with loss and grief. Supporting those seeking practical ways of providing support to other living with illness and loss. The seed grant scheme offers a low cost, high impact approach to working with communities. © 2015, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Understanding social and behavioral drivers and impacts of air quality sensor use.

PubMed

Hubbell, Bryan J; Kaufman, Amanda; Rivers, Louie; Schulte, Kayla; Hagler, Gayle; Clougherty, Jane; Cascio, Wayne; Costa, Dan

2018-04-15

Lower-cost air quality sensors (hundreds to thousands of dollars) are now available to individuals and communities. This technology is undergoing a rapid and fragmented evolution, resulting in sensors that have uncertain data quality, measure different air pollutants and possess a variety of design attributes. Why and how individuals and communities choose to use sensors is arguably influenced by social context. For example, community experiences with environmental exposures and health effects and related interactions with industry and government can affect trust in traditional air quality monitoring. To date, little social science research has been conducted to evaluate why or how sensors, and sensor data, are used by individuals and communities, or how the introduction of sensors changes the relationship between communities and air quality managers. This commentary uses a risk governance/responsible innovation framework to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary research that brings together social scientists with air quality researchers involved in developing, testing, and deploying sensors in communities. Potential areas for social science research include communities of sensor users; drivers for use of sensors and sensor data; behavioral, socio-political, and ethical implications of introducing sensors into communities; assessing methods for communicating sensor data; and harnessing crowdsourcing capabilities to analyze sensor data. Social sciences can enhance understanding of perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and other human factors that drive levels of engagement with and trust in different types of air quality data. New transdisciplinary research bridging social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and design fields of study, and involving citizen scientists working with professionals from a variety of backgrounds, can increase our understanding of air sensor technology use and its impacts on air quality and public health. Published by Elsevier B.V.

User's Guide for SKETCH

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hedgley, David R., Jr.

2000-01-01

A user's guide for the computer program SKETCH is presented on this disk. SKETCH solves a popular problem in computer graphics-the removal of hidden lines from images of solid objects. Examples and illustrations are included in the guide. Also included is the SKETCH program, so a user can incorporate the information into a particular software system.

A comparative analysis of user preference-based and existing knowledge management systems attributes in the aerospace industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varghese, Nishad G.

Knowledge management (KM) exists in various forms throughout organizations. Process documentation, training courses, and experience sharing are examples of KM activities performed daily. The goal of KM systems (KMS) is to provide a tool set which serves to standardize the creation, sharing, and acquisition of business critical information. Existing literature provides numerous examples of targeted evaluations of KMS, focusing on specific system attributes. This research serves to bridge the targeted evaluations with an industry-specific, holistic approach. The user preferences of aerospace employees in engineering and engineering-related fields were compared to profiles of existing aerospace KMS based on three attribute categories: technical features, system administration, and user experience. The results indicated there is a statistically significant difference between aerospace user preferences and existing profiles in the user experience attribute category, but no statistically significant difference in the technical features and system administration attribute categories. Additional analysis indicated in-house developed systems exhibit higher technical features and user experience ratings than commercial-off-the-self (COTS) systems.

Pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photo sharing: a tale of two warring tribes.

PubMed

Yom-Tov, Elad; Fernandez-Luque, Luis; Weber, Ingmar; Crain, Steven P

2012-11-07

There is widespread use of the Internet to promote anorexia as a lifestyle choice. Pro-anorexia content can be harmful for people affected or at risk of having anorexia. That movement is actively engaged in sharing photos on social networks such as Flickr. To study the characteristics of the online communities engaged in disseminating content that encourages eating disorders (known as "pro-anorexia") and to investigate if the posting of such content is discouraged by the posting of recovery-oriented content. The extraction of pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photographs from the photo sharing site Flickr pertaining to 242,710 photos from 491 users and analyzing four separate social networks therein. Pro-anorexia and pro-recovery communities interact to a much higher degree among themselves than what is expected from the distribution of contacts (only 59-72% of contacts but 74-83% of comments are made to members inside the community). Pro-recovery users employ similar words to those used by pro-anorexia users to describe their photographs, possibly in order to ensure that their content appears when pro-anorexia users search for images. Pro-anorexia users who are exposed to comments from the opposite camp are less likely to cease posting pro-anorexia photographs than those who do not receive such comments (46% versus 61%), and if they cease, they do so approximately three months later. Our observations show two highly active communities, where most interaction is within each community. However, the pro-recovery community takes steps to ensure that their content is visible to the pro-anorexia community, both by using textual descriptions of their photographs that are similar to those used by the pro-anorexia group and by commenting to pro-anorexia content. The latter activity is, however, counterproductive, as it entrenches pro-anorexia users in their stance. Our results highlight the nature of pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photo sharing and accentuate the need for clinicians to be aware of such content and its effect on their patients. Our findings suggest that some currently used interventions are not useful in helping pro-anorexia users recover. Thus, future work should focus on new intervention methods, possibly tailored to individual characteristics.

Pro-Anorexia and Pro-Recovery Photo Sharing: A Tale of Two Warring Tribes

PubMed Central

Yom-Tov, Elad; Weber, Ingmar; Crain, Steven P

2012-01-01

Background There is widespread use of the Internet to promote anorexia as a lifestyle choice. Pro-anorexia content can be harmful for people affected or at risk of having anorexia. That movement is actively engaged in sharing photos on social networks such as Flickr. Objective To study the characteristics of the online communities engaged in disseminating content that encourages eating disorders (known as “pro-anorexia”) and to investigate if the posting of such content is discouraged by the posting of recovery-oriented content. Methods The extraction of pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photographs from the photo sharing site Flickr pertaining to 242,710 photos from 491 users and analyzing four separate social networks therein. Results Pro-anorexia and pro-recovery communities interact to a much higher degree among themselves than what is expected from the distribution of contacts (only 59-72% of contacts but 74-83% of comments are made to members inside the community). Pro-recovery users employ similar words to those used by pro-anorexia users to describe their photographs, possibly in order to ensure that their content appears when pro-anorexia users search for images. Pro-anorexia users who are exposed to comments from the opposite camp are less likely to cease posting pro-anorexia photographs than those who do not receive such comments (46% versus 61%), and if they cease, they do so approximately three months later. Our observations show two highly active communities, where most interaction is within each community. However, the pro-recovery community takes steps to ensure that their content is visible to the pro-anorexia community, both by using textual descriptions of their photographs that are similar to those used by the pro-anorexia group and by commenting to pro-anorexia content. The latter activity is, however, counterproductive, as it entrenches pro-anorexia users in their stance. Conclusions Our results highlight the nature of pro-anorexia and pro-recovery photo sharing and accentuate the need for clinicians to be aware of such content and its effect on their patients. Our findings suggest that some currently used interventions are not useful in helping pro-anorexia users recover. Thus, future work should focus on new intervention methods, possibly tailored to individual characteristics. PMID:23134671

Parent use of touchscreen computer kiosks for child health promotion in community settings.

PubMed

Thompson, Darcy A; Lozano, Paula; Christakis, Dimitri A

2007-03-01

The goals were to evaluate the use of touchscreen computer kiosks, containing only child health-promoting information, in urban, low-income, community settings and to characterize the users of these kiosks. Three user-driven touchscreen computer kiosks were placed in low-income urban locations in Seattle, Washington, from March 2005 to October 2005. The locations included a public library, a Department of Motor Vehicles office, and a McDonald's restaurant. Users selected age-appropriate modules with prevention information and screening tools. Users entered the age of the child and were presented with age-appropriate modules. On exiting, users were asked to rate their experience and to provide basic demographic data. In total, there were 1846 kiosk sessions. Almost one half occurred at McDonald's. Seventy-eight percent of users identified themselves as first-time users. Users sought information for children of all ages. Sixty-one percent of first-time users explored 1 module. First-time users were most interested in television/media use (16%), smoke exposure (14%), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder screening (12%), and asthma assessment (11%). At-risk children were identified in 52% of sessions. Eighty-seven percent of first-time users who completed the asthma assessment had children whose asthma was uncontrolled. Twenty-eight percent of users responded to > or = 1 question on the exit survey. Of those, 48% had less than a high school education, and 26% had never used the Internet. Approximately one half found the kiosk easy to use (57%) and the information easy to understand (55%); 66% said there was at least some new information. Fifty-five percent planned to try some of the things they had learned, and 49% intended to talk to their child's doctor about what they had learned. User-driven computer kiosks were used in community settings to obtain child health information. Users found the kiosks easy to use. Additional study on improving use and understanding the impact is needed.

The GEOSS User Requirement Registry (URR): A Cross-Cutting Service-Oriented Infrastructure Linking Science, Society and GEOSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plag, H.-P.; Foley, G.; Jules-Plag, S.; Ondich, G.; Kaufman, J.

2012-04-01

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is implementing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) as a user-driven service infrastructure responding to the needs of users in nine interdependent Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) of Earth observations (EOs). GEOSS applies an interdisciplinary scientific approach integrating observations, research, and knowledge in these SBAs in order to enable scientific interpretation of the collected observations and the extraction of actionable information. Using EOs to actually produce these societal benefits means getting the data and information to users, i.e., decision-makers. Thus, GEO needs to know what the users need and how they would use the information. The GEOSS User Requirements Registry (URR) is developed as a service-oriented infrastructure enabling a wide range of users, including science and technology (S&T) users, to express their needs in terms of EOs and to understand the benefits of GEOSS for their fields. S&T communities need to be involved in both the development and the use of GEOSS, and the development of the URR accounts for the special needs of these communities. The GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI) at the core of GEOSS includes system-oriented registries enabling users to discover, access, and use EOs and derived products and services available through GEOSS. In addition, the user-oriented URR is a place for the collection, sharing, and analysis of user needs and EO requirements, and it provides means for an efficient dialog between users and providers. The URR is a community-based infrastructure for the publishing, viewing, and analyzing of user-need related information. The data model of the URR has a core of seven relations for User Types, Applications, Requirements, Research Needs, Infrastructure Needs, Technology Needs, and Capacity Building Needs. The URR also includes a Lexicon, a number of controlled vocabularies, and

Mission Applications Support at NASA: The Proposal Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, Margaret; Peterson, Craig; Callahan, Phil

2013-09-01

The NASA Applied Sciences Program is actively supporting an agency-wide effort to formalize a mission-level data applications approach. The program goal is to engage early-phase NASA Earth satellite mission project teams with applied science representation in the flight mission planning process. The end objective is to "to engage applications-oriented users and organizations early in the satellite mission lifecycle to enable them to envision possible applications and integrate end-user needs into satellite mission planning as a way to increase the benefits to the nation."Two mission applications representatives have been selected for each early phase Tier 2 mission, including the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission concept. These representatives are tasked with identifying and organizing the applications communities and developing and promoting a process for the mission to optimize the reach of existing applications efforts in order to enhance the applications value of the missions. An early project-level awareness of mission planning decisions that may increase or decrease the utility of data products to diverse user and potential user communities (communities of practice and communities of potential, respectively) has high value and potential return to the mission and to the users.Successful strategies to enhance science and practical applications of projected SWOT data streams will require engaging with and facilitating between representatives in the science, societal applications, and mission planning communities.Some of the elements of this program include:• Identify early adopters of data products• Coordinate applications team, including;Project Scientist, Payload Scientist, ProjectManager, data processing lead• Describe mission and products sufficiently inearly stage of development to effectively incorporate all potential usersProducts and activities resulting from this effort will include (but are not limited to); workshops, workshop summaries, web pages, email lists of interested users/scientists, an Applications Plan, printed materials (posters, brochures) and participation in key meetings.

What Online User Innovation Communities Can Teach Us about Capturing the Experiences of Patients Living with Chronic Health Conditions. A Scoping Review

PubMed Central

Amann, Julia; Zanini, Claudia; Rubinelli, Sara

2016-01-01

Background In order to adapt to societal changes, healthcare systems need to switch from a disease orientation to a patient-centered approach. Virtual patient networks are a promising tool to favor this switch and much can be learned from the open and user innovation literature where the involvement of online user communities in the innovation process is well-documented. Objectives The objectives of this study were 1) to describe the use of online communities as a tool to capture and harness innovative ideas of end users or consumers; and 2) to point to the potential value and challenges of these virtual platforms to function as a tool to inform and promote patient-centered care in the context of chronic health conditions. Methods A scoping review was conducted. A total of seven databases were searched for scientific articles published in English between 1995 and 2014. The search strategy was refined through an iterative process. Results A total of 144 studies were included in the review. Studies were coded inductively according to their research focus to identify groupings of papers. The first set of studies focused on the interplay of factors related to user roles, motivations, and behaviors that shape the innovation process within online communities. Studies of the second set examined the role of firms in online user innovation initiatives, identifying different organizational strategies and challenges. The third set of studies focused on the idea selection process and measures of success with respect to online user innovation initiatives. Finally, the findings from the review are presented in the light of the particularities and challenges discussed in current healthcare research. Conclusion The present paper highlights the potential of virtual patient communities to inform and promote patient-centered care, describes the key challenges involved in this process, and makes recommendations on how to address them. PMID:27272912

What Online User Innovation Communities Can Teach Us about Capturing the Experiences of Patients Living with Chronic Health Conditions. A Scoping Review.

PubMed

Amann, Julia; Zanini, Claudia; Rubinelli, Sara

2016-01-01

In order to adapt to societal changes, healthcare systems need to switch from a disease orientation to a patient-centered approach. Virtual patient networks are a promising tool to favor this switch and much can be learned from the open and user innovation literature where the involvement of online user communities in the innovation process is well-documented. The objectives of this study were 1) to describe the use of online communities as a tool to capture and harness innovative ideas of end users or consumers; and 2) to point to the potential value and challenges of these virtual platforms to function as a tool to inform and promote patient-centered care in the context of chronic health conditions. A scoping review was conducted. A total of seven databases were searched for scientific articles published in English between 1995 and 2014. The search strategy was refined through an iterative process. A total of 144 studies were included in the review. Studies were coded inductively according to their research focus to identify groupings of papers. The first set of studies focused on the interplay of factors related to user roles, motivations, and behaviors that shape the innovation process within online communities. Studies of the second set examined the role of firms in online user innovation initiatives, identifying different organizational strategies and challenges. The third set of studies focused on the idea selection process and measures of success with respect to online user innovation initiatives. Finally, the findings from the review are presented in the light of the particularities and challenges discussed in current healthcare research. The present paper highlights the potential of virtual patient communities to inform and promote patient-centered care, describes the key challenges involved in this process, and makes recommendations on how to address them.

Health-care users, key community informants and primary health care workers' views on health, health promotion, health assets and deficits: qualitative study in seven Spanish regions.

PubMed

Pons-Vigués, Mariona; Berenguera, Anna; Coma-Auli, Núria; Pombo-Ramos, Haizea; March, Sebastià; Asensio-Martínez, Angela; Moreno-Peral, Patricia; Mora-Simón, Sara; Martínez-Andrés, Maria; Pujol-Ribera, Enriqueta

2017-06-13

Although some articles have analysed the definitions of health and health promotion from the perspective of health-care users and health care professionals, no published studies include the simultaneous participation of health-care users, primary health care professionals and key community informants. Understanding the perception of health and health promotion amongst these different stakeholders is crucial for the design and implementation of successful, equitable and sustainable measures that improve the health and wellbeing of populations. Furthermore, the identification of different health assets and deficits by the different informants will generate new evidence to promote healthy behaviours, improve community health and wellbeing and reduce preventable inequalities. The objective of this study is to explore the concept of health and health promotion and to compare health assets and deficits as identified by health-care users, key community informants and primary health care workers with the ultimate purpose to collect the necessary data for the design and implementation of a successful health promotion intervention. A descriptive-interpretive qualitative research was conducted with 276 participants from 14 primary care centres of 7 Spanish regions. Theoretical sampling was used for selection. We organized 11 discussion groups and 2 triangular groups with health-care users; 30 semi-structured interviews with key community informants; and 14 discussion groups with primary health care workers. A thematic content analysis was carried out. Health-care users and key community informants agree that health is a complex, broad, multifactorial concept that encompasses several interrelated dimensions (physical, psychological-emotional, social, occupational, intellectual, spiritual and environmental). The three participants' profiles consider health promotion indispensable despite defining it as complex and vague. In fact, most health-care users admit to having implemented some change to promote their health. The most powerful motivators to change lifestyles are having a disease, fear of becoming ill and taking care of oneself to maintain health. Health-care users believe that the main difficulties are associated with the physical, social, working and family environment, as well as lack of determination and motivation. They also highlight the need for more information. In relation to the assets and deficits of the neighbourhood, each group identifies those closer to their role. Generally, participants showed a holistic and positive concept of health and a more traditional, individual approach to health promotion. We consider therefore crucial to depart from the model of health services that focuses on the individual and the disease toward a socio-ecological health model that substantially increases the participation of health-care users and emphasizes health promotion, wellbeing and community participation.

The NCAR Research Data Archive's Hybrid Approach for Data Discovery and Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, D.; Worley, S. J.

2013-12-01

The NCAR Research Data Archive (RDA http://rda.ucar.edu) maintains a variety of data discovery and access capabilities for it's 600+ dataset collections to support the varying needs of a diverse user community. In-house developed and standards-based community tools offer services to more than 10,000 users annually. By number of users the largest group is external and access the RDA through web based protocols; the internal NCAR HPC users are fewer in number, but typically access more data volume. This paper will detail the data discovery and access services maintained by the RDA to support both user groups, and show metrics that illustrate how the community is using the services. The distributed search capability enabled by standards-based community tools, such as Geoportal and an OAI-PMH access point that serves multiple metadata standards, provide pathways for external users to initially discover RDA holdings. From here, in-house developed web interfaces leverage primary discovery level metadata databases that support keyword and faceted searches. Internal NCAR HPC users, or those familiar with the RDA, may go directly to the dataset collection of interest and refine their search based on rich file collection metadata. Multiple levels of metadata have proven to be invaluable for discovery within terabyte-sized archives composed of many atmospheric or oceanic levels, hundreds of parameters, and often numerous grid and time resolutions. Once users find the data they want, their access needs may vary as well. A THREDDS data server running on targeted dataset collections enables remote file access through OPENDAP and other web based protocols primarily for external users. In-house developed tools give all users the capability to submit data subset extraction and format conversion requests through scalable, HPC based delayed mode batch processing. Users can monitor their RDA-based data processing progress and receive instructions on how to access the data when it is ready. External users are provided with RDA server generated scripts to download the resulting request output. Similarly they can download native dataset collection files or partial files using Wget or cURL based scripts supplied by the RDA server. Internal users can access the resulting request output or native dataset collection files directly from centralized file systems.

Dynamic robustness of knowledge collaboration network of open source product development community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Hong-Li; Zhang, Xiao-Dong

2018-01-01

As an emergent innovative design style, open source product development communities are characterized by a self-organizing, mass collaborative, networked structure. The robustness of the community is critical to its performance. Using the complex network modeling method, the knowledge collaboration network of the community is formulated, and the robustness of the network is systematically and dynamically studied. The characteristics of the network along the development period determine that its robustness should be studied from three time stages: the start-up, development and mature stages of the network. Five kinds of user-loss pattern are designed, to assess the network's robustness under different situations in each of these three time stages. Two indexes - the largest connected component and the network efficiency - are used to evaluate the robustness of the community. The proposed approach is applied in an existing open source car design community. The results indicate that the knowledge collaboration networks show different levels of robustness in different stages and different user loss patterns. Such analysis can be applied to provide protection strategies for the key users involved in knowledge dissemination and knowledge contribution at different stages of the network, thereby promoting the sustainable and stable development of the open source community.

Context and group dynamics in a CBPR-developed HIV prevention intervention

PubMed Central

Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Corbett, A. Michelle; Bodnar, Gloria; Zuniga, Maria Ofelia; Guevara, Carmen Eugenia; Rodriguez, Karla; Navas, Verónica

2016-01-01

This paper will explore in detail the effects of context and group dynamics on the development of a multi-level community-based HIV prevention intervention for crack cocaine users in the San Salvador Metropolitan Area, El Salvador. Community partners included residents from marginal communities, service providers from the historic center of San Salvador and research staff from a non-profit organization. The community contexts from which partners came varied considerably and affected structural group dynamics, i.e. who was identified as community partners, their research and organizational capacity, and their ability to represent their communities, with participants from marginal communities most likely to hold community leadership positions and be residents, and those from the center of San Salvador most likely to work in religious organizations dedicated to HIV prevention or feeding indigent drug users. These differences also affected the intervention priorities of different partners. The context of communities changed over time, particularly levels of violence, and affected group dynamics and the intervention developed. Finally, strategies were needed to elicit input from stakeholders under-represented in the community advisory board, in particular active crack users, in order to check the feasibility of the proposed intervention and revise it as necessary. Because El Salvador is a very different context than that in which most CBPR studies have been conducted, our results reveal important contextual factors and their effects on partnerships not often considered in the literature. PMID:25070835

The CAnadian Surface Prediction ARchive (CaSPAr): A Platform to Enhance Environmental Modelling in Canada and Globally

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tolson, B.; Mai, J.; Kornelsen, K. C.; Coulibaly, P. D.; Anctil, F.; Fortin, V.; Leahy, M.; Hall, B.

2017-12-01

Environmental models are tools for the modern society for a wide range of applications such as flood and drought monitoring, carbon storage and release estimates, predictions of power generation amounts, or reservoir management amongst others. Environmental models differ in the types of processes they incorporate, where land surface models focus on the energy, water, and carbon cycle of the land and hydrological models concentrate mainly on the water cycle. All these models, however, have in common that they rely on environmental input data from ground observations such as temperature, precipitation and/or radiation to force the model. If the same model is run in forecast mode, numerical weather predictions (NWPs) are needed to replace these ground observations. Therefore, it is critical that NWP data be available to develop models and validate forecast performance. These data are provided by the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) on a daily basis. MSC provides multiple products ranging from large scale global models ( 33km/grid cell) to high resolution pan-Canadian models ( 2.5km/grid cell). Operational products providing forecasts in real-time are made publicly available only at the time of issue through various means with new forecasts issued 2-4 times per day. Unfortunately, long term storage of these data are offline and relatively inaccessible to the research and operational communities. The new Canadian Surface Prediction Archive (CaSPAr) platform is an accessible rolling archive of 10 of MSC's NWP products. The 500TB platform will allow users to extract specific time periods, regions of interest and variables of interest in an easy to access NetCDF format. CaSPAr and community contributed post-processing scripts and tools are being developed such that the users, for example, can interpolate the data due to their needs or auto-generate model forcing files. We will present the CaSPAr platform and provide some insights in the current development of the web-based user interface (frontend) and implementations used to retrieve MSC's data and provide the data to the user in the inquired shape (backend).

MultiSpec: A Desktop and Online Geospatial Image Data Processing Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biehl, L. L.; Hsu, W. K.; Maud, A. R. M.; Yeh, T. T.

2017-12-01

MultiSpec is an easy to learn and use, freeware image processing tool for interactively analyzing a broad spectrum of geospatial image data, with capabilities such as image display, unsupervised and supervised classification, feature extraction, feature enhancement, and several other functions. Originally developed for Macintosh and Windows desktop computers, it has a community of several thousand users worldwide, including researchers and educators, as a practical and robust solution for analyzing multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing data in several different file formats. More recently MultiSpec was adapted to run in the HUBzero collaboration platform so that it can be used within a web browser, allowing new user communities to be engaged through science gateways. MultiSpec Online has also been extended to interoperate with other components (e.g., data management) in HUBzero through integration with the geospatial data building blocks (GABBs) project. This integration enables a user to directly launch MultiSpec Online from data that is stored and/or shared in a HUBzero gateway and to save output data from MultiSpec Online to hub storage, allowing data sharing and multi-step workflows without having to move data between different systems. MultiSpec has also been used in K-12 classes for which one example is the GLOBE program (www.globe.gov) and in outreach material such as that provided by the USGS (eros.usgs.gov/educational-activities). MultiSpec Online now provides teachers with another way to use MultiSpec without having to install the desktop tool. Recently MultiSpec Online was used in a geospatial data session with 30-35 middle school students at the Turned Onto Technology and Leadership (TOTAL) Camp in the summers of 2016 and 2017 at Purdue University. The students worked on a flood mapping exercise using Landsat 5 data to learn about land remote sensing using supervised classification techniques. Online documentation is available for MultiSpec (engineering.purdue.edu/ biehl/MultiSpec/) including a reference manual and several tutorials allowing young high-school students through research faculty to learn the basic functions in MultiSpec. Some of the tutorials have been translated to other languages by MultiSpec users.

An overview of the SeaWiFS project and strategies for producing a climate research quality global ocean bio-optical time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McClain, Charles R.; Feldman, Gene C.; Hooker, Stanford B.

2004-01-01

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project Office was formally initiated at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 1990. Seven years later, the sensor was launched by Orbital Sciences Corporation under a data-buy contract to provide 5 years of science quality data for global ocean biogeochemistry research. To date, the SeaWiFS program has greatly exceeded the mission goals established over a decade ago in terms of data quality, data accessibility and usability, ocean community infrastructure development, cost efficiency, and community service. The SeaWiFS Project Office and its collaborators in the scientific community have made substantial contributions in the areas of satellite calibration, product validation, near-real time data access, field data collection, protocol development, in situ instrumentation technology, operational data system development, and desktop level-0 to level-3 processing software. One important aspect of the SeaWiFS program is the high level of science community cooperation and participation. This article summarizes the key activities and approaches the SeaWiFS Project Office pursued to define, achieve, and maintain the mission objectives. These achievements have enabled the user community to publish a large and growing volume of research such as those contributed to this special volume of Deep-Sea Research. Finally, some examples of major geophysical events (oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial) captured by SeaWiFS are presented to demonstrate the versatility of the sensor.

What can('t) we do with global flood risk models?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Philip; Jongman, Brenden; Salamon, Peter; Simpson, Alanna; Winsemius, Hessel

2015-04-01

In recent years, several global scale flood risk models have become available. Within the scientific community these have been, and are being, used to assess and map the current levels of risk faced by countries and societies. Increasingly, they are also being used to assess how that level of risk may change in the future, under scenarios of climate change and/or socioeconomic development. More and more, these 'quick and not so dirty' methods are also being used in practice, for a large range of uses and applications, and by an increasing range of practitioners and decision makers. For example, assessments can be used by: International Financing Institutes for prioritising investments in the most promising natural disaster risk reduction measures and strategies; intra-national institutes in the monitoring of progress on risk reduction activities; the (re-)insurance industry in assessing their risk portfolios and potential changes in those portfolios under climate change; by multinational companies in assessing risks to their regional investments and supply chains; and by international aid organisations for improved resource planning. However, global scale flood risk models clearly have their limits, and therefore both modellers and users need to critically address the question 'What can('t) we do with global flood risk models?'. This contribution is intended to start a dialogue between model developers, users, and decision makers to better answer this question. We will provide a number of examples of how the GLOFRIS global flood risk model has recently been used in several practical applications, and share both the positive and negative insights gained through these experiences. We wish to discuss similar experiences with other groups of modelers, users, and decision-makers, in order to better understand and harness the potential of this new generation of models, understand the differences in model approaches followed and their impacts on applicability, and develop clarity on their limits and potential misuses.

Echo Chambers: Emotional Contagion and Group Polarization on Facebook.

PubMed

Del Vicario, Michela; Vivaldo, Gianna; Bessi, Alessandro; Zollo, Fabiana; Scala, Antonio; Caldarelli, Guido; Quattrociocchi, Walter

2016-12-01

Recent findings showed that users on Facebook tend to select information that adhere to their system of beliefs and to form polarized groups - i.e., echo chambers. Such a tendency dominates information cascades and might affect public debates on social relevant issues. In this work we explore the structural evolution of communities of interest by accounting for users emotions and engagement. Focusing on the Facebook pages reporting on scientific and conspiracy content, we characterize the evolution of the size of the two communities by fitting daily resolution data with three growth models - i.e. the Gompertz model, the Logistic model, and the Log-logistic model. Although all the models appropriately describe the data structure, the Logistic one shows the best fit. Then, we explore the interplay between emotional state and engagement of users in the group dynamics. Our findings show that communities' emotional behavior is affected by the users' involvement inside the echo chamber. Indeed, to an higher involvement corresponds a more negative approach. Moreover, we observe that, on average, more active users show a faster shift towards the negativity than less active ones.

Kameleon Live: An Interactive Cloud Based Analysis and Visualization Platform for Space Weather Researchers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pembroke, A. D.; Colbert, J. A.

2015-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) provides hosting for many of the simulations used by the space weather community of scientists, educators, and forecasters. CCMC users may submit model runs through the Runs on Request system, which produces static visualizations of model output in the browser, while further analysis may be performed off-line via Kameleon, CCMC's cross-language access and interpolation library. Off-line analysis may be suitable for power-users, but storage and coding requirements present a barrier to entry for non-experts. Moreover, a lack of a consistent framework for analysis hinders reproducibility of scientific findings. To that end, we have developed Kameleon Live, a cloud based interactive analysis and visualization platform. Kameleon Live allows users to create scientific studies built around selected runs from the Runs on Request database, perform analysis on those runs, collaborate with other users, and disseminate their findings among the space weather community. In addition to showcasing these novel collaborative analysis features, we invite feedback from CCMC users as we seek to advance and improve on the new platform.

Analysis of Critical Earth Observation Priorities for Societal Benefit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zell, E. R.; Huff, A. K.; Carpenter, A. T.; Friedl, L.

2011-12-01

To ensure that appropriate near real-time (NRT) and historical Earth observation data are available to benefit society and meet end-user needs, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) sponsored a multi-disciplinary study to identify a set of critical and common Earth observations associated with 9 Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs): Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate, Disasters, Ecosystems, Energy, Health, Water, and Weather. GEO is an intergovernmental organization working to improve the availability, access, and use of Earth observations to benefit society through a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The study, overseen by the GEO User Interface Committee, focused on the "demand" side of Earth observation needs: which users need what types of data, and when? The methodology for the study was a meta-analysis of over 1,700 publicly available documents addressing Earth observation user priorities, under the guidance of expert advisors from around the world. The result was a ranking of 146 Earth observation parameters that are critical and common to multiple SBAs, based on an ensemble of 4 statistically robust methods. Within the results, key details emerged on NRT observations needed to serve a broad community of users. The NRT observation priorities include meteorological parameters, vegetation indices, land cover and soil property observations, water body and snow cover properties, and atmospheric composition. The results of the study and examples of NRT applications will be presented. The applications are as diverse as the list of priority parameters. For example, NRT meteorological and soil moisture information can support monitoring and forecasting for more than 25 infectious diseases, including epidemic diseases, such as malaria, and diseases of major concern in the U.S., such as Lyme disease. Quickly evolving events that impact forests, such as fires and insect outbreaks, can be monitored and forecasted with a combination of vegetation indices, fuel moisture content, burn scars, and meteorological parameters. Impacts to public health and livelihoods due to food insecurity, algal blooms, and air pollution can be addressed through NRT monitoring of specific events utilizing land cover, atmospheric composition, water quality, and meteorological observations. More broadly, the assessment of water availability for drinking and agriculture and the development of floods and storms rely on continuous feeds of NRT meteorological and atmospheric composition observations. Overall, this multi-disciplinary study of user needs for NRT data and products can inform the design and operation of NRT data systems. Follow-on work for this study will also be presented, focusing on the availability of current and future satellite measurements (including NRT) of the 30 most critical Earth observation priorities, as well as a detailed analysis of users' needs for precipitation data. The results of this study summarize the priorities for critical Earth observations utilized globally for societal benefit.

Communication of uncertainty in hydrological predictions: a user-driven example web service for Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fry, Matt; Smith, Katie; Sheffield, Justin; Watts, Glenn; Wood, Eric; Cooper, Jon; Prudhomme, Christel; Rees, Gwyn

2017-04-01

Water is fundamental to society as it impacts on all facets of life, the economy and the environment. But whilst it creates opportunities for growth and life, it can also cause serious damages to society and infrastructure through extreme hydro-meteorological events such as floods or droughts. Anticipation of future water availability and extreme event risks would both help optimise growth and limit damage through better preparedness and planning, hence providing huge societal benefits. Recent scientific research advances make it now possible to provide hydrological outlooks at monthly to seasonal lead time, and future projections up to the end of the century accounting for climatic changes. However, high uncertainty remains in the predictions, which varies depending on location, time of the year, prediction range and hydrological variable. It is essential that this uncertainty is fully understood by decision makers so they can account for it in their planning. Hence, the challenge is to finds ways to communicate such uncertainty for a range of stakeholders with different technical background and environmental science knowledge. The project EDgE (End-to end Demonstrator for improved decision making in the water sector for Europe) funded by the Copernicus programme (C3S) is a proof-of-concept project that develops a unique service to support decision making for the water sector at monthly to seasonal and to multi-decadal lead times. It is a mutual effort of co-production between hydrologists and environmental modellers, computer scientists and stakeholders representative of key decision makers in Europe for the water sector. This talk will present the iterative co-production process of a web service that serves the need of the user community. Through a series of Focus Group meetings in Spain, Norway and the UK, options for visualising the hydrological predictions and associated uncertainties are presented and discussed first as mock-up dash boards, off-line tools and pre-operational services. Feedbacks received from the users are listed and prioritised for the next-generation of development to take place. In addition, sprint-review webinars are also organised to insure the developed services address the users' demands correctly. The tools are formally tested through a set of case studies representative of decision making in contrasting water sectors, including hydro-power in snow-dominated regions, public water supply in heavily regulated countries, and river basin management in an arid environments with multiple users. In addition to the visualisation, a key component of the project is the provision of user guidance. This helps the user understand the challenges of dealing with uncertainty and interpretation of the results, provides contextual background information, describes the service's functionality, and showcases examples of good practice.

Jointly they edit: examining the impact of community identification on political interaction in Wikipedia.

PubMed

Neff, Jessica J; Laniado, David; Kappler, Karolin E; Volkovich, Yana; Aragón, Pablo; Kaltenbrunner, Andreas

2013-01-01

In their 2005 study, Adamic and Glance coined the memorable phrase 'divided they blog', referring to a trend of cyberbalkanization in the political blogosphere, with liberal and conservative blogs tending to link to other blogs with a similar political slant, and not to one another. As political discussion and activity increasingly moves online, the power of framing political discourses is shifting from mass media to social media. Continued examination of political interactions online is critical, and we extend this line of research by examining the activities of political users within the Wikipedia community. First, we examined how users in Wikipedia choose to display their political affiliation. Next, we analyzed the patterns of cross-party interaction and community participation among those users proclaiming a political affiliation. In contrast to previous analyses of other social media, we did not find strong trends indicating a preference to interact with members of the same political party within the Wikipedia community. Our results indicate that users who proclaim their political affiliation within the community tend to proclaim their identity as a 'Wikipedian' even more loudly. It seems that the shared identity of 'being Wikipedian' may be strong enough to triumph over other potentially divisive facets of personal identity, such as political affiliation.

Technology transfer for DOE's office of buildings and community systems: assessment and strategies

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

Brown, M.A.; Jones, D.W.; Kolb, J.O.

1986-07-01

The uninterrupted availability of oil supplies over the past several years and the moderation of energy price increases has sent signals to consumers and decision-makers in the buildings industry that the ''energy crisis'' is over. As a result, efforts to promote energy-conserving technologies must emphasize benefits other than BTU savings. The improved ambience of daylit spaces and the lower first costs associated with installing down-sized HVAC systems in ''tight'' buildings are examples of benefits which are likely to more influential than estimates of energy saved. Successful technology transfer requires that an R and D product have intrinsic value and thatmore » these values be effectively communicated to potential users. Active technology transfer programs are more effective than passive ones. Transfer activities should involve more than simply making information available to those who seek it. Information should be tailored to meet the needs of specific user groups and disseminated through those channels which users normally employ. In addition to information dissemination, successful technology transfer involves the management of intellectual property, including patented inventions, copyrights, technical data, and rights to future inventions. When the public can best benefit from an invention through commercialization of a new product, the exclusivity necessary to protect the investment from copiers should be provided. Most federal technology transfer programs concentrate on information exchange and largely avoid intellectual property transfers.« less

Editorial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Jo; Lawden, Mike

1988-06-01

This will be a year of metamorphosis for Starlink with major hardware upgrades and the widespread adoption of the ADAM software environment. Most of the original VAXs will be replaced with MicroVAX 3500 based Local Area VAX Clusters (LAVCs); also disappearing from these sites will be the old ARGS as the Digisolve Ikon becomes the principal image display. This comes ten years after the idea of co-ordinating the computing activities of the UK astronomical community was first mooted. Those pre-natal days of Starlink are remembered by Professor Mike Disney in the article which follows. Many Starlink users will be surprised to learn that a centralised computing facility with only remote access or occasional visits for users was considered! (Actually the first machine, the RAL database/communictaiont MicroVAX, began operating a user service only this year.) It is instructive to look at some of the proposals for national data-analysis facilities which were forerunners of Starlink. For example, funding of £40,000 initially with £10,000 annually was requested for computer enhancements at RGO to provide a spectral reduction service. The hardware recommendation was based on a single Interdata 10 computer with a 64KByte memory and a total of 5MByte of disc! Once again, it is a pleasure to thank all the contributors to the Bulletin, and invite our readers to contribute to forthcoming editions.

Embracing Diversity: The Exploration of User Motivations in Citizen Science Astronomy Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Lo

2018-06-01

Online citizen science projects ask members of the public to donate spare time on their personal computers to process large datasets. A critical challenge for these projects is volunteer recruitment and retention. Many of these projects use Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC), a piece of middleware, to support their operations. This poster analyzes volunteer motivations in two large, BOINC-based astronomy projects, Einstein@Home and Milkyway@Home. Volunteer opinions are addressed to assess whether and how competitive elements, such as credit and ranking systems, motivate volunteers. Findings from a study of project volunteers, comprising surveys (n=2,031) and follow-up interviews (n=21), show that altruism is the main incentive for participation because volunteers consider scientific research to be critical for humans. Multiple interviewees also revealed a passion for extrinsic motivations, i.e. those that involve recognition from other people, such as opportunities to become co-authors of publications or to earn financial benefits. Credit and ranking systems motivate nearly half of interviewees. By analyzing user motivations in astronomical BOINC projects, this research provides scientists with deeper understandings about volunteer communities and various types of volunteers. Building on these findings, scientists can develop different strategies, for example, awarding volunteers badges, to recruit and retain diverse volunteers, and thus enhance long-term user participation in astronomical BOINC projects.

ZBIT Bioinformatics Toolbox: A Web-Platform for Systems Biology and Expression Data Analysis

PubMed Central

Römer, Michael; Eichner, Johannes; Dräger, Andreas; Wrzodek, Clemens; Wrzodek, Finja; Zell, Andreas

2016-01-01

Bioinformatics analysis has become an integral part of research in biology. However, installation and use of scientific software can be difficult and often requires technical expert knowledge. Reasons are dependencies on certain operating systems or required third-party libraries, missing graphical user interfaces and documentation, or nonstandard input and output formats. In order to make bioinformatics software easily accessible to researchers, we here present a web-based platform. The Center for Bioinformatics Tuebingen (ZBIT) Bioinformatics Toolbox provides web-based access to a collection of bioinformatics tools developed for systems biology, protein sequence annotation, and expression data analysis. Currently, the collection encompasses software for conversion and processing of community standards SBML and BioPAX, transcription factor analysis, and analysis of microarray data from transcriptomics and proteomics studies. All tools are hosted on a customized Galaxy instance and run on a dedicated computation cluster. Users only need a web browser and an active internet connection in order to benefit from this service. The web platform is designed to facilitate the usage of the bioinformatics tools for researchers without advanced technical background. Users can combine tools for complex analyses or use predefined, customizable workflows. All results are stored persistently and reproducible. For each tool, we provide documentation, tutorials, and example data to maximize usability. The ZBIT Bioinformatics Toolbox is freely available at https://webservices.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/. PMID:26882475

A systematic review of the impact of patient and public involvement on service users, researchers and communities.

PubMed

Brett, Jo; Staniszewska, Sophie; Mockford, Carole; Herron-Marx, Sandra; Hughes, John; Tysall, Colin; Suleman, Rashida

2014-01-01

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research has expanded nationally and internationally over the last decade, and recently there has been significant attention given to understanding its impact on research. Less attention has been given to the impact of PPI on the people involved, yet it has been shown that the success of PPI in research can be reliant on the processes of engagement between these individuals and communities. This paper therefore critically explores the impact of PPI on service users, researchers and communities involved in health and social care research. Searches were undertaken from 1995 to April 2012 in the electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane library, CINAHL, HMIC and HELMIS. Searches were undertaken for grey literature using the databases InvoNet and NHS Evidence. Studies were included if they included the impact of PPI on individual service users, researchers or communities under research. Studies were excluded if they were in a foreign language (unless they were deemed critical to the systematic review) or were in children and adolescent services. Data were extracted using a narrative synthesis, and quality was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. Service users reported feeling empowered and valued, gaining confidence and life skills. Researchers developed a greater understanding and insight into their research area, gaining respect and a good rapport with the community. The community involved in research became more aware and knowledgeable about their condition. However, lack of preparation and training led some service users to feel unable to contribute to the research, while other service users and communities reported feeling overburdened with the work involved. Researchers reported difficulties in incorporating PPI in meaningful ways due to lack of money and time. This is the first international systematic review to focus on the impact of PPI on the people involved in the process. The beneficial and challenging impacts reported highlight the importance of optimising the context and processes of involvement, so creating the potential for PPI to impact positively on the research itself.

A Survey of Techniques for Security Architecture Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-05-01

to be corrected immediately. 49 DSTO-TR-1438 A software phenomenon is the "user innovation network", examples of such networks being "free" and "open...source" software projects. These networks have innovation development, production, distribution and consumption all being performed by users/self...manufacturers. "User innovation networks can function entirely independently of manufacturers because (1) at least some users have sufficient incentive to

RevEcoR: an R package for the reverse ecology analysis of microbiomes.

PubMed

Cao, Yang; Wang, Yuanyuan; Zheng, Xiaofei; Li, Fei; Bo, Xiaochen

2016-07-29

All species live in complex ecosystems. The structure and complexity of a microbial community reflects not only diversity and function, but also the environment in which it occurs. However, traditional ecological methods can only be applied on a small scale and for relatively well-understood biological systems. Recently, a graph-theory-based algorithm called the reverse ecology approach has been developed that can analyze the metabolic networks of all the species in a microbial community, and predict the metabolic interface between species and their environment. Here, we present RevEcoR, an R package and a Shiny Web application that implements the reverse ecology algorithm for determining microbe-microbe interactions in microbial communities. This software allows users to obtain large-scale ecological insights into species' ecology directly from high-throughput metagenomic data. The software has great potential for facilitating the study of microbiomes. RevEcoR is open source software for the study of microbial community ecology. The RevEcoR R package is freely available under the GNU General Public License v. 2.0 at http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/RevEcoR/ with the vignette and typical usage examples, and the interactive Shiny web application is available at http://yiluheihei.shinyapps.io/shiny-RevEcoR , or can be installed locally with the source code accessed from https://github.com/yiluheihei/shiny-RevEcoR .

Privacy policies for health social networking sites.

PubMed

Li, Jingquan

2013-01-01

Health social networking sites (HSNS), virtual communities where users connect with each other around common problems and share relevant health data, have been increasingly adopted by medical professionals and patients. The growing use of HSNS like Sermo and PatientsLikeMe has prompted public concerns about the risks that such online data-sharing platforms pose to the privacy and security of personal health data. This paper articulates a set of privacy risks introduced by social networking in health care and presents a practical example that demonstrates how the risks might be intrinsic to some HSNS. The aim of this study is to identify and sketch the policy implications of using HSNS and how policy makers and stakeholders should elaborate upon them to protect the privacy of online health data.

Privacy policies for health social networking sites

PubMed Central

Li, Jingquan

2013-01-01

Health social networking sites (HSNS), virtual communities where users connect with each other around common problems and share relevant health data, have been increasingly adopted by medical professionals and patients. The growing use of HSNS like Sermo and PatientsLikeMe has prompted public concerns about the risks that such online data-sharing platforms pose to the privacy and security of personal health data. This paper articulates a set of privacy risks introduced by social networking in health care and presents a practical example that demonstrates how the risks might be intrinsic to some HSNS. The aim of this study is to identify and sketch the policy implications of using HSNS and how policy makers and stakeholders should elaborate upon them to protect the privacy of online health data. PMID:23599228

Adapting SCORM Compliant LOs in a Knowledge Engineering Scenario

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Di Bitonto, Pierpaolo

2010-01-01

The success of communities generally implies both growth of the participants (and thus of their contributions), and an increasing array of services offered. For this reason, it is often difficult for new users to fully understand the potential of the community, while for expert users it becomes difficult both to manage the resources available in…

User-Centered Design Guidelines for Collaborative Software for Intelligence Analysis

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

Scholtz, Jean; Endert, Alexander N.

In this position paper we discuss the necessity of using User-Centered Design (UCD) methods in order to design collaborative software for the intelligence community. We present some standing issues in collaborative software based on existing work within the intelligence community. Based on this information we present opportunities to address some of these challenges.

Digital Library Services: Perceptions and Expectations of User Communities and Librarians in a New Zealand Academic Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xia, Wei

2003-01-01

Provides an overview of research conducted at Victoria University of Wellington regarding differing perceptions and expectations of user communities and librarians related to the usability of digital services. Considers access to services, currency of information on the Web site, the online public access catalog, databases, electronic journals,…

Characterizing User Behaviours and Products in an Online Educational Community: A Comparison between Novices and Elders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Min; Recker, Mimi

2014-01-01

This study focuses on two user types in an online educational community--novices and elders--and explores the characteristics of their behaviours and contributed products by analyzing usage logs. Results show that novices and elders have different behavioural trajectories. In addition, the products created by elders attract more views.

Human behavior in online social systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grabowski, A.

2009-06-01

We present and study data concerning human behavior in four online social systems: (i) an Internet community of friends of over 107 people, (ii) a music community website with over 106 users, (iii) a gamers’ community server with over 5 × 106 users and (iv) a booklovers’ website with over 2.5 × 105 users. The purpose of those systems is different; however, their properties are very similar. We have found that the distribution of human activity (e.g., the sum of books read or songs played) has the form of a power law. Moreover, the relationship between human activity and time has a power-law form, too. We present a simple interest-driven model of the evolution of such systems which explains the emergence of two scaling regimes.

Network Structure and Community Evolution on Twitter: Human Behavior Change in Response to the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

PubMed Central

Lu, Xin; Brelsford, Christa

2014-01-01

To investigate the dynamics of social networks and the formation and evolution of online communities in response to extreme events, we collected three datasets from Twitter shortly before and after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We find that while almost all users increased their online activity after the earthquake, Japanese speakers, who are assumed to be more directly affected by the event, expanded the network of people they interact with to a much higher degree than English speakers or the global average. By investigating the evolution of communities, we find that the behavior of joining or quitting a community is far from random: users tend to stay in their current status and are less likely to join new communities from solitary or shift to other communities from their current community. While non-Japanese speakers did not change their conversation topics significantly after the earthquake, nearly all Japanese users changed their conversations to earthquake-related content. This study builds a systematic framework for investigating human behaviors under extreme events with online social network data and our findings on the dynamics of networks and communities may provide useful insight for understanding how patterns of social interaction are influenced by extreme events. PMID:25346468

Network Structure and Community Evolution on Twitter: Human Behavior Change in Response to the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xin; Brelsford, Christa

2014-10-01

To investigate the dynamics of social networks and the formation and evolution of online communities in response to extreme events, we collected three datasets from Twitter shortly before and after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We find that while almost all users increased their online activity after the earthquake, Japanese speakers, who are assumed to be more directly affected by the event, expanded the network of people they interact with to a much higher degree than English speakers or the global average. By investigating the evolution of communities, we find that the behavior of joining or quitting a community is far from random: users tend to stay in their current status and are less likely to join new communities from solitary or shift to other communities from their current community. While non-Japanese speakers did not change their conversation topics significantly after the earthquake, nearly all Japanese users changed their conversations to earthquake-related content. This study builds a systematic framework for investigating human behaviors under extreme events with online social network data and our findings on the dynamics of networks and communities may provide useful insight for understanding how patterns of social interaction are influenced by extreme events.

Hepatitis C virus acquisition among Egyptians: analysis of a 10-year surveillance of acute hepatitis C.

PubMed

Mohsen, Amira; Bernier, Adeline; LeFouler, Lenaig; Delarocque-Astagneau, Elisabeth; El-Daly, Mai; El-Kafrawy, Sherif; El-Mango, Salwa; Abdel-Hamid, Mohamed; Gadallah, Mohsen; Esmat, Gamal; Mohamed, Mostafa K; Fontanet, Arnaud

2015-01-01

To identify current risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) acquisition among Egyptians. Patients with acute HCV were identified through a surveillance system of acute hepatitis in four fever hospitals in Egypt between 2002 and 2012. Case-control analysis was conducted, cases being incident acute symptomatic HCV and controls being acute hepatitis A identified at the same hospitals. The questionnaire covered iatrogenic, community and household exposures to HCV in the 1-6 months prior to onset of symptoms. Multivariate models were built to identify risk factors associated with HCV acquisition among non-drug users and drug users separately. Among non-drug users, hospital admission was independently associated with acute HCV infection (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 1.7-10.5). Several iatrogenic procedures, for example admission in a surgery unit, sutures, IV injections and IV infusions, highly correlated with hospital admission, were also associated with acute HCV infection and could have been used in the final model instead of hospital admission. Among drug users, identified risk factors were multiple sexual relations (OR = 4.0, 95% CI = 1.1-14.7), intravenous drug use (OR = 3.9, 95% CI = 1.2-13.0) and shaving at the barbershops (OR = 8.7, 95% CI = 2.4-31.4). Illiteracy and marriage were significant risk factors in both groups. Invasive medical procedures are still a major risk for acquiring new HCV infections in Egypt, as is illicit drug use in spreading HCV infection. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

APS Science 2007.

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

Not Available

2008-05-30

This report provides research highlights from the Advanced Photon Source (APS). Although these highlights represent less than 10% of the published work from the APS in 2007, they give a flavor of the diversity and impact of user research at the facility. In the strategic planning the aim is to foster the growth of existing user communities and foresee new areas of research. This coming year finds the APS engaged in putting together, along with the users, a blueprint for the next five years, and making the case for a set of prioritized investments in beamlines, the accelerator, and infrastructure,more » each of which will be transformational in terms of scientific impact. As this is written plans are being formulated for an important user workshop on October 20-21, 2008, to prioritize strategic plans. The fruit from past investments can be seen in this report. Examples include the creation of a dedicated beamline for x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy at Sector 8, the evolution of dedicated high-energy x-ray scattering beamlines at sectors 1 and 11, a dedicated imaging beamline at Sector 32, and new beamlines for inelastic scattering and powder diffraction. A single-pulse facility has been built in collaboration with Sector 14 (BioCARS) and Phil Anfinrud at the National Institutes of Health, which will offer exceptionally high flux for single-pulse diffraction. The nanoprobe at Sector 26, built and operated jointly by the Argonne Center for Nanoscale Materials and the X-ray Operations and Research (XOR) section of the APS X-ray Science Division, has come on line to define the state of the art in nanoscience.« less

An Open Software Platform for Sharing Water Resource Models, Code and Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knox, Stephen; Meier, Philipp; Mohamed, Khaled; Korteling, Brett; Matrosov, Evgenii; Huskova, Ivana; Harou, Julien; Rosenberg, David; Tilmant, Amaury; Medellin-Azuara, Josue; Wicks, Jon

2016-04-01

The modelling of managed water resource systems requires new approaches in the face of increasing future uncertainty. Water resources management models, even if applied to diverse problem areas, use common approaches such as representing the problem as a network of nodes and links. We propose a data management software platform, called Hydra, that uses this commonality to allow multiple models using a node-link structure to be managed and run using a single software system. Hydra's user interface allows users to manage network topology and associated data. Hydra feeds this data directly into a model, importing from and exporting to different file formats using Apps. An App connects Hydra to a custom model, a modelling system such as GAMS or MATLAB or to different file formats such as MS Excel, CSV and ESRI Shapefiles. Hydra allows users to manage their data in a single, consistent place. Apps can be used to run domain-specific models and allow users to work with their own required file formats. The Hydra App Store offers a collaborative space where model developers can publish, review and comment on Apps, models and data. Example Apps and open-source libraries are available in a variety of languages (Python, Java and .NET). The App Store can act as a hub for water resource modellers to view and share Apps, models and data easily. This encourages an ecosystem of development using a shared platform, resulting in more model integration and potentially greater unity within resource modelling communities. www.hydraplatform.org www.hydraappstore.com

Space assets for demining assistance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kruijff, Michiel; Eriksson, Daniel; Bouvet, Thomas; Griffiths, Alexander; Craig, Matthew; Sahli, Hichem; González-Rosón, Fernando Valcarce; Willekens, Philippe; Ginati, Amnon

2013-02-01

Populations emerging from armed conflicts often remain threatened by landmines and explosive remnants of war. The international mine action community is concerned with the relief of this threat. The Space Assets for Demining Assistance (SADA) undertaking is a set of activities that aim at developing new services to improve the socio-economic impact of mine action activities, primarily focused on the release of land thought to be contaminated, a process described as land release. SADA was originally initiated by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). It has been implemented under the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) program of the European Space Agency (ESA). Land release in mine action is the process whereby the demining community identifies, surveys and prioritizes suspected hazardous areas for more detailed investigation, which eventually results in the clearance of landmines and other explosives, thereby releasing land to the local population. SADA has a broad scope, covering activities, such as planning (risk and impact analysis, prioritization, and resource management), field operations and reporting. SADA services are developed in two phases: feasibility studies followed by demonstration projects. Three parallel feasibility studies have been performed. They aimed at defining an integrated set of space enabled services to support the land release process in mine action, and at analyzing their added value, viability and sustainability. The needs of the mine action sector have been assessed and the potential contribution of space assets has been identified. Support services have been formulated. To test their fieldability, proofs of concept involving mine action end users in various operational field settings have been performed by each of the study teams. The economic viability has also been assessed. Whenever relevant and cost-effective, SADA aims at integrating Earth observation data, GNSS navigation and SatCom technologies with existing mine action tools and procedures, as well as with novel aerial survey technologies. Such conformity with existing user processes, as well as available budgets and appropriateness of technology based solutions given the field level operational setting are important conditions for success. The studies have demonstrated that Earth observation data, satellite navigation solutions and in some cases, satellite communication, indeed can provide added value to mine action activities if properly tailored based on close user interaction and provided through a suitable channel. Such added value for example includes easy and sustained access to Earth observation data for general purpose mapping, land use assessment for post-release progress reporting, and multi-source data fusion algorithms to help quantify risks and socio-economic impact for prioritization and planning purposes. The environment and boundaries of a hazardous area can also be better specified to support the land release process including detailed survey and clearance operations. Satellite communication can help to provide relevant data to remote locations, but is not regarded as strongly user driven. Finally, satellite navigation can support more precise non-technical surveys, as well as aerial observation with small planes or hand-launched UAV's. To ensure the activity is genuinely user driven, the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) plays an important role as ESA's external advisor. ESA is furthermore supported by a representative field operator, the Swiss Foundation of Mine Action (FSD), providing ESA with a direct connection to the field level end users. Specifically FSD has provided a shared user needs baseline to the three study teams. To ensure solutions meet with end user requirements, the study teams themselves include mine action representatives and have interacted closely with their pre-existing and newly established contacts within the mine action community.

User's Manual for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS) Software: Version 3

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cuffney, Thomas F.

2003-01-01

The Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS) software provides an accurate, consistent, and efficient mechanism for analyzing invertebrate data collected as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program and stored in the Biological Transactional Database (Bio-TDB). The IDAS software is a stand-alone program for personal computers that run Microsoft (MS) Windows?. It allows users to read data downloaded from Bio-TDB and stored either as MS Excel? or MS Access? files. The program consists of five modules. The Edit Data module allows the user to subset, combine, delete, and summarize community data. The Data Preparation module allows the user to select the type(s) of sample(s) to process, calculate densities, delete taxa based on laboratory processing notes, combine lifestages or keep them separate, select a lowest taxonomic level for analysis, delete rare taxa, and resolve taxonomic ambiguities. The Calculate Community Metrics module allows the user to calculate over 130 community metrics, including metrics based on organism tolerances and functional feeding groups. The Calculate Diversities and Similarities module allows the user to calculate nine diversity and eight similarity indices. The Data export module allows the user to export data to other software packages and produce tables of community data that can be imported into spreadsheet and word-processing programs. Though the IDAS program was developed to process invertebrate data downloaded from USGS databases, it will work with other data sets that are converted to the USGS (Bio-TDB) format. Consequently, the data manipulation, analysis, and export procedures provided by the IDAS program can be used by anyone involved in using benthic macroinvertebrates in applied or basic research.

The use of online word of mouth opinion in online learning: a questionnaire survey.

PubMed

Sandars, John; Walsh, Kieran

2009-04-01

There is increasing use of online word of mouth opinion (user feedback) systems for general services but its use in online learning has not been previously investigated. To understand why users of BMJ Learning provide and read word of mouth feedback, and whether this feedback influences uptake of modules by prospective users. Online questionnaire of users of BMJ Learning who had completed online user feedback. 109 questionnaires were completed (response rate 25%). The main motivation to contribute was to influence the authors of the module (66%), and 43% stated that they wanted to help other users to make an informed choice. 16% stated that they wanted to develop an online community of learners. The main motivation to read the user feedback was to see if they agreed with the comments (56%). Online word of mouth opinion (user feedback) appears to be useful for online learners. There are also system design considerations since the attempt to create an online community of learners that is desired by some users will not be appreciated by others. Further research with a larger number of users is recommended to confirm the findings.

Service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review.

PubMed

Semrau, Maya; Lempp, Heidi; Keynejad, Roxanne; Evans-Lacko, Sara; Mugisha, James; Raja, Shoba; Lamichhane, Jagannath; Alem, Atalay; Thornicroft, Graham; Hanlon, Charlotte

2016-03-01

The involvement of mental health service users and their caregivers in health system policy and planning, service monitoring and research can contribute to mental health system strengthening, but as yet there have been very few efforts to do so in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This systematic review examined the evidence and experience of service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening, as well as models of best practice for evaluation of capacity-building activities that facilitate their greater participation. Both the peer-reviewed and the grey literature were included in the review, which were identified through database searches (MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, LILACS, SciELO, Google Scholar and Cochrane), as well as hand-searching of reference lists and the internet, and a snowballing process of contacting experts active in the area. This review included any kind of study design that described or evaluated service user, family or caregiver (though not community) involvement in LMICs (including service users with intellectual disabilities, dementia, or child and adolescent mental health problems) and that were relevant to mental health system strengthening across five categories. Data were extracted and summarised as a narrative review. Twenty papers matched the inclusion criteria. Overall, the review found that although there were examples of service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening in numerous countries, there was a lack of high-quality research and a weak evidence base for the work that was being conducted across countries. However, there was some emerging research on the development of policies and strategies, including advocacy work, and to a lesser extent the development of services, service monitoring and evaluation, with most service user involvement having taken place within advocacy and service delivery. Research was scarce within the other health system strengthening areas. Further research on service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening in LMICs is recommended, in particular research that includes more rigorous evaluation. A series of specific recommendations are provided based on the review.

Soft Biological and Composite Nanomaterials

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

Firestone, Millicent

2016-04-01

The goal of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) is to plays a leadership role in integration of nanostructured materials to enable novel capabilities and applications through its function as a Department of Energy/Office of Science Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) national user facility. By coupling open access to unique and world-class capabilities and scientific expertise to an active user community, CINT supports high-impact research that no other single institution could achieve – the whole of CINT including its user community is greater than the sum of its parts.

Nanophotonics and Optical Nanomaterials

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

Doorn, Stephen

The goal of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) is to plays a leadership role in integration of nanostructured materials to enable novel capabilities and applications through its function as a Department of Energy/Office of Science Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) national user facility. By coupling open access to unique and world-class capabilities and scientific expertise to an active user community, CINT supports high-impact research that no other single institution could achieve – the whole of CINT including its user community is greater than the sum of its parts.

Some Good Practices for Integration and Outreach and their Implementation in the Community Integrated Assessment System (CIAS) and its associated web portal CLIMASCOPE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warren, R. F.; Price, J. T.; Goswami, S.

2010-12-01

Successful communication of knowledge to climate change policy makers requires the careful integration of scientific knowledge in an integrated assessment that can be clearly communicated to stakeholders, and which encapsulates the uncertainties in the analysis and conveys the need for using a risk assessment approach. It is important that (i) the system is co-designed with the users (ii) relevant disciplines are included (iii) assumptions made are clear (iv) the robustness of outputs to uncertainties is demonstrated (v) the system is flexible so that it can keep up with changing stakeholder needs and (vi) the results are communicated clearly and are readily accessible. The “Community Integrated Assessment System” (CIAS) is a unique multi-institutional, modular, and flexible integrated assessment system for modeling climate change which fulfils the above six criteria. It differs from other integrated models in being a flexible system allowing various combinations of component modules, to be connected together into alternative integrated assessment models. These modules may be written at different institutions in different computer languages and/or based on different operating systems. Scientists are able determine which particular CIAS coupled model they wish to use through a web portal. This includes the facility to implement Latin hypercube experimental design facilitating formal uncertainty analysis. Further exploration of robustness is possible through the ability to select, for example, alternative hyrdrological or climate models to address the same questions. It has been applied to study future scenarios of climate change mitigation, through for example the AVOIDing dangerous climate change project for DEFRA, in which the avoided impacts (benefits) of alternative climate policies were compared to no-policy baselines. These highlight the potential for mitigation to remove a substantial fraction of the climate change impacts that would otherwise occur; but also show that is not possible to avoid all the impacts, and hence that adaptation will still be required. For example, this has been shown for projections of future European drought. CIAS has also been used for analyses used in the IPCC 4AR and the Stern review. Recent applications include a study of the role of avoided deforestation in climate mitigation, and a study of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. A second web portal, CLIMASCOPE, is being developed for use by stakeholders, currently focusing on the needs of adaptation planners. This will benefit communication by allowing a wide range of users free access to regional climate change projections in simple manner, yet one which encourages risk assessment through encapsulation of the uncertainties in climate change projection. Examples of CLIMASCOPE output that is being made available to stakeholders will be shown.

12 CFR 24.6 - Examples of qualifying public welfare investments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Examples of qualifying public welfare... COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ENTITIES, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, AND OTHER PUBLIC WELFARE INVESTMENTS § 24.6 Examples of qualifying public welfare investments. Investments that primarily support the...

12 CFR 24.6 - Examples of qualifying public welfare investments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Examples of qualifying public welfare... COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ENTITIES, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, AND OTHER PUBLIC WELFARE INVESTMENTS § 24.6 Examples of qualifying public welfare investments. Investments that primarily support the...

Modeling online social signed networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Le; Gu, Ke; Zeng, An; Fan, Ying; Di, Zengru

2018-04-01

People's online rating behavior can be modeled by user-object bipartite networks directly. However, few works have been devoted to reveal the hidden relations between users, especially from the perspective of signed networks. We analyze the signed monopartite networks projected by the signed user-object bipartite networks, finding that the networks are highly clustered with obvious community structure. Interestingly, the positive clustering coefficient is remarkably higher than the negative clustering coefficient. Then, a Signed Growing Network model (SGN) based on local preferential attachment is proposed to generate a user's signed network that has community structure and high positive clustering coefficient. Other structural properties of the modeled networks are also found to be similar to the empirical networks.

HIV testing behaviors and attitudes among community recruited methamphetamine users in a South African township

PubMed Central

Meade, Christina S.; Towe, Sheri L.; Watt, Melissa H.; Hobkirk, Andrea; Skinner, Donald; Myers, Bronwyn; Kimani, Stephen M.; Pieterse, Desiree

2015-01-01

Background Methamphetamine users in South Africa are at high risk for HIV infection and transmission, but little is known about HIV testing in this population. Methods We examined HIV testing behaviors and attitudes in 362 methamphetamine users recruited using chain referral sampling from one peri-urban community. Results Many (44%) had not been HIV tested in the past year. HIV testing was associated with positive testing attitudes, less AIDS stigma, and greater methamphetamine stigma. Among participants who reported HIV infection (8%), less than half were linked to care. Conclusions Findings highlight the need to identify barriers to HIV service uptake for methamphetamine users. PMID:24858393

NASA Langley Atmospheric Science Data Centers Near Real-Time Data Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davenport, T.; Parker, L.; Rinsland, P. L.

2014-12-01

Over the past decade the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA Langley Research Center has archived and distributed a variety of satellite mission data sets. NASA's goal in Earth science is to observe, understand, and model the Earth system to discover how it is changing, to better predict change, and to understand the consequences for life on Earth. The ASDC has collaborated with Science Teams to accommodate emerging science users in the climate and modeling communities. The ASDC has expanded its original role to support operational usage by related Earth Science satellites, support land and ocean assimilations, support of field campaigns, outreach programs, and application projects for agriculture and energy industries to bridge the gap between Earth science research results and the adoption of data and prediction capabilities for reliable and sustained use in Decision Support Systems (DSS). For example; these products are being used by the community performing data assimilations to regulate aerosol mass in global transport models to improve model response and forecast accuracy, to assess the performance of components of a global coupled atmospheric-ocean climate model, improve atmospheric motion vector (winds) impact on numerical weather prediction models, and to provide internet-based access to parameters specifically tailored to assist in the design of solar and wind powered renewable energy systems. These more focused applications often require Near Real-Time (NRT) products. Generating NRT products pose their own unique set challenges for the ASDC and the Science Teams. Examples of ASDC NRT products and challenges will be discussed.

Service user experiences of specialist mental health supported accommodation: A systematic review of qualitative studies and narrative synthesis.

PubMed

Krotofil, Joanna; McPherson, Peter; Killaspy, Helen

2018-04-02

Specialist supported accommodation services have become a key component of most community-based mental healthcare systems. While mental health policies highlight the importance of service user involvement in service development and care planning, there are no comprehensive literature reviews synthesising services users' perspectives on, or experiences of, supported accommodation services. This systematic review was undertaken to fill this gap. We searched electronic databases (January 2015, updated June 2017), conducted hand searches and used forward-backward snowballing to identify 13,678 papers. We inspected the full-text of 110 papers and included 50 of these in the final review. Data extraction and quality assessments were conducted. We used narrative synthesis to develop a conceptual model of service users' experiences that included structural, process, relational and contextual factors, such as the characteristics of the service, relationships with staff and other service users, the intensity and nature of support, the physical environment, and social and community integration. The review highlights the complex interplay of individual, service-level and community factors in shaping the lived experience of service users and their impact on personal identity and recovery. Our approach addressed some of the widely reported limitations of the quantitative research in this field, providing a conceptual model relevant to service user experiences across supported accommodation service types, population groups and countries. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Heuristics for Relevancy Ranking of Earth Dataset Search Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynnes, C.; Quinn, P.; Norton, J.

2016-12-01

As the Variety of Earth science datasets increases, science researchers find it more challenging to discover and select the datasets that best fit their needs. The most common way of search providers to address this problem is to rank the datasets returned for a query by their likely relevance to the user. Large web page search engines typically use text matching supplemented with reverse link counts, semantic annotations and user intent modeling. However, this produces uneven results when applied to dataset metadata records simply externalized as a web page. Fortunately, data and search provides have decades of experience in serving data user communities, allowing them to form heuristics that leverage the structure in the metadata together with knowledge about the user community. Some of these heuristics include specific ways of matching the user input to the essential measurements in the dataset and determining overlaps of time range and spatial areas. Heuristics based on the novelty of the datasets can prioritize later, better versions of data over similar predecessors. And knowledge of how different user types and communities use data can be brought to bear in cases where characteristics of the user (discipline, expertise) or their intent (applications, research) can be divined. The Earth Observing System Data and Information System has begun implementing some of these heuristics in the relevancy algorithm of its Common Metadata Repository search engine.

Heuristics for Relevancy Ranking of Earth Dataset Search Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, Christopher; Quinn, Patrick; Norton, James

2016-01-01

As the Variety of Earth science datasets increases, science researchers find it more challenging to discover and select the datasets that best fit their needs. The most common way of search providers to address this problem is to rank the datasets returned for a query by their likely relevance to the user. Large web page search engines typically use text matching supplemented with reverse link counts, semantic annotations and user intent modeling. However, this produces uneven results when applied to dataset metadata records simply externalized as a web page. Fortunately, data and search provides have decades of experience in serving data user communities, allowing them to form heuristics that leverage the structure in the metadata together with knowledge about the user community. Some of these heuristics include specific ways of matching the user input to the essential measurements in the dataset and determining overlaps of time range and spatial areas. Heuristics based on the novelty of the datasets can prioritize later, better versions of data over similar predecessors. And knowledge of how different user types and communities use data can be brought to bear in cases where characteristics of the user (discipline, expertise) or their intent (applications, research) can be divined. The Earth Observing System Data and Information System has begun implementing some of these heuristics in the relevancy algorithm of its Common Metadata Repository search engine.

Relevancy Ranking of Satellite Dataset Search Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, Christopher; Quinn, Patrick; Norton, James

2017-01-01

As the Variety of Earth science datasets increases, science researchers find it more challenging to discover and select the datasets that best fit their needs. The most common way of search providers to address this problem is to rank the datasets returned for a query by their likely relevance to the user. Large web page search engines typically use text matching supplemented with reverse link counts, semantic annotations and user intent modeling. However, this produces uneven results when applied to dataset metadata records simply externalized as a web page. Fortunately, data and search provides have decades of experience in serving data user communities, allowing them to form heuristics that leverage the structure in the metadata together with knowledge about the user community. Some of these heuristics include specific ways of matching the user input to the essential measurements in the dataset and determining overlaps of time range and spatial areas. Heuristics based on the novelty of the datasets can prioritize later, better versions of data over similar predecessors. And knowledge of how different user types and communities use data can be brought to bear in cases where characteristics of the user (discipline, expertise) or their intent (applications, research) can be divined. The Earth Observing System Data and Information System has begun implementing some of these heuristics in the relevancy algorithm of its Common Metadata Repository search engine.

Adherence to Standards in the Development of E-Learning Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novacek, Paul F.

2016-01-01

Consistent user interface standards are necessary with the development of e-learning courseware, as they are the glue that binds the users' experience with their expectations. For example, the user controls for video playback were standardized many years ago, and we all benefit knowing a right-facing triangle signifies a play function, while dual…

User Involvement in Designing a Survey of People Directly Employing Care and Support Workers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Josie; McNaughton-Nicholls, Carol; d'Ardenne, Joanna; Doyle-Francis, Melanie; Manthorpe, Jill

2013-01-01

User involvement in social care research has generally been the preserve of qualitative methodologies, while user involvement in quantitative research has tended to be limited by the assumed inflexibility of statistical designs and concerns that lay people may require specialist training to engage with quantitative methods. Using the example of…

OkCupid Data for Introductory Statistics and Data Science Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Albert Y.; Escobedo-Land, Adriana

2015-01-01

We present a data set consisting of user profile data for 59,946 San Francisco OkCupid users (a free online dating website) from June 2012. The data set includes typical user information, lifestyle variables, and text responses to 10 essay questions. We present four example analyses suitable for use in undergraduate introductory probability and…

NASTRAN user's guide: Level 15

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The NASTRAN structural analysis system is presented. This user's guide is an essential addition to the original four NASTRAN manuals. Clear, brief descriptions of capabilities with example input are included, with references to the location of more complete information.

User Experience Evaluation Methods in Product Development (UXEM'09)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roto, Virpi; Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila, Kaisa; Law, Effie; Vermeeren, Arnold

High quality user experience (UX) has become a central competitive factor of product development in mature consumer markets [1]. Although the term UX originated from industry and is a widely used term also in academia, the tools for managing UX in product development are still inadequate. A prerequisite for designing delightful UX in an industrial setting is to understand both the requirements tied to the pragmatic level of functionality and interaction and the requirements pertaining to the hedonic level of personal human needs, which motivate product use [2]. Understanding these requirements helps managers set UX targets for product development. The next phase in a good user-centered design process is to iteratively design and evaluate prototypes [3]. Evaluation is critical for systematically improving UX. In many approaches to UX, evaluation basically needs to be postponed until the product is fully or at least almost fully functional. However, in an industrial setting, it is very expensive to find the UX failures only at this phase of product development. Thus, product development managers and developers have a strong need to conduct UX evaluation as early as possible, well before all the parts affecting the holistic experience are available. Different types of products require evaluation on different granularity and maturity levels of a prototype. For example, due to its multi-user characteristic, a community service or an enterprise resource planning system requires a broader scope of UX evaluation than a microwave oven or a word processor that is meant for a single user at a time. Before systematic UX evaluation can be taken into practice, practical, lightweight UX evaluation methods suitable for different types of products and different phases of product readiness are needed. A considerable amount of UX research is still about the conceptual frameworks and models for user experience [4]. Besides, applying existing usability evaluation methods (UEMs) without adaptation to evaluate UX may lead to some scoping issues. Consequently, there is a strong need to put UX evaluation from research into practice.

Fast-track knowledge transfer from climate studies to user's decision-making process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Côté, Hélène; de Elía, Ramón; Larrivée, Caroline; Chaumont, Diane

2017-04-01

Over the last decade, many countries implemented various initiatives to bring their scientific community to develop more research projects addressing end-user needs. This shift in priorities gave rise to new expressions such as « actionable science », « co-production of knowledge » etc. This phenomenon is noteworthy in climate and climate change related research due to the pressing needs for societies to both adapt to climate change and quickly reduce greenhouse gases emissions. Although the attempt to include users into their projects made perfect sense, academic and even governmental researchers have often been overwhelmed by the "language barrier", the variety of needs, and the magnitude of the viewpoint change required to provide salient, credible and legitimate information to decision makers. In addition, many researchers worry that their growing involvement with users might jeopardize the progress of their own scientific interests and slowdown their academic careers. Useŕs needs are not necessarily well defined nor solely driven by scientific issues. They are a more or less complex mixture of short-term obligations like the sudden realization that an imminent decision needs to take climate change into account, long-term concerns about their risks and vulnerabilities, and knowledge gaps involving interdisciplinary inputs and communication challenges. In this context, the emergence of boundary organizations is a convincing approach to build the interface between science and end users. Since a single individual or even a single organization is rarely able to completely fulfill useŕs expectations, this presentation will show how strong and productive links between academia, boundary organization and users can stimulate knowledge transfer among all parties. To that purpose, examples will be taken from the 15-year existence of Ouranos Consortium on Regional Climatology and Adaptation to Climate Change (Montreal, Canada). We will see how Ouranoś staff -with varied expertise in vulnerabilities, impacts and adaptation, regional climate modeling and climate services- interacts with their partners in several climate related studies.

User Driven Data Mining, Visualization and Decision Making for NOAA Observing System and Data Investments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Austin, M.

2016-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) observing system enterprise represents a $2.4B annual investment. Earth observations from these systems are foundational to NOAA's mission to describe, understand, and predict the Earth's environment. NOAA's decision makers are charged with managing this complex portfolio of observing systems to serve the national interest effectively and efficiently. The Technology Planning & Integration for Observation (TPIO) Office currently maintains an observing system portfolio for NOAA's validated user observation requirements, observing capabilities, and resulting data products and services. TPIO performs data analytics to provide NOAA leadership business case recommendations for making sound budgetary decisions. Over the last year, TPIO has moved from massive spreadsheets to intuitive dashboards that enable Federal agencies as well as the general public the ability to explore user observation requirements and environmental observing systems that monitor and predict changes in the environment. This change has led to an organizational data management shift to analytics and visualizations by allowing analysts more time to focus on understanding the data, discovering insights, and effectively communicating the information to decision makers. Moving forward, the next step is to facilitate a cultural change toward self-serve data sharing across NOAA, other Federal agencies, and the public using intuitive data visualizations that answer relevant business questions for users of NOAA's Observing System Enterprise. Users and producers of environmental data will become aware of the need for enhancing communication to simplify information exchange to achieve multipurpose goals across a variety of disciplines. NOAA cannot achieve its goal of producing environmental intelligence without data that can be shared by multiple user communities. This presentation will describe where we are on this journey and will provide examples of these visualizations, promoting a better understanding of NOAA's environmental sensing capabilities that enable improved communication to decision makers in an effective and intuitive manner.

Targeted Help for Spoken Dialogue Systems: Intelligent Feedback Improves Naive Users' Performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hockey, Beth Ann; Lemon, Oliver; Campana, Ellen; Hiatt, Laura; Aist, Gregory; Hieronymous, Jim; Gruenstein, Alexander; Dowding, John

2003-01-01

We present experimental evidence that providing naive users of a spoken dialogue system with immediate help messages related to their out-of-coverage utterances improves their success in using the system. A grammar-based recognizer and a Statistical Language Model (SLM) recognizer are run simultaneously. If the grammar-based recognizer suceeds, the less accurate SLM recognizer hypothesis is not used. When the grammar-based recognizer fails and the SLM recognizer produces a recognition hypothesis, this result is used by the Targeted Help agent to give the user feed-back on what was recognized, a diagnosis of what was problematic about the utterance, and a related in-coverage example. The in-coverage example is intended to encourage alignment between user inputs and the language model of the system. We report on controlled experiments on a spoken dialogue system for command and control of a simulated robotic helicopter.

Reducing Uncertainty in the American Community Survey through Data-Driven Regionalization

PubMed Central

Spielman, Seth E.; Folch, David C.

2015-01-01

The American Community Survey (ACS) is the largest survey of US households and is the principal source for neighborhood scale information about the US population and economy. The ACS is used to allocate billions in federal spending and is a critical input to social scientific research in the US. However, estimates from the ACS can be highly unreliable. For example, in over 72% of census tracts, the estimated number of children under 5 in poverty has a margin of error greater than the estimate. Uncertainty of this magnitude complicates the use of social data in policy making, research, and governance. This article presents a heuristic spatial optimization algorithm that is capable of reducing the margins of error in survey data via the creation of new composite geographies, a process called regionalization. Regionalization is a complex combinatorial problem. Here rather than focusing on the technical aspects of regionalization we demonstrate how to use a purpose built open source regionalization algorithm to process survey data in order to reduce the margins of error to a user-specified threshold. PMID:25723176

Basic Visual Disciplines in Heritage Conservation: Outline of Selected Perspectives in Teaching and Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lobovikov-Katz, A.

2017-08-01

Acknowledgement of the value of a basic freehand sketch by the information and communication community of researchers and developers brought about the advanced developments for the use of sketches as free input to complicated processes of computerized visualization, so as to make them more widely accessible. However, a sharp reduction and even exclusion of this and other basic visual disciplines from education in sciences, technology, engineering and architecture dramatically reduces the number of future users of such applications. The unique needs of conservation of cultural heritage pose specific challenges as well as encourage the formulation of innovative development tasks in related areas of information and communication technologies (ICT). This paper claims that the introduction of basic visual disciplines to both communities is essential to the effectiveness of integration of heritage conservation needs and the advanced ICT development of conservation value, and beyond. It provides an insight into the challenges and advantages of introducing these subjects in a relevant educational context, presents some examples of their teaching and learning in the modern environment, including e-learning, and sketches perspectives to their application.

Neural ensemble communities: Open-source approaches to hardware for large-scale electrophysiology

PubMed Central

Siegle, Joshua H.; Hale, Gregory J.; Newman, Jonathan P.; Voigts, Jakob

2014-01-01

One often-overlooked factor when selecting a platform for large-scale electrophysiology is whether or not a particular data acquisition system is “open” or “closed”: that is, whether or not the system’s schematics and source code are available to end users. Open systems have a reputation for being difficult to acquire, poorly documented, and hard to maintain. With the arrival of more powerful and compact integrated circuits, rapid prototyping services, and web-based tools for collaborative development, these stereotypes must be reconsidered. We discuss some of the reasons why multichannel extracellular electrophysiology could benefit from open-source approaches and describe examples of successful community-driven tool development within this field. In order to promote the adoption of open-source hardware and to reduce the need for redundant development efforts, we advocate a move toward standardized interfaces that connect each element of the data processing pipeline. This will give researchers the flexibility to modify their tools when necessary, while allowing them to continue to benefit from the high-quality products and expertise provided by commercial vendors. PMID:25528614

Graceful Failure, Engineering, and Planning for Extremes: The Engineering for Climate Extremes Partnership (ECEP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruyere, C. L.; Tye, M. R.; Holland, G. J.; Done, J.

2015-12-01

Graceful failure acknowledges that all systems will fail at some level and incorporates the potential for failure as a key component of engineering design, community planning, and the associated research and development. This is a fundamental component of the ECEP, an interdisciplinary partnership bringing together scientific, engineering, cultural, business and government expertise to develop robust, well-communicated predictions and advice on the impacts of weather and climate extremes in support of decision-making. A feature of the partnership is the manner in which basic and applied research and development is conducted in direct collaboration with the end user. A major ECEP focus is the Global Risk and Resilience Toolbox (GRRT) that is aimed at developing public-domain, risk-modeling and response data and planning system in support of engineering design, and community planning and adaptation activities. In this presentation I will outline the overall ECEP and GRIP activities, and expand on the 'graceful failure' concept. Specific examples for direct assessment and prediction of hurricane impacts and damage potential will be included.

Reducing uncertainty in the american community survey through data-driven regionalization.

PubMed

Spielman, Seth E; Folch, David C

2015-01-01

The American Community Survey (ACS) is the largest survey of US households and is the principal source for neighborhood scale information about the US population and economy. The ACS is used to allocate billions in federal spending and is a critical input to social scientific research in the US. However, estimates from the ACS can be highly unreliable. For example, in over 72% of census tracts, the estimated number of children under 5 in poverty has a margin of error greater than the estimate. Uncertainty of this magnitude complicates the use of social data in policy making, research, and governance. This article presents a heuristic spatial optimization algorithm that is capable of reducing the margins of error in survey data via the creation of new composite geographies, a process called regionalization. Regionalization is a complex combinatorial problem. Here rather than focusing on the technical aspects of regionalization we demonstrate how to use a purpose built open source regionalization algorithm to process survey data in order to reduce the margins of error to a user-specified threshold.

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

Ingargiola, A.; Laurence, T. A.; Boutelle, R.

We introduce Photon-HDF5, an open and efficient file format to simplify exchange and long term accessibility of data from single-molecule fluorescence experiments based on photon-counting detectors such as single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), photomultiplier tube (PMT) or arrays of such detectors. The format is based on HDF5, a widely used platform- and language-independent hierarchical file format for which user-friendly viewers are available. Photon-HDF5 can store raw photon data (timestamp, channel number, etc) from any acquisition hardware, but also setup and sample description, information on provenance, authorship and other metadata, and is flexible enough to include any kind of custom data. Themore » format specifications are hosted on a public website, which is open to contributions by the biophysics community. As an initial resource, the website provides code examples to read Photon-HDF5 files in several programming languages and a reference python library (phconvert), to create new Photon-HDF5 files and convert several existing file formats into Photon-HDF5. As a result, to encourage adoption by the academic and commercial communities, all software is released under the MIT open source license.« less

Neural ensemble communities: open-source approaches to hardware for large-scale electrophysiology.

PubMed

Siegle, Joshua H; Hale, Gregory J; Newman, Jonathan P; Voigts, Jakob

2015-06-01

One often-overlooked factor when selecting a platform for large-scale electrophysiology is whether or not a particular data acquisition system is 'open' or 'closed': that is, whether or not the system's schematics and source code are available to end users. Open systems have a reputation for being difficult to acquire, poorly documented, and hard to maintain. With the arrival of more powerful and compact integrated circuits, rapid prototyping services, and web-based tools for collaborative development, these stereotypes must be reconsidered. We discuss some of the reasons why multichannel extracellular electrophysiology could benefit from open-source approaches and describe examples of successful community-driven tool development within this field. In order to promote the adoption of open-source hardware and to reduce the need for redundant development efforts, we advocate a move toward standardized interfaces that connect each element of the data processing pipeline. This will give researchers the flexibility to modify their tools when necessary, while allowing them to continue to benefit from the high-quality products and expertise provided by commercial vendors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatial Fingerprints of Community Structure in Human Interaction Network for an Extensive Set of Large-Scale Regions

PubMed Central

Kallus, Zsófia; Barankai, Norbert; Szüle, János; Vattay, Gábor

2015-01-01

Human interaction networks inferred from country-wide telephone activity recordings were recently used to redraw political maps by projecting their topological partitions into geographical space. The results showed remarkable spatial cohesiveness of the network communities and a significant overlap between the redrawn and the administrative borders. Here we present a similar analysis based on one of the most popular online social networks represented by the ties between more than 5.8 million of its geo-located users. The worldwide coverage of their measured activity allowed us to analyze the large-scale regional subgraphs of entire continents and an extensive set of examples for single countries. We present results for North and South America, Europe and Asia. In our analysis we used the well-established method of modularity clustering after an aggregation of the individual links into a weighted graph connecting equal-area geographical pixels. Our results show fingerprints of both of the opposing forces of dividing local conflicts and of uniting cross-cultural trends of globalization. PMID:25993329

WFIRST Science Operations at STScI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilbert, Karoline; STScI WFIRST Team

2018-06-01

With sensitivity and resolution comparable the Hubble Space Telescope, and a field of view 100 times larger, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) on WFIRST will be a powerful survey instrument. STScI will be the Science Operations Center (SOC) for the WFIRST Mission, with additional science support provided by the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) and foreign partners. STScI will schedule and archive all WFIRST observations, calibrate and produce pipeline-reduced data products for imaging with the Wide Field Instrument, support the High Latitude Imaging and Supernova Survey Teams, and support the astronomical community in planning WFI imaging observations and analyzing the data. STScI has developed detailed concepts for WFIRST operations, including a data management system integrating data processing and the archive which will include a novel, cloud-based framework for high-level data processing, providing a common environment accessible to all users (STScI operations, Survey Teams, General Observers, and archival investigators). To aid the astronomical community in examining the capabilities of WFIRST, STScI has built several simulation tools. We describe the functionality of each tool and give examples of its use.

Best Practices for Preparing Interoperable Geospatial Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Santhana Vannan, S.; Cook, R. B.; Wilson, B. E.; Beaty, T. W.

2010-12-01

Geospatial data is critically important for a wide scope of research and applications: carbon cycle and ecosystem, climate change, land use and urban planning, environmental protecting, etc. Geospatial data is created by different organizations using different methods, from remote sensing observations, field surveys, model simulations, etc., and stored in various formats. So geospatial data is diverse and heterogeneous, which brings a huge barrier for the sharing and using of geospatial data, especially when targeting a broad user community. Many efforts have been taken to address different aspects of using geospatial data by improving its interoperability. For example, the specification for Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) catalog services defines a standard way for geospatial information discovery; OGC Web Coverage Services (WCS) and OPeNDAP define interoperable protocols for geospatial data access, respectively. But the reality is that only having the standard mechanisms for data discovery and access is not enough. The geospatial data content itself has to be organized in standard, easily understandable, and readily usable formats. The Oak Ridge National Lab Distributed Archived Data Center (ORNL DAAC) archives data and information relevant to biogeochemical dynamics, ecological data, and environmental processes. The Modeling and Synthesis Thematic Data Center (MAST-DC) prepares and distributes both input data and output data of carbon cycle models and provides data support for synthesis and terrestrial model inter-comparison in multi-scales. Both of these NASA-funded data centers compile and distribute a large amount of diverse geospatial data and have broad user communities, including GIS users, Earth science researchers, and ecosystem modeling teams. The ORNL DAAC and MAST-DC address this geospatial data interoperability issue by standardizing the data content and feeding them into a well-designed Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) which provides interoperable mechanisms to advertise, visualize, and distribute the standardized geospatial data. In this presentation, we summarize the experiences learned and the best practices for geospatial data standardization. The presentation will describe how diverse and historical data archived in the ORNL DAAC were converted into standard and non-proprietary formats; what tools were used to make the conversion; how the spatial and temporal information are properly captured in a consistent manor; how to name a data file or a variable to make it both human-friendly and semantically interoperable; how NetCDF file format and CF convention can promote the data usage in ecosystem modeling user community; how those standardized geospatial data can be fed into OGC Web Services to support on-demand data visualization and access; and how the metadata should be collected and organized so that they can be discovered through standard catalog services.

From Community to Meta-Community Mental Health Care.

PubMed

Bouras, Nick; Ikkos, George; Craig, Thomas

2018-04-20

Since the 1960s, we have witnessed the development and growth of community mental health care that continues to dominate mental health policy and practice. Several high-income countries have implemented community mental health care programmes but for many others, including mostly low- and middle-income countries, it remains an aspiration. Although community mental health care has been positive for many service users, it has also had severe shortcomings. Expectations that it would lead to fuller social integration have not been fulfilled and many service users remain secluded in sheltered or custodial environments with limited social contacts and no prospect of work. Others receive little or no service at all. In today’s complex landscape of increasingly specialised services for people with mental health problems, the number of possible interfaces between services is increasing. Together with existing uneven financing systems and a context of constant change, these interfaces are challenging us to develop effective care pathways adjusted to the needs of service users and their carers. This discussion paper reviews the developments in community mental health care over the recent years and puts forward the concept of “Meta-Community Mental Health Care”. “Meta-Community Mental Health Care” embraces pluralism in understanding and treating psychiatric disorders, acknowledges the complexities of community provision, and reflects the realities and needs of the current era of care.

From Community to Meta-Community Mental Health Care

PubMed Central

Bouras, Nick; Ikkos, George; Craig, Thomas

2018-01-01

Since the 1960s, we have witnessed the development and growth of community mental health care that continues to dominate mental health policy and practice. Several high-income countries have implemented community mental health care programmes but for many others, including mostly low- and middle-income countries, it remains an aspiration. Although community mental health care has been positive for many service users, it has also had severe shortcomings. Expectations that it would lead to fuller social integration have not been fulfilled and many service users remain secluded in sheltered or custodial environments with limited social contacts and no prospect of work. Others receive little or no service at all. In today’s complex landscape of increasingly specialised services for people with mental health problems, the number of possible interfaces between services is increasing. Together with existing uneven financing systems and a context of constant change, these interfaces are challenging us to develop effective care pathways adjusted to the needs of service users and their carers. This discussion paper reviews the developments in community mental health care over the recent years and puts forward the concept of “Meta-Community Mental Health Care”. “Meta-Community Mental Health Care” embraces pluralism in understanding and treating psychiatric disorders, acknowledges the complexities of community provision, and reflects the realities and needs of the current era of care. PMID:29677100

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…

Distributed user services for supercomputers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sowizral, Henry A.

1989-01-01

User-service operations at supercomputer facilities are examined. The question is whether a single, possibly distributed, user-services organization could be shared by NASA's supercomputer sites in support of a diverse, geographically dispersed, user community. A possible structure for such an organization is identified as well as some of the technologies needed in operating such an organization.

A Web-Based Toolkit to Provide Evidence-Based Resources About Crystal Methamphetamine for the Australian Community: Collaborative Development of Cracks in the Ice.

PubMed

Champion, Katrina Elizabeth; Chapman, Cath; Newton, Nicola Clare; Brierley, Mary-Ellen; Stapinski, Lexine; Kay-Lambkin, Frances; Nagle, Jack; Teesson, Maree

2018-03-20

The use of crystal methamphetamine (ice) and the associated harms for individuals, families, and communities across Australia has been the subject of growing concern in recent years. The provision of easily accessible, evidence-based, and up-to-date information and resources about crystal methamphetamine for the community is a critical component of an effective public health response. This paper aims to describe the codevelopment process of the Web-based Cracks in the Ice Community Toolkit, which was developed to improve access to evidence-based information and resources about crystal methamphetamine for the Australian community. Development of the Cracks in the Ice Community Toolkit was conducted in collaboration with community members across Australia and with experts working in the addiction field. The iterative process involved the following: (1) consultation with end users, including community members, crystal methamphetamine users, families and friends of someone using crystal methamphetamine, health professionals, and teachers (n=451) via a cross-sectional Web-based survey to understand information needs; (2) content and Web development; and (3) user testing of a beta version of the Web-based toolkit among end users (n=41) and experts (n=10) to evaluate the toolkit's acceptability, relevance, and appeal. Initial end user consultation indicated that the most commonly endorsed reasons for visiting a website about crystal methamphetamine were "to get information for myself" (185/451, 41.0%) and "to find out how to help a friend or a family member" (136/451, 30.2%). Community consultation also revealed the need for simple information about crystal methamphetamine, including what it is, its effects, and when and where to seek help or support. Feedback on a beta version of the toolkit was positive in terms of content, readability, layout, look, and feel. Commonly identified areas for improvement related to increasing the level of engagement and personal connection, improving the ease of navigation, and balancing a "low prevalence of use, yet high impact" message. A total of 9138 users visited the website in the 3 months immediately post launch, and over 25,000 hard-copy Cracks in the Ice booklets and flyers were distributed across Australia. Of these resources, 60.93% (15,525/25,480) were distributed to relevant organizations and mailing list subscribers, and 39.07% (9955/25,480) were ordered directly by individuals, services, and community groups via the Cracks in the Ice website. The codevelopment process resulted in an engaging Web-based resource for the Australian community to access up-to-date and evidence-based resources about crystal methamphetamine. The Cracks in the Ice Community Toolkit provides much-needed information and support for individuals, families, and communities. ©Katrina Elizabeth Champion, Cath Chapman, Nicola Clare Newton, Mary-Ellen Brierley, Lexine Stapinski, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Jack Nagle, Maree Teesson. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org), 20.03.2018.

The Effects of a Park Awareness Campaign on Rural Park Use and Physical Activity.

PubMed

Banda, Jorge A; Hooker, Steven P; Wilcox, Sara; Colabianchi, Natalie; Kaczynski, Andrew T; Hussey, James

To examine the effects of a park awareness campaign on park use in 6 community parks. One-group pretest-posttest design. Six community parks located in a South Carolina county. Children, adolescents, and adults observed in community parks. A 1-month awareness campaign that culminated in single 1.5-hour events at 6 parks in April 2011 and May 2011. The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities was used to objectively measure park use in May 2010 (baseline) and May 2011 (postcampaign). Zero-inflated Poisson models tested whether the number of total park users and the number of park users engaged in sedentary, walking, and vigorous activities differed by observation date. Park use was significantly greater at baseline than postcampaign (97 vs 84 users, respectively; χ = 4.69, P = .03). There were no significant differences in the number of park users engaged in sedentary (χ = 2.45, P = .12), walking (χ = 0.29, P = .59), and vigorous (χ = 0.20, P = .65) activities between baseline and postcampaign. Although only 97 and 84 people were observed across all parks at baseline and postcampaign, a total of 629 people were observed during the 6 separate 1.5-hour campaign park events. This suggests that there is potential for greater park utilization in these communities, and important questions remain on how to conduct effective awareness campaigns and how to harness interest in park events for the purpose of contributing to future community-wide physical activity and health promotion efforts.

The European ALMA Regional Centre: a model of user support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreani, P.; Stoehr, F.; Zwaan, M.; Hatziminaoglou, E.; Biggs, A.; Diaz-Trigo, M.; Humphreys, E.; Petry, D.; Randall, S.; Stanke, T.; van Kampen, E.; Bárta, M.; Brand, J.; Gueth, F.; Hogerheijde, M.; Bertoldi, F.; Muxlow, T.; Richards, A.; Vlemmings, W.

2014-08-01

The ALMA Regional Centres (ARCs) form the interface between the ALMA observatory and the user community from the proposal preparation stage to the delivery of data and their subsequent analysis. The ARCs provide critical services to both the ALMA operations in Chile and to the user community. These services were split by the ALMA project into core and additional services. The core services are financed by the ALMA operations budget and are critical to the successful operation of ALMA. They are contractual obligations and must be delivered to the ALMA project. The additional services are not funded by the ALMA project and are not contractual obligations, but are critical to achieve ALMA full scientific potential. A distributed network of ARC nodes (with ESO being the central ARC) has been set up throughout Europe at the following seven locations: Bologna, Bonn-Cologne, Grenoble, Leiden, Manchester, Ondrejov, Onsala. These ARC nodes are working together with the central node at ESO and provide both core and additional services to the ALMA user community. This paper presents the European ARC, and how it operates in Europe to support the ALMA community. This model, although complex in nature, is turning into a very successful one, providing a service to the scientific community that has been so far highly appreciated. The ARC could become a reference support model in an age where very large collaborations are required to build large facilities, and support is needed for geographically and culturally diverse communities.

Switched on or switched off? A survey of mobile, computer and Internet use in a community mental health rehabilitation sample.

PubMed

Tobitt, Simon; Percival, Robert

2017-07-04

UK society is undergoing a technological revolution, including meeting health needs through technology. Government policy is shifting towards a "digital by default" position. Studies have trialled health technology interventions for those experiencing psychosis and shown them to be useful. To gauge levels of engagement with mobile phones (Internet-enabled or cell phone), computers and the Internet in the specific population of community mental health rehabilitation. Two surveys were conducted: with service-users on use/non-use of technologies, and interest in technology interventions and support; and with placements on facilities and support available to service-users. Levels of engagement in this population were substantially less than those recorded in the general UK and other clinical populations: 40.2% regularly use mobiles, 17.5% computers, and 14.4% the Internet. Users of all three technologies were significantly younger than non-users. Users of mobiles and computers were significantly more likely to live in lower support/higher independence placements. Of surveyed placements, 35.5% provide a communal computer and 38.7% IT skills sessions. Community mental health rehabilitation service-users risk finding themselves excluded by a "digital divide". Action is needed to ensure equal access to online opportunities, including healthcare innovations. Clinical and policy implications are discussed.

Digital Repositories and the Question of Data Usefulness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, J. S.; Downs, R. R.

2017-12-01

The advent of ISO standards for trustworthy long-term digital repositories provides both a set of principles to develop long-term data repositories and the instruments to assess them for trustworthiness. Such mandatory high-level requirements are broad enough to be achievable, to some extent, by many scientific data centers, archives, and other repositories. But the requirement that the data be useful in the future, the requirement that is usually considered to be most relevant to the value of the repository for its user communities, largely remains subject to various interpretations and misunderstanding. However, current and future users will be relying on repositories to preserve and disseminate the data and information needed to discover, understand, and utilize these resources to support their research, learning, and decision-making objectives. Therefore, further study is needed to determine the approaches that can be adopted by repositories to make data useful to future communities of users. This presentation will describe approaches for enabling scientific data and related information, such as software, to be useful for current and potential future user communities and will present the methodology chosen to make one science discipline's data useful for both current and future users. The method uses an ontology-based information model to define and capture the information necessary to make the data useful for contemporary and future users.

Projects for People: An International Exchange Focused on Drinking Water Quality in Rural Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weathers, T. S.; Tarazona Vasquez, F.; Bailey, E.; Duong, V.; Gonzales Vera, R.; LaPorte, D.; Rojas Cala, B.; Torres Atencia, S.; Vasquez Auqui, J.

2016-12-01

The integration of human-centered design with technical engineering in a classroom setting can be challenging but immensely rewarding if coupled with a community-focused experience. Undergraduate students participated in an international exchange to address drinking water quality in the community of Huamancaca, located in the Junin region of Peru. Technical research and experimentation often comes easily to students in undergraduate engineering programs, however, implementation within a community requires a social license to operate. The objectives of this study were to address the technical challenges of designing a sustainable and effective water filtration system while also ensuring community support and education, coupled with user ownership of the process. In tandem with filter media experimentation with biochar and activated carbon produced using locally available agricultural waste from potatoes and carrots, we visited the people of Huamancaca to understand their needs and concerns. This direct communication with the community was invaluable; we observed that many of the residents' water quality problems could be solved with education. For example, proper sanitation techniques and appropriate addition of bleach or sufficient boiling time may make up for inconsistent water quality provided by the local distribution system. An education plan may also be developed for water treatment plant operators covering chlorine dosage for effective residual treatment within the distribution network in addition to filtration. Upon site visitation and sample collection, we realized that open communication with city officials, operators, business owners, and residents in both technical and social settings is essential for continued collaboration within this community. Solving a tangible problem or designing a product that can be effectively adopted is not a concept that is rigorously addressed in undergraduate education, however the setbacks, challenges, and triumphs experienced when interacting with a community can provide valuable lessons for career development.­

Consensus-based methodology for detection communities in multilayered networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karimi-Majd, Amir-Mohsen; Fathian, Mohammad; Makrehchi, Masoud

2018-03-01

Finding groups of network users who are densely related with each other has emerged as an interesting problem in the area of social network analysis. These groups or so-called communities would be hidden behind the behavior of users. Most studies assume that such behavior could be understood by focusing on user interfaces, their behavioral attributes or a combination of these network layers (i.e., interfaces with their attributes). They also assume that all network layers refer to the same behavior. However, in real-life networks, users' behavior in one layer may differ from their behavior in another one. In order to cope with these issues, this article proposes a consensus-based community detection approach (CBC). CBC finds communities among nodes at each layer, in parallel. Then, the results of layers should be aggregated using a consensus clustering method. This means that different behavior could be detected and used in the analysis. As for other significant advantages, the methodology would be able to handle missing values. Three experiments on real-life and computer-generated datasets have been conducted in order to evaluate the performance of CBC. The results indicate superiority and stability of CBC in comparison to other approaches.

Transient Alerts in LSST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantor, J.

During LSST observing, transient events will be detected and alerts generated at the LSST Archive Center at NCSA in Champaign-Illinois. As a very high rate of alerts is expected, approaching ˜ 10 million per night, we plan for VOEvent-compliant Distributor/Brokers (http://voevent.org) to be the primary end-points of the full LSST alert streams. End users will then use these Distributor/Brokers to classify and filter events on the stream for those fitting their science goals. These Distributor/Brokers are envisioned to be operated as a community service by third parties who will have signed MOUs with LSST. The exact identification of Distributor/Brokers to receive alerts will be determined as LSST approaches full operations and may change over time, but it is in our interest to identify and coordinate with them as early as possible. LSST will also operate a limited Distributor/Broker with a filtering capability at the Archive Center, to allow alerts to be sent directly to a limited number of entities that for some reason need to have a more direct connection to LSST. This might include, for example, observatories with significant follow-up capabilities whose observing may temporarily be more directly tied to LSST observing. It will let astronomers create simple filters that limit what alerts are ultimately forwarded to them. These user defined filters will be possible to specify using an SQL-like declarative language, or short snippets of (likely Python) code. We emphasize that this LSST-provided capability will be limited, and is not intended to satisfy the wide variety of use cases that a full-fledged public Event Distributor/Broker could. End users will not be able to subscribe to full, unfiltered, alert streams coming directly from LSST. In this session, we will discuss anticipated LSST data rates, and capabilities for alert processing and distribution/brokering. We will clarify what the LSST Observatory will provide versus what we anticipate will be a community effort.

CosmoQuest: Building a Community of Skilled Citizen Science Contributors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gay, P.; Lehan, C.; Bracey, G.; Durrell, P.; Komatsu, T.; Yamani, A.; Francis, M. R.

2016-12-01

The CosmoQuest Virtual Research Facility invites the public to participate in NASA Science Mission Directorate related research that leads to publishable results and data catalogues. CosmoQuest projects range in difficulty from simple crater and transient marking tasks to more complicated mapping tasks. To successfully engage contributors in creating usable results, training and validation are required. This is accomplished through activities that are designed to mirror the experiences students would have in a university, and include mentoring by team scientists, feedback on contributor efforts, seminars to learn about new science, and even formal classes to provide needed background. Recruitment is accomplished using new and social media, and planetarium and Science on the Sphere™ trailers and shows, and community is built through online and real-world collaboration spaces and events. In this presentation, we detail CosmoQuest's four-pronged approach of media recruitment, science education, citizen science, and community collaboration. We also discuss how it is leveraged to create a skilled collaboration of citizen scientists. Training and data validation activities will be be emphasized, with examples of both what can go right and lessons learned from when things go wrong. We conclude with strategies on how to utilize best practices in user interface design to create virtual experiences that allow major citizen science efforts to be scalable to large audiences.

ISMRM Raw data format: A proposed standard for MRI raw datasets.

PubMed

Inati, Souheil J; Naegele, Joseph D; Zwart, Nicholas R; Roopchansingh, Vinai; Lizak, Martin J; Hansen, David C; Liu, Chia-Ying; Atkinson, David; Kellman, Peter; Kozerke, Sebastian; Xue, Hui; Campbell-Washburn, Adrienne E; Sørensen, Thomas S; Hansen, Michael S

2017-01-01

This work proposes the ISMRM Raw Data format as a common MR raw data format, which promotes algorithm and data sharing. A file format consisting of a flexible header and tagged frames of k-space data was designed. Application Programming Interfaces were implemented in C/C++, MATLAB, and Python. Converters for Bruker, General Electric, Philips, and Siemens proprietary file formats were implemented in C++. Raw data were collected using magnetic resonance imaging scanners from four vendors, converted to ISMRM Raw Data format, and reconstructed using software implemented in three programming languages (C++, MATLAB, Python). Images were obtained by reconstructing the raw data from all vendors. The source code, raw data, and images comprising this work are shared online, serving as an example of an image reconstruction project following a paradigm of reproducible research. The proposed raw data format solves a practical problem for the magnetic resonance imaging community. It may serve as a foundation for reproducible research and collaborations. The ISMRM Raw Data format is a completely open and community-driven format, and the scientific community is invited (including commercial vendors) to participate either as users or developers. Magn Reson Med 77:411-421, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Earthdata Developer Portal poster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plofchan, P.

2016-12-01

A common theme at community conferences in the Earth science domain is the need for more integration with related services, clearer documentation for services available, and a general simplification of what it takes to leverage existing tools so that setup and administration time can be minimized and time spent researching can be maximized. NASA's Earthdata Developer Portal (EDP) is the newly-created central location for documentation related to interacting with services offered by the EOSDIS community. The EDP will provide technical documentation for APIs, process documentation that provides real-world examples of how to use existing APIs in the real world, release notes for applications and services so that the entire community can stay up to date on recent updates, and best practice suggestions to improve implementation of both front-end and back-end services. Application and service owners will own their documentation while the EDP will ingest the documentation, serve it up in an interface using both industry standard tools, such as Swagger, and custom "adapters". The content is then styled to ensure consistency with other documentation found throughout the site and will be made searchable from a single location. "Getting Started" paths will also provide those users new to the space a simple path to follow to perform common tasks such as "searching and getting data" or "hosting an application on the Earthdata platform."

Enabling Access to High-Resolution Lidar Topography for Earth Science Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, Christopher; Nandigam, Viswanath; Arrowsmith, Ramon; Baru, Chaitan

2010-05-01

High-resolution topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging a.k.a. laser scanning) technology are revolutionizing the way we study the geomorphic processes acting along the Earth's surface. These data, acquired from either an airborne platform or from a tripod-mounted scanner, are emerging as a fundamental tool for research on a variety of topics ranging from earthquake hazards to ice sheet dynamics. Lidar topography data allow earth scientists to study the processes that contribute to landscape evolution at resolutions not previously possible yet essential for their appropriate representation. These datasets also have significant implications for earth science education and outreach because they provide an accurate digital representation of landforms and geologic hazards. However, along with the potential of lidar topography comes an increase in the volume and complexity of data that must be efficiently managed, archived, distributed, processed and integrated in order for them to be of use to the community. A single lidar data acquisition may generate terabytes of data in the form of point clouds, digital elevation models (DEMs), and derivative imagery. This massive volume of data is often difficult to manage and poses significant distribution challenges when trying to allow access to the data for a large scientific user community. Furthermore, the datasets can be technically challenging to work with and may require specific software and computing resources that are not readily available to many users. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded OpenTopography Facility (http://www.opentopography.org) is an online data access and processing system designed to address the challenges posed by lidar data, and to democratize access to these data for the scientific user community. OpenTopography provides free, online access to lidar data in a number of forms, including raw lidar point cloud data, standard DEMs, and easily accessible Google Earth visualizations. OpenTopography uses cyberinfrastructure resources to allow users, regardless of their level of expertise, to access lidar data products that can be applied to their research. In addition to data access, the system uses customized algorithms and high-performance computing resources to allow users to perform on-the-fly data processing tasks such as the generation of custom DEMs. OpenTopography's primarily focus is on large, community-oriented, scientific data sets, such as those acquired by the NSF-funded EarthScope project. We are actively expanding our holdings through collaborations with researchers and data providers to include data from a wide variety of landscapes and geologic domains. Ultimately, the goal is for OpenTopography to be the primary clearing house for Earth science-oriented high-resolution topography. This presentation will provide an overview of the OpenTopography Facility, including available data, processing capabilities and resources, examples from scientific use cases, and a snapshot of system and data usage thus far. We will also discuss current development activities related to deploying high-performance algorithms for hydrologic processing of DEMs, geomorphic change detection analysis, and the incorporation of full waveform lidar data into the system.

Personalizing public health: your health avatar.

PubMed

Pereira, Chrystian; McNamara, Anusha; Sorge, Lindsay; Arya, Vibhuti

2013-01-01

To describe the creation of a health avatar, with the goals of providing patients with complete health information from various sources, establishing an interactive and customizable platform, empowering users to determine how the health information best fits or speaks to their personal needs, and providing perspective by comparing the health status of the individual with that of the individual's community. The Internet is rapidly becoming integrated into Americans' daily lives. According to the 2007 Health Information National Trends Study, 69% of U.S. adults had access to the Internet and 23% reported using a social networking site. The impact of social media has further grown, and an estimated 50% of adults in America have a profile on social media. The potential for using cyber communities to improve health messaging is great. Several health care organizations have implemented the use of social media in a variety of ways to varying degrees of success. We propose a platform that automatically gathers information and reflects the health status of an individual back to the user. An avatar, which is a representation of a user, could be created and assigned characteristics that allow users to appreciate their health status. The health avatar platform also would allow users to compare their personal status with that of their community. The overall goal is to engage and then motivate users to improve their overall health status. Medicine must acknowledge the evolving relationships that the next generation of patients will have with technology. The health avatar is a platform that incorporates a connection with the health system through electronic medical records and connects individuals to the greater community.

Supporting Snow Research: SnowEx Data and Services at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leon, A.; Tanner, S.; Deems, J. S.

2017-12-01

The National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, will archive and distribute all primary data sets collected during the NASA SnowEx campaigns. NSIDC DAAC's overarching goal for SnowEx data management is to steward the diverse SnowEx data sets to provide a reliable long-term archive, to enable effective data discovery, retrieval, and usage, and to support end user engagement. This goal will be achieved though coordination and collaboration with SnowEx project management and investigators. NSIDC DAAC's core functions for SnowEx data management include: Data Creation: Advise investigators on data formats and structure as well as metadata creation and content to enable preservation, usability, and discoverability. Data Documentation: Develop comprehensive data set documentation describing the instruments, data collection and derivation methods, and data file contents. Data Distribution: Provide discovery and access through NSIDC and NASA data portals to make SnowEx data available to a broad user community Data & User Support: Assist user communities with the selection and usage of SnowEx data products. In an effort to educate and broaden the SnowEx user community, we will present an overview of the SnowEx data products, tools, and services which will be available at the NSIDC DAAC. We hope to gain further insight into how the DAAC can enable the user community to seamlessly and effectively utilize SnowEx data in their research and applications.

Factors affecting success of an integrated community-based telehealth system.

PubMed

Hsieh, Hui-Lung; Tsai, Chung-Hung; Chih, Wen-Hai; Lin, Huei-Hsieh

2015-01-01

The rise of chronic and degenerative diseases in developed countries has become one critical epidemiologic issue. Telehealth can provide one viable way to enhance health care, public health, and health education delivery and support. The study aims to empirically examine and evaluate the success factors of community-based telehealth system adoption. The valid 336 respondents are the residents of a rural community in Taiwan. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the proposed model applied to telehealth. The findings showed the research model had good explanatory power and fitness. Also, the findings indicated that system quality exerted the strongest overall effect on intention to use. Furthermore, service quality exerted the strongest overall effect on user satisfaction. The findings also illustrated that the joint effects of three intrinsic qualities (system quality, information quality, and service quality) on use were mediated by user satisfaction and intention to use. The study implies that community-based telehealth service providers should improve three intrinsic qualities to enhance user satisfaction and intention to use, which in turn can lead to increase the usage of the telehealth equipment. The integrated community-based telehealth system may become an innovative and suitable way to deliver better care to the residents of communities.

Community-based participatory research and user-centered design in a diabetes medication information and decision tool.

PubMed

Henderson, Vida A; Barr, Kathryn L; An, Lawrence C; Guajardo, Claudia; Newhouse, William; Mase, Rebecca; Heisler, Michele

2013-01-01

Together, community-based participatory research (CBPR), user-centered design (UCD), and health information technology (HIT) offer promising approaches to improve health disparities in low-resource settings. This article describes the application of CBPR and UCD principles to the development of iDecide/Decido, an interactive, tailored, web-based diabetes medication education and decision support tool delivered by community health workers (CHWs) to African American and Latino participants with diabetes in Southwest and Eastside Detroit. The decision aid is offered in English or Spanish and is delivered on an iPad in participants' homes. The overlapping principles of CBPR and UCD used to develop iDecide/Decido include a user-focused or community approach, equitable academic and community partnership in all study phases, an iterative development process that relies on input from all stakeholders, and a program experience that is specified, adapted, and implemented with the target community. Collaboration between community members, researchers, and developers is especially evident in the program's design concept, animations, pictographs, issue cards, goal setting, tailoring, and additional CHW tools. The principles of CBPR and UCD can be successfully applied in developing health information tools that are easy to use and understand, interactive, and target health disparities.

Identification of influential users by neighbors in online social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheikhahmadi, Amir; Nematbakhsh, Mohammad Ali; Zareie, Ahmad

2017-11-01

Identification and ranking of influential users in social networks for the sake of news spreading and advertising has recently become an attractive field of research. Given the large number of users in social networks and also the various relations that exist among them, providing an effective method to identify influential users has been gradually considered as an essential factor. In most of the already-provided methods, those users who are located in an appropriate structural position of the network are regarded as influential users. These methods do not usually pay attention to the interactions among users, and also consider those relations as being binary in nature. This paper, therefore, proposes a new method to identify influential users in a social network by considering those interactions that exist among the users. Since users tend to act within the frame of communities, the network is initially divided into different communities. Then the amount of interaction among users is used as a parameter to set the weight of relations existing within the network. Afterward, by determining the neighbors' role for each user, a two-level method is proposed for both detecting users' influence and also ranking them. Simulation and experimental results on twitter data shows that those users who are selected by the proposed method, comparing to other existing ones, are distributed in a more appropriate distance. Moreover, the proposed method outperforms the other ones in terms of both the influential speed and capacity of the users it selects.

Use of force feedback to enhance graphical user interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberg, Louis B.; Brave, Scott

1996-04-01

This project focuses on the use of force feedback sensations to enhance user interaction with standard graphical user interface paradigms. While typical joystick and mouse devices are input-only, force feedback controllers allow physical sensations to be reflected to a user. Tasks that require users to position a cursor on a given target can be enhanced by applying physical forces to the user that aid in targeting. For example, an attractive force field implemented at the location of a graphical icon can greatly facilitate target acquisition and selection of the icon. It has been shown that force feedback can enhance a users ability to perform basic functions within graphical user interfaces.

Links between real and virtual networks: a comparative study of online communities in Japan and Korea.

PubMed

Ishii, Kenichi; Ogasahara, Morihiro

2007-04-01

The present study explores how online communities affect real-world personal relations based on a cross-cultural survey conducted in Japan and Korea. Findings indicate that the gratifications of online communities moderate the effects of online communities on social participation. Online communities are categorized into a real-group-based community and a virtual-network-based community. The membership of real-group-based online community is positively correlated with social bonding gratification and negatively correlated with information- seeking gratification. Japanese users prefer more virtual-network-based online communities, while their Korean counterparts prefer real-group-based online communities. Korean users are more active in online communities and seek a higher level of socializing gratifications, such as social bonding and making new friends, when compared with their Japanese counterparts. These results indicate that in Korea, personal relations via the online community are closely associated with the real-world personal relations, but this is not the case in Japan. This study suggests that the effects of the Internet are culture-specific and that the online community can serve a different function in different cultural environments.

mcaGUI: microbial community analysis R-Graphical User Interface (GUI).

PubMed

Copeland, Wade K; Krishnan, Vandhana; Beck, Daniel; Settles, Matt; Foster, James A; Cho, Kyu-Chul; Day, Mitch; Hickey, Roxana; Schütte, Ursel M E; Zhou, Xia; Williams, Christopher J; Forney, Larry J; Abdo, Zaid

2012-08-15

Microbial communities have an important role in natural ecosystems and have an impact on animal and human health. Intuitive graphic and analytical tools that can facilitate the study of these communities are in short supply. This article introduces Microbial Community Analysis GUI, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the R-programming language (R Development Core Team, 2010). With this application, researchers can input aligned and clustered sequence data to create custom abundance tables and perform analyses specific to their needs. This GUI provides a flexible modular platform, expandable to include other statistical tools for microbial community analysis in the future. The mcaGUI package and source are freely available as part of Bionconductor at http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/mcaGUI.html

A Multi-Collaborative Ambient Assisted Living Service Description Tool

PubMed Central

Falcó, Jorge L.; Vaquerizo, Esteban; Artigas, José Ignacio

2014-01-01

Collaboration among different stakeholders is a key factor in the design of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) environments and services. Throughout several AAL projects we have found repeated difficulties in this collaboration and have learned lessons by the experience of solving real situations. This paper highlights identified critical items for collaboration among technicians, users, company and institutional stakeholders and proposes as a communication tool for a project steering committee a service description tool which includes information from the different fields in comprehensible format for the others. It was first generated in the MonAMI project to promote understanding among different workgroups, proven useful there, and further tested later in some other smaller AAL projects. The concept of scalable service description has proven useful for understanding of different disciplines and for participatory decision making throughout the projects to adapt to singularities and partial successes or faults of each action. This paper introduces such tool, relates with existing methodologies in cooperation in AAL and describes it with a example to offer to AAL community. Further work on this tool will significantly improve results in user-centered design of sustainable services in AAL. PMID:24897409

Global ring satellite communications system for future broadband network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iida, Takashi; Suzuki, Yoshiaki; Arimoto, Yoshinori; Akaishi, Akira

2005-04-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine a cost model of a global ring satellite communications system as a 2G-satellite (second generation Internet satellite) for the future Internet satellite, whose capacity is around 120 Gbps. The authors proposed the future needs of research and development of communications satellite for the next 30 years and also proposed the approach of three generations for the future Internet satellites. First, the paper reviews and updates the original proposal for the future needs of communications satellite, considering the recent development of the quantum communication technology. It also examines the communications satellite applicability for bridging the digital divide in the Asia-Oceania as an example. The paper clarifies this possibility of communications satellite by showing various relationships among Internet penetration, land area, population growth, etc. Second, the cost of the global ring satellite is examined. The user terminal is considered as a combination of an earth terminal and wireless local area network for a user community. This paper shows that the global ring satellite has a possibility of a good cost-competitiveness to the terrestrial system because of the global communications system can be configured only by satellite system.

Indicators for the Data Usage Index (DUI): an incentive for publishing primary biodiversity data through global information infrastructure.

PubMed

Ingwersen, Peter; Chavan, Vishwas

2011-01-01

A professional recognition mechanism is required to encourage expedited publishing of an adequate volume of 'fit-for-use' biodiversity data. As a component of such a recognition mechanism, we propose the development of the Data Usage Index (DUI) to demonstrate to data publishers that their efforts of creating biodiversity datasets have impact by being accessed and used by a wide spectrum of user communities. We propose and give examples of a range of 14 absolute and normalized biodiversity dataset usage indicators for the development of a DUI based on search events and dataset download instances. The DUI is proposed to include relative as well as species profile weighted comparative indicators. We believe that in addition to the recognition to the data publisher and all players involved in the data life cycle, a DUI will also provide much needed yet novel insight into how users use primary biodiversity data. A DUI consisting of a range of usage indicators obtained from the GBIF network and other relevant access points is within reach. The usage of biodiversity datasets leads to the development of a family of indicators in line with well known citation-based measurements of recognition.