Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Earthquake Engineering: Consequence-Based Engineering (CBE) Implementation Opportunities and Challenges

This project involved investigating the opportunities offered by, and barriers facing, the adoption of the Consequence-Based Engineering (CBE) paradigm developed by the Mid-America Earthquake Center. The primary intent was to inform the Center???s managers, researchers, staff, and others about knowledge transfer processes and implementation considerations. The emphasis was on identifying those factors and processes that could support or inhibit the eventual adoption and use of CBE by practicing engineers and other potential users (i.e., stakeholders) in the region and perhaps nationally. The work devolved into four principal tasks, three of which resulted in the enclosed Working Papers: (1) Knowledge and Technology Transfer Models, (2) Factors Affecting the Acceptance and Use of CBE, and (3) Recommended CBE Implementation Support Strategies. Each Working Paper contains its own Principal References while the fourth document is the project???s Bibliography.published or submitted for publicatio

Computer-assisted Instruction in Academic Libraries

The implementation of a computer-assisted instruction package to supplement college-level bibliographic instruction is described. An outline of goals and objectives for an introductory package and a sample segment explain the technique for creating software locally, allowing for custom design. The use of sample materials permits student-tool interaction in a realistic exercise while also taking advantage of the computer\u27s capabilities. Using locally available hardware with librarian-created text allows for subject-specific lecture presentations, elimination of repetition, and immediate instructional feedback. Results from use of materials by almost 2000 students are summarized

Opposed-Flow Flame Spreading in Reduced Gravity

Experimental results obtained in drop towers and in Space Shuttle based experiments coupled with modelling efforts are beginning to provide information that is allowing an understanding to be developed of the physics of opposed-flow flame spread at reduced gravity where the spread rate and flow velocity are comparable and of the role played by radiative and diffusive processes in flame spreading in microgravity. Here we describe one Space Shuttle based experiment on flame spreading in a quiescent environment, the Solid Surface Combustion Experiment, SSCE, one planned microgravity experiment on flame spreading in a radiatively-controlled, forced opposing flow environment, the Diffusive and Radiative Transport in Fires Experiment, DARTFire, modelling efforts to support these experiments, and some results obtained to date

Rapidly rotating plane layer convection with zonal flow

The onset of convection in a rapidly rotating layer in which a thermal wind is present is studied. Diffusive effects are included. The main motivation is from convection in planetary interiors, where thermal winds are expected due to temperature variations on the core-mantle boundary. The system admits both convective instability and baroclinic instability. We find a smooth transition between the two types of modes, and investigate where the transition region between the two types of instability occurs in parameter space. The thermal wind helps to destabilise the convective modes. Baroclinic instability can occur when the applied vertical temperature gradient is stable, and the critical Rayleigh number is then negative. Long wavelength modes are the first to become unstable. Asymptotic analysis is possible for the transition region and also for long wavelength instabilities, and the results agree well with our numerical solutions. We also investigate how the instabilities in this system relate to the classical baroclinic instability in the Eady problem. We conclude by noting that baroclinic instabilities in the Earth's core arising from heterogeneity in the lower mantle could possibly drive a dynamo even if the Earth's core were stably stratified and so not convecting.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Gender and Health Behavior Clustering among U.S. Young Adults

U.S. trends in population health suggest alarming disparities among young adults who are less healthy across most measureable domains than their counterparts in other high-income countries; these international comparisons are particularly troubling for women. To deepen our understanding of gender disparities in health and underlying behavioral contributions, we document gender-specific clusters of health behavior among U.S. young adults using nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We find high levels of poor health behavior, but especially among men; 40 percent of men clustered into a group characterized by unhealthy behavior (e.g., poor diet, no exercise, substance use), compared to only 22 percent of women. Additionally, women tend to age out of unhealthy behaviors in young adulthood more than men. Further, we uncover gender differences in the extent to which sociodemographic position and adolescent contexts inform health behavior clustering. For example, college education was more protective for men, whereas marital status was equally protective across gender. Parental drinking mattered for health behavior clustering among men, whereas peer drinking mattered for clustering among women. We discuss these results in the context of declining female advantage in U.S. health and changing young adult social and health contexts

Green/Sustainable IT/IS: Concepts and Cases

The current buzz of ‘going green’ has been a recent fad for many companies. But what does ‘going green’ really mean? How did going green get started? Who are the current leaders of sustainable information technology? It is clear that going green is more than a fad and that green technology can provide a number of cost reducing advantages to companies. This paper will explore the history of green IT/IS and sustainability. The paper will discuss current issues with sustainability and offer solutions to those problems. It will also study the current leaders in green IT/IS to serve as an example to companies looking to go green. Finally, the paper will make future recommendations for companies considering increasing their sustainability

Molecular subdivision of the marine diatom Thalassiosira rotula in relation to geographic distribution, genome size, and physiology

© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in BMC Evolutionary Biology 12 (2012): 209, doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-209.Marine phytoplankton drift passively with currents, have high dispersal potentials and can be comprised of morphologically cryptic species. To examine molecular subdivision in the marine diatom Thalassiosira rotula, variations in rDNA sequence, genome size, and growth rate were examined among isolates collected from the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins. Analyses of rDNA included T. gravida because morphological studies have argued that T. rotula and T. gravida are conspecific. Culture collection isolates of T. gravida and T. rotula diverged by 7.0 ± 0.3% at the ITS1 and by 0.8 ± 0.03% at the 28S. Within T. rotula, field and culture collection isolates were subdivided into three lineages that diverged by 0.6 ± 0.3% at the ITS1 and 0% at the 28S. The predicted ITS1 secondary structure revealed no compensatory base pair changes among lineages. Differences in genome size were observed among isolates, but were not correlated with ITS1 lineages. Maximum acclimated growth rates of isolates revealed genotype by environment effects, but these were also not correlated with ITS1 lineages. In contrast, intra-individual variation in the multi-copy ITS1 revealed no evidence of recombination amongst lineages, and molecular clock estimates indicated that lineages diverged 0.68 Mya. The three lineages exhibited different geographic distributions and, with one exception, each field sample was dominated by a single lineage. The degree of inter- and intra-specific divergence between T. gravida and T. rotula suggests they should continue to be treated as separate species. The phylogenetic distinction of the three closely-related T. rotula lineages was unclear. On the one hand, the lineages showed no physiological differences, no consistent genome size differences and no significant changes in the ITS1 secondary structure, suggesting there are no barriers to interbreeding among lineages. In contrast, analysis of intra-individual variation in the multicopy ITS1 as well as molecular clock estimates of divergence suggest these lineages have not interbred for significant periods of time. Given the current data, these lineages should be considered a single species. Furthermore, these T. rotula lineages may be ecologically relevant, given their differential abundance over large spatial scales.This research was supported by National Science Foundation grants, NSF 0727227 (to TAR) and NSF SBE0245039 (to URI, TAR). Part of the research was conducted using instrumentation supported by NSF-EPSCoR grants 0554548 and 1004057

Treating ADHD with Suggestion: Neurofeedback and Placebo Therapeutics

Objective: We propose that clinicians can use suggestion to help treat conditions such as ADHD. Methods: We use EEG neurofeedback as a case study, alongside evidence from a recent pilot experiment utilizing a sham MRI scanner to highlight the therapeutic potential of suggestion-based treatments. Results: The medical literature demonstrates that many practitioners already prescribe treatments that hardly outperform placebo comparators. Moreover, the sham MRI experiment showed that, even with full disclosure of the procedure, suggestion alone can reduce the symptomatology of ADHD. Conclusion: Non-deceptive suggestion-based treatments, especially those drawing on accessories from neuroscience, may offer a safe complement and potential alternative to current standard of care for individuals with ADHD

The Quandary of Serving Multiple Masters: An Institutional Exploratory Analysis of Publishing in Business Law

Notwithstanding published articles on the nature and quality of research and scholarship in practically every other business discipline, to date there has been little systematic evaluation of relevant journals in the business law discipline. This deficiency is due, in part, to the fact that business law may still be described as a developing discipline. Thus, the focus of this article is on delineating the nature of research and scholarship within the business law discipline. Specifically, the publishing practices of business law faculty from academic institutions that were members of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), the premier international accrediting body for schools of business, were examined. The comparative perspective developed in this study provides a wide-ranging view of factors related to both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of research and scholarship among business law scholars