PeerPigeon: A Web Application to Support Generalised Peer Review

Peer Review (also known as Peer Assessment) is an important technique in learning, but can be difficult to support through e-learning due to the complexity and variety of peer review processes. In this paper we present PeerPigeon, a Web 2.0 style application that supports generalised Peer Review by using a canonical model of Peer Review based on a Peer Review Pattern consisting of Peer Review Cycles, each defined in terms of Peer Review Transforms. We also demonstrate how PeerPigeon makes use of a Domain Specific Language based on Ruby to define these plans, and thus cope with the irreducible complexity of the flow of documents around a peer network

Spending on Shoppable Services in Health Care

This issue brief examines health care spending on shoppable services in 2011. Contrary to expectations, giving consumers prices so they can shop for health care services may only have a modest effect on reducing health spending.Key Takeaways Include:In 2011, about 43% of the $524.2 billion spent on health care services for commercially insured people was considered shoppable.About 15$81 billion -- of the total spent on health care for the commercially insured was spent out of pocket.Of the total amount spent out-of-pocket by consumers, about 7% -- $27.7 billion -- was spent on shoppable services.Most out-of-pocket dollars (44%) were spent on shoppable ambulatory doctor services

myExperiment: An ontology for e-Research

myExperiment describes itself as a "Social Virtual Research Environment" that provides the ability to share Research Objects (ROs) over a social infrastructure to facilitate actioning of research. The myExperiment Ontology is a logical representation of the data model used by this environment, allowing its data to be published in a standard RDF format, whilst providing a generic extensible framework that can be reused by similar projects. ROs are data structures designed to semantically enhance research publications by capturing and preserving the research method so that it can be reproduced in the future. This paper provides some motivation for an RO specification and briefly considers how existing domain-specifific ontologies might be integrated. It concludes by discussing the future direction of the myExperiment Ontology and how it will best support these ROs

Scientific Social Objects: The Social Objects and Multidimensional Network of the myExperiment Website

Scientific research is increasingly conducted digitally and online, and consequently we are seeing the emergence of new digital objects shared as part of the conduct and discourse of science. These Scientific Social Objects are more than lumps of domain-specific data: they may comprise multiple components which can also be shared separately and independently, and some contain descriptions of scientific processes from which new objects will be generated. Using the myExperiment social website as a case study we explore Scientific Social Objects and discuss their evolution

Marquette Interchange Phase I Final Report

This report provides details on the design, installation and monitoring of a pavement instrumentation system for the analysis of load-induced stresses and strains within a perpetual HMA pavement system. The HMA pavement was constructed as part of an urban highway improvement project in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The outer wheel path of the outside lane was instrumented with asphalt strain sensors, base and subgrade pressure sensors, subgrade moisture and temperature sensors, HMA layer temperature sensors, traffic wander strips and a weigh in motion system. Environmental sensors for air temperature, wind speed and solar radiation are also included. The system captures the pavement response from each axle loading and transmits the data through a wireless link to a resident database at Marquette University. The collected data will be used to estimate the fatigue life of the perpetual HMA pavement and to modify, as necessary, pavement design procedures used within the State of Wisconsin

COMMUNITY CHOICES AND HOUSING DECISIONS: A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS

This paper examines land development using an integrated approach that combines residential decisions about choices of community in the Southern Appalachian region with the application of the GIS (Geographical Information System). The empirical model infers a distinctive heterogeneity in the characteristics of community choices. The results also indicate that socioeconomic motives strongly affect urban housing decisions while environmental amenities affect those of rural housing.Public Economics,