Circular 02/03 : data collection : collection arrangements on learner data

"This circular is for consultation. It sets out the medium-term strategy of the Learning and Skills Council (the Council) for collecting data on learners and provides details of the proposed content of the Individualised Learner Record for further education institutions and work based learning providers for 2002/03" -- front cover

Mossbauer-effect data-collection system

Automated data collection system which uses a small, general-purpose digital computer provides data acquisition from, and minor control of, four Mossbauer-effect experiments. This system is economical with no loss of versatility to the experimenter and is useful in handling large volumes of data from research experiments

MicroED data collection and processing.

MicroED, a method at the intersection of X-ray crystallography and electron cryo-microscopy, has rapidly progressed by exploiting advances in both fields and has already been successfully employed to determine the atomic structures of several proteins from sub-micron-sized, three-dimensional crystals. A major limiting factor in X-ray crystallography is the requirement for large and well ordered crystals. By permitting electron diffraction patterns to be collected from much smaller crystals, or even single well ordered domains of large crystals composed of several small mosaic blocks, MicroED has the potential to overcome the limiting size requirement and enable structural studies on difficult-to-crystallize samples. This communication details the steps for sample preparation, data collection and reduction necessary to obtain refined, high-resolution, three-dimensional models by MicroED, and presents some of its unique challenges

Reliable online social network data collection

Large quantities of information are shared through online social networks, making them attractive sources of data for social network research. When studying the usage of online social networks, these data may not describe properly users’ behaviours. For instance, the data collected often include content shared by the users only, or content accessible to the researchers, hence obfuscating a large amount of data that would help understanding users’ behaviours and privacy concerns. Moreover, the data collection methods employed in experiments may also have an effect on data reliability when participants self-report inacurrate information or are observed while using a simulated application. Understanding the effects of these collection methods on data reliability is paramount for the study of social networks; for understanding user behaviour; for designing socially-aware applications and services; and for mining data collected from such social networks and applications. This chapter reviews previous research which has looked at social network data collection and user behaviour in these networks. We highlight shortcomings in the methods used in these studies, and introduce our own methodology and user study based on the Experience Sampling Method; we claim our methodology leads to the collection of more reliable data by capturing both those data which are shared and not shared. We conclude with suggestions for collecting and mining data from online social networks.Postprin

Transmitter data collection using Ada

A data collection system installed on the 400 kilowatt X-band transmitter of the Goldstone Solar System Radar is described. The data collection system is built around the off-the-shelf IEEE 488 instrumentation, linked with fiber optics, controlled by an inexpensive computer, and uses software written in the Ada language. The speed and accuracy of the system is discussed, along with programming techniques used for both data collection and reduction