Research 2.0 : improving participation in online research communities

Web 2.0 thinking and technologies create a number of new opportunities to conduct research broadly labeled as Research 2.0. Research 2.0 is a growing area of academic and commercial interest, which includes research undertaken in online research communities. This research in progress paper explores the practice of online research communities using a case study example operated by the commercial market research company Virtual Surveys Limited (VSL) in the UK on behalf of their client United Biscuits UK Ltd. The preliminary findings are based on VSL and academics working together to improve the online research community participants’ response rate and the quality of contributions. Data collected for this study is based on meetings, participant observation, and a pilot survey of United Biscuits online research community (snackrs.com) members. Using the responses of 112 snackrs.com community members, a preliminary typology of motivational factors is proposed. This can be used to refine the recruitment and development of activities in an online research community. Also, a model for supporting online research communities to ensure longitudinal engagement based on an adaptation of Salmon’s (2004) 5 Stage Model for e-moderation is proposed, extending the 5 stages to 7 – adding the stages of selection and disengagemen

Aerodynamic configuration development of the highly maneuverable aircraft technology remotely piloted research vehicle

The aerodynamic development of the highly maneuverable aircraft technology remotely piloted research vehicle (HiMAT/RPRV) from the conceptual design to the final configuration is presented. The design integrates several advanced concepts to achieve a high degree of transonic maneuverability, and was keyed to sustained maneuverability goals while other fighter typical performance characteristics were maintained. When tests of the baseline configuration indicated deficiencies in the technology integration and design techniques, the vehicle was reconfigured to satisfy the subcritical and supersonic requirements. Drag-due-to-lift levels only 5 percent higher than the optimum were obtained for the wind tunnel model at a lift coefficient of 1 for Mach numbers of up to 0.8. The transonic drag rise was progressively lowered with the application of nonlinear potential flow analyses coupled with experimental data

Visualising Java Coupling and Fault Proneness

In this paper, a tool is described for visualising the Coupling Between Objects (CBO) metric for Java systems, decomposing it into coupling collaborators and using colour to denote the object-oriented mechanisms at work for each couple. The resulting visualisation is also envisaged to be useful for general program comprehension and is integrated into Java development in the Eclipse IDE. Evidence is also given that the visualisation may help detect classes tending to be less fault-prone than would be expected from inspection of their CBO values alone

A Comparison and Evaluation of Variants in the Coupling Between Objects Metric

The Coupling Between Objects metric (CBO) is a widely-used metric but, in practice, ambiguities in its correct implementation have led to different values being computed by different metric tools and studies. CBO has often been shown to correlate with defect occurrence in software systems, but the use of different calculations is commonly overlooked. This paper investigates the varying interpretations of CBO used by those metrics tools and researchers and defines a set of metrics representing the different computational approaches used. These metrics are calculated for a large-scale Java system and logistic regression used to correlate them with defect data obtained by analysing the system’s version tracking records. The different variations of CBO are shown to have significantly different correlations to defects. Regarding results, a clear binary divide was found between CBO values which, on the one hand, predicted a defect and, on the other, those that did not. The results, therefore, show that a clarification or unambiguous re-definition of CBO is both desirable and essential for a general consensus on its use. Moreover, applications of the metric must pay close attention to the actual method of calculation being used and, conclusions and comparisons made as a result

A contingency analysis of precarious organizational temporariness

This paper extends our current understanding of organizational temporariness. The life of a temporary British trade union branch established to recruit Eastern European migrant workers reveals ‘precarious temporariness’, which is less predictable than the ‘planned temporariness’ typically portrayed in the literature. This different type of temporariness was associated with four key contingencies affecting the branch: dispersed governance, bottom-up initiatives, uncertain resourcing, and an effectuation logic. Analysis of the case extends our existing understanding of organizational temporariness and points to an extension of existing theorizing by highlighting the contingent nature of temporariness. The broader managerial implication of the findings is that for projects facing contingencies of the kind studied, the conventional linear approach of target setting and performance management will be less effective than an ongoing process of communication and consultation

Letter from H. P. Child to John Muir, 1897 Nov 27.

FORM IOS S & M L CO 7-6-97-1000KANSAS CITY STOCK YARDS COMPANY.ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER\u27S OFFICE.H. P. CHILD,ASS\u27T. GEN\u27L. MANAGER.Kansas City, Mo., November 27, 1897.Mr. John Muir,c/o Atlantic Monthly,New York City, N.Y.Dear Sir;I am rebinding in fine calf my copy of The Mountains of California and before placing the inclosed book-plate in the volume, I am tempted to ask you to honor it by adding to it your autograph with a line and date below my name.Hoping that you will confer this favor and thanking you in advance for the courtesy, I am,Very truly yours,[illegible

The method of Gaussian weighted trajectories. V. On the 1GB procedure for polyatomic processes

In recent years, many chemical reactions have been studied by means of the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method within the Gaussian binning (GB) procedure. The latter consists in "quantizing" the final vibrational actions in Bohr spirit by putting strong emphasis on the trajectories reaching the products with vibrational actions close to integer values. A major drawback of this procedure is that if N is the number of product vibrational modes, the amount of trajectories necessary to converge the calculations is ~ 10^N larger than with the standard QCT method. Applying it to polyatomic processes is thus problematic. In a recent paper, however, Czako and Bowman propose to quantize the total vibrational energy instead of the vibrational actions [G. Czako and J. M. Bowman, J. Chem. Phys., 131, 244302 (2009)], a procedure called 1GB here. The calculations are then only ~ 10 times more time-consuming than with the standard QCT method, allowing thereby for considerable numerical saving. In this paper, we propose some theoretical arguments supporting the 1GB procedure and check its validity on model test cases as well as the prototype four-atom reaction OH+D_2 -> HOD+D

The quality of different types of child care at 10 and 18 months. A comparison between types and factors related to quality.

The quality of care offered in four different types of non-parental child care to 307 infants at 10 months old and 331 infants at 18 months old was compared and factors associated with higher quality were identified. Observed quality was lowest in nurseries at each age point, except that at 18 months they offered more learning activities. There were few differences in the observed quality of care by child-minders, grandparents and nannies, although grandparents had somewhat lower safety and health scores and offered children fewer activities. Cost was largely unrelated to quality of care except in child-minding, where higher cost was associated with higher quality. Observed ratios of children to adults had a significant impact on quality of nursery care; the more infants or toddlers each adult had to care for, the lower the quality of the care she gave them. Mothers' overall satisfaction with their child's care was positively associated with its quality for home-based care but not for nursery settings

Binding and Relocalization of PKR 1 by Murine Cytomegalovirus

Many viruses have evolved mechanisms to evade the repression of translation mediated by protein kinase R (PKR). In the case of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV), the protein products of two essential genes, m142 and m143, bind to dsRNA and block phosphorylation of PKR and eukaryotic initiation factor 2. A distinctive feature of MCMV is that two proteins are required to block PKR activation whereas other viral dsRNA-binding proteins that prevent PKR activation contain all the necessary functions in a single protein. In order to better understand the mechanism by which MCMV evades the PKR response, we investigated the associations of pm142 and pm143 with each other and with PKR. Both pm142 and pm143 interact with PKR in infected and transfected cells. However, the ~200 kDa pm142:pm143 complex that forms in these cells does not contain substantial amounts of PKR, suggesting that the interactions between pm142:pm143 and PKR are unstable or transient. The stable, soluble pm142:pm143 complex appears to be a heterotetramer consisting of two molecules of pm142 associated with each other and each one binding to and stabilizing a monomer of pm143. MCMV infection also causes relocalization of PKR into the nucleus and to an insoluble cytoplasmic compartment. These results suggest a model in which the pm142:pm143 multimer interacts with PKR and causes its sequestration in cellular compartments where it is unable to shut off translation and repress viral replication