Service Oriented Toolkit for Research Data Management Final Report

The Service Oriented Toolkit for Research Data Management project was co-funded by the JISC Managing Research Data Programme 2011-2013 and The University of Hertfordshire. The project focused on the realisation of practical benefits for operationalising an institutional approach to good practice in RDM. The objectives of the project were to audit current best practice, develop technology demonstrators with the assistance of leading UH research groups, and then reflect these developments back into the wider internal and external research community via a toolkit of services and guidance. The overall aim was to contribute to the efficacy and quality of research data plans, and establish and cement good data management practice in line with local and national policy

Advancing automation and robotics technology for the Space Station Freedom and for the U.S. economy

In April 1985, as required by Public Law 98-371, the NASA Advanced Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) reported to Congress the results of its studies on advanced automation and robotics technology for use on Space Station Freedom. This material was documented in the initial report (NASA Technical Memorandum 87566). A further requirement of the law was that ATAC follow NASA's progress in this area and report to Congress semiannually. This report is the fifteenth in a series of progress updates and covers the period between 27 Feb. - 17 Sep. 1992. The progress made by Levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Space Station Freedom in developing and applying advanced automation and robotics technology is described. Emphasis was placed upon the Space Station Freedom program responses to specific recommendations made in ATAC Progress Report 14. Assessments are presented for these and other areas as they apply to the advancement of automation and robotics technology for Space Station Freedom

A Survey of Bridge Practitioners to Relate Damage to Closure

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center's second-generation performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) methodology is intended in part to model highway bridge performance in terms of collapse, closure, repair duration, speed or load limitations, and possibly other performance measures. Some of these are difficult to model, particularly closure decisions where the engineering evidence of safety is inconclusive and must be supplemented by the inspector's judgment. This paper presents results of a limited, initial survey of department of transportation (DOT) engineers' beliefs about the relationship between physical damage and closure. The initial survey addresses a common class of reinforced-concrete bridges. The author and others developed and administered to a select, nationwide group of DOT engineers a one-page, multiple-choice survey form with expert self-rating, asking the engineers to relate ten damage measures (DM) to four closure levels. The DMs include approach settlement, offsets at abutments and expansion joints, flexural and shear cracks in beams, columns, shear keys, and backwalls. The performance levels considered are: leave open, close briefly for quick repairs, close for an extended period, and reduce speed. The survey results are analyzed to produce a number of preliminary relationships between damage and post-earthquake decisions by inspectors, relationships that can be used in probabilistic seismic performance evaluation in PEER's developing PBEE methodology. This preliminary test of a survey form also yielded insight into a number of desirable improvements for a second round of survey, possibly to be administered via the Internet early in 2004

The SASSCAL contribution to climate observation, climate data management and data rescue in Southern Africa

A major task of the newly established "Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management" (SASSCAL; www.sasscal.org) and its partners is to provide science-based environmental information and knowledge which includes the provision of consistent and reliable climate data for Southern Africa. Hence, SASSCAL, in close cooperation with the national weather authorities of Angola, Botswana, Germany and Zambia as well as partner institutions in Namibia and South Africa, supports the extension of the regional meteorological observation network and the improvement of the climate archives at national level. With the ongoing rehabilitation of existing weather stations and the new installation of fully automated weather stations (AWS), altogether 105 AWS currently provide a set of climate variables at 15, 30 and 60 min intervals respectively. These records are made available through the SASSCAL WeatherNet, an online platform providing near-real time data as well as various statistics and graphics, all in open access. This effort is complemented by the harmonization and improvement of climate data management concepts at the national weather authorities, capacity building activities and an extension of the data bases with historical climate data which are still available from different sources. These activities are performed through cooperation between regional and German institutions and will provide important information for climate service related activities