Data Sharing and Secondary Use of Scientific Data: Experiences of Ecologists

In recent years, scientific disciplines related to global, environmental problem solving have been a special target of data sharing efforts. Yet, very little research exists to guide the organization of scientific data sources or to understand the technical and social infrastructures needed to support the secondary use of data. Ecology is one of the disciplines that contributes to our knowledge of the natural world, but several factors complicate the sharing and reuse of ecological data. I conducted in-depth interviews to investigate the experiences of ecologists who used data they did not collect themselves in order to understand how they overcome these challenges. My findings extend our knowledge of information reuse, and they have implications for the design of digital libraries, for the development of standards, and for the creation of data sharing policies and programs. Fieldwork performs an important function in shaping ecologists' formal and informal knowledge, which carries over to their reuse of data. The informal knowledge ecologists acquire as collectors of their own data in the field or laboratory plays the most important role in their reuse of data. The secondary use of data on a large scale requires a greater emphasis on standardization, peer review, and quality control, which alters the extent of reliance on informal knowledge. However, a formal system offers only some of the information that scientists require to reuse data, and there is a danger in thinking that informal knowledge is easily replaced and is no longer necessary or important. My study shows how social exchange is an integral part of all scientific understanding. Standard research methods, metadata standards, and common storage formats make it possible to integrate data on a large scale, but this power comes from leaving out information that is necessary to secondary data use. Ecology teaches us that there are multiple sides to issues of trust, standards, understanding, and judgments about data quality. To be effective vehicles of data sharing, digital libraries and data repositories must capture public and private knowledge and must find ways to document the implicit knowledge that ecologists recognize and can articulate.Ph.D.Information and Library StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39373/2/ann_zimmerman_dissertation_2003.pd

TeraGrid Planning Process Report: June 2007 Workshop for Science Gateways

TeraGrid is a national, comprehensive, distributed infrastructure integrating multiple resources at nine resource provider facilities. In late spring 2007, the NSF awarded a grant to the University of Michigan’s School of Information (UM-SI) to facilitate a community-driven, participatory planning process for the future of TeraGrid. This report describes the results of the first workshop, which focused on the needs of those developing TeraGrid Science Gateways and the needs of Gateway users. Early in its history, TeraGrid conceived the idea for what has become the TeraGrid ScienceGateway program. Recognizing that many disciplinary communities were building elements of their own cyberinfrastrucuture, TeraGrid set out to form partnerships that would provide TeraGrid resources and services to user communities through tools and environments they were already using. Essentially, the gateway concept recognizes that many of today’s scientists use desktop computing applications and web browsers to conduct their work. TeraGrid’s role is as a back-end service provider with the gateways serving as the front end to the user. At the time of the workshop, there were 21 projects with an allocation on the TeraGrid, which is the criterion used to designate a project as a TeraGrid Science Gateway. The workshop was designed to assess how TeraGrid could meet the needs of Science Gateways, specifically the end users of the gateways and the gateway developers.National Science Foundationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61843/1/TeraGrid_ScienceGateways_Workshop_Report.pd

Report from the TeraGrid Evaluation Study, Part 1: Project Findings

TeraGrid integrates multiple high-performance computing resources at distributed provider facilities. In 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a grant to the University of Michigan's School of Information (UM-SI) to conduct an external evaluation of TeraGrid. The primary goals of the evaluation were to provide specific information to TeraGrid managers that will increase the likelihood of TeraGrid success, and to give NSF and policy makers general data that will assist them in making strategic decisions about future directions for cyberinfrastructure. In order to accomplish these objectives, the UM-SI study assessed four aspects of the TeraGrid project: 1) progress in meeting user requirements; 2) impact of TeraGrid on research outcomes; 3) quality and content of TeraGrid education, outreach, and training activities; and 4) satisfaction among TeraGrid partners. We employed a mixed method approach that consisted of a user workshop; participant observation; document analysis; interviews with 86 individuals representing five different categories; a survey of a sample of 595 TeraGrid users; and two surveys to assess TeraGrid tutorials held in 2006 and 2007. Most of the data were collected from June 2006 through May 2007. Findings from the evaluation study are presented in two parts. In this first part, we report results from analyses of all data collected during the investigation. Detailed findings from the user survey are presented in Part 2 of the report.National Science Foundationhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61838/2/TeraGrid_Evaluation_Report_Project_Findings_August_2008.pdfDescription of TeraGrid_Evaluation_Report_Project_Findings_August_2008.pdf : Final repor

TeraGrid User Workshop Final Report

In 2006, the NSF awarded a one-year grant to the University of Michigan’s School of Information (UM-SI) to conduct an external evaluation of TeraGrid. This report describes the results of the first major evaluation activity. On June 12, 2006 the UM-SI evaluation team conducted a workshop to begin to examine the relationship between TeraGrid’s development priorities and the needs of its users. The invitation-only workshop was funded by TeraGrid and was held at the University Place Conference Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. The TeraGrid User Workshop Final Report summarizes the data collected and information gained during the workshop.National Science Foundationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61841/1/TeraGrid2006_Tutortials_Survey_Report.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61841/4/2006_TGUser_Workshop_Report.pd

TeraGrid '06 Tutorial Evaluation

TeraGrid '06, the first annual TeraGrid conference, was held in Indianapolis on June 13-15, 2006. Eight pre-conference tutorials, covering a diverse range of topics, were offered on June 12, 2006. Half of the tutorials were a full day in length and half were 4 hours long. Researchers at the University of Michigan's School of Information developed a 15-question survey to measure attendees' satisfaction with the tutorials. Results from the survey are presented in this report and are intended to assist TeraGrid personnel with the development of future educational events such as tutorials and workshops and to provide feedback to tutorial instructors. The results from an analysis of the survey data show that the tutorial attendees who responded to the survey generally rated their experiences very positively and would attend another educational, outreach, or training event sponsored by TeraGrid. Respondents felt they gained a deeper understanding of the topic at hand and planned to use at least some of what they learned in their work or teaching. The results also show that some tutorials were more successful than others in terms of the presentation of material. Some respondents were dissatisfied with the handouts available to them while others desired more opportunities for hands-on activities. Responses to open-ended questions suggest that some attention should be paid to the level of the tutorial and the ability of the attendees. Offering introductory tutorials in which attendees are given practical step-by-step training in tandem with more advanced tutorials geared at experienced users could be beneficial in meeting the needs of a wide variety of users.National Science Foundationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61840/1/TeraGrid2006_Tutortials_Survey_Report.pd

TeraGrid Evaluation Report, Part 2: Findings from the TeraGrid User Survey

TeraGrid is a national infrastructure that integrates multiple resources at distributed resource provider facilities. In 2006, the National Science Foundation awarded a grant to the University of Michigan’s School of Information to conduct an external evaluation of TeraGrid. One of the main objectives of the evaluation study was to assess TeraGrid's progress in meeting the needs of its users. This report describes the results from the TeraGrid User Survey, a major activity in support of this objective.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61839/1/TeraGrid_Evaluation_Report_Survey_Findings_July_2008.pd

Medicare Expenditures for Nursing Home Residents Triaged to Nursing Home or Hospital for Acute Infection

To compare Medicare payments of nursing home residents triaged to nursing home with those of nursing home residents triaged to the hospital for acute infection care

Efficacy, safety and tolerability of escitalopram in doses up to 50 mg in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD): an open-label, pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Escitalopram is licensed for use at doses up to 20 mg but is used clinically at higher doses. There is limited published data at higher doses and none in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This open-label, pilot study was designed to investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of escitalopram in doses up to 50 mg in MDD. It was conducted in 60 primary care patients with MDD who had not responded to adequate treatment with citalopram. Patients were treated with escalating doses of escitalopram up to 50 mg for up to 32 weeks until they achieved remission (Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale [MADRS] ≤8) or failed to tolerate the dose.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-two patients (70%) completed the study. Twenty-one patients (35%) achieved remission with 8 of the 21 patients (38%) needing the 50 mg dose to achieve remission. Median time to remission was 24 weeks and median dose in remission was 30 mg. No significant safety issues were identified although tolerability appeared to decline above a dose of 40 mg with 26% of patients unable to tolerate 50 mg. Twelve (20%) patients had adverse events leading to discontinuation. The most common adverse events were headache (35%), nausea, diarrhoea and nasopharyngitis (all 25%). Minor mean weight gain was found during the study, which did not appear to be dose-related. Half of the patients who completed the study chose to continue treatment with escitalopram rather than taper down the dose at 32 weeks.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Dose escalation with escitalopram above 20 mg may have a useful role in the management of patients with MDD, although further studies are needed to confirm this finding.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00785434">NCT00785434</a></p

Physical Performance Characteristics of Assisted Living Residents and Risk for Adverse Health Outcomes

Little is known about the physical performance ability of residential care/assisted living (RC/AL) residents and its relationship to adverse outcomes such as fracture, nursing home placement, functional decline, and death. The purposes of this paper are to: 1) describe the functional characteristics of RC/AL residents; 2) examine the relationships between resident- and facility-characteristics and physical performance; and 3) determine the predictive value of physical performance for adverse outcomes

‘Maintaining balance and harmony’: Javanese perceptions of health and cardiovascular disease

Community intervention programmes to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors within urban communities in developing countries are rare. One possible explanation is the difficulty of designing an intervention that corresponds to the local context and culture