Leveraging Technology to Build a Disaster Response System of Systems

Several challenges hinder effective multi-jurisdictional and cross-discipline disaster response and recovery, including a lack of clarity in leadership, difficulty in information sharing and collaboration, poor situational awareness, problems with logistics support and supply chain coordination. These challenges exist due to the dizzying array of agencies and organizations that respond to disasters. Because these players represent not a single “system” of disaster preparedness and response, but a multitude of varying and often overlapping systems, a “system of systems” approach must be developed to successfully address the myriad challenges associated with disaster response and recovery. One key development laying a foundation for such a system is the infusion of geospatial and collaborative technologies throughout all sectors and particularly, the introduction of these technologies into disaster efforts. When effectively deployed, these technologies can create a “culture of collaboration.” For example, hundreds of unaffiliated technology volunteers activated in response to the Haiti earthquake, deploying these technologies to improve situational awareness, information sharing and collaboration. While this deployment was effective, it also lacked coordination with official response organizations. For a large-scale response to be successful, geospatial and collaborative technologies must be used to combine volunteer efforts with those of official response agencies. One successful example of this is Virtual USA, a partnership of the Department of Homeland Security, state, and local response organizations, which leverages technology to dramatically improve situational awareness, information sharing, and collaboration. Deployed during the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, the Virtual USA initiative demonstrates how technology can create this critical culture of collaboration and lay the foundation for creating a system of systems. This presentation will outline how we can leverage technology driven initiatives like vUSA to help build a disaster response “system of systems” as part of a National Resilience Framework

Exploring the feasibility of international collaboration and relationship building through a virtual partnership scheme

International collaboration is an under-studied component of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This study sheds light on the process of international collaboration by illustrating an exploratory approach to the process of forming and maintaining collaborative partnerships. Participants in this study were put into pairs (each one comprised of one individual from the University of Glasgow and another from the University of Wisconsin System) and asked to participate in email correspondence over the course of one year. The text of participants’ emails was pooled and analyzed through a general inductive approach using NVivo software. The study, though small in nature, helps to illustrate and further understand international collaborative relationships. We offer suggestions for future international collaborations and discuss the implications of emphasizing such partnerships within SoTL

Protein folding in hydrophobic-polar lattice model: a flexible ant colony optimization approach

This paper proposes a flexible ant colony (FAC) algorithm for solving protein folding problems based on the hydrophobic-polar square lattice model. Collaborations of novel pheromone and heuristic strategies in the proposed algorithm make it more effective in predicting structures of proteins compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms

Genuine lab experiences for students in resource constrained environments: The RealLab with integrated intelligent assessment.

Laboratory activities are indispensable for developing engineering skills. Computer Aided Learning (CAL) tools can be used to enhance laboratory learning in various ways, the latest approach being the virtual laboratory technique that emulates traditional laboratory processes. This new approach makes it possible to give students complete and genuine laboratory experiences in situations constrained by limited resources in the provision of laboratory facilities and infrastructure and/or where there is need for laboratory education, for large classes, with only one laboratory stand. This may especially be the case in countries in transition. Most existing virtual laboratories are not available for purchase. Where they are, they may not be cost friendly for resource constrained environments. Also, most do not integrate any form of assessment structure. In this paper, we present a very cost friendly virtual laboratory solution for genuine laboratory experiences in resource constrained environments, with integrated intelligent assessment

Bringing Global Sourcing into the Classroom: Experiential Learning via Software Development Project

Global sourcing of software development has imposed new skill requirements on Information Technology (IT) personnel. In the U.S., this has resulted in a paradigm shift from technical to softer skills such as communications and virtual team management. Higher education institutions must, consequently, initiate innovative curriculum transformations to better prepare students for these emerging workforce needs. This paper describes one such venture between Marquette University (MU), U.S.A. and Management Development Institute (MDI), India, wherein IT students at MU collaborated with Management Information Systems (MIS) students at MDI on an offshore software development project. The class environment replicated an offshore client/vendor relationship in a fully virtual setting while integrating communications and virtual team management with traditional IT project management principles. Course measures indicated that students benefited from this project, gained first-hand experience in the process of software offshoring, and learned skills critical for conduct of global business. For faculty considering such initiatives, we describe the design and administration of this class over two semesters, lessons learned from our engagement, and factors critical to success of such initiatives and those detrimental to their sustenance

Laying the Foundation: The Private Rental Market and Affordable Housing

The private rental housing market plays a critical, and often overlooked, role in shaping the lives of the poor and the surrounding community. This brief Article presents Matthew Desmond’s rich portrayal of low-income tenants and their landlords in his groundbreaking new book, Evicted, which shows how poor housing conditions and cycles of eviction impact poor families. The Article, which also draws upon Courtney Anderson’s work connecting housing instability with problematic student turnover at an elementary school, highlights the importance of story-telling. Without some sort of subsidy to cover the gap between the ability of the poor to pay for housing and the costs of construction and maintenance, the private market cannot supply additional affordable housing. Arguably, in such a reality, it is imperative that scholars make the choice Desmond made: to deliberately de-emphasize empirical studies and instead rely on stories to put human faces on the suffering connected to the existing structure of lowincome private rental housing

Boston University Chamber Orchestra, September 27, 2005

This is the concert program of the Boston University Chamber Orchestra performance on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 8:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D.759 "Unfinished" by Franz Schubert and Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504 "Prague" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund