Transform Presentation

The Transform step to curate research data is explained in this presentation

Speech-plans: Generating evaluative responses in spoken dialogue

Recent work on evaluation of spoken dialogue systems indicates that better algorithms are needed for the presentation of complex information in speech. Current dialogue systems often rely on presenting sets of options and their attributes sequentially. This places a large memory burden on users, who have to remember complex trade-offs between multiple options and their attributes. To address these problems we build on previous work using multiattribute decision theory to devise speech-planning algorithms that present usertailored summaries, comparisons and recommendations that allow users to focus on critical differences between options and their attributes. We discuss the differences between speech and text planning that result from the particular demands of the speech situation.

Risk Perspectives in Systems Development

Information systems development projects are a significant expenditure for enterprises, and numerous projects fail to achieve their objectives. Systems development risk factors are presented and categorized into technical, resource constraint, organizational, and “other ” risks, based on the prior literature. These factors are analyzed and synthesized, and an integrative framework is presented. Experienced systems development engineers and project managers participated in a structured “interview ” through an in-depth, open-ended questionnaire. The expert panel’s responses provide rich, qualitative data regarding their perspectives on the relative importance of the various risk factors and procedures used to ameliorate them. Common threads and key distinctions characterizing their experiences are identified. Our analysis indicates that risk factors ultimately derive from organizational influences and may be overcome with organizational responses. We also noticed a dichotomy between perspectives of senio

A Priority Lexicon for Hearing-Impaired Children: Staff Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to identify the priorities assigned to lexical items by staff members who work with hearing impaired children and to characterize those selections. Seventy-three staff members rated individual vocabulary items from two lists previously developed from staff working with hearing- impaired children to create a priority-lexicon. The resulting lexicon was then compared to developmental data from two studies of children having no impairments to determine if a lexicon based on perceived need was consistent with patterns of normal language acquisition

Benefits of a snacking intervention as part of a school-based obesity intervention for Mexican American children

Objective: To examine the impact of adherence to a healthy snacking component of a 6 month school-based intervention program for overweight and obese children. Design: Randomized controlled intervention trial Methods: Mexican American children who were ≥ 85th percentile for body mass index (BMI) were recruited between 2005-2012 from three Houston schools. Children participated in a 12-week instructor led intensive intervention program that included nutrition education, physical activity, and a snacking component which consisted of a daily choice of peanuts and/or peanut butter snacks. Children (12±0.6 years) (n= 257) were divided into either low or high snacking adherence groups based on their responses on a peanut food frequency questionnaire. The low adherence group reported consuming peanuts or peanut butter ≤ once per week and the high adherence group \u3e once per week over 6 months. Change of BMI, standardized BMI (zBMI), triceps skinfold, and weight were compared at six months of children reporting high and low levels of adherence to the snacking component. Analysis: T-tests were performed with SPSS version 22 with level of significance set at P \u3c0.05. Results: Children in the high snacking adherence group demonstrated significantly greater decreases in BMI (P= 0.021) and zBMI (P = 0.005) at six months compared to the children in the low snacking adherence group. Although triceps skinfold did not significantly decrease, anthropometric measures trended towards significance. Conclusions and Implications: Peanuts provided an acceptable, healthy snack for children. Although peanuts were relatively high in fat, the weight loss intervention of replacing energy-dense and unhealthy snacks with peanuts and peanut butter helped children maintain a healthy body weight

Tidal Streams as Probes of the Galactic Potential

We explore the use of tidal streams from Galactic satellites to recover the potential of the Milky Way. Our study is motivated both by the discovery of the first lengthy stellar stream in the halo (\cite{it98}) and by the prospect of measuring proper motions of stars brighter than 20th magnitude in such a stream with an accuracy of $\sim 4\mu as/$yr, as will be possible with the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). We assume that the heliocentric radial velocities of these stars can be determined from supporting ground-based spectroscopic surveys, and that the mass and phase-space coordinates of the Galactic satellite with which they are associated will also be known to SIM accuracy. Using results from numerical simulations as trial data sets, we find that, if we assume the correct form for the Galactic potential, we can predict the distances to the stars as a consequence of the narrow distribution of energy expected along the streams. We develop an algorithm to evaluate the accuracy of any adopted potential by requiring that the satellite and stars recombine within a Galactic lifetime when their current phase-space coordinates are integrated backwards. When applied to a four-dimensional grid of triaxial logarithmic potentials, with varying circular velocities, axis ratios and orientation of the major-axis in the disk plane, the algorithm can recover the parameters used for the Milky Way in a simulated data set to within a few percent using only 100 stars in a tidal stream.Comment: Revised version - original algorithm generalised to be applicable to any potential shape. LaTeX, 12 pages including 3 figures. To be published in ApJ Letter

Tracing Galaxy Formation with Stellar Halos I: Methods

If the favored hierarchical cosmological model is correct, then the Milky Way system should have accreted ~100-200 luminous satellite galaxies in the past \~12 Gyr. We model this process using a hybrid semi-analytic plus N-body approach which distinguishes explicitly between the evolution of light and dark matter in accreted satellites. This distinction is essential to our ability to produce a realistic stellar halo, with mass and density profile much like that of our own Galaxy, and a surviving satellite population that matches the observed number counts and structural parameter distributions of the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Our model stellar halos have density profiles which typically drop off with radius faster than those of the dark matter. They are assembled from the inside out, with the majority of mass (~80%) coming from the \~15 most massive accretion events. The satellites that contribute to the stellar halo have median accretion times of ~9 Gyr in the past, while surviving satellite systems have median accretion times of ~5 Gyr in the past. This implies that stars associated with the inner halo should be quite different chemically from stars in surviving satellites and also from stars in the outer halo or those liberated in recent disruption events. We briefly discuss the expected spatial structure and phase space structure for halos formed in this manner. Searches for this type of structure offer a direct test of whether cosmology is indeed hierarchical on small scales.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap

Probing the Halo From the Solar Vicinity to the Outer Galaxy: Connecting Stars in Local Velocity Structures to Large-Scale Clouds

(Abridged) This paper presents the first connections made between two local features in velocity-space found in a survey of M giant stars and stellar spatial inhomogeneities on global scales. Comparison to cosmological, chemodynamical stellar halo models confirm that the M giant population is particularly sensitive to rare, recent and massive accretion events. These events can give rise to local observed velocity sequences - a signature of a small fraction of debris from a common progenitor, passing at high velocity through the survey volume, near the pericenters of their eccentric orbits. The majority of the debris is found in much larger structures, whose morphologies are more cloud-like than stream-like and which lie at the orbital apocenters. Adopting this interpretation, the full-space motions represented by the observed velocity features are derived under the assumption that the members within each sequence share a common velocity. Orbit integrations are then used to trace the past and future trajectories of these stars across the sky revealing plausible associations with large, previously-discovered, cloud-like structures. The connections made between nearby velocity structures and these distant clouds represent preliminary steps towards developing coherent maps of such giant debris systems. These maps promise to provide new insights into the origin of debris clouds, new probes of Galactic history and structure, and new constraints on the high-velocity tails of the local dark matter distribution that are essential for interpreting direct detection experiments.Comment: submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, 40 pages, 13 figure

Identifying and exploring factors influencing career choice, recruitment and retention of anaesthesia trainees in the UK

Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/Peer reviewedPostprin

A Content Analysis of How Engineering is Assessed in Published Curricula

A Content Analysis of How Engineering is Assessed in Published Curricula (Fundamental) The purpose of this proposal is to present research findings concerning how and what about engineering is commonly assessed in well-known engineering or integrated STEM published curriculum. Two of the major shifts brought about by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are an increased emphasis in students’ capabilities to perform higher-level reasoning skills and integrate content understanding into science practices. At the same time, NGSS has made engineering integration into science education a priority, and it is an exciting time of reform as schools are exploring curriculum resources and teachers are being trained in engineering design. When engineering is a part of science instruction, there must also be corresponding measurement of student learning, yet many teachers who are new to engineering are also unfamiliar with the process of assessing design practices. In addition, teachers must grapple with how to assess higher order skills, including how students use science to make design decisions. Evidence of higher levels of learning beyond memorizing content or identifying facts is the goal of engineering assessment, and NGSS provides general patterns of thought and behavior that students may exhibit at each grade level related to defining problems, developing solutions, and optimizing results which demonstrate learning. However, these guidelines are very broad and do not clearly recommend ways to go about assessing these practices in the classroom. It is imperative that teachers are provided with the means to properly assess student learning of both content and engineering practices. As part of a larger goal of developing an integrated STEM curriculum for grades 4 – 8, this content analysis addresses the need for questioning how engineering is commonly assessed in elementary engineering or integrated STEM curricula. By examining current STEM assessments with two frameworks, this study investigates the following research questions: (1) What aspects of engineering are being assessed in common engineering or integrated STEM curricular units? (2) What level of cognitive demand is being referenced by these assessments? Using a purposeful sampling strategy, the authors reviewed 15 engineering curricula units published by 3 different publishing companies. To address the research questions, assessment tasks were coded based on the Task Analysis Guide in Science (TAGS) framework and alignment to the engineering process of design (POD). Preliminary results show that the majority of integrated STEM assessment items are testing students on memorized engineering practice, and very few are referencing higher levels of cognitive demand. These results indicate that the more complex thinking that students use during engineering classroom learning is being overlooked by subsequent assessment. In addition, a large proportion of assessment items are dedicated to learning background information about the problem and planning solution ideas, compared with other steps in the design process. The full paper will discuss conclusions and implications of the study