Managing Distributed Software Development in the Virtual Astronomical Observatory

The U.S. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) is a product-driven organization that provides new scientific research capabilities to the astronomical community. Software development for the VAO follows a lightweight framework that guides development of science applications and infrastructure. Challenges to be overcome include distributed development teams, part-time efforts, and highly constrained schedules. We describe the process we followed to conquer these challenges while developing Iris, the VAO application for analysis of 1-D astronomical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Iris was successfully built and released in less than a year with a team distributed across four institutions. The project followed existing International Virtual Observatory Alliance inter-operability standards for spectral data and contributed a SED library as a by-product of the project. We emphasize lessons learned that will be folded into future development efforts. In our experience, a well-defined process that provides guidelines to ensure the project is cohesive and stays on track is key to success. Internal product deliveries with a planned test and feedback loop are critical. Release candidates are measured against use cases established early in the process, and provide the opportunity to assess priorities and make course corrections during development. Also key is the participation of a stakeholder such as a lead scientist who manages the technical questions, advises on priorities, and is actively involved as a lead tester. Finally, frequent scheduled communications (for example a bi-weekly tele-conference) assure issues are resolved quickly and the team is working toward a common visionComment: 7 pages, 2 figures, SPIE 2012 conferenc

Evaluation of the Doodle Families Literacy Programme Pilot

The Doodle Families Literacy Programme was a pilot programme that was delivered in three DEIS Band 1 primary schools in Limerick during the period of April to June 2015 for First Class children and their parents.Doodle Families was originally designed as an afterschool programme, but the pilot schools delivered it during the school day or bridging the school day and afterschool time. Doodle Families was delivered in two four week blocks, with families participating in one session per week.The pilot programme objectives were:* To pilot Doodle Families as a follow up to Doodle Den;* To train a panel of facilitators from three pilot schools and local services to deliver the programme.* To verify programme content, implementation issues and training needs to support the replication of Doodle Families.The aim of the evaluation of Doodle Families was to assess the implementation of the programme, how it was delivered and how those involved in the delivery felt about the programme, including school staff, parents, children, school principals and external organisations

Low Carbon Land Use: Paris, Pittsburgh, and the IPCC

This article describes strategies that local governments are employing to both mitigate and adapt to climate change, using their state-given powers to plan community development and to regulate private building. Local governments have significant legal authority to shape human settlements and, in so doing, lower CO2 emissions from buildings and vehicles, increase the sequestration of carbon by the natural environment, and promote distributed energy systems and renewable energy facilities that lower fossil fuel consumption. Local elected leaders are highly motivated to avoid the on-the-ground consequences of our changing climate. The effects of climate change manifest themselves at the local level, where people are killed or injured, property is destroyed, businesses are shuttered, ecosystems are fouled, and where our democratic system is most vibrant and able to respond. In 2014, the international community caught up with local governments in the global race against climate change. That year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change embraced the critical role of municipal governments in mitigating the causes of climate change. In 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement adopted by the Conference of the Parties followed suit. This has encouraged localities to redouble their efforts and creates new and exciting opportunities for intergovernmental partnerships to manage climate change

Collaborative problem solving and program development model

A model to enhance collaborative problem solving and program development is presented. The collaborative model is a detailed cognitive model that takes into consideration the cognitive and social activities that occur during collaborative problem solving and program development. The cognitive activities required for collaborative problem solving and program development are identified and integrated into a six-stage model. An extensive literature review in the associated fields is presented to show the need for the model described in this dissertation. In addition, a comprehensive study of tools to support collaboration during problem solving and program development was also performed as well as a critique of these tools. A detailed statistical experiment to study the effect of this model on subjects, collaboratively solving a software problem was designed and executed. The experiment included testing the collaborative problem solving and program development model with and without assistance from groupware tools. The subject teams each constructed a software design and this design was evaluated based on, research hypotheses. This experiment produced results indicating the positive effect the Collaborative Model has on problem understanding and the quality of solution planning during collaborative problem solving and program development efforts

Bringing Comfort to People with Advanced Dementia

Educational Objectives 1. Explain the purpose of looking at palliative care through a dementia lens. 2. Define dementia-capable palliative care. 3. Identify and provide examples of specific care practices that can bring comfort to people with advanced dementia. 4. Describe the process that staff use in identifying what brings comfort to individual residents

A Formative Study: Inquiry and Informational Text with Fifth-Grade Bilinguals

This article includes the findings from a formative experiment implementing inquiry with informational texts in a fifth-grade bilingual classroom after the completion of state assessments. The pedagogical goals were focused on facilitating engaged reading and writing for native Spanish-speakers and building content knowledge and related academic vocabulary in English. The intervention was designed to emphasize modeling of research, strategies of the inquiry process, self-selected reading, informational text-creation and peer interactions, discussions and feedback regarding inquiry. In this article, the author shares initial instructional plans for implementation as well as modifications that were made based on factors inhibiting and advancing the pedagogical goals throughout the six-week study