Stratospheric measurement requirements and satellite-borne remote sensing capabilities

The capabilities of specific NASA remote sensing systems to provide appropriate measurements of stratospheric parameters for potential user needs were assessed. This was used to evaluate the capabilities of the remote sensing systems to perform global monitoring of the stratosphere. The following conclusions were reached: (1) The performance of current remote stratospheric sensors, in some cases, compares quite well with identified measurement requirements. Their ability to measure other species has not been demonstrated. (2) None of the current, in-situ methods have the capability to satisfy the requirements for global monitoring and the temporal constraints derived from the users needs portion of the study. (3) Existing, non-remote techniques will continue to play an important role in stratospheric investigations for both corroboration of remotely collected data and in the evolutionary development of future remote sensors

Eliciting informal specifications from scientific modelers for evaluation and debugging

Professional software engineers have an arsenal of techniques such as unit testing and assertions to check their specifications, but these techniques require tools, motivation, experience and training that programmers without professional software engineering training may not have. As a result, professionals in other fields, such as scientific modelers, face greater hurdles in debugging and validating the programs they write. This thesis introduces the concept of "evaluation abstractions" as a framework for tool designers to think about this kind of support. Evaluation abstractions are the patterns of data in program traces and outputs that programmers examine in order to evaluate software behavior. The thesis provides two intellectual contributions aimed at helping tool designers: (1) A theory of evaluation abstraction support (EAST) that describes at a granular scale the factors contributing to a modeler's decision to use or not use an evaluation abstraction support feature; (2) a new user-centered design methodology, Natural Programming Plus (NP+), specialized for the design of interactive languages aimed at experienced users, in a way that allows for validation early in the process. Using EAST and NP+ I built and evaluated an evaluation abstraction support tool for cognitive modelers (psychologists who study human cognition by writing simulations of cognition), with features that (1) elicit and persist a database of a modeler's evaluation abstractions, in a piecemeal, just-in-time fashion as their questions about model behavior arise, and (2) use the modeler's unique set of evaluation abstractions to structure visualizations, listings, and regression tests, as the modeler continues to maintain and develop the project. Using this tool modelers were able to repeatedly answer questions about model behavior that would have been time-consuming and error-prone to check in state-of-the-art cognitive modeling tools. This dissertation includes formative investigation of modelers' evaluation abstractions, iterative development and testing of interaction designs for elicitation and use of evaluation abstractions, a description of a domain-specific language for representing and transforming evaluation abstractions, and two summative studies showing the usability and generalizability of the technique

The Electronic Oracle: Computer Models and Social Decisions

This book describes the state of the art of social-system modeling, especially at the level of national planning. In an unusually clear and understandable language it approaches the controversial and often confused debate in the use of computer models in social decision making from an entirely new direction. By looking at the entire subject -- including the political and philosophical environments around the models, as well as the models themselves -- from an objective and knowledgeable viewpoint, the authors show how computer modeling is a powerful but limited tool

A Methodological Framework for the Integrated Design of Decision-Intensive Care Pathways\u2014an Application to the Management of COPD Patients

Healthcare processes are by nature complex, mostly due to their multi-disciplinary character that requires continuous coordination between care providers. They encompass both organizational and clinical tasks, the latter ones driven by med- ical knowledge, which is inherently incomplete and distributed among people having different expertise and roles. Care pathways refer to planning and coordination of care processes related to specific groups of patients in a given setting. The goal in defining and following care pathways is to improve the quality of care in terms of patient satisfaction, costs reduction, and medical outcome. Thus, care pathways are a promising methodological tool for standardizing care and decision-making. Business process management techniques can successfully be used for representing organiza- tional aspects of care pathways in a standard, readable, and accessible way, while supporting process development, analysis, and re-engineering. In this paper, we intro- duce a methodological framework that fosters the integrated design, implementation, and enactment of care processes and related decisions, while considering proper rep- resentation and management of organizational and clinical information. We focus here and discuss in detail the design phase, which encompasses the simulation of care pathways. We show how business process model and notation (BPMN) and decision model and notation (DMN) can be combined for supporting intertwined aspects of decision-intensive care pathways. As a proof-of-concept, the proposed methodology has been applied to design care pathways related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the region of Veneto, in Italy

Bells of Mindfulness: An Online Mindfulness Meditation Course to Promote Mindfulness Meditation for PhD Students

Over the last 20 years, there has been growing evidence of mental health issues in doctoral candidates worldwide (Zhang et al., 2022; Barry et al., 2019; Gewin, 2012; Radison & DiGeronimo, 2005). Practicing mindfulness meditation, which is one way to cope with stress and anxiety (Kabat-Zinn, 1991), could be a useful practice for these PhD students. However, despite all the evidence that suggests the health benefits of having a regular meditation routine, motivating graduate students to practice meditation can be challenging (Franco, 2020). This study addresses this challenge by assessing a 5-week mindfulness meditation course designed to support graduate students in developing a habit of practicing mindfulness meditation. Graduate students in PhD degree programs, many of whom worked and/or had families, were recruited to participate in a 5-week online mindfulness meditation course. Principles from social cognitive learning theory, particularly self-efficacy, guided course structure and activities, helping to better understand and interpret participants\u27 experiences and growth throughout the course. Interviews were conducted mid- and post-course to find out how effective the online course was in helping participants to make a habit of practicing mindfulness meditation and to understand what factors of the course were most effective in changing their mindfulness meditation practice. Participants took the Self-Efficacy for Mindfulness Meditation Practice surveys, pre-, mid-, and post-course to inform qualitative data from interviews

The Effects of Building Information Modeling on Construction Site Productivity

Construction experiences low productivity compared to other industries, largely attributed to poor planning and communication. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a process that is used to resolve these problems by simulating physical space and expressing design intent graphically, providing a clearer image of design conflicts or constructability issues so that they are resolved before construction begins. Productivity rates increase as BIM practices are implemented because rework and idle time are reduced for laborers. Case studies of projects utilizing BIM indicate field productivity gains from 5 to 40%, depending on how the process is managed. Although the amount of savings is guarded closely by those who measure and track the changes in their productivity rates and unknown to many contractors, there are indicators that reveal increased productivity. Key indicators of increased productivity are RFI reduction, amount of rework, schedule compliance, and change orders due to plan conflicts. Each of these affect the various stakeholders of a project to different degrees but the overall effect is a net savings for the owner ranging from a few percent for competitive bid projects to over 10% for integrated projects. BIM-enabled projects have 10% of the RFI that a typical project would have so that contractors realize an average savings of 9% in management time. Reduction of rework and idle time due to site conflicts savings for trade contractors are on the order of 9% of project costs. The abilities to prefabricate and automate site processes are also significant advantages of BIM usage experienced by trade contractors. The most significant savings are attributed to the clash detection process which eliminates conflicts in the field. These findings show that the strongest determinants of success on BIM projects in terms of site productivity are human factors rather than technical