Evaluating the Need to Seal Thermal Cracks in Alaska’s Asphalt Concrete Pavements

INE/AUTC 12.2

Catalog of Approaches to Impact Measurement: Assessing Social Impact in Private Ventures

To inform action impact investors could take to measure impact in a coordinated manner, The Rockefeller Foundation commissioned the study of impact assessment approaches presented here.It is natural to hope to find a single, turnkey solution that can address all measurement needs. In this study we conducted a survey of impact investors and complemented it with seven years of experience in the field of impact investing to discover what these investors want from impact measurement, and conducted in-depth interviews with over twenty entities that have developed and implemented approaches to measuring impact. Our survey of existing approaches was thorough but surely is not comprehensive; however the approaches are a good representation of the current state of play. What we found is that there is not one single measurement answer. Instead the answer depends on what solution is most appropriate for a particular investor's "impact profile" defined as the investor's level of risk tolerance and desired financial return, the particular sector in which the investor operates, geography, and credibility level of information about impact that the investor requires

End user development: Satisfaction with tools and satisfaction with applications

This study explored the relationship between end user developers’ perceptions of their applications and their perceptions of the tools used to create them. Satisfaction with a user developed application was found to be significantly correlated with satisfaction with the tool used to create the application. The role of experience in this relationship was also explored, and possible implications of the findings are discussed

Computer skills and student learning: The impact of feedback and on-line learning resources on student learning Performance

There is much interest in applying WWW and Internet technology to learning. This study addresses one important aspect of the web-base learning process: feedback. The way in which feedback is provided to a learner has been found to have a strong impact on learning performance (e.g., Bangert-Downs, et al., 1991). The primary research question in this study is “What impact will an automated feedback mechanism have on learning performance of computer skills?” Based on a review of the literature and theory, it is hypothesized that the feedback mechanism developed for this study will significantly improve learning performance. A longitudinal field experiment is presently being conducted to answer the research question. Research data is being collected from over three hundred students taking an introductory computer skills course. The learning tasks for the study will include a series of microcomputer skill assignments involving such skills as file management, word processing, and spreadsheet development. An automated feedback tool will provide feedback to students. The tool will use a computer program to evaluate student work and prepare a customized report to the student describing the aspects of each student’s work that were not performed correctly

Collective efficacy belief, within-group agreement, and performance quality among instrumental chamber ensembles

We examined collective efficacy beliefs, including levels of within - group agreement and correlation with performance quality, of instrumental chamber ensembles (70 musicians, representing 18 ensembles). Participants were drawn from collegiate programs and intensive summer music festivals located in the No rthwestern and Western regions of the United States. Individuals completed a 5 - item survey gauging confidence in their group’s performance abilities; each ensemble’s aggregated results represented its collective efficacy score. Ensembles provided a video - r ecorded performance excerpt that was rated by a panel of four string specialists. Analyses revealed moderately strong levels of collective efficacy belief and uniformly high within - group agreement. There was a significant, moderately strong correlation bet ween collective efficacy belief and within - group agreement ( r S = .67, p < .01). We found no relationship between collective efficacy belief and performance quality across the total sample, but those factors correlated significantly for festival - based ensem bles ( r S = .82, p < .05). Reliability estimates suggest that our collective efficacy survey may be suitable for use with string chamber ensembles. Correlational findings provide partial support for the theorized link between efficacy belief and performance quality in chamber music settings, suggesting the importance for music educators to ensure that positive efficacy beliefs become well founded through quality instruction

The dynamics of computerization in a social science research team : a case study of infrastructure, strategies, and skills

This paper examines the dynamics of Computerization in a PC-oriented research group through a case study. The time and skill in integrating computing into the labor processes of research are often significant "hidden costs" of computerization. Computing infrastructure plays a key role in reducing these costs may be enhanced by careful organization. We illustrate computerization strategies that we have found to be productive and unproductive. Appropriate computerization strategies depend as much on the structuring of resources and interests in the larger social setting, as on a technical characterization of tasks

Issues for the sharing and re-use of scientific workflows

In this paper, we outline preliminary findings from an ongoing study we have been conducting over the past 18 months of researchers’ use of myExperiment, a Web 2.0-based repository with a focus on social networking around shared research artefacts such as workflows. We present evidence of myExperiment users’ workflow sharing and re-use practices, motivations, concerns and potential barriers. The paper concludes with. a discussion of the implications of these our findings for community formation, diffusion of innovations, emerging drivers and incentives for research practice, and IT systems design

Online open neuroimaging mass meta-analysis

We describe a system for meta-analysis where a wiki stores numerical data in a simple format and a web service performs the numerical computation. We initially apply the system on multiple meta-analyses of structural neuroimaging data results. The described system allows for mass meta-analysis, e.g., meta-analysis across multiple brain regions and multiple mental disorders.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures SePublica 2012, ESWC 2012 Workshop, 28 May 2012, Heraklion, Greec

Development of a Novel Device for the Perfusion Driven Decellularization of Skeletal Muscle

Decellularization of skeletal muscle is a process that removes cellular components of skeletal muscle tissue while leaving behind the intact extracellular matrix (ECM). Skeletal muscle ECM is currently being studied as a biologic scaffold for repairing volumetric muscle loss (VML) because the removal of cells greatly reduces the antigenicity of the donor tissue. Decellularization usually relies on passive diffusion of detergents, surfactants and/or osmotic solutions to strip cells from the ECM. However, passive diffusion alone is usually not sufficient for complete removal of cells from the interior of large pieces of skeletal muscle using detergents, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The goal of this study was to develop a device that not only removes cells by perfusion from the interior of skeletal muscle, but also monitors the progress of decellularization in real-time. The device, based around a Raspberry Pi, is a standalone system that does not require a desktop computer or expensive software packages. Different flow rates (0.1, 1.0 and 10 mL/hr) along with different concentrations of SDS (0.2% and 1.0%) were tested. Decellularization progress was monitored and logged to an online spreadsheet. The device was found to be capable of decellularizing the medial gastrocnemius of a rat in under 10 hours. Complete decellularization was validated using fluorescent imaging. Perfusion decellularized muscle samples were found to have no significant differences in collagen or sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) content when compared to samples that were decellularized using current passive diffusion protocols. The ECM obtained through the use of this device is currently being used for the repair of VML in a rat model