Selecting communication media for distributed communities

Within the 'Virtual Mobility and Distributed Laboratories' project three naturalistic case studies of distributed research communities were conducted with a focus on the communication media used. The findings provide insight into relationships between the different media that the communities selected, and the different activities to which these media contributed. It is suggested that these findings are also relevant for distributed groups in which collaborative learning is the primary aim. A framework is presented for understanding and recommending selections of media for particular kinds of tasks, which is derived by integrating Media‐richness Theory and Activity Theory. This framework indicates how task/media fit may be achieved while taking into account the evolving character of activities in a distributed community. Some implications of the framework for collaborative distance learning are highlighted.\ud \u

Evaluation of spoken document retrieval for historic speech collections

The re-use of spoken word audio collections maintained by audiovisual archives is severely hindered by their generally limited access. The CHoral project, which is part of the CATCH program funded by the Dutch Research Council, aims to provide users of speech archives with online, instead of on-location, access to relevant fragments, instead of full documents. To meet this goal, a spoken document retrieval framework is being developed. In this paper the evaluation efforts undertaken so far to assess and improve various aspects of the framework are presented. These efforts include (i) evaluation of the automatically generated textual representations of the spoken word documents that enable word-based search, (ii) the development of measures to estimate the quality of the textual representations for use in information retrieval, and (iii) studies to establish the potential user groups of the to-be-developed technology, and the first versions of the user interface supporting online access to spoken word collections

Identifying Advantages and Disadvantages of Variable Rate Irrigation – An Updated Review

Variable rate irrigation (VRI) sprinklers on mechanical move irrigation systems (center pivot or lateral move) have been commercially available since 2004. Although the number of VRI, zone or individual sprinkler, systems adopted to date is lower than expected there is a continued interest to harness this technology, especially when climate variability, regulatory nutrient management, water conservation policies, and declining water for agriculture compound the challenges involved for irrigated crop production. This article reviews the potential advantages and potential disadvantages of VRI technology for moving sprinklers, provides updated examples on such aspects, suggests a protocol for designing and implementing VRI technology and reports on the recent advancements. The advantages of VRI technology are demonstrated in the areas of agronomic improvement, greater economic returns, environmental protection and risk management, while the main drawbacks to VRI technology include the complexity to successfully implement the technology and the lack of evidence that it assures better performance in net profit or water savings. Although advances have been made in VRI technologies, its penetration into the market will continue to depend on tangible and perceived benefits by producers

Thoughts on a Moose.

Environmental Writing and Great Lakes LiteratureOnly a few miles further west on highway 41, after the sullen glow of the city of Marquette died out into the wooded darkness, a red-skied dawn began to timidly dust the tops of the scraggly pines along the road leading to the Keweenaw. I found myself driving faster, perhaps trying to outrun the morning which was not brightening the landscape so much as casting an ever-deepening red shroud, setting the world on fire. I glanced at my phone to see the text messages and voicemails from my girlfriend, parents and whoever else that accumulated overnight. More importantly, I saw that it wasn’t yet seven o’clock. As long as I didn’t stop, I could actually make the ten o’clock ferry to Isle Royale from Copper Harbor. It didn’t seem possible when I left Ann Arbor some nine or ten hours ago. My windows were down and my radio off, and that is the way it was the whole time save for a brief rainstorm before the bridge. As I let my hand dangle outside the car, feeling the warm, moist summer air ripping through my fingers hour after hour, my thoughts turned from rage to sadness to euphoria and back again; they finally settled on exhaustion. I still felt exhausted just then as the sun came up, and I’d been feeling that way for a long time. I’d have pulled over right then and there to some backwards, run-down motel and slept for a week if I hadn’t decided that I wanted to see a moose a couple of days back, that I needed to see a moose.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78453/1/Heeren_Travis_2010.pd

Сравнительная оценка экспрессии молекул главного комплекса гистосовместимости в тканях пародонта и периферической крови больных генерализованным пародонтитом

Проведено порівняльні клініко-іммунологічні аналізи стану адгезивних молекул HLA-A, B, C і HLA-DR головного комплексу гістосумісності на місцевому рівні - в тканинах пародонта і периферичної крові хворих на ГП і відповідних антигенів моноклональних антитіл T і В-лімфоцитів. Не виявлено прямого кореляційного зв’язку між клінічним проявом запалення пародонту і загальносоматичним імунним статусом, що розкриває механізми локальних Т-клітинних характеристик імунних змін і зумовлює корекцію місцевої терапії.A comparative clinical and immunological analysis of adhesion molecules HLA-A, B, C and HLA-DR major histocompatibility complex at the local level - in periodontal tissues and peripheral blood of patients with SE and related antigen antibody monoklialnyh T and B lymphocytes. There were no direct connection between korellyatsionnoy clinical manifestation of periodontal inflammation and the immune status of the somatic, that reveals the mechanisms of local T-cell characteristics of the immune changes and determines the correction of local therapy

Household food insecurity positively associated with increased hospital charges for infants

Objective: To test whether household food insecurity (HFI) was associated with total annual hospitalization charges, annual days hospitalized, and charges per day, among low-income infants (months) with any non-neonatal hospital stays. Methods: Administrative inpatient hospital charge data were matched to survey data from infants\u27 caregivers interviewed 1998-2005 in emergency departments in Boston and Little Rock. All study infants had been hospitalized at least once since birth; infants whose diagnoses were not plausibly related to nutrition were excluded from both groups. Log-transformed hospitalization charges were analyzed, controlling for site fixed effects. Results: 24% of infants from food-insecure households and 16% from food-secure households were hospitalized \u3e2 times (P=0.02). Mean annual inpatient hospital charges ($6,707 vs$5,735; P Conclusion: HFI was positively associated with annual inpatient charges among hospitalized low income infants. Average annual inpatient charges were almost $2,000 higher (inflation adjusted) for infants living in food-insecure households. Reducing or eliminating food insecurity could reduce health services utilization and expenditures for infants in low-income families, most of whom are covered by public health insurance

Label-Free 3D Imaging of Development of Cell Patterns in Drosophila melanogaster Wing Imaginal Disc

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7-August 11, 201

Tradeoffs in Model Performance and Effort for Long-Term Phosphorus Leaching Based on In Situ Field Data

Phosphorus and N are critical nutrients for agriculture but are also responsible for surface water enrichment that leads to toxic algal growth. Although P loading to surface waters has traditionally been thought to occur primarily in surface runoff, contributions from subsurface transport can also be significant. The primary objectives of this research were to evaluate several methods of representing macropore flow and transport in a finite element model using plot-scale infiltration and leaching data and to compare several models of various levels of complexity to simulate long-term P leaching. To determine flow and transport parameters, single- and dual-porosity models in HYDRUS-2D were calibrated with infiltration, Cl−, and P data from a 22-h plot-scale leaching experiment on a silt loam mantle with gravel subsoil. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous gravel profiles were simulated. The dual-porosity model with heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity best matched experimental data, with physical nonequilibrium (dual porosity) being more important than two-dimensional (2D) heterogeneity. Long-term (9 yr) P leaching to the water table (3 m below the soil surface) at the field site was simulated with both one-dimensional (1D) and 2D models using the calibrated parameters. There was little difference between analogous 1D and 2D models, suggesting that HYDRUS-1D may be sufficient to model long-term P leaching. Overall, the most important elements for accurately simulating P leaching in this silt loam and gravel soil profile were found to be (i) field-measured hydraulic conductivity of the limiting soil layer, (ii) calibrated dispersivity, and (iii) dual-porosity, in some circumstances