Big Data and Analysis of Data Transfers for International Research Networks Using NetSage

Modern science is increasingly data-driven and collaborative in nature. Many scientific disciplines, including genomics, high-energy physics, astronomy, and atmospheric science, produce petabytes of data that must be shared with collaborators all over the world. The National Science Foundation-supported International Research Network Connection (IRNC) links have been essential to enabling this collaboration, but as data sharing has increased, so has the amount of information being collected to understand network performance. New capabilities to measure and analyze the performance of international wide-area networks are essential to ensure end-users are able to take full advantage of such infrastructure for their big data applications. NetSage is a project to develop a unified, open, privacy-aware network measurement, and visualization service to address the needs of monitoring today's high-speed international research networks. NetSage collects data on both backbone links and exchange points, which can be as much as 1Tb per month. This puts a significant strain on hardware, not only in terms storage needs to hold multi-year historical data, but also in terms of processor and memory needs to analyze the data to understand network behaviors. This paper addresses the basic NetSage architecture, its current data collection and archiving approach, and details the constraints of dealing with this big data problem of handling vast amounts of monitoring data, while providing useful, extensible visualization to end users

A potential library for primary MFL pedagogy: the case of Young Pathfinders

As readers of this journal will know very well, 2010 will see all KS2 (ages 7-11) pupils in England entitled to learn a modern foreign language in normal curriculum time. This development of the commitment to primary language learning should provide an excellent opportunity and experience for pupils, whilst at the same time requiring some radical changes for many teachers, schools and much of the wider language learning community. Recent research has indicated general trends suggesting an increase in primary languages already, in anticipation of this development and even beforehand. One of the most recent studies indicates that 43% of primary children currently learn a foreign language at KS2, either in class or as an extra-curricular activity, although the extent of this learning varies considerably (Driscoll, Jones and Macrory, 2004). It has also been suggested (Muijs et al, 2005) that there are certain aspects of the process that will be particularly demanding if the challenge of providing this entitlement are to be met

A TEX86 surface sediment database and extended Bayesian calibration

© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Scientific Data 2 (2015): 150029, doi:10.1038/sdata.2015.29.Quantitative estimates of past temperature changes are a cornerstone of paleoclimatology. For a number of marine sediment-based proxies, the accuracy and precision of past temperature reconstructions depends on a spatial calibration of modern surface sediment measurements to overlying water temperatures. Here, we present a database of 1095 surface sediment measurements of TEX86, a temperature proxy based on the relative cyclization of marine archaeal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids. The dataset is archived in a machine-readable format with geospatial information, fractional abundances of lipids (if available), and metadata. We use this new database to update surface and subsurface temperature calibration models for TEX86 and demonstrate the applicability of the TEX86 proxy to past temperature prediction. The TEX86 database confirms that surface sediment GDGT distribution has a strong relationship to temperature, which accounts for over 70% of the variance in the data. Future efforts, made possible by the data presented here, will seek to identify variables with secondary relationships to GDGT distributions, such as archaeal community composition

Global music recordings support the motor constraint hypothesis for human and avian song contour

There has recently been renewed interest in using quantitative data to explore questions about musical universals. One explanation for certain musical universals is that they reflect ways of singing that are most energetically efficient , as opposed to biological specializations for human music . Previous research found support for this "motor constraint hypothesis" by comparing pitch contour shapes in sample s of human and avian song s, but the sample of human song s was limited to notated scores of European and Chinese folk songs from the Essen database. Here we attempt to test this hypothesis using a more diverse global sample of human music recordings from the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music . By directly comparing pitch contour shapes in a diverse sample of human songs and bird songs , we found that both human and bird songs tend to employ similar descending / arched melodic contours despite substantial differences in absolute pitch and duration. This preference was consistent for both Western and non - Western songs. Surprisingly, w e also found that the global samples of human and bird song contours were signific antly more correlated with one another than either was with the Essen contours . Our findings of broad cross - cultural and cross - species parallels support the motor constraint hypothesis for melodic contour . More generally, our findings demonstr ate the importance of greater collaboration between ethnomusicology and music psychology

Acoustic foundations of the speech-to-song illusion

In the “speech-to-song illusion”, certain spoken phrases are heard as highly song-like when isolated from context and repeated. This phenomenon occurs to a greater degree for some stimuli than for others, suggesting that particular cues prompt listeners to perceive a spoken phrase as song. Here we investigated the nature of these cues across four experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to rate how song-like spoken phrases were after each of eight repetitions. Initial ratings were correlated with the consistency of an underlying beat and within-syllable pitch slope, while rating change was linked to beat consistency, within-syllable pitch slope, and melodic structure. In Experiment 2, the within-syllable pitch slope of the stimuli was manipulated, and this manipulation changed the extent to which participants heard certain stimuli as more musical than others. In Experiment 3, the extent to which the pitch sequences of a phrase fit a computational model of melodic structure was altered, but this manipulation did not have a significant effect on musicality ratings. In Experiment 4, the consistency of inter-syllable timing was manipulated, but this manipulation did not have an effect on the change in perceived musicality after repetition. Our methods provide a new way of studying the causal role of specific acoustic features in the speech-to-song illusion via subtle acoustic manipulations of speech, and show that listeners can rapidly (and implicitly) assess the degree to which non-musical stimuli contain musical structure

College Students as Mentors for At-Risk Youth: A Study of Six Campus Partners in Learning Programs

In this study of the effects of college-student mentoring on elementary, junior-high and high-school students, P/PV examined six Campus Partners in Learning (CPIL) programs that implemented a common programmatic core in different ways, such as by varying the size of classes, the age of students served and the location of the mentoring sessions. The report concludes such mentoring can be an effective tool in improving academic and social outcomes but cautions that involving college students as mentors presents special challenges that require administrative structure and substantive support beyond that typically provided

Pasture condition guide for the Ord River Catchment

This guide has been produced as a tool for assessing pasture condition over a range of pasture types in the Ord River catchment. A pasture type is a distinctive mix of plant species, soil type and landscape position. For example, the Mitchell Grass Alluvial Plain Pasture type is a mixture of Mitchell grasses and other species occurring on black soil alluvial plains. Pasture condition is an important factor affecting the potential of the rangelands for animal production and is a useful indicator for the sustainability of production.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1202/thumbnail.jp

Review of Atrazine Water Monitoring Data in Iowa Relative to Label and Management Changes

Trends in atrazine detections and concentrations in Iowa surface and groundwater were reviewed relative to adoption of Best Management Practices and atrazine label changes designed to protect water resources. Analysis of a large statewide water monitoring database from 1982 to 1995 revealed statistically significant declines in both atrazine detection rates and concentrations in both groundwater and surface water. USGS monitoring of streams from 1989 to 1995 showed a decline in atrazine median concentration of almost 50%. Rural wells in Floyd and Mitchell Counties were sampled in 1986 and 198 7 and resampled in 1994, four years after the area was designated as an atrazine management area. Mean atrazine concentrations declined by 87%, and no wells exceeded the atrazine Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) drinking water standard (6% of wells exceeded the MCL in 1986). Other studies also documented declines in atrazine detections and concentrations, which have been attributed to improved management of the herbicide. Exposure of Iowans to atrazine through drinking water is low. For the period 1994-2002, eleven Community Water Systems (CWS) utilizing the most vulnerable surface water sources were intensively monitored for atrazine. Only one CWS in one year exceeded the 3 ppb annual average drinking water standard. In an analysis of all Safe Drinking Water compliance monitoring in Iowa for the period 1993 through 2000, no CWS utilizing groundwater had an atrazine detection of 3 ppb or greater. No atrazine was detected in 90.2% of groundwater