Report of the Fieldwork Data Sustainability Project (FIDAS)

Fieldworkers typically collect data in a rather ad-hoc way during fieldwork, often leading to patchy and highly variable metadata quality at the time of submission to a digital repository. It can be very difficult or even impossible to reconstruct some of this information at a later date, yet these resources are often unique and unrepeatable records of highly significant events collected at considerable expense of researcher time, effort and resources. From the repository perspective, lack of metadata (including preservation metadata) can have serious implications not only for ingestion into a repository, but also for subsequent archival management and dissemination of archival information. This project aimed to extend the scope of the OAIS model to facilitate sustainable data collection and description of digital objects from the time of creation during fieldwork, and to integrate this workflow with repository ingestion, management, and dissemination requirements

Developing Tools and Techniques to Increase Communication Effectiveness

The Public Affairs Office (PAO) of the Johnson Space Center (JSC) is responsible for communicating current JSC Space Program activities as well as goals and objectives to the American Public. As part of the 1996 Strategic Communications Plan, a review of PAO' s current communication procedures was conducted. The 1996 Summer Faculty Fellow performed research activities to support this effort by reviewing current research concerning NASA/JSC's customers' perceptions and interests, developing communications tools which enable PAO to more effectively inform JSC customers about the Space Program, and proposing a process for developing and using consistent messages throughout PAO. Note that this research does not attempt to change or influence customer perceptions or interests but, instead, incorporates current customer interests into PAO's communication process

Contrarian Technical Trading Rules: Evidence From Nairobi Stock Index

We apply several popular technical trading rules in the normal way and a contrarian way to daily data of the Nairobi Stock Index from 9/12/2006 to 4/18/2013. The contrarian usage of popular technical trading rules implies that when a technical trading indicator emits buy (sell) signals, we do the opposite and sell (buy) the index. Results from the study support the predictive power of contrarian technical trading rules. We also investigate whether a trader can use the predictive power of contrarian technical rules to beat the profitability of the buy-and-hold strategy considering both transaction costs and risk. Designing four strategies of various contrarian trading rules, we conclude that it is possible to beat the buy-and-hold strategy even considering transaction costs and risk

Physiological responses to wearing the space shuttle launch and entry suit and the prototype advanced crew escape suit compared to the unsuited condition

The launch and entry suit (LES) is a life support suit worn during Orbiter ascent and descent. The impact of suit weight and restricted mobility on egress from the Orbiter during an emergency is unknown. An alternate suit - the advanced crew escape suite (ACES) - is being evaluated. The physiological responses to ambulatory exercise of six subjects wearing the LES and ACES were measured and compared to those measurements taken while unsuited. Dependent variables included heart rate and metabolic response to treadmill walking at 5.6 km/h (3.5 mph), and also bilateral concentric muscle strength about the knee, shoulder, and elbow. No significant (p greater than 0.06) differences in heart rate or metabolic variables were measured in either suit while walking at 5.6 km/h. Significant (p less than 0.05) decreases in all metabolic variables were remarked when both suits were compared to the unsuited condition. There were no significant (p greater than 0.05) differences among the three suit conditions at 30 or 180 deg/s for muscles about the elbow and knee; however, about the shoulder, a significant (p = 0.0215) difference between the ACES and the unsuited condition was noted. Therefore, wearing a life support suit while performing Orbiter egress imposes a significant metabolic demand on crewmembers. Selective upper body strength movements may be compromised

Development and preliminary reliability testing of an assessment of patient independence in performing a treatment program: Standardized scenarios

BACKGROUND: Physical therapists often assess patient independence through observation, however it is not known if therapists make these judgments reliably. We have developed a standardized method to assess a patient’s ability to perform his or her treatment program independently. OBJECTIVES: To develop a standardized assessment of patient independence in performance of a treatment program and examine the intra- and inter-rater reliability decisions made by two physical therapists. DESIGN: Test-retest. METHODS: An assessment of patient independence in performance was developed. Standardized patient scenarios were used to assess the intra- and inter-tester reliability of two physical therapists. Percentage of agreement (%) and kappa’s coefficient (k and k(w)) indexed rater reliability. RESULTS: Intra-rater reliability of Therapist 1 was as follows: knowledge: %=95, k=.90; performance: %=95, k(w)=.82. Intra-rater reliability of Therapist 2 was as follows: knowledge: %=85, k=.68; performance: %=94, k(w)=.80. Inter-rater reliability for knowledge was %=91 and k=.79 and for performance was %=91 and k(w)=.72. CONCLUSION: Trained therapists displayed substantial to excellent intra-rater reliability and substantial inter-rater reliability in assessing a patient’s independence in a treatment program

Sightings Records of Hawksbills in a Marine Protected Area of Honduras

The Protective Turtle Ecology Center for Training, Outreach, and Research, Inc. (ProTECTOR) works to increase the conservation of, and research on sea turtles in the country of Honduras. Efforts were made this summer to record the sightings of sea turtles in Roatán, specifically in the area of West End and the Roatán Marine Park (RMP). We worked in tandem with 13 dive shops in West End from June 9 – August 8, 2014 to collect dive sightings data. We prepared turtle sighting record sheets that prompted observers to record their name, the dive site and depth of each turtle sighting, along with the specific species spotted, and whether the turtle was a juvenile or adult. We also gave divers training on how to differentiate between species and between adult and juvenile turtles. The data collection sheet provided representative artwork detailing differences in shell shape and color, as well as head scute patterns among the three species (hawksbills, loggerheads, and greens) likely to be sighted in the area. We collected sighting records from 5 dive shops on Mondays and Thursdays, 4 dives shops on Tuesdays and Fridays, and 2 dive shops once weekly, due to low diving frequency. Approximately 720 turtle sightings were recorded in the two months of data collection ranging from a maximum of 80 turtles observed at one site to minimum of 1 turtle observed at one site. The majority of turtle sightings were recorded at Overheat Reef, Bikini Bottom, and Half Moon Bay Wall with 80, 59, and 41 turtle sightings recorded, respectively, over the two month span in which we collected dive sightings from the shops. When compared to sighting records of the previous year, ArcGIS mapping showed a significant increase in the number of dive sites with turtle sightings and a subsequent increase in sightings at the same dive sites. The amount of dive sites where turtles were spotted increased from 20 dive sites in the previous year to 51 dive sites in 2014. Taken together, the data suggests an increase in turtles present in the off shore areas of West End between 2013 and 2014

Photo Recognition for In-water Identification of Hawksbills in a Marine Protected Area of Honduras

The hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. As with other sea turtles species, hawksbills have a cluster of scales on the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the head that form unique scale patterns. Following a previous study using Interactive Individual Identification System (I3S) Spot, we used the Pattern version of I3S to compare and identify in-water photographs of turtles within the Roatán Marine Park (RMP) on the western end of Roatán, Honduras from May to September, 2014. The Pattern program is designed to annotate individual ‘fingerprints’ for species with complex markings by identifying key points and assigning a descriptor area around each point using the Open Source Computer Vision (CV) implementation of Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF). Points and areas are delineated within a user specified polygon using an automatic key point extraction algorithm. The ‘fingerprint’ on one photograph is then compared to ‘fingerprints’ on other photographs in the database and potential individual matches are selected, thus reducing the number of photographs that require review by manual comparison. Through daily underwater dives, we photographed turtles on 78 occasions and created a database of 182 photographs. New photographs were then cross referenced with photographs in the I3S photo database to determine whether turtles had been previously encountered. We visibly assessed potential matches for similarities and successfully identified 68 different hawksbill individuals. Nine individuals were re-identified from pictures on later dives and one individual was re-identified twice. I3S Pattern failed to recognize actual matches (false negatives) four times (40%), and identified two (20%) false positives. However, these false matches may have been dependent on the quality of the photographs used. We were unable to use I3S Pattern to match any dorsally oriented photographs and recommend that future studies use I3S Spot, rather than the current version of I3S Pattern, to match photographs taken of the dorsal view of the head. The I3S Pattern program successfully aided our research by facilitating accurate counts of hawksbill sea turtles re-sighted in the RMP over the period of the study. Automated photo identification can help provide long-term data on turtle migrations, movements, and life-history stages, and can thus be a valuable tool for conservation of marine turtles

El uso de la equivalencia de estímulos para demostrar relaciones lingüísticas preexistentes: Una réplica systemática y extensión

El paradigma de la equivalencia de estímulos fue usado para descubrir si historiaspreexperimentales con respecto a estímulos afectivos podían revelarseen un arreglo experimental. En dos experimentos, estudiantes de licenciaturafueron entrenados en relaciones condicionales A-B, A-C y D-C, usando unprocedimiento de igualación a la muestra. Los estímulos A y B fueron formasvisuales arbitrarias, y los estímulos C fueron ideogramas chinos. Los estímulosD para un grupo consistieron en palabras en inglés como “Holiday”, “Funeral”, y“Torture y para otro grupo los estímulos D consistieron en rostros humanos queexpresaban felicidad, tristeza e ira. Se probaron las relaciones de equivalenciaentre los estímulos D y los estímulos B, A, y C, con la condición de que los estímulosD usados durante la prueba no fueran los mismos que los estímulos Dusados durante el entrenamiento. Por tanto, los sujetos entrenados con los rostrosfueron probados con palabras, y los sujetos entrenados con las palabrasfueron probados con los rostros. La equivalencia sustitutiva emergió para lamayoría de los sujetos que mostraron equivalencia non-sustitutiva (B-C, C-B).La equivalencia sustitutiva emergió más claramente en los sujetos entrenadoscon palabras y probados con rostros, que para los sujetos entrenados conrostros y probados con palabras. Los resultados se discuten en términos de lafunción de estímulo y las historias pre-experimentales

Using the Operant MTS Procedure as a Masking Task for respondent acquisition of stimulus classes

A functional class refers to a circumstance in which responding is controlled by features of stimuli that are common to all the class members. It is argued that an analysis of substitution of stimulus functions is needed account for the acquisition of functional classes of different varieties. We examined the acquisition of classes of comparison stimuli presented in a standard MTS preparation by exposing participants to three tests in which a contextual cue provided the basis for the formation of these classes. In this preparation the equivalence training and test phases served as a masking task that prevented the interference of naming processes or the development of rules describing the commonalities among target class members (comparison stimuli). Most of the participants showed responding with respect to one or more comparisons classes even in the absence of specific operant training. Findings suggest that the function shared by a given set of stimuli may be acquired by another stimulus in the absence of operant reinforcement and without the involvement of verbal rules