Using Blackboard Wiki Pages as a Shared Space for Simulating the Professional Translation Work Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Vine, Juliet

2015-01-01

The Work-Integrated Simulation for Translators module is part of a three year undergraduate degree in translation. The semester long module aims to simulate several aspects of the translation process using the Blackboard virtual learning environment's Wikis as the interface for completing translation tasks. For each translation task, one of the…

Wiki-Based Data and Information Integration (WikiDI2) System, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed innovation is: A data and information integration (DI2) system built from the methods and tools used to create Wiki websites. Wiki (Hawaiian for...

Supporting open collaboration in science through explicit and linked semantic description of processes

Science.gov (United States)

Gil, Yolanda; Michel, Felix; Ratnakar, Varun; Read, Jordan S.; Hauder, Matheus; Duffy, Christopher; Hanson, Paul C.; Dugan, Hilary

2015-01-01

The Web was originally developed to support collaboration in science. Although scientists benefit from many forms of collaboration on the Web (e.g., blogs, wikis, forums, code sharing, etc.), most collaborative projects are coordinated over email, phone calls, and in-person meetings. Our goal is to develop a collaborative infrastructure for scientists to work on complex science questions that require multi-disciplinary contributions to gather and analyze data, that cannot occur without significant coordination to synthesize findings, and that grow organically to accommodate new contributors as needed as the work evolves over time. Our approach is to develop an organic data science framework based on a task-centered organization of the collaboration, includes principles from social sciences for successful on-line communities, and exposes an open science process. Our approach is implemented as an extension of a semantic wiki platform, and captures formal representations of task decomposition structures, relations between tasks and users, and other properties of tasks, data, and other relevant science objects. All these entities are captured through the semantic wiki user interface, represented as semantic web objects, and exported as linked data.

Experimental attempts of using the Wiki-based knowledge sharing system at Syowa Station by 47th JARE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takanobu Sawagaki

2007-11-01

Full Text Available A web-based knowledge sharing system was experimentally developed on the LAN using the INTERSAT communication system, at Syowa Station during the wintering period of the 47th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE47, 2005-2007. The system works on "wiki", which is a collaborative technology for organizing information on web sites. Wiki allows users to catch up on information produced by various activities at the station to date, linking and tracing among a large number of pages. A number of wiki systems have been developed under the GNU General Public License. JARE47 experimentally introduced a "PukiWiki" system in which all data are stored in hypertext format, and binary files can be attached to any pages. PukiWiki is able to extend its functions by using plug-ins, which allow users to modify the system. The wiki at Syowa Station was started on a small scale and expanded to permit storage of data entered by individual members, and to permit sharing of information up to date among all members, becoming a portal site for wintering members. During the complicated operations in summer season when many groups pursued the individual field activities, wiki played an important role for reconfirming and modifying procedures among members, as the key station around the Syowa area.

Use of Wiki software for the knowledge management at the IEN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Augusto, Silas C.; Oliveira, Mauro V.; Almeida, Jose Carlos S.; Marques, Luana F.S.; Antunes, Joao Francisco O.

2015-01-01

Thanks to the broad availability of internet access and the development of browser-based web applications known as 'wikis' (Hawaiian word for 'quick, fast'), it became possible for internet users to participate on big collaborative encyclopedic projects. The best example is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia based on MediaWiki that receives contributions from internet users around the world. In this context, the word 'wiki' usually refers to the wiki software itself, and/or the collection of hypertext documents managed by it. Wiki software allows creating, editing and managing online-shared documents, which become available immediately after they are created/edited. With such capabilities, wikis can also be used within organizations as tools to allow its employees to collaborate in the construction of a common knowledge base containing information relevant to the organization. In such context, the wiki becomes a tool for knowledge management. This article describes the implementation of the WikiIEN, which is based on MediaWiki, as a tool for knowledge management at the IEN - Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear. This tool aims to improve the sharing of information among institute researchers, thorough a dynamic common knowledge base that can be on-line updated. In the article are presented the logical and computational structure of the wiki created for deposit of the knowledge generated at the IEN. (author)

Use of Wiki software for the knowledge management at the IEN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Augusto, Silas C.; Oliveira, Mauro V.; Almeida, Jose Carlos S.; Marques, Luana F.S.; Antunes, Joao Francisco O., E-mail: silas@ien.gov.br, E-mail: mvitor@ien.gov.br, E-mail: jcsa@ien.gov.br, E-mail: lsales@ien.gov.br, E-mail: jfantunes@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2015-07-01

Thanks to the broad availability of internet access and the development of browser-based web applications known as 'wikis' (Hawaiian word for 'quick, fast'), it became possible for internet users to participate on big collaborative encyclopedic projects. The best example is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia based on MediaWiki that receives contributions from internet users around the world. In this context, the word 'wiki' usually refers to the wiki software itself, and/or the collection of hypertext documents managed by it. Wiki software allows creating, editing and managing online-shared documents, which become available immediately after they are created/edited. With such capabilities, wikis can also be used within organizations as tools to allow its employees to collaborate in the construction of a common knowledge base containing information relevant to the organization. In such context, the wiki becomes a tool for knowledge management. This article describes the implementation of the WikiIEN, which is based on MediaWiki, as a tool for knowledge management at the IEN - Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear. This tool aims to improve the sharing of information among institute researchers, thorough a dynamic common knowledge base that can be on-line updated. In the article are presented the logical and computational structure of the wiki created for deposit of the knowledge generated at the IEN. (author)

Developing Student Science and Information Literacy through Contributions to the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Wiki

Science.gov (United States)

Guertin, L. A.; Farley, I.; Geary, A.

2016-12-01

Introductory-level Earth science courses provide the opportunity for science and non-science majors to expand discipline-specific content knowledge while enhancing skill sets applicable to all disciplines. The outcomes of the student work can then benefit the education and outreach efforts of an international organization - in this case, a wiki devoted exclusively to the geosciences, managed by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG). The course Environment Earth at Penn State Brandywine is a general education science course with the overarching course goal for students to understand, communicate examples, and make informed decisions relating to big ideas and fundamental concepts of Earth science. To help accomplish this goal, students carry out a semester-long digital engaged scholarship project that benefits the users of the SEG Wiki (http://wiki.seg.org/). To begin with developing the literacy of students and their ability to read, interpret, and evaluate sources of scientific news, the first assignment requires students to write an annotated bibliography on a specific topic that serves as the foundation for a new SEG Wiki article. Once students have collected and summarized information from reliable sources, students learn how writing for a wiki is different than writing a term paper and begin drafting their wiki page. Students peer review each other's work for content and clarity before publishing their work on the SEG wiki. Students respond positively to this project, reporting a better understanding of and respect towards the authors of online wiki pages, as well as an overall satisfaction of knowing their work will benefit others. Links to student-generated pages and instructional materials can be found at: http://sites.psu.edu/segwiki/.

VuWiki: An Ontology-Based Semantic Wiki for Vulnerability Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Khazai, Bijan; Kunz-Plapp, Tina; Büscher, Christian; Wegner, Antje

2014-05-01

The concept of vulnerability, as well as its implementation in vulnerability assessments, is used in various disciplines and contexts ranging from disaster management and reduction to ecology, public health or climate change and adaptation, and a corresponding multitude of ideas about how to conceptualize and measure vulnerability exists. Three decades of research in vulnerability have generated a complex and growing body of knowledge that challenges newcomers, practitioners and even experienced researchers. To provide a structured representation of the knowledge field "vulnerability assessment", we have set up an ontology-based semantic wiki for reviewing and representing vulnerability assessments: VuWiki, www.vuwiki.org. Based on a survey of 55 vulnerability assessment studies, we first developed an ontology as an explicit reference system for describing vulnerability assessments. We developed the ontology in a theoretically controlled manner based on general systems theory and guided by principles for ontology development in the field of earth and environment (Raskin and Pan 2005). Four key questions form the first level "branches" or categories of the developed ontology: (1) Vulnerability of what? (2) Vulnerability to what? (3) What reference framework was used in the vulnerability assessment?, and (4) What methodological approach was used in the vulnerability assessment? These questions correspond to the basic, abstract structure of the knowledge domain of vulnerability assessments and have been deduced from theories and concepts of various disciplines. The ontology was then implemented in a semantic wiki which allows for the classification and annotation of vulnerability assessments. As a semantic wiki, VuWiki does not aim at "synthesizing" a holistic and overarching model of vulnerability. Instead, it provides both scientists and practitioners with a uniform ontology as a reference system and offers easy and structured access to the knowledge field of

Strata: typed semi-structured data in DokuWiki

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wanders, B.; te Brinke, Steven

2014-01-01

A semantic wiki is a wiki that has a model of the knowledge contained in its pages. Currently, semantic wikis are not adopted by a large user base, because most implementations are research prototypes that implement their own wiki engine. To increase familiarity with semantic wikis and quick

Wiki Behavior in the Workplace: Emotional Aspects of Content Development

Science.gov (United States)

Gears, Deborah Ann

2011-01-01

Wikis have been found to be an easy-to-use, low-cost, and Internet-based technology useful in creating and mobilizing knowledge. Wikis hosted within firms (corporate wikis) have become a popular way for employees to share information and collaborate. Preliminary research suggested that as few as 6% of wiki consumers contributed to the…

Development of generic and strategic skills through a wiki platform in industrial engineering programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Celorrio-Barragué

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the collaborative learning task carried out in the framework of a Strength of Materials course in an undergraduate degree program in Industrial Engineering using a wiki platform as a support tool. Stages of the teaching/learning process are described. These are: organization of the wiki to host the work of student groups, creation of working groups and assignation of projects, delivery of guidance material and model, editing the project and publishing pages on the wiki, assessments performed using rubrics, and the results obtained. The wiki platform provides interesting statistics for evaluating cooperation between students and time variation of students’ effort. The final quality of the projects is very high because a midterm evaluation in the form of a “peer review rubric” is carried out. Then, students improve their projects. The paper concludes by gathering the opinions made by students; the benefits provided by this teaching experience are then analyzed.

Impact of Implementing a Wiki to Develop Structured Electronic Order Sets on Physicians' Intention to Use Wiki-Based Order Sets.

Science.gov (United States)

Archambault, Patrick Michel; Beaupré, Pierre; Bégin, Laura; Dupuis, Audrey; Côté, Mario; Légaré, France

2016-05-17

Wikis have the potential to promote best practices in health systems by sharing order sets with a broad community of stakeholders. However, little is known about the impact of using a wiki on clinicians' intention to use wiki-based order sets. The aims of this study were: (1) to describe the use of a wiki to create structured order sets for a single emergency department; (2) to evaluate whether the use of this wiki changed emergency physicians' future intention to use wiki-based order sets; and (3) to understand the impact of using the wiki on the behavioral determinants for using wiki-based order sets. This was a pre/post-intervention mixed-methods study conducted in one hospital in Lévis, Quebec. The intervention was comprised of receiving access to and being motivated by the department head to use a wiki for 6 months to create electronic order sets designed to be used in a computer physician order entry system. Before and after our intervention, we asked participants to complete a previously validated questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Our primary outcome was the intention to use wiki-based order sets in clinical practice. We also assessed participants' attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm to use wiki-based order sets. Paired pre- and post-Likert scores were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. The post-questionnaire also included open-ended questions concerning participants' comments about the wiki, which were then classified into themes using an existing taxonomy. Twenty-eight emergency physicians were enrolled in the study (response rate: 100%). Physicians' mean intention to use a wiki-based reminder was 5.42 (SD 1.04) before the intervention, and increased to 5.81 (SD 1.25) on a 7-point Likert scale (P =.03) after the intervention. Participants' attitude towards using a wiki-based order set also increased from 5.07 (SD 0.90) to 5.57 (SD 0.88) (P =.003). Perceived behavioral control and subjective norm did not

Towards a Conceptual Framework for WikiGIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wided Batita

2014-10-01

Full Text Available As an emerging complex concept, GeoDesign requires an innovative theoretical basis, tools, supports and practices. For this reason, we propose a new concept, “WikiGIS”, designed to answer some dimensions of the GeoDesign process. WikiGIS focuses on the needs of GeoDesign, but we leave the door open for future improvement when tested in other areas that may have additional needs. WikiGIS is built on Web 2.0 technologies—and primarily on wiki—to manage the tracking of participants’ editing (i.e., managing the contributions history. It also offers GIS functions for geoprocessing and a design-based approach for sketching proposals. One of the main strengths of WikiGIS is its ability to manage the traceability of contributions with an easy and dynamical access, data quality and deltification. The core of this paper consists of presenting a conceptual framework for WikiGIS using UML diagrams. A user interface is presented later to show how our WikiGIS proposal works. This interface is simply a means to illustrate the concepts underlying WikiGIS.

An exploration of learning to link with Wikipedia: features, methods and training collection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

He, J.; de Rijke, M.

2010-01-01

We describe our participation in the Link-the-Wiki track at INEX 2009. We apply machine learning methods to the anchor-to-best-entry-point task and explore the impact of the following aspects of our approaches: features, learning methods as well as the collection used for training the models. We

Wikidata as a semantic framework for the Gene Wiki initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgstaller-Muehlbacher, Sebastian; Waagmeester, Andra; Mitraka, Elvira; Turner, Julia; Putman, Tim; Leong, Justin; Naik, Chinmay; Pavlidis, Paul; Schriml, Lynn; Good, Benjamin M; Su, Andrew I

2016-01-01

Open biological data are distributed over many resources making them challenging to integrate, to update and to disseminate quickly. Wikidata is a growing, open community database which can serve this purpose and also provides tight integration with Wikipedia. In order to improve the state of biological data, facilitate data management and dissemination, we imported all human and mouse genes, and all human and mouse proteins into Wikidata. In total, 59,721 human genes and 73,355 mouse genes have been imported from NCBI and 27,306 human proteins and 16,728 mouse proteins have been imported from the Swissprot subset of UniProt. As Wikidata is open and can be edited by anybody, our corpus of imported data serves as the starting point for integration of further data by scientists, the Wikidata community and citizen scientists alike. The first use case for these data is to populate Wikipedia Gene Wiki infoboxes directly from Wikidata with the data integrated above. This enables immediate updates of the Gene Wiki infoboxes as soon as the data in Wikidata are modified. Although Gene Wiki pages are currently only on the English language version of Wikipedia, the multilingual nature of Wikidata allows for usage of the data we imported in all 280 different language Wikipedias. Apart from the Gene Wiki infobox use case, a SPARQL endpoint and exporting functionality to several standard formats (e.g. JSON, XML) enable use of the data by scientists. In summary, we created a fully open and extensible data resource for human and mouse molecular biology and biochemistry data. This resource enriches all the Wikipedias with structured information and serves as a new linking hub for the biological semantic web. Database URL: https://www.wikidata.org/. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

WikiScience: Wikipedia for science and technology

OpenAIRE

Aibar Puentes, Eduard

2015-01-01

Peer-reviewed Presentació de la conferència "WikiScience: Wikipedia for science and technology". Presentación de la conferencia "WikiScience: Wikipedia for science and technology". Presentation of the conference "Science Wiki: Wikipedia for science and technology".

WikiPathways: a multifaceted pathway database bridging metabolomics to other omics research.

Science.gov (United States)

Slenter, Denise N; Kutmon, Martina; Hanspers, Kristina; Riutta, Anders; Windsor, Jacob; Nunes, Nuno; Mélius, Jonathan; Cirillo, Elisa; Coort, Susan L; Digles, Daniela; Ehrhart, Friederike; Giesbertz, Pieter; Kalafati, Marianthi; Martens, Marvin; Miller, Ryan; Nishida, Kozo; Rieswijk, Linda; Waagmeester, Andra; Eijssen, Lars M T; Evelo, Chris T; Pico, Alexander R; Willighagen, Egon L

2018-01-04

WikiPathways (wikipathways.org) captures the collective knowledge represented in biological pathways. By providing a database in a curated, machine readable way, omics data analysis and visualization is enabled. WikiPathways and other pathway databases are used to analyze experimental data by research groups in many fields. Due to the open and collaborative nature of the WikiPathways platform, our content keeps growing and is getting more accurate, making WikiPathways a reliable and rich pathway database. Previously, however, the focus was primarily on genes and proteins, leaving many metabolites with only limited annotation. Recent curation efforts focused on improving the annotation of metabolism and metabolic pathways by associating unmapped metabolites with database identifiers and providing more detailed interaction knowledge. Here, we report the outcomes of the continued growth and curation efforts, such as a doubling of the number of annotated metabolite nodes in WikiPathways. Furthermore, we introduce an OpenAPI documentation of our web services and the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) annotation of resources to increase the interoperability of the knowledge encoded in these pathways and experimental omics data. New search options, monthly downloads, more links to metabolite databases, and new portals make pathway knowledge more effortlessly accessible to individual researchers and research communities. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

WikiHyperGlossary (WHG): an information literacy technology for chemistry documents.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Michael A; Berleant, Daniel; Cornell, Andrew P; Belford, Robert E

2015-01-01

The WikiHyperGlossary is an information literacy technology that was created to enhance reading comprehension of documents by connecting them to socially generated multimedia definitions as well as semantically relevant data. The WikiHyperGlossary enhances reading comprehension by using the lexicon of a discipline to generate dynamic links in a document to external resources that can provide implicit information the document did not explicitly provide. Currently, the most common method to acquire additional information when reading a document is to access a search engine and browse the web. This may lead to skimming of multiple documents with the novice actually never returning to the original document of interest. The WikiHyperGlossary automatically brings information to the user within the current document they are reading, enhancing the potential for deeper document understanding. The WikiHyperGlossary allows users to submit a web URL or text to be processed against a chosen lexicon, returning the document with tagged terms. The selection of a tagged term results in the appearance of the WikiHyperGlossary Portlet containing a definition, and depending on the type of word, tabs to additional information and resources. Current types of content include multimedia enhanced definitions, ChemSpider query results, 3D molecular structures, and 2D editable structures connected to ChemSpider queries. Existing glossaries can be bulk uploaded, locked for editing and associated with multiple social generated definitions. The WikiHyperGlossary leverages both social and semantic web technologies to bring relevant information to a document. This can not only aid reading comprehension, but increases the users' ability to obtain additional information within the document. We have demonstrated a molecular editor enabled knowledge framework that can result in a semantic web inductive reasoning process, and integration of the WikiHyperGlossary into other software technologies, like

Medical Wikis Dedicated to Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Llorca, Guy; Letrilliart, Laurent

2015-01-01

Background Wikis may give clinician communities the opportunity to build knowledge relevant to their practice. The only previous study reviewing a set of health-related wikis, without specification of purpose or audience, globally showed a poor reliability. Objective Our aim was to review medical wiki websites dedicated to clinical practices. Methods We used Google in ten languages, PubMed, Embase, Lilacs, and Web of Science to identify websites. The review included wiki sites, accessible and operating, having a topic relevant for clinical medicine, targeting physicians or medical students. Wikis were described according to their purposes, platform, management, information framework, contributions, content, and activity. Purposes were classified as “encyclopedic” or “non-encyclopedic”. The information framework quality was assessed based on the Health On the Net (HONcode) principles for collaborative websites, with additional criteria related to users’ transparency and editorial policy. From a sample of five articles per wikis, we assessed the readability using the Flesch test and compared articles according to the wikis’ main purpose. Annual editorial activities were estimated using the Google engine. Results Among 25 wikis included, 11 aimed at building an encyclopedia, five a textbook, three lessons, two oncology protocols, one a single article, and three at reporting clinical cases. Sixteen wikis were specialized with specific themes or disciplines. Fifteen wikis were using MediaWiki software as-is, three were hosted by online wiki farms, and seven were purpose-built. Except for one MediaWiki-based site, only purpose-built platforms managed detailed user disclosures. The owners were ten organizations, six individuals, four private companies, two universities, two scientific societies, and one unknown. Among 21 open communities, 10 required users’ credentials to give editing rights. The median information framework quality score was 6 out of 16

The impact of group membership on collaborative learning with wikis.

Science.gov (United States)

Matschke, Christina; Moskaliuk, Johannes; Kimmerle, Joachim

2013-02-01

The social web stimulates learning through collaboration. However, information in the social web is often associated with information about its author. Based on previous evidence that ingroup information is preferred to outgroup information, the current research investigates whether group memberships of wiki authors affect learning. In an experimental study, we manipulated the group memberships (ingroup vs. outgroup) of wiki authors by using nicknames. The designated group memberships (being fans of a soccer team or not) were completely irrelevant for the domain of the wiki (the medical disorder fibromyalgia). Nevertheless, wiki information from the ingroup led to more integration of information into prior knowledge as well as more increase of factual knowledge than information from the outgroup. The results demonstrate that individuals apply social selection strategies when considering information from wikis, which may foster, but also hinder, learning and collaboration. Practical implications for collaborative learning in the social web are discussed.

Document and author promotion strategies in the secure wiki model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindberg, Kasper; Jensen, Christian D.

2012-01-01

Wiki systems form a subclass of the more general Open Collaborative Authoring Systems, where content is created by a user community. The ability of anyone to edit the content is, at the same time, their strength and their weakness. Anyone can write documents that improve the value of the wiki-system......, but this also means that anyone can introduce errors into documents, either by accident or on purpose. A security model for wiki-style authoring systems, called the Secure Wiki Model, has previously been proposed to address this problem. This model is designed to prevent corruption of good quality documents......, by limiting updates, to such documents, to users who have demonstrated their ability to produce documents of similar or better quality. While this security model prevents all user from editing all documents, it does respect the wiki philosophy by allowing any author who has produced documents of a certain...

T-search : buscador con tesauro para wikis

OpenAIRE

Sagredo Olivenza, Ismael

2009-01-01

El auge de los entornos wiki, cada vez más extendidos, hace necesarias herramientas que permitan recuperar de forma eficiente la información de estos entornos. Hasta ahora los buscadores genéricos como Google son las mejores herramientas para encontrar en wikis como Wikipedia, pero no para wikis de menor difusión, donde Google y otros buscadores sólo tienen indizada una pequeña parte del sitio. Por otro lado, los buscadores que incorporan los entornos wiki son muy limitados, y sólo realizan b...

Wiki: Using the Web Connections to Connect Students

Science.gov (United States)

Donne, Vicki

2012-01-01

The present study reports on action research conducted using a resource wiki. Participants included 48 certified teachers and pre-service teachers enrolled in a face-to-face graduate course supplemented with online activities. Data collected include student reflections that indicate the use of a wiki at the university level is a feasible means of…

Activities Based on Wiki Platform for Engineering Higher Education: Students' Point of View

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gláucia Nolasco de Almeida Mello

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The fast evolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT introduced a new generation of learners that have been adopted mobile devices and Web 2.0 technologies to get information and communicate. The Web 2.0-based tools, such as blogs, wikis, Facebook, Instagram, etc, offer huge possibilities for collaboration. In this way, the main purpose of this research was plan an activity on wiki platform for Reinforced Concrete discipline in Civil Engineering course and answer the questions: (1 How should collaboration be effectively measured on wiki platform? (2 What is the students' point of view about using wiki platform for a collaboration activity? Wikispaces Classroom platform was chosen for the project because it is a free social writing platform, suitable for collaborative learning. Furthermore it works on modern browsers, tablets, and smart phone. A total of 167 students of Civil Engineering course were monitored on Wikispaces® platform. All students’ actions were analyzed and classified as low, medium or high level of collaboration. At the end of the project 111 students answered a questionnaire and 10 students participated of an informal interview where they expressed their opinion about the platform, the activities and the relationship with online peers. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data collected from the platform and the questionnaires answered by the students was performed. The results indicated that wiki platform is an important way to develop innovative activities and tasks for the purpose of to improve skills of engineering students such as: writing communication, organization, collaboration and critical thinking.

Wiki Web Collaboration

CERN Document Server

Ebersbach, Anja; Heigl, Richard

2006-01-01

A book about wikis! That's what people need. Because with wiki technology, lots of people can freely work - gether - they can even generate very large works in the intellectual realm. See for yourself: Today, we still marvel at our massive church buildings, each c- structed over a period of centuries, requiring an immense amount of labor and often bearing the cultural stamp of all of the epochs during which it was created. Someone just has to begin by placing stone upon stone and motivate the people nearby to help out a bit. In places where such enthusiastic fellow men and women lend a hand an

Technical Evaluation Report 27: Educational Wikis: Features and selection criteria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jim Rudolph

2004-04-01

Full Text Available This report discusses the educational uses of the ‘wiki,’ an increasingly popular approach to online community development. Wikis are defined and compared with ‘blogging’ methods; characteristics of major wiki engines are described; and wiki features and selection criteria are examined.

Use of Semantic Wikis to support collaborative learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Coccoli

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Semantic Wiki consentono, tramite un linguaggio comprensibile agli elaboratori e formalmente definito, l’annotazione semantica dei contenuti delle pagine Wiki e la rappresentazione esplicita delle relazioni di significato tra essi presenti. Essi offrono la possibilità di sfruttare sia i vantaggi delle tecnologie basate su ontologie sia i meccanismi collaborativi propri dei Wiki. L’articolo descrive un progetto, denominato Semantic WikiSUN, avviato per indagare le prospettive didattiche di tali sistemi. Esso è basato su un quadro teorico complesso che integra evidenze neurocognitive, teorie dell’apprendimento e modelli costruttivisti-sociali della conoscenza. Obiettivo del contributo è, sulla base della esperienza intrapresa, discutere potenzialità e criticità didattiche dei Semantic Wiki, estendendo talvolta la riflessione a considerazioni più generali sui processi di apprendimento mediati da tecnologie semantiche.

Wikis as the Knowledge Management Tools in Organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Pashaeizad

2012-02-01

Full Text Available In an attempt to enhance knowledge, firms and corporations have been overwhelmed with assorted methods for retaining employee wisdom. To pay attention to the benefits of a successful knowledge management program can help create competitive advantage. Therefore, numerous knowledge management solutions have been developed and implemented. Some of these knowledge management initiatives provide a means to accumulate, organize, and access the firm’s most essential asset. With the advent and spread of information and communication technologies, especially Internet, social software and communication tools has risen to the challenge of capturing knowledge with a variety of methods. One of these tools is wiki that provides a new way of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Wiki is a software that allows users to work collectively on a web-based knowledge base. This paper reviews the role of wikis in knowledge creation and management

Wiki Surveys: Open and Quantifiable Social Data Collection

Science.gov (United States)

Salganik, Matthew J.; Levy, Karen E. C.

2015-01-01

In the social sciences, there is a longstanding tension between data collection methods that facilitate quantification and those that are open to unanticipated information. Advances in technology now enable new, hybrid methods that combine some of the benefits of both approaches. Drawing inspiration from online information aggregation systems like Wikipedia and from traditional survey research, we propose a new class of research instruments called wiki surveys. Just as Wikipedia evolves over time based on contributions from participants, we envision an evolving survey driven by contributions from respondents. We develop three general principles that underlie wiki surveys: they should be greedy, collaborative, and adaptive. Building on these principles, we develop methods for data collection and data analysis for one type of wiki survey, a pairwise wiki survey. Using two proof-of-concept case studies involving our free and open-source website www.allourideas.org, we show that pairwise wiki surveys can yield insights that would be difficult to obtain with other methods. PMID:25992565

Wiki surveys: open and quantifiable social data collection.

Science.gov (United States)

Salganik, Matthew J; Levy, Karen E C

2015-01-01

In the social sciences, there is a longstanding tension between data collection methods that facilitate quantification and those that are open to unanticipated information. Advances in technology now enable new, hybrid methods that combine some of the benefits of both approaches. Drawing inspiration from online information aggregation systems like Wikipedia and from traditional survey research, we propose a new class of research instruments called wiki surveys. Just as Wikipedia evolves over time based on contributions from participants, we envision an evolving survey driven by contributions from respondents. We develop three general principles that underlie wiki surveys: they should be greedy, collaborative, and adaptive. Building on these principles, we develop methods for data collection and data analysis for one type of wiki survey, a pairwise wiki survey. Using two proof-of-concept case studies involving our free and open-source website www.allourideas.org, we show that pairwise wiki surveys can yield insights that would be difficult to obtain with other methods.

Gestión documental con plataformas wiki

OpenAIRE

Tramullas, Jesús

2008-01-01

This work revises the wiki concept and definition, a kind of collaboration management information tool. The work explains how the tool works and its technical features, and it proposes a planning and development built-in method for digital information services based on wiki.

Harnessing the web information ecosystem with wiki-based visualization dashboards.

Science.gov (United States)

McKeon, Matt

2009-01-01

We describe the design and deployment of Dashiki, a public website where users may collaboratively build visualization dashboards through a combination of a wiki-like syntax and interactive editors. Our goals are to extend existing research on social data analysis into presentation and organization of data from multiple sources, explore new metaphors for these activities, and participate more fully in the web!s information ecology by providing tighter integration with real-time data. To support these goals, our design includes novel and low-barrier mechanisms for editing and layout of dashboard pages and visualizations, connection to data sources, and coordinating interaction between visualizations. In addition to describing these technologies, we provide a preliminary report on the public launch of a prototype based on this design, including a description of the activities of our users derived from observation and interviews.

Choosing a Wiki Platform for Student Projects--Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Malaga, Ross A.

2010-01-01

Wikis offer many benefits, such as two-way flows of information, early and consistent feedback, and greater student group collaboration, in an educational setting. Some researchers have already reported on the use of Wikis in their classes. However, instructors must choose an appropriate Wiki platform in order to receive all of the benefits of…

User Defined Structural Searches in MediaWiki

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bouvin, Niels Olof; Albertsen, Johannes

2008-01-01

Wikipedia has been the poster child of user contributed content using the space of MediaWiki as the canvas on which to write. While well suited for authoring simple hypermedia documents, MediaWiki does not lend itself easily to let the author create dynamically assembled documents, or create pages...

Paper-pen peer-correction versus wiki-based peer-correction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Froldova Vladimira

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study reports on the comparison of the students’ achievement and their attitudes towards the use of paper-pen peer-correction and wiki-based peer-correction within English language lessons and CLIL Social Science lessons at the higher secondary school in Prague. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were utilized to gather information. The data suggests that students made considerable use of wikis and showed higher degrees of motivation in wiki-based peer-correction during English language lessons than in CLIL Social Science lessons. In both cases wikis not only contributed to developing students’ writing skills, but also helped students recognize the importance of collaboration.

Use of a wiki as a radiology departmental knowledge management system.

Science.gov (United States)

Meenan, Christopher; King, Antoinette; Toland, Christopher; Daly, Mark; Nagy, Paul

2010-04-01

Information technology teams in health care are tasked with maintaining a variety of information systems with complex support requirements. In radiology, this includes picture archive and communication systems, radiology information systems, speech recognition systems, and other ancillary systems. Hospital information technology (IT) departments are required to provide 24 x 7 support for these mission-critical systems that directly support patient care in emergency and other critical care departments. The practical know-how to keep these systems operational and diagnose problems promptly is difficult to maintain around the clock. Specific details on infrequent failure modes or advanced troubleshooting strategies may reside with only a few senior staff members. Our goal was to reduce diagnosis and recovery times for issues with our mission-critical systems. We created a knowledge base for building and quickly disseminating technical expertise to our entire support staff. We used an open source, wiki-based, collaborative authoring system internally within our IT department to improve our ability to deliver a high level of service to our customers. In this paper, we describe our evaluation of the wiki and the ways in which we used it to organize our support knowledge. We found the wiki to be an effective tool for knowledge management and for improving our ability to provide mission-critical support for health care IT systems.

Using Wikis and Collaborative Learning for Science Teachers' Professional Development

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Y-H.; Jang, S-J.; Chen, P-J.

2015-01-01

Wiki bears great potential to transform learning and instruction by scaffolding personal and social constructivism. Past studies have shown that proper application of wiki benefits both students and teachers; however, few studies have integrated wiki and collaborative learning to examine the growth of science teachers' "Technological,…

Sites of participation: Wiki fandom and the case of Lostpedia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason Mittell

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This essay explores the award-winning fan site Lostpedia to examine how the wiki platform enables fan engagement, structures participation, and distinguishes between various forms of content, including canon, fanon, and parody. I write as a participant-observer, with extensive experience as a Lostpedia reader and editor. The article uses the "digital breadcrumbs" of wikis to trace the history of fan creativity, participation, game play, and debates within a shared site of community fan engagement. Using the Lostpedia site as a case study of fan praxis, the article highlights how issues like competing fandoms, copyright, and modes of discourse become manifest via the user-generated content of a fan wiki.

ArrayWiki: an enabling technology for sharing public microarray data repositories and meta-analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Stokes, Todd H; Torrance, JT; Li, Henry; Wang, May D

2008-01-01

Background A survey of microarray databases reveals that most of the repository contents and data models are heterogeneous (i.e., data obtained from different chip manufacturers), and that the repositories provide only basic biological keywords linking to PubMed. As a result, it is difficult to find datasets using research context or analysis parameters information beyond a few keywords. For example, to reduce the "curse-of-dimension" problem in microarray analysis, the number of samples is often increased by merging array data from different datasets. Knowing chip data parameters such as pre-processing steps (e.g., normalization, artefact removal, etc), and knowing any previous biological validation of the dataset is essential due to the heterogeneity of the data. However, most of the microarray repositories do not have meta-data information in the first place, and do not have a a mechanism to add or insert this information. Thus, there is a critical need to create "intelligent" microarray repositories that (1) enable update of meta-data with the raw array data, and (2) provide standardized archiving protocols to minimize bias from the raw data sources. Results To address the problems discussed, we have developed a community maintained system called ArrayWiki that unites disparate meta-data of microarray meta-experiments from multiple primary sources with four key features. First, ArrayWiki provides a user-friendly knowledge management interface in addition to a programmable interface using standards developed by Wikipedia. Second, ArrayWiki includes automated quality control processes (caCORRECT) and novel visualization methods (BioPNG, Gel Plots), which provide extra information about data quality unavailable in other microarray repositories. Third, it provides a user-curation capability through the familiar Wiki interface. Fourth, ArrayWiki provides users with simple text-based searches across all experiment meta-data, and exposes data to search engine crawlers

Collaborative trust evaluation for wiki security

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindberg, Kasper; Jensen, Christian D.

2012-01-01

Wiki systems form a subclass of the more general Open Collaborative Authoring Systems, where content is created and maintained by a user community. The ability of anyone to edit the content is, at the same time, their strength and their weakness. Anyone can write documents that improve the value...... of the wiki-system, but at the same time, anyone can also introduce errors into these documents, by accident or on purpose. A security model for wiki-style authoring systems has previously been proposed. This model is based on both static and dynamic document access controls that enforce a simple integrity......, but this is true for all soft security systems. We show that the system parameters can be tuned so that the amount of work required by malicious and colluding users to reach this level is well beyond most attackers' capabilities....

EVA Wiki - Transforming Knowledge Management for EVA Flight Controllers and Instructors

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Stephanie

2016-01-01

The EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Wiki was recently implemented as the primary knowledge database to retain critical knowledge and skills in the EVA Operations group at NASA's Johnson Space Center by ensuring that information is recorded in a common, searchable repository. Prior to the EVA Wiki, information required for EVA flight controllers and instructors was scattered across different sources, including multiple file share directories, SharePoint, individual computers, and paper archives. Many documents were outdated, and data was often difficult to find and distribute. In 2011, a team recognized that these knowledge management problems could be solved by creating an EVA Wiki using MediaWiki, a free and open-source software developed by the Wikimedia Foundation. The EVA Wiki developed into an EVA-specific Wikipedia on an internal NASA server. While the technical implementation of the wiki had many challenges, the one of the biggest hurdles came from a cultural shift. Like many enterprise organizations, the EVA Operations group was accustomed to hierarchical data structures and individually-owned documents. Instead of sorting files into various folders, the wiki searches content. Rather than having a single document owner, the wiki harmonized the efforts of many contributors and established an automated revision control system. As the group adapted to the wiki, the usefulness of this single portal for information became apparent. It transformed into a useful data mining tool for EVA flight controllers and instructors, and also for hundreds of other NASA and contract employees. Program managers, engineers, astronauts, flight directors, and flight controllers in differing disciplines now have an easier-to-use, searchable system to find EVA data. This paper presents the benefits the EVA Wiki has brought to NASA's EVA community, as well as the cultural challenges it had to overcome.

EVA Wiki - Transforming Knowledge Management for EVA Flight Controllers and Instructors

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Stephanie S.; Alpert, Brian K.; Montalvo, Edwin James; Welsh, Lawrence Daren; Wray, Scott; Mavridis, Costa

2016-01-01

The EVA Wiki was recently implemented as the primary knowledge database to retain critical knowledge and skills in the EVA Operations group at NASA's Johnson Space Center by ensuring that information is recorded in a common, easy to search repository. Prior to the EVA Wiki, information required for EVA flight controllers and instructors was scattered across different sources, including multiple file share directories, SharePoint, individual computers, and paper archives. Many documents were outdated, and data was often difficult to find and distribute. In 2011, a team recognized that these knowledge management problems could be solved by creating an EVA Wiki using MediaWiki, a free and open-source software developed by the Wikimedia Foundation. The EVA Wiki developed into an EVA-specific Wikipedia on an internal NASA server. While the technical implementation of the wiki had many challenges, one of the biggest hurdles came from a cultural shift. Like many enterprise organizations, the EVA Operations group was accustomed to hierarchical data structures and individually-owned documents. Instead of sorting files into various folders, the wiki searches content. Rather than having a single document owner, the wiki harmonized the efforts of many contributors and established an automated revision controlled system. As the group adapted to the wiki, the usefulness of this single portal for information became apparent. It transformed into a useful data mining tool for EVA flight controllers and instructors, as well as hundreds of others that support EVA. Program managers, engineers, astronauts, flight directors, and flight controllers in differing disciplines now have an easier-to-use, searchable system to find EVA data. This paper presents the benefits the EVA Wiki has brought to NASA's EVA community, as well as the cultural challenges it had to overcome.

The Use of Wikis in a Science Inquiry-Based Project in a Primary School

Science.gov (United States)

Lau, Wilfred W. F.; Lui, Vicky; Chu, Samuel K. W.

2017-01-01

This study explored the use of wikis in a science inquiry-based project conducted with Primary 6 students (aged 11-12). It used an online wiki-based platform called PBworks and addressed the following research questions: (1) What are students' attitudes toward learning with wikis? (2) What are students' interactions in online group collaboration…

The pathology informatics curriculum wiki: Harnessing the power of user-generated content.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ji Yeon; Gudewicz, Thomas M; Dighe, Anand S; Gilbertson, John R

2010-07-13

The need for informatics training as part of pathology training has never been so critical, but pathology informatics is a wide and complex field and very few programs currently have the resources to provide comprehensive educational pathology informatics experiences to their residents. In this article, we present the "pathology informatics curriculum wiki", an open, on-line wiki that indexes the pathology informatics content in a larger public wiki, Wikipedia, (and other online content) and organizes it into educational modules based on the 2003 standard curriculum approved by the Association for Pathology Informatics (API). In addition to implementing the curriculum wiki at http://pathinformatics.wikispaces.com, we have evaluated pathology informatics content in Wikipedia. Of the 199 non-duplicate terms in the API curriculum, 90% have at least one associated Wikipedia article. Furthermore, evaluation of articles on a five-point Likert scale showed high scores for comprehensiveness (4.05), quality (4.08), currency (4.18), and utility for the beginner (3.85) and advanced (3.93) learners. These results are compelling and support the thesis that Wikipedia articles can be used as the foundation for a basic curriculum in pathology informatics. The pathology informatics community now has the infrastructure needed to collaboratively and openly create, maintain and distribute the pathology informatics content worldwide (Wikipedia) and also the environment (the curriculum wiki) to draw upon its own resources to index and organize this content as a sustainable basic pathology informatics educational resource. The remaining challenges are numerous, but largest by far will be to convince the pathologists to take the time and effort required to build pathology informatics content in Wikipedia and to index and organize this content for education in the curriculum wiki.

a Task-Driven Disaster Data Link Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Qiu, L. Y.; Zhu, Q.; Gu, J. Y.; Du, Z. Q.

2015-08-01

With the rapid development of sensor networks and Earth observation technology, a large quantity of disaster-related data is available, such as remotely sensed data, historic data, cases data, simulation data, disaster products and so on. However, the efficiency of current data management and service systems has become increasingly serious due to the task variety and heterogeneous data. For emergency task-oriented applications, data searching mainly relies on artificial experience based on simple metadata index, whose high time-consuming and low accuracy cannot satisfy the requirements of disaster products on velocity and veracity. In this paper, a task-oriented linking method is proposed for efficient disaster data management and intelligent service, with the objectives of 1) putting forward ontologies of disaster task and data to unify the different semantics of multi-source information, 2) identifying the semantic mapping from emergency tasks to multiple sources on the basis of uniform description in 1), 3) linking task-related data automatically and calculating the degree of correlation between each data and a target task. The method breaks through traditional static management of disaster data and establishes a base for intelligent retrieval and active push of disaster information. The case study presented in this paper illustrates the use of the method with a flood emergency relief task.

Evaluating the Impact of Wikis on Student Learning Outcomes: An Integrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Trocky, Nina M; Buckley, Kathleen M

2016-01-01

Although wikis appear to have been reported as effective tools for educators, uncertainty exists as to their effectiveness in achieving student learning outcomes. The aim of this integrative review was to examine the current evidence on the impact of wikis on student learning in courses requiring collaborative or co-developed assignments or activities. The authors searched several electronic databases for relevant articles and used R. Whittemore and K. Knafl's (2005) integrative review method to analyze and synthesize the evidence. Twenty-five articles met the selection criteria for this review, and four major themes for wiki use were identified: (a) writing skills, (b) collaboration, (c) knowledge acquisition, and (d) centralized repository. Although wikis have been found useful in improving student learning outcomes and hold great potential as an instructional strategy to aid students in learning various skills and gaining new knowledge, more research is needed on their effectiveness, especially in the area of nursing education. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using wikis to stimulate collaborative learning in two online health sciences courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Zitzelsberger, Hilde; Campbell, Karen A; Service, Dorothea; Sanchez, Otto

2015-06-01

The use of wiki technology fits well in courses that encourage constructive knowledge building and social learning by a community of learners. Pedagogically, wikis have attracted interest in higher education environments because they facilitate the collaborative processes required for developing student group assignments. This article describes a pilot project to assess the implementation of wikis in two online small- and mid-sized elective courses comprising nursing students in third- or fourth-year undergraduate levels within interdisciplinary health sciences courses. The need exists to further develop the pedagogical use of wiki environments before they can be expected to support collaboration among undergraduate nursing students. Adapting wiki implementation to suitable well-matched courses will make adaptation of wikis into nursing curricula more effective and may increase the chances that nursing students will hone the collaborative abilities that are essential in their future professional roles in communities of practice. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

A Simple Application Program Interface for Saving Java Program Data on a Wiki

OpenAIRE

Yamanoue, Takashi; Oda, Kentaro; Shimozono, Koichi

2012-01-01

A simple application program interface (API) for Java programs running on a wiki is implemented experimentally. A Java program with the API can be running on a wiki, and the Java program can save its data on the wiki. The Java program consists of PukiWiki, which is a popular wiki in Japan, and a plug-in, which starts up Java programs and classes of Java. A Java applet with default access privilege cannot save its data at a local host. We have constructed an API of applets for easy and unified...

A fielded wiki for personality genetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Finn Årup

2010-01-01

I describe a fielded wiki, where a Web form interface allows the entry, analysis and visualization of results from scientific papers in the personality genetics domain. Papers in this domain typically report the mean and standard deviation of multiple personality trait scores from statistics...... on human subjects grouped based on genotype. The wiki organizes the basic data in a single table with fixed columns, each row recording statistical values with respect to a specific personality trait reported in a specific paper with a specific genotype group. From this basic data hard-coded meta...

Wiki Use that Increases Communication and Collaboration Motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Robyn

2012-01-01

Communication and collaboration can be readily enabled by the use of many ICT tools. A wiki, which is an easily accessible and editable website, is one such platform that provides the opportunity for students to work on group projects without the barriers that arise from traditional group work. Whilst wiki use is becoming more common, its use in…

Ensino-aprendizagem colaborativo mediado pelo Wiki do Moodle Collaborative learning-teaching mediated by Wiki Moodle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilse Abegg

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Mediados pela ferramenta Wiki do Moodle, desenvolvemos atividades a distância no Curso de Física da UFSM com o intuito de produzir um objeto escolar hipermídia tematizado pelo Tema Estruturador do Ensino de Física 2: Calor, Ambiente e usos de Energia (oriundo dos PCN+ , locando o diálogo-problematizador na transversalidade curricular "Meio Ambiente". Problematizamos esta atividade, caracterizada como uma produção colaborativa de hipermídia de divulgação científico-tecnológica, ao longo do período letivo da disciplina Didática I da Física da instância curricular integradora. O trabalho em grupo mediado pelo wiki do Moodle tem sido implementado através do PEA (Planejamento, Execução e Avaliação de forma cíclico-espiralada, estudando os casos. Os resultados indicam boa potencialidade da mediação tecnológica, no âmbito do diálogo-problematizador e empowerment, para este tipo de trabalho escolar colaborativo a distância.Through the wiki Moodle, we developed distance education activities in the Physics Course at UFSM, aiming at producing a hypermedia school subject related to the discipline Physics 2 structuring teaching theme: Heat, Environment and uses of Energy (coming from the PCN+, placing the problematic dialogue in the transversal theme "Environment". We designed this activity, described as a collaborative production of hypermedia for scientific-technological dissemination, over the period of school discipline Didactic I from the Physics Course. The working group mediated by the wiki Moodle has been implemented through the PEA (Planning, Execution, and Assessment. The results are positive on the use of technology mediation concerning problematic dialogue and empowerment, in this type of collaborative and distance education.

Evaluating Types of Students' Interactions in a Wiki-Based Collaborative Learning Project

Science.gov (United States)

Prokofieva, Maria

2013-01-01

Wiki technology has been promoted as a collaborative software platform. This study investigates interactions that occur in a wiki-based collaborative learning project. The study draws on interaction literature and investigates the types of interactions with which students are engaged in wiki-based group projects, clusters that reflect online…

PyPedia: using the wiki paradigm as crowd sourcing environment for bioinformatics protocols.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanterakis, Alexandros; Kuiper, Joël; Potamias, George; Swertz, Morris A

2015-01-01

Today researchers can choose from many bioinformatics protocols for all types of life sciences research, computational environments and coding languages. Although the majority of these are open source, few of them possess all virtues to maximize reuse and promote reproducible science. Wikipedia has proven a great tool to disseminate information and enhance collaboration between users with varying expertise and background to author qualitative content via crowdsourcing. However, it remains an open question whether the wiki paradigm can be applied to bioinformatics protocols. We piloted PyPedia, a wiki where each article is both implementation and documentation of a bioinformatics computational protocol in the python language. Hyperlinks within the wiki can be used to compose complex workflows and induce reuse. A RESTful API enables code execution outside the wiki. Initial content of PyPedia contains articles for population statistics, bioinformatics format conversions and genotype imputation. Use of the easy to learn wiki syntax effectively lowers the barriers to bring expert programmers and less computer savvy researchers on the same page. PyPedia demonstrates how wiki can provide a collaborative development, sharing and even execution environment for biologists and bioinformaticians that complement existing resources, useful for local and multi-center research teams. PyPedia is available online at: http://www.pypedia.com. The source code and installation instructions are available at: https://github.com/kantale/PyPedia_server. The PyPedia python library is available at: https://github.com/kantale/pypedia. PyPedia is open-source, available under the BSD 2-Clause License.

A Runyakitara Culture Wiki

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Frederick Iraki

wiki as a tool for Runyakitara culture documentation, collaboration, sharing, ... collaboration in education and research are augmented by technology [2, 10, 11]; ... Runyakitara culture; and section 5 concludes and discusses future work. ..... material which reflects the Runyakitara culture, perspective, and reality; as compared.

Analysis of tag-based Recommendation Performance for a Semantic Wiki

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Durao, Frederico; Dolog, Peter

2009-01-01

Recommendations play a very important role for revealing related topics addressed in the wikis beyond the currently viewed page. In this paper, we extend KiWi, a semantic wiki with three different recommendation approaches. The first approach is implemented as a traditional tag-based retrieval......, the second takes into account external factors such as tag popularity, tag representativeness and the affinity between user and tag and the third approach recommends pages in grouped by tag. The experiment evaluates the wiki performance in different scenarios regarding the amount of pages, tags and users...

How Wikis can be Used to Manage Knowledge in SMEs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Razmerita, Liana; Kirchner, Kathrin

2011-01-01

Companies are exploring new ways of knowledge sharing, collaboration and communication with employees, partners and customers, using social media tools like wikis, blogs or social networks. This article briefly reviews the literature concerning the introduction of social media into organizations...... and reports a small case study in an IT consulting company following the introduction of a wiki-based solution into its daily practices. The usage of the wiki and its impact on knowledge work are explored. The authors then compare the findings from the literature review with those from the case study...

It's Time to Use a Wiki as Part of Your Web Site

Science.gov (United States)

Ribaric, Tim

2007-01-01

Without a doubt, the term "wiki" has leaked into almost every discussion concerning Web 2.0. The real question becomes: Is there a place for a wiki on every library Web site? The answer should be an emphatic "yes." People often praise the wiki because it offers simple page creation and provides instant gratification for amateur Web developers.…

Wiki Mass Authoring for Experiential Learning: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Pardue, Harold; Landry, Jeffrey; Sweeney, Bob

2013-01-01

Web 2.0 services include sharing and collaborative technologies such as blogs, social networking sites, online office productivity tools, and wikis. Wikis are increasingly used for the design and implementation of pedagogy, for example to facilitate experiential learning. A U.S. government-funded project for system security risk assessment was…

The Use of a Wiki to Facilitate Collaborative Learning in a South African Physiotherapy Department

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Rowe

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The dominant form of teaching in higher education remains the lecture,even though evidence suggests that it alone is inadequate to facilitate the development ofthe higher order thinking skills required in clinical practice. The use of wikis may have a roleto play in facilitating collaborative learning practices that are important for professionaldevelopment. This descriptive survey evaluated the use of a wiki for a collaborative learningactivity within small groups of undergraduate physiotherapy students in a South Africanuniversity. Students participated in a wiki-based assignment and were then surveyedusing open- and closed-ended questions to determine their perceptions and experiences of the process. The results indicate thatalthough a wiki can be used to develop relevant content, there were significant challenges in its implementation. These included apoor understanding by students of how to work effectively in groups, a lack of physical and epistemological access to the internet,and the need for adequate preparation and support. Some features of the wiki were found to have an impact on the quality ofthe work produced, including the use of Discussion pages, peer review, and the public nature of the wiki. The conclusion is thatwikis may have a role to play in collaborative groupwork, but that that students need to be adequately prepared and supportedthroughout the process.

More than Just Wikipedia: Creating a Collaborative Research Library Using a Wiki

Science.gov (United States)

Munoz, Caroline Lego

2012-01-01

Increasingly, wiki technology is being used in education and business settings. Although most students are aware of Wikipedia, many do not understand that a wiki is a malleable platform that has a multitude of uses. Wiki technology is one of many social media tools that students need to not only become familiar with but also be able to effectively…

Analysis of Students' Participation Patterns and Learning Presence in a Wiki-Based Project

Science.gov (United States)

Roussinos, Dimitrios; Jimoyiannis, Athanassios

2013-01-01

The educational applications of wikis are becoming very popular among instructors and researchers and they have captured their attention and imagination. This paper reports on the investigation of a wiki project designed to support university students' collaborative authoring and learning. The design framework of the wiki-based project is outlined…

Introduction of a Wiki in an Enterprise: Motives and Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando L. F. Almeida

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Among the tools available to implement the collaborative production of knowledge in organizations, the use of wikis has been gaining momentum and showing a low-cost and high efficiency. However, some difficulties still arise when attempting to introduce this kind of technology in an organization. In addition to technological limitations, the cultural issues inherent in companies can also origin problems and promising projects can be abandoned without achieving all the objectives planned. In this work, we study the motives, challenges as well as the more common problems that appear during the wiki implantation process in an organization and the purposed solutions on the literature. The main objective is to identify forms for the wiki to become a tool that everyone can use in the organization and identify the best practices related, so that the project of creating a functional wiki for an organization can aspire to befall a success and not simply abandoned.

Upgrading to Web 2.0: An Experiential Project to Build a Marketing Wiki

Science.gov (United States)

Cronin, John J.

2009-01-01

Wikis are one of the newest features of Web 2.0. This article describes the implementation of a project in a marketing course in which students created an interactive textbook using wiki software. Several surprises encountered along the way are described, and the unique problem of grading individual contributions to a wiki is discussed. The author…

A Comparative Analysis of Wiki Discretionary Access Control in a CONOPS Environment

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Crawford, Frederick L

2008-01-01

This research conducts a comparative analysis of discretionary access controls of current wikis by experimenting with their discretionary access controls and functionality, comparing the wiki software...

Using blogs and wikis in a graduate public health course.

Science.gov (United States)

Cobus, Laura

2009-01-01

Blogs and wikis are examples of Web 2.0 technology that facilitate collaboration in the online world. In the health sciences, the emergence of these social tools potentially increases the risk of generating harmful or biased information. Therefore, it is the health professional's responsibility to have the skills to critically appraise Web content that has not undergone traditional peer review. This was the focus in a three-credit graduate Urban Public Health course taught by a librarian and was addressed with assignments using blog and wiki technology within the course management tool Blackboard. The assignments fostered comprehension of the issues surrounding blogs and wikis as they relate to public health.

Wiki-pi: a web-server of annotated human protein-protein interactions to aid in discovery of protein function.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naoki Orii

Full Text Available Protein-protein interactions (PPIs are the basis of biological functions. Knowledge of the interactions of a protein can help understand its molecular function and its association with different biological processes and pathways. Several publicly available databases provide comprehensive information about individual proteins, such as their sequence, structure, and function. There also exist databases that are built exclusively to provide PPIs by curating them from published literature. The information provided in these web resources is protein-centric, and not PPI-centric. The PPIs are typically provided as lists of interactions of a given gene with links to interacting partners; they do not present a comprehensive view of the nature of both the proteins involved in the interactions. A web database that allows search and retrieval based on biomedical characteristics of PPIs is lacking, and is needed. We present Wiki-Pi (read Wiki-π, a web-based interface to a database of human PPIs, which allows users to retrieve interactions by their biomedical attributes such as their association to diseases, pathways, drugs and biological functions. Each retrieved PPI is shown with annotations of both of the participant proteins side-by-side, creating a basis to hypothesize the biological function facilitated by the interaction. Conceptually, it is a search engine for PPIs analogous to PubMed for scientific literature. Its usefulness in generating novel scientific hypotheses is demonstrated through the study of IGSF21, a little-known gene that was recently identified to be associated with diabetic retinopathy. Using Wiki-Pi, we infer that its association to diabetic retinopathy may be mediated through its interactions with the genes HSPB1, KRAS, TMSB4X and DGKD, and that it may be involved in cellular response to external stimuli, cytoskeletal organization and regulation of molecular activity. The website also provides a wiki-like capability allowing users

Untangling knowledge creation and knowledge integration in enterprise wikis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beck, Roman; Rai, Arun; Fischbach, Kai

2015-01-01

A central challenge organizations face is how to build, store, and maintain knowledge over time. Enterprise wikis are community-based knowledge systems situated in an organizational context. These systems have the potential to play an important role in managing knowledge within organizations......, but the motivating factors that drive individuals to contribute their knowledge to these systems is not very well understood. We theorize that enterprise wiki initiatives require two separate and distinct types of knowledge-sharing behaviors to succeed: knowledge creation (KC) and knowledge integration (KI). We...... examine a Wiki initiative at a major German bank to untangle the motivating factors behind KC and KI. Our results suggest KC and KI are indeed two distinct behaviors, reconcile inconsistent findings from past studies on the role of motivational factors for knowledge sharing to establish shared electronic...

Zwei Stunden und der Rest der Woche. Bemerkungen zur Wiki-Pädagogik

OpenAIRE

Hrachovec, Herbert

2006-01-01

Wiki Webs offer a distinctive style of collaboration on the WorldWideWeb. We discuss their application in university teaching in relating them to three different, more traditional preconceptions. (1) The time frame of academic instruction, (2) Wiki features as compared to Learning Managment Systems and (3) some general philosophical attitudes to authorship and the development of the self. We argue that Wikis are excellent tools for trying to achieve the 19th century German idea of Bildung., i...

The Ecosystem Factor in Supporting Wiki Initiative for Knowledge Sharing in Malaysian Public Organisation

Science.gov (United States)

Khuzaimah, Khairil Hizar Md; Affandi, Haryanti Mohd; Hassan, Fadzil

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the significance of considering the organizational ecosystem in implementing wikis for knowledge sharing.The findings suggest that a prerequisite of an effective wiki is the appreciation of the factors that make up the organizational ecosystem; technical and organizational factors are variable elements of…

"The Isle Is Full of Noises": Using Wiki Software to Establish a Discourse Community in a Shakespeare Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Farabaugh, Robin

2007-01-01

For the last four semesters my courses in Shakespeare have used QwikiWiki and MediaWiki, two versions of the wiki software, for writing exercises and directed reflection on language--including both by the students about Shakespeare's language, and by the teacher/researcher regarding the students' performance in "Writing to Learn". In experimenting…

Using Wikis to Develop Collaborative Communities in an Environmental Chemistry Course

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Pence, Laura E.; Pence, Harry E.

2015-01-01

Group construction of wikis in an environmental chemistry course provided an effective framework for students to develop and to manage collaborative communities, characterized by interactive projects designed to deepen learning. A sequence of assignments facilitated improvement of the students' wiki construction and editing skills and these…

Education in health research methodology: use of a wiki for knowledge translation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele P Hamm

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: A research-practice gap exists between what is known about conducting methodologically rigorous randomized controlled trials (RCTs and what is done. Evidence consistently shows that pediatric RCTs are susceptible to high risk of bias; therefore novel methods of influencing the design and conduct of trials are required. The objective of this study was to develop and pilot test a wiki designed to educate pediatric trialists and trainees in the principles involved in minimizing risk of bias in RCTs. The focus was on preliminary usability testing of the wiki. METHODS: The wiki was developed through adaptation of existing knowledge translation strategies and through tailoring the site to the identified needs of the end-users. The wiki was evaluated for usability and user preferences regarding the content and formatting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 trialists and systematic reviewers, representing varying levels of experience with risk of bias or the conduct of trials. Data were analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: Participants found the wiki to be well organized, easy to use, and straightforward to navigate. Suggestions for improvement tended to focus on clarification of the text or on esthetics, rather than on the content or format. Participants liked the additional features of the site that were supplementary to the text, such as the interactive examples, and the components that focused on practical applications, adding relevance to the theory presented. While the site could be used by both trialists and systematic reviewers, the lack of a clearly defined target audience caused some confusion among participants. CONCLUSIONS: Participants were supportive of using a wiki as a novel educational tool. The results of this pilot test will be used to refine the risk of bias wiki, which holds promise as a knowledge translation intervention for education in medical research methodology.

Students’ engagement with a collaborative wiki tool predicts enhanced written exam performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom Stafford

2014-08-01

Full Text Available We introduced voluntary wiki-based exercises to a long-running cognitive psychology course, part of the core curriculum for an undergraduate degree in psychology. Over 2 yearly cohorts, students who used the wiki more also scored higher on the final written exam. Using regression analysis, it is possible to account for students’ tendency to score well on other psychology exams, thus statistically removing some obvious candidate third factors, such as general talent or enthusiasm for psychology, which might drive this correlation. Such an analysis shows that both high- and low-grading students who used the wiki got higher scores on the final exam, with engaged wiki users scoring an average of an extra 5 percentage points. We offer an interpretation of the mechanisms of action in terms of the psychological literature on learning and memory.

Wikis, Blogs, & More, Oh My!

Science.gov (United States)

Villano, Matt

2008-01-01

Everyone seems to have a different definition for "Web 2.0," but most people agree the phrase describes a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services that aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. Technically speaking, these new technologies include blogs, wikis, folksonomies…

Investigating Technical and Pedagogical Usability Issues of Collaborative Learning with Wikis

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Hadjerrouit, Said

2012-01-01

Wikis have been recently promoted as tools that foster collaborative learning. However, there has been little research devoted to the criteria that are suitable to address issues pertinent to collaborative learning. This paper proposes a set of criteria to explore technical and pedagogical usability issues of collaborative learning with wikis. The…

Routing Cooperating Vehicles to Perform Precedence-Linked Tasks

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Vakhutinsky, Andrew; Wu, Cynara

2005-01-01

The problem of scheduling cooperating vehicles is a generalization of the classical vehicle routing problem where certain tasks are linked by precedence constraints and vehicles have varying constrained resources...

Wiki, a New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Collaborative Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassan Mirzajani

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Educational technology is a dynamic major which is ever developing. In the past, educational technology was one dimensional, but nowadays it has become multi-dimensional, flexible and learner-centered. A revolution has happened in teaching methods from the perspective of web. Novel technologies in web and new role of users’ have led to the appearance of application programs on the basis of collaborative and social intelligence. Users have active participation, exploit their own beliefs, make the target concept, edit it and participate there. The most important feature of this kind of media is users’ ability to participate in its content production. Users can exploit wikis in the process of educational technology. A wiki is a social medium which enables users to produce and edit constantly in an HTML environment. The aim of this article is to introduce wikis as educational and training tools. The degree to which these obstacles affect ICT users and institutes can support decision-making on how to equip them is discussed. Keywords: educational technology, wiki, collaborative learning, innovation

Improving Critical Skills Using Wikis and CGPS in a Physics Classroom

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Mohottala, H. E.

2016-01-01

We report the combined use of Wikispaces (wikis) and collaborative group problem solving (CGPS) sessions conducted in introductory-level calculus-based physics classes. As a part of this new teaching tool, some essay-type problems were posted on the wiki page on a weekly basis and students were encouraged to participate in problem solving without…

USING WIKIS AS A SUPPORT AND ASSESSMENT TOOL IN COLLABORATIVE DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yavuz SAMUR

2011-04-01

Full Text Available In computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL environments, there are many researches done on collaborative learning activities; however, in game-based learning environments, more research and literature on collaborative learning activities are required. Actually, both game-based learning environments and wikis enable us to use new chances for learning, especially in collaborative learning activities. Therefore, in this paper, related literature on wikis and how game & instructional designers can leverage from wikis in game-based learning settings for enhancing students’ collaborative learning activities are examined. Based on the reviewed literature, two main suggestions are given in this paper with their underlying reasons. First, using wikis as a support tool for enhancing collaboration in digital game-based learning (DGBL environments, and second using wikis as an assessment tool in DGBL are suggested.

Distributed scaffolding: Wiki collaboration among Latino high school chemistry students

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O'Sullivan, Edwin Duncan, Jr.

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate if wiki collaboration among Latino high school chemistry students can help reduce the science achievement gap between Latino and White students. The study was a quasi-experimental pre/post control group mixed-methods design. It used three intact sections of a high school chemistry course. The first research question asked if there is a difference in academic achievement between a treatment and control group on selected concepts from the topics of bonding, physical changes, and chemical changes, when Latino high school chemistry students collaborate on a quasi-natural wiki project. Overall results for all three activities (Bonding, Physical Changes, and Chemical Changes) indicated no significant difference between the wiki and control group. However, students performing the chemical changes activity did significantly better than their respective control group. Furthermore, there was a significant association, with large effect size, between group membership and ability to overcome the misconception that aqueous ionic reactants in precipitation reactions exist as molecular pairs of ions. Qualitative analysis of classroom and computer lab dialogue, discussion board communication, student focus groups, teacher interviews, and wiki content attributes the better performance of the chemical changes wiki group to favorable differences in intersubjectivity and calibrated assistance, as well as learning about submicroscopic representations of precipitation reactions in multiple contexts. Furthermore, the nonsignificant result overall points to an aversion to peer editing as a possible cause. Drawing considerably on Vygotsky and Piaget, the results are discussed within the context of how distributed scaffolding facilitated medium levels of cognitive conflict. The second research question asked what the characteristics of distributed metacognitive scaffolding are when Latino high school chemistry students collaborate on a quasi

Students' Engagement with a Collaborative Wiki Tool Predicts Enhanced Written Exam Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Stafford, Tom; Elgueta, Herman; Cameron, Harriet

2014-01-01

We introduced voluntary wiki-based exercises to a long-running cognitive psychology course, part of the core curriculum for an undergraduate degree in psychology. Over 2 yearly cohorts, students who used the wiki more also scored higher on the final written exam. Using regression analysis, it is possible to account for students' tendency to score…

The Role of the Constructivist Learning Theory and Collaborative Learning Environment on Wiki Classroom, and the Relationship between Them

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Alzahrani, Ibraheem; Woollard, John

2013-01-01

This paper seeks to discover the relationship between both the social constructivist learning theory and the collaborative learning environment. This relationship can be identified by giving an example of the learning environment. Due to wiki characteristics, Wiki technology is one of the most famous learning environments that can show the…

Wiki as a Corporate Learning Tool: Case Study for Software Development Company

Science.gov (United States)

Milovanovic, Milos; Minovic, Miroslav; Stavljanin, Velimir; Savkovic, Marko; Starcevic, Dusan

2012-01-01

In our study, we attempted to further investigate how Web 2.0 technologies influence workplace learning. Our particular interest was on using Wiki as a tool for corporate exchange of knowledge with the focus on informal learning. In this study, we collaborated with a multinational software development company that uses Wiki as a corporate tool…

SOIL Geo-Wiki: A tool for improving soil information

Science.gov (United States)

Skalský, Rastislav; Balkovic, Juraj; Fritz, Steffen; See, Linda; van der Velde, Marijn; Obersteiner, Michael

2014-05-01

Crowdsourcing is increasingly being used as a way of collecting data for scientific research, e.g. species identification, classification of galaxies and unravelling of protein structures. The WorldSoilProfiles.org database at ISRIC is a global collection of soil profiles, which have been 'crowdsourced' from experts. This system, however, requires contributors to have a priori knowledge about soils. Yet many soil parameters can be observed in the field without specific knowledge or equipment such as stone content, soil depth or color. By crowdsourcing this information over thousands of locations, the uncertainty in current soil datasets could be radically reduced, particularly in areas currently without information or where multiple interpretations are possible from different existing soil maps. Improved information on soils could benefit many research fields and applications. Better soil data could enhance assessments of soil ecosystem services (e.g. soil carbon storage) and facilitate improved process-based ecosystem modeling from local to global scales. Geo-Wiki is a crowdsourcing tool that was developed at IIASA for land cover validation using satellite imagery. Several branches are now available focused on specific aspects of land cover validation, e.g. validating cropland extent or urbanized areas. Geo-Wiki Pictures is a smart phone application for collecting land cover related information on the ground. The extension of Geo-Wiki to a mobile environment provides a tool for experts in land cover validation but is also a way of reaching the general public in the validation of land cover. Here we propose a Soil Geo-Wiki tool that builds on the existing functionality of the Geo-Wiki application, which will be largely designed for the collection and sharing of soil information. Two distinct applications are envisaged: an expert-oriented application mainly for scientific purposes, which will use soil science related language (e.g. WRB or any other global reference

The use of virtual microscopy and a wiki in pathology education: Tracking student use, involvement, and response.

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Leifer, Zev

2015-01-01

The pathology laboratory course at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine involves the use of Virtual Microscopy. The students can scan the whole slide, section by section, and zoom in or out. Using the advantages of digital pathology, the students can, in addition, access the slide collections from other medical schools and put up normal histology (control) slides side-by-side with the pathology. They can cut and paste and preserve the region of interest that they find. They can edit and annotate their slides. A wiki was created (http://pathlab2014.wikifoundry.com)for the Class of 2014. The students saved, edited and uploaded their slides. In the wiki format, other students could comment, further edit, and even delete the slides. The students studied Basic Mechanisms and System Pathology. During this time, they saved, edited, shared, and uploaded their slides to the wiki. These were available in one full presentation and were also grouped into 16 albums. They were available to all. Student access was followed by Google analytics. At the end of the course, a questionnaire was distributed, assessing their impression of the wiki format and soliciting strengths and weaknesses. The use of a wiki has a number of important advantages in pathology education. It trains the students in the more sophisticated skills that they will use as professional pathologists or as clinicians: (1) Telepathology-it enables them to share slides and discuss observations. (2) Archiving and retrieval - It models the challenge faced by hospitals, diagnostic labs and physicians in maintaining a collection of slides in a form that is easily accessible. (3) Image analysis-familiarity with the wiki format allows them to jump easily to capturing and storing images found in the literature or in a pathologist's report. Experience with the use of a wiki in pathology education has been quite satisfactory from both the faculty and the student's point of view.

Using Wikis to Investigate Communication, Collaboration and Engagement in Capstone Engineering Design Projects

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Berthoud, L.; Gliddon, J.

2018-01-01

In today's global Aerospace industry, virtual workspaces are commonly used for collaboration between geographically distributed multidisciplinary teams. This study investigated the use of wikis to look at communication, collaboration and engagement in 'Capstone' team design projects at the end of an engineering degree. Wikis were set up for teams…

Wiki-based Collaborative Learning Experience in a Foreign Language Blended Course

OpenAIRE

Krasnova, Tatiana Ivanovna; Gorbatova, Tatiana Nikolaevna; Kudryashova, Aleksandra Vladimirovna; Popova, Anna Nikolaevna

2016-01-01

The article emphasizes the educational potential of wikis for learning foreign languages. It focuses on students’ collaboration based on integration of different types of activities within a highly motivating blended learning environment where learners can interact and share their ideas. The study aims to understand if wikis could enhance online collaboration and positively affect students’ attitudes to group work. It tries to explore the level of participation and contribution of students in...

Empirical Testing of a Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: An Exploratory Study of Educational Wikis

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Liu, Xun

2010-01-01

This study extended the technology acceptance model and empirically tested the new model with wikis, a new type of educational technology. Based on social cognitive theory and the theory of planned behavior, three new variables, wiki self-efficacy, online posting anxiety, and perceived behavioral control, were added to the original technology…

Improved Vote Aggregation Techniques for the Geo-Wiki Cropland Capture Crowdsourcing Game

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Baklanov, Artem; Fritz, Steffen; Khachay, Michael; Nurmukhametov, Oleg; Salk, Carl; See, Linda; Shchepashchenko, Dmitry

2016-04-01

Crowdsourcing is a new approach for solving data processing problems for which conventional methods appear to be inaccurate, expensive, or time-consuming. Nowadays, the development of new crowdsourcing techniques is mostly motivated by so called Big Data problems, including problems of assessment and clustering for large datasets obtained in aerospace imaging, remote sensing, and even in social network analysis. By involving volunteers from all over the world, the Geo-Wiki project tackles problems of environmental monitoring with applications to flood resilience, biomass data analysis and classification of land cover. For example, the Cropland Capture Game, which is a gamified version of Geo-Wiki, was developed to aid in the mapping of cultivated land, and was used to gather 4.5 million image classifications from the Earth's surface. More recently, the Picture Pile game, which is a more generalized version of Cropland Capture, aims to identify tree loss over time from pairs of very high resolution satellite images. Despite recent progress in image analysis, the solution to these problems is hard to automate since human experts still outperform the majority of machine learning algorithms and artificial systems in this field on certain image recognition tasks. The replacement of rare and expensive experts by a team of distributed volunteers seems to be promising, but this approach leads to challenging questions such as: how can individual opinions be aggregated optimally, how can confidence bounds be obtained, and how can the unreliability of volunteers be dealt with? In this paper, on the basis of several known machine learning techniques, we propose a technical approach to improve the overall performance of the majority voting decision rule used in the Cropland Capture Game. The proposed approach increases the estimated consistency with expert opinion from 77% to 86%.

Health Care Professionals’ Beliefs About Using Wiki-Based Reminders to Promote Best Practices in Trauma Care

OpenAIRE

Archambault, Patrick Michel; Bilodeau, Andrea; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Aubin, Karine; Lavoie, André; Lapointe, Jean; Poitras, Julien; Croteau, Sylvain; Pham-Dinh, Martin; Légaré, France

2012-01-01

Background Wikis are knowledge translation tools that could help health professionals implement best practices in acute care. Little is known about the factors influencing professionals’ use of wikis. Objectives To identify and compare the beliefs of emergency physicians (EPs) and allied health professionals (AHPs) about using a wiki-based reminder that promotes evidence-based care for traumatic brain injuries. Methods Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we conducted semistructured int...

WikiBuild: A New Application to Support Patient and Health Care Professional Involvement in the Development of Patient Support Tools

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Active patient and public involvement as partners in their own health care and in the development of health services is key to achieving a health care system that is responsive to patients’ needs and values. It promotes better use of the health care system, and improves health outcomes, quality of life and patient satisfaction. By involving patients and health care professionals as partners in the creation and updating of patient health support tools, wikis—highly accessible, interactive vehicles of communication—have the potential to empower users to implement these support tools in daily life. Acknowledging the potential of wikis, and recognizing that they capitalize on the free and open access to information, scientists, opinion leaders and patient advocates have suggested that wikis could help decision-making constituencies improve the delivery of health care. They might also decrease its cost and improve access to knowledge within developing countries. However, little is known about the efficacy of wikis in helping to attain these goals. There is also a need to know more about the intention of patients and health care workers to use wikis, in what circumstances and what factors will influence their use of wikis. In this issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, Gupta et al describe how they developed and tested a new wiki-inspired application to improve asthma care. The researchers involved patients with asthma, primary care physicians, pulmonologists and certified asthma educators in the construction of an asthma action plan. Their paper—entitled “WikiBuild: a new online collaboration process for multistakeholder tool development and consensus building”—is the first description of a wiki-inspired technology built to involve patients and health care professionals in the development of a patient support tool. This innovative study has made important contributions toward how wikis could be generalized to involve multiple stakeholders in

Search extension transforms Wiki into a relational system: a case for flavonoid metabolite database.

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Arita, Masanori; Suwa, Kazuhiro

2008-09-17

In computer science, database systems are based on the relational model founded by Edgar Codd in 1970. On the other hand, in the area of biology the word 'database' often refers to loosely formatted, very large text files. Although such bio-databases may describe conflicts or ambiguities (e.g. a protein pair do and do not interact, or unknown parameters) in a positive sense, the flexibility of the data format sacrifices a systematic query mechanism equivalent to the widely used SQL. To overcome this disadvantage, we propose embeddable string-search commands on a Wiki-based system and designed a half-formatted database. As proof of principle, a database of flavonoid with 6902 molecular structures from over 1687 plant species was implemented on MediaWiki, the background system of Wikipedia. Registered users can describe any information in an arbitrary format. Structured part is subject to text-string searches to realize relational operations. The system was written in PHP language as the extension of MediaWiki. All modifications are open-source and publicly available. This scheme benefits from both the free-formatted Wiki style and the concise and structured relational-database style. MediaWiki supports multi-user environments for document management, and the cost for database maintenance is alleviated.

Enhancing Successful Outcomes of Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing: A State-of-the-Art Review of Facilitation Frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

Stoddart, Andrew; Chan, Joe Yong-Yi; Liu, Gi-Zen

2016-01-01

This state-of-the-art review research undertook a survey of a variety of studies regarding wiki-based collaborative writing projects and from this body of work extracted the best practices tenets of facilitation. Wiki-based collaborative writing projects are becoming more common in second language (L2) pedagogy. Such projects have multiple aims.…

Wikis and Collaborative Learning in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Binbin; Niiya, Melissa; Warschauer, Mark

2015-01-01

While collaborative learning and collaborative writing can be of great value to student learning, the implementation of a technology-supported collaborative learning environment is a challenge. With their built-in features for supporting collaborative writing and social communication, wikis are a promising platform for collaborative learning;…

Instructional Theory for Using a Class Wiki to Support Collaborative Learning in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chun-Yi

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional theory for using a class wiki to support collaborative learning in higher education. Although wikis have been identified in theory as one of the most powerful emerging technologies to support collaborative learning, challenges have been revealed in a number of studies regarding student…

The Making of a History Standards Wiki: "Covering", "Uncovering", and "Discovering" Curriculum Frameworks Using a Highly Interactive Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Maloy, Robert W.; Poirier, Michelle; Smith, Hilary K.; Edwards, Sharon A.

2010-01-01

This article explores using a wiki, one of the newest forms of interactive computer-based technology, as a resource for teaching the Massachusetts K-12 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, a set of state-mandated learning standards. Wikis are web pages that can be easily edited by multiple authors. They invite active involvement by…

Impact of a dermatology wiki website on dermatology education.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimkhani, Chante; Boyers, Lindsay N; Ellis, Lixia Z; Brice, Sylvia; Chen, David L; Dunnick, Cory A; Dellavalle, Robert P

2015-01-15

The Dermatology Education Wiki (dermwiki) website serves as a resource platform for medical students and residents. The readily accessible interface provides dermatology articles, survival guides, didactic lectures, and links to faculty talks as well as research opportunities. To assess medical student and resident satisfaction with the dermwiki website. Fourth-year medical students taking a dermatology elective were provided with a temporary password to access relevant dermwiki information. A satisfaction survey was created to assess whether medical students found the website helpful. Second- and third-year dermatology residents were also surveyed to compare satisfaction scores prior to and after the introduction of the dermwiki website. End-of-rotation medical student exam scores were tabulated and compared to the average scores from years prior to the development of the dermwiki website. Medical students rated the dermatology elective with the dermwiki website higher than rotations without a wiki (8.12 vs 7.31). Students planning to go into dermatology were more satisfied with the dermwiki website, reported accessing the website more frequently (11 times vs 9.5 times), and reported more time spent studying (12.2 hours vs 6.7 hours) than students not going into dermatology. End-of-rotation medical student exam scores did not differ from those prior to the development of the demwiki website. Ten second- and third-year dermatology residents unanimously stated that they were more satisfied with the program after the institution of the dermwiki website. Overall, addition of the dermwiki website to the dermatology elective curriculum has improved medical student and resident satisfaction scores. The improvement is greater among students planning to enter the field of dermatology. This study serves as a model for the incorporation of internet-based interactive tools to transform and supplement the learning environment.

Incorporating Wiki Technology in a Traditional Biostatistics Course: Effects on University Students’ Collaborative Learning, Approaches to Learning and Course Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shirley S.M. Fong

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of incorporating wiki technology in an under-graduate biostatistics course for improving university students’ collaborative learning, approaches to learning, and course performance. Methodology: During a three year longitudinal study, twenty-one and twenty-four undergraduate students were recruited by convenience sampling and assigned to a wiki group (2014-2015 and a control group (2013-2014 and 2015-2016, respectively. The students in the wiki group attended face-to-face lectures and used a wiki (PBworks weekly for online- group discussion, and the students in the control group had no access to the wiki and interacted face-to-face only. The students’ collaborative learning, approaches to learning, and course performance were evaluated using the Group Process Questionnaire (GPQ, Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F and course results, respectively, after testing. Findings: Multivariate analysis of variance results revealed that the R-SPQ-2F surface approach score, surface motive and strategy subscores were lower in the wiki group than in the control group (p < 0.05. The GPQ individual accountability and equal opportunity scores (components of collaboration were higher in the wiki group than in the control group (p < 0.001. No significant between-groups differences were found in any of the other outcome variables (i.e., overall course result, R-SPQ-2F deep approach score and subscores, GPQ positive interdependence score, social skills score, and composite score. Looking at the Wiki Questionnaire results, the subscale and composite scores we obtained were 31.5% to 37.7% lower than the norm. The wiki was used at a frequency of about 0.7 times per week per student. Recommendations for Practitioners: Using wiki technology in conjunction with the traditional face-to-face teaching method in a biostatistics course can enhance some aspects of undergraduate students’ collaborative learning

Kajian Pembelajaran Online Berbasis Wiki Di Lingkup Perguruan Tinggi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soetam Rizky Wicaksono

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Scope of online learning in higher education now more widely assumed to be a repository of teaching materials for both teachers and students. Nevertheless there are still many things that can still be developed and studied with an experimental model for online learning can be more participatory in the learning context given that the scope of the college is more directed to andragogik. One innovation that leads to this is to make the application of model-based learning wiki adopting crowdsourcing. This paper explores theoretical study attempted as a first step in the research development of wiki-based online learning model. The results of this study should be the basis for experiments to be conducted in order to adapt contextually in real state.

Scaffolding Wiki-Supported Collaborative Learning for Small-Group Projects and Whole-Class Collaborative Knowledge Building

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Lin, C-Y.; Reigeluth, C. M.

2016-01-01

While educators value wikis' potential, wikis may fail to support collaborative constructive learning without careful scaffolding. This article proposes literature-based instructional methods, revised based on two expert instructors' input, presents the collected empirical evidence on the effects of these methods and proposes directions for future…

Empathy 2.0 and the Wonderful World of Wiki Collaboration

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Tarrant, Cindy; Godwin, Kathryn; Daniel, Stacey; Bolton, Dawn

2013-01-01

In a perfect world, diversity would abound in people's daily lives, promoting friendships across racial, ethnic, and religious lines. When that is not possible and students learn in a more segregated setting, wikis provide a tool to reach beyond the school walls, find a diverse audience, and create meaningful discourse. This article narrates an…

On the Application of WIKI technology as a Web application 2 in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

pc

2018-03-05

Mar 5, 2018 ... development and continuous change in all aspects of life. Educational .... programs and applications which provide an ideal environment to integrate the ..... We can say that the wiki technology is a joint effort and an outcome ...

Health care professionals' beliefs about using wiki-based reminders to promote best practices in trauma care.

Science.gov (United States)

Archambault, Patrick Michel; Bilodeau, Andrea; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Aubin, Karine; Lavoie, André; Lapointe, Jean; Poitras, Julien; Croteau, Sylvain; Pham-Dinh, Martin; Légaré, France

2012-04-19

Wikis are knowledge translation tools that could help health professionals implement best practices in acute care. Little is known about the factors influencing professionals' use of wikis. To identify and compare the beliefs of emergency physicians (EPs) and allied health professionals (AHPs) about using a wiki-based reminder that promotes evidence-based care for traumatic brain injuries. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we conducted semistructured interviews to elicit EPs' and AHPs' beliefs about using a wiki-based reminder. Previous studies suggested a sample of 25 EPs and 25 AHPs. We purposefully selected participants from three trauma centers in Quebec, Canada, to obtain a representative sample. Using univariate analyses, we assessed whether our participants' gender, age, and level of experience were similar to those of all eligible individuals. Participants viewed a video showing a clinician using a wiki-based reminder, and we interviewed participants about their behavioral, control, and normative beliefs-that is, what they saw as advantages, disadvantages, barriers, and facilitators to their use of a reminder, and how they felt important referents would perceive their use of a reminder. Two reviewers independently analyzed the content of the interview transcripts. We considered the 75% most frequently mentioned beliefs as salient. We retained some less frequently mentioned beliefs as well. Of 66 eligible EPs and 444 eligible AHPs, we invited 55 EPs and 39 AHPs to participate, and 25 EPs and 25 AHPs (15 nurses, 7 respiratory therapists, and 3 pharmacists) accepted. Participating AHPs had more experience than eligible AHPs (mean 14 vs 11 years; P = .04). We noted no other significant differences. Among EPs, the most frequently reported advantage of using a wiki-based reminder was that it refreshes the memory (n = 14); among AHPs, it was that it provides rapid access to protocols (n = 16). Only 2 EPs mentioned a disadvantage (the wiki added stress

Health Care Professionals’ Beliefs About Using Wiki-Based Reminders to Promote Best Practices in Trauma Care

Science.gov (United States)

Bilodeau, Andrea; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Aubin, Karine; Lavoie, André; Lapointe, Jean; Poitras, Julien; Croteau, Sylvain; Pham-Dinh, Martin; Légaré, France

2012-01-01

Background Wikis are knowledge translation tools that could help health professionals implement best practices in acute care. Little is known about the factors influencing professionals’ use of wikis. Objectives To identify and compare the beliefs of emergency physicians (EPs) and allied health professionals (AHPs) about using a wiki-based reminder that promotes evidence-based care for traumatic brain injuries. Methods Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we conducted semistructured interviews to elicit EPs’ and AHPs’ beliefs about using a wiki-based reminder. Previous studies suggested a sample of 25 EPs and 25 AHPs. We purposefully selected participants from three trauma centers in Quebec, Canada, to obtain a representative sample. Using univariate analyses, we assessed whether our participants’ gender, age, and level of experience were similar to those of all eligible individuals. Participants viewed a video showing a clinician using a wiki-based reminder, and we interviewed participants about their behavioral, control, and normative beliefs—that is, what they saw as advantages, disadvantages, barriers, and facilitators to their use of a reminder, and how they felt important referents would perceive their use of a reminder. Two reviewers independently analyzed the content of the interview transcripts. We considered the 75% most frequently mentioned beliefs as salient. We retained some less frequently mentioned beliefs as well. Results Of 66 eligible EPs and 444 eligible AHPs, we invited 55 EPs and 39 AHPs to participate, and 25 EPs and 25 AHPs (15 nurses, 7 respiratory therapists, and 3 pharmacists) accepted. Participating AHPs had more experience than eligible AHPs (mean 14 vs 11 years; P = .04). We noted no other significant differences. Among EPs, the most frequently reported advantage of using a wiki-based reminder was that it refreshes the memory (n = 14); among AHPs, it was that it provides rapid access to protocols (n = 16). Only 2 EPs

Community-based Ontology Development, Annotation and Discussion with MediaWiki extension Ontokiwi and Ontokiwi-based Ontobedia

Science.gov (United States)

Ong, Edison; He, Yongqun

2016-01-01

Hundreds of biological and biomedical ontologies have been developed to support data standardization, integration and analysis. Although ontologies are typically developed for community usage, community efforts in ontology development are limited. To support ontology visualization, distribution, and community-based annotation and development, we have developed Ontokiwi, an ontology extension to the MediaWiki software. Ontokiwi displays hierarchical classes and ontological axioms. Ontology classes and axioms can be edited and added using Ontokiwi form or MediaWiki source editor. Ontokiwi also inherits MediaWiki features such as Wikitext editing and version control. Based on the Ontokiwi/MediaWiki software package, we have developed Ontobedia, which targets to support community-based development and annotations of biological and biomedical ontologies. As demonstrations, we have loaded the Ontology of Adverse Events (OAE) and the Cell Line Ontology (CLO) into Ontobedia. Our studies showed that Ontobedia was able to achieve expected Ontokiwi features. PMID:27570653

The Leaky Pipe: Lead Pipers Weigh in on WikiLeaks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Editorial Board

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction Let’s start off with a little background and context, just in case you haven’t been glued to the news to catch every nuance of the WikiLeaks story. The Guardian has a helpful timeline of the saga to get you (at least partially up to speed, and if you don’t like theirs, there are plenty [...

Social Media and Organizing – An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Wiki Affordances in Organizing Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mansour, Osama; Askenäs, Linda; Ghazawneh, Ahmad

2013-01-01

The evolution of social media has introduced novel possibilities for work and interaction in organizations. The wiki technology is one important kind of social media technologies that is increasingly used to facilitate the creation and sharing of organizational knowledge within communities. Given...... in that they extend the notion of affordance by theorizing new concepts that describe relational dynamics, situated and contextual conditions, and social factors involved in enacting, perceiving, and exploiting affordances.......The evolution of social media has introduced novel possibilities for work and interaction in organizations. The wiki technology is one important kind of social media technologies that is increasingly used to facilitate the creation and sharing of organizational knowledge within communities. Given...... the increasing use of social media in organizations and the lack of knowledge on their consequences for organizing, we use an affordance lens to explore the enactment of organizational wiki affordances. Using qualitative data obtained through interviews, field visits, and documents from two multinational...

The Effects of Using a Wiki on Student Engagement and Learning of Report Writing Skills in a University Statistics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, David L.; Hood, Michelle

2009-01-01

A wiki was used as part of a blended learning approach to promote collaborative learning among students in a first year university statistics class. One group of students analysed a data set and communicated the results by jointly writing a practice report using a wiki. A second group analysed the same data but communicated the results in a…

The State of Wiki Usage in U.S. K-12 Schools: Leveraging Web 2.0 Data Warehouses to Assess Quality and Equity in Online Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Reich, Justin; Murnane, Richard; Willett, John

2012-01-01

To document wiki usage in U.S. K-12 settings, this study examined a representative sample drawn from a population of nearly 180,000 wikis. The authors measured the opportunities wikis provide for students to develop 21st-century skills such as expert thinking, complex communication, and new media literacy. The authors found four types of wiki…

The State of Wiki Usage in U.S. K-12 Schools: Leveraging Web 2.0 Data Warehouses to Study Quality and Equality in Online Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Reich, Blair Justin Fire

2012-01-01

In the first part of this dissertation, I document wiki usage in U.S. K-12 settings by analyzing data on a representative sample drawn from a population of nearly 180,000 wikis. My research group, which I lead and managed, measured the opportunities wikis provide for students to develop 21st century skills such as expert thinking, complex…

Wikis y el nuevo estudiante de lenguas extranjeras

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Gimeno Sanz

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Los entornos digitales cada vez son más comunes en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras, además de jugar un papel muy importante como organizadores de tareas, proveedores de input y como gestores de recursos para la enseñanza de idiomas. Permiten, asimismo, a los profesores organizar la interacción de los estudiantes y, al mismo tiempo, proporcionar un magnífico entorno para presentar distintos géneros informativos. Las wikis son hoy en día una de las redes sociales que cada vez se utilizan más para dar apoyo al aprendizaje cooperativo y para fomentar el aprendizaje autónomo. Están estrechamente relacionadas con las metodologías docentes que se basan en el desarrollo de un proyecto o en la resolución de problemas, prácticas docentes éstas en las que tanto alumnos como profesores contribuyen a la construcción del conocimiento y comparten experiencias. Las wikis también han contribuido a crear las llamadas "comunidades de práctica", a las que pueden acudir los estudiantes en contextos de autoaprendizaje o en aquellas situaciones donde se carece del apoyo de un tutor o profesor para encontrar apoyo y consejo. Añadido a esto, la proliferación de herramientas que fomentan la comunicación mediatizada por ordenador han multiplicado los métodos docentes que se aplican en el aula y fuera de ella y han tenido una influencia muy significativa en el surgimiento de un nuevo perfil de estudiante; es decir, aquél que está plenamente acostumbrado a utilizar estas herramientas para relacionarse socialmente con otras personas aunque no sea con fines educativos. Por último, mediante el uso de las wikis se ha desarrollado el concepto de "enseñanza entre pares" y "tutorización entre pares", especialmente en contextos de creación de textos escritos mediante la cooperación colectiva. Este hecho ha contribuido, asimismo, a que el estudiante tenga mayor conciencia de los procesos implícitos en la construcción y edición textual. Este cap

Wiki management a revolutionary new model for a rapidly changing and collaborative world

CERN Document Server

Collins, Rod

2013-01-01

We now live in a "wiki" world where mass collaboration is not only possible-it's often the best solution. Conventional management thought assumes that command-and-control is the most effective way to organize the efforts of large numbers of people, but rapid change and increasing complexity have rendered that model obsolete. As a result, most managers today lack the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in an age when networks are proving smarter and faster than hierarchies. Designing organizations for mass collaboration demands a new and very different model-wiki management.

Design and Implementation of Wiki Services in a Multilevel Secure Environment

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ong, Kar L

2007-01-01

.... This thesis extends the existing collaboration capability in MYSEA to include hypertext content-based collaborative authoring and information sharing through the use of the increasingly popular wiki technology...

Wikis: Developing pre-service teachers’ leadership skills and knowledge of content standards

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelia Reid-Griffin

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this initial phase of our multi-year research study we set out to explore the development of leadership skills in our pre-service secondary teachers after using an online wiki, Wikispaces. This paper presents our methods for preparing a group of 13 mathematics and 3 science secondary pre-service teachers to demonstrate the essential knowledge, skills and dispositions of beginning teacher leaders. Our findings indicate the pre-service teachers' overall satisfaction with demonstrating leadership through collaborative practices. They were successful in these new roles as teacher/collaborator within the context of communication about content standards. Though the candidates participated in other collaborative tasks, this effort was noted for bringing together technology, content standards and leadership qualities that are critical for beginning teachers. Implications for addressing the preservice teachers' development of leadership skills, as they become professional teachers will be shared.

Attacks by “Anonymous‿ WikiLeaks Proponents not Anonymous

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pras, Aiko; Sperotto, Anna; Moreira Moura, Giovane; Drago, Idilio; Barbosa, R.R.R.; Sadre, R.; de Oliveira Schmidt, R.; Hofstede, R.J.; Hofstede, Rick

2010-01-01

On November 28, 2010, the world started watching the whistle blower website WikiLeaks to begin publishing part of the 250,000 US Embassy Diplomatic cables. These confidential cables provide an insight on U.S. international affairs from 274 different embassies, covering topics such as analysis of

A Semantic Wiki on Cooperation in Public Administration in Europe

OpenAIRE

Bernhard Krabina

2010-01-01

Authorities cooperate in various ways. The Web portal www.verwaltungskooperation.eu aims to share knowledge on collaboration projects. A semantic wiki approach was used to facilitate best practice documentation with Semantic Web and Web 2.0 technology.

Toward a Better Understanding of Culture: Wikis in the Beginning German Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Ducate, Lara; Steckenbiller, Christiane

2017-01-01

The questions of how to teach culture, which culture(s) to teach and how to lead students to intercultural competence and understanding are common questions for language teachers. The current project employed wikis to systematically integrate culture and authentic texts into beginning German courses at a large south-eastern university in the…

A Semantic Wiki on Cooperation in Public Administration in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernhard Krabina

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Authorities cooperate in various ways. The Web portal www.verwaltungskooperation.eu aims to share knowledge on collaboration projects. A semantic wiki approach was used to facilitate best practice documentation with Semantic Web and Web 2.0 technology.

Collaborative data model and data base development for paleoenvironmental and archaeological domain using Semantic MediaWiki

Science.gov (United States)

Willmes, C.

2017-12-01

In the frame of the Collaborative Research Centre 806 (CRC 806) an interdisciplinary research project, that needs to manage data, information and knowledge from heterogeneous domains, such as archeology, cultural sciences, and the geosciences, a collaborative internal knowledge base system was developed. The system is based on the open source MediaWiki software, that is well known as the software that enables Wikipedia, for its facilitation of a web based collaborative knowledge and information management platform. This software is additionally enhanced with the Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) extension, that allows to store and manage structural data within the Wiki platform, as well as it facilitates complex query and API interfaces to the structured data stored in the SMW data base. Using an additional open source software called mobo, it is possible to improve the data model development process, as well as automated data imports, from small spreadsheets to large relational databases. Mobo is a command line tool that helps building and deploying SMW structure in an agile, Schema-Driven Development way, and allows to manage and collaboratively develop the data model formalizations, that are formalized in JSON-Schema format, using version control systems like git. The combination of a well equipped collaborative web platform facilitated by Mediawiki, the possibility to store and query structured data in this collaborative database provided by SMW, as well as the possibility for automated data import and data model development enabled by mobo, result in a powerful but flexible system to build and develop a collaborative knowledge base system. Furthermore, SMW allows the application of Semantic Web technology, the structured data can be exported into RDF, thus it is possible to set a triple-store including a SPARQL endpoint on top of the database. The JSON-Schema based data models, can be enhanced into JSON-LD, to facilitate and profit from the possibilities of Linked Data

A simultaneous journal / wiki publication and dissemination of a new species description: Neobidessodes darwiniensis sp. n. from northern Australia (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Bidessini

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Hendrich

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Here, we describe a new Australian species in journal format and simultaneously open the description in a wiki format on the www.species-id.net. The wiki format will always link to the fixed original journal description of the taxon, however it permits future edits and additions to species'  taxonomy and biology. The diving beetle Neobidessodes darwiniensis sp. n. (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Bidessini is described based on a single female, collected in a rest pool of the Harriet Creek in the Darwin Area, Northern Territory. Within Neobidessodes the new species is well characterized by its elongate oval body with rounded sides, short and stout segments of antennae, length of body and dorsal surface coloration. In addition to external morphology, we used mitochondrial cox1 sequence data to support generic assignment and to delineate the new species from other Australian Bidessini including all other known Neobidessodes. Illustrations based on digital images are provided here and as online resources. A modified key is provided. Altogether ten species of the genus are now known worldwide, nine from Australia and one from New Guinea.

Language-Agnostic Relation Extraction from Abstracts in Wikis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolas Heist

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Large-scale knowledge graphs, such as DBpedia, Wikidata, or YAGO, can be enhanced by relation extraction from text, using the data in the knowledge graph as training data, i.e., using distant supervision. While most existing approaches use language-specific methods (usually for English, we present a language-agnostic approach that exploits background knowledge from the graph instead of language-specific techniques and builds machine learning models only from language-independent features. We demonstrate the extraction of relations from Wikipedia abstracts, using the twelve largest language editions of Wikipedia. From those, we can extract 1.6 M new relations in DBpedia at a level of precision of 95%, using a RandomForest classifier trained only on language-independent features. We furthermore investigate the similarity of models for different languages and show an exemplary geographical breakdown of the information extracted. In a second series of experiments, we show how the approach can be transferred to DBkWik, a knowledge graph extracted from thousands of Wikis. We discuss the challenges and first results of extracting relations from a larger set of Wikis, using a less formalized knowledge graph.

Rationalities of Collaboration for Language Learning in a Wiki

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Linda; Lindstrom, Berner; Rystedt, Hans

2010-01-01

For language learning, online environments allowing for user generated content are becoming increasingly important since they offer possibilities for learners to elaborate on assignments and projects. This study investigates what wikis can do as a means to enhance group interaction, when students are encouraged to participate in constructing text…

Integrating Wikis as Educational Tools for the Development of a Community of Inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Eteokleous, Nikleia; Ktoridou, Despo; Orphanou, Maria

2014-01-01

This article describes a study that attempted to evaluate the integration of wikis as an educational tool in successfully achieving the learning objectives of a fifth-grade linguistics and literature course. A mixed-method approach was employed--data were collected via questionnaires, reflective journals, observations, and interviews. The results…

Wikis for Group Work: Encouraging Transparency, Benchmarking, and Feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Abdekhodaee, Amir; Chase, Anne-Marie; Ross, Bella

2017-01-01

Technology is recognised as playing a part in the changing landscape in higher education; altering delivery modes and providing flexible opportunities for learning. Research into the use of wikis has shown that they provide many opportunities for student learning and the development of twenty-first century skills, however, there has been limited…

Chinese Preservice Teachers' Professional Identity Links with Education Program Performance: The Roles of Task Value Belief and Learning Motivations.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan; Hawk, Skyler T; Zhang, Xiaohui; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Professional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers' career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education) and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation, and performance in the education program. Grade-point average (GPA) of courses (both subject and pedagogy courses) was examined as an indicator of performance, and questionnaires were used to measure the remaining variables. Data from 606 preservice teachers in the first 3 years of a teacher-training program indicated that: (1) variables in this research were all significantly correlated with each other, except the correlation between intrinsic learning motivation and program performance; (2) professional identity was positively linked to task value belief, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivations, and program performance in a structural equation model (SEM); (3) task value belief was positively linked to intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation; (4) higher extrinsic (but not intrinsic) learning motivation was associated with increased program performance; and (5) task value belief and extrinsic learning motivation were significant mediators in the model.

Chinese Preservice Teachers’ Professional Identity Links with Education Program Performance: The Roles of Task Value Belief and Learning Motivations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan; Hawk, Skyler T.; Zhang, Xiaohui; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Professional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers’ career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education) and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation, and performance in the education program. Grade-point average (GPA) of courses (both subject and pedagogy courses) was examined as an indicator of performance, and questionnaires were used to measure the remaining variables. Data from 606 preservice teachers in the first 3 years of a teacher-training program indicated that: (1) variables in this research were all significantly correlated with each other, except the correlation between intrinsic learning motivation and program performance; (2) professional identity was positively linked to task value belief, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivations, and program performance in a structural equation model (SEM); (3) task value belief was positively linked to intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation; (4) higher extrinsic (but not intrinsic) learning motivation was associated with increased program performance; and (5) task value belief and extrinsic learning motivation were significant mediators in the model. PMID:27199810

Task relevance of emotional information affects anxiety-linked attention bias in visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Dodd, Helen F; Vogt, Julia; Turkileri, Nilgun; Notebaert, Lies

2017-01-01

Task relevance affects emotional attention in healthy individuals. Here, we investigate whether the association between anxiety and attention bias is affected by the task relevance of emotion during an attention task. Participants completed two visual search tasks. In the emotion-irrelevant task, participants were asked to indicate whether a discrepant face in a crowd of neutral, middle-aged faces was old or young. Irrelevant to the task, target faces displayed angry, happy, or neutral expressions. In the emotion-relevant task, participants were asked to indicate whether a discrepant face in a crowd of middle-aged neutral faces was happy or angry (target faces also varied in age). Trait anxiety was not associated with attention in the emotion-relevant task. However, in the emotion-irrelevant task, trait anxiety was associated with a bias for angry over happy faces. These findings demonstrate that the task relevance of emotional information affects conclusions about the presence of an anxiety-linked attention bias. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Radiological knowledge management with the help of departmental wikis].

Science.gov (United States)

Schuster, A; Brachthäuser, D; Mansour, M; Alfke, H

2016-09-01

In times of RIS (radiology information system) and KIS (hospital information system) systems, patient-related data are at the radiologist's disposal at the push of a button. However, this is not the case for other important data. The increasing complexity of modern medicine demands that up-to-date information like protocols, SOPs (Standards of Practice), news and modifications are constantly accessible to all employees. This aspect of quality assurance becomes increasingly important in the context of certification. For such knowledge management purposes we have built a wiki in our department. Here we report our positive experiences with this technology.

Use of a wiki as an interactive teaching tool in pathology residency education: Experience with a genomics, research, and informatics in pathology course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung Park

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The need for informatics and genomics training in pathology is critical, yet limited resources for such training are available. In this study we sought to critically test the hypothesis that the incorporation of a wiki (a collaborative writing and publication tool with roots in "Web 2.0" in a combined informatics and genomics course could both (1 serve as an interactive, collaborative educational resource and reference and (2 actively engage trainees by requiring the creation and sharing of educational materials. Materials and Methods: A 2-week full-time course at our institution covering genomics, research, and pathology informatics (GRIP was taught by 36 faculty to 18 second- and third-year pathology residents. The course content included didactic lectures and hands-on demonstrations of technology (e.g., whole-slide scanning, telepathology, and statistics software. Attendees were given pre- and posttests. Residents were trained to use wiki technology (MediaWiki and requested to construct a wiki about the GRIP course by writing comprehensive online review articles on assigned lectures. To gauge effectiveness, pretest and posttest scores for our course were compared with scores from the previous 7 years from the predecessor course (limited to informatics given at our institution that did not utilize wikis. Results: Residents constructed 59 peer-reviewed collaborative wiki articles. This group showed a 25% improvement (standard deviation 12% in test scores, which was greater than the 16% delta recorded in the prior 7 years of our predecessor course (P = 0.006. Conclusions: Our use of wiki technology provided a wiki containing high-quality content that will form the basis of future pathology informatics and genomics courses and proved to be an effective teaching tool, as evidenced by the significant rise in our resident posttest scores. Data from this project provide support for the notion that active participation in content creation

Wiki en la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Alcance y perspectivas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergi Robles

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Desde mayo del año 2004, un grupo de profesores de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ha llevado a cabo distintas experiencias docentes en educación superior enfocadas a los nuevos planes piloto definidos en el marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES basadas en la utilización del wiki, con el fin de mejorar el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de los estudiantes. Se han desarrollado distintos materiales docentes para el aprendizaje autónomo y semi-presencial, diseñados para potenciar el trabajo colaborativo y a distancia. El análisis de los resultados obtenidos con la aplicación del wiki a la docencia ha permitido identificar las ventajas y las carencias del sistema de trabajo inicial y ampliar sus posibilidades con herramientas que aseguran una mejor adaptación de esta plataforma al EEES. La labor desarrollada por el grupo y el interés despertado en la comunidad universitaria son el punto de partida de la integración del wiki en el Campus Virtual (la plataforma institucional de soporte virtual del aprendizaje de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona que se está llevando a cabo actualmente.

A global reference database of crowdsourced cropland data collected using the Geo-Wiki platform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Laso Bayas, JC; Lesiv, M; Waldner, F; Schucknecht, A; Duerauer, M; See, L; Fritz, S.; Fraisl, D; Moorthy, I; McCallum, I.; Perger, C; Danylo, O; Defourny, P; Gallego, J; Gilliams, S; Akhtar, I.H.; Baishya, S. J.; Baruah, M; Bungnamei, K; Campos, A; Changkakati, T; Cipriani, A; Das, Krishna; Das, Keemee; Das, I; Davis, K.F.; Hazarika, P; Johnson, B.A.; Malek, Ziga; Molinari, M.E.; Panging, K; Pawe, C.K.; Pérez-Hoyos, A; Sahariah, P.K.; Sahariah, D; Saikia, A; Saikia, M; Schlesinger, Peter; Seidacaru, E; Singha, K; Wilson, John W

2017-01-01

A global reference data set on cropland was collected through a crowdsourcing campaign using the Geo-Wiki crowdsourcing tool. The campaign lasted three weeks, with over 80 participants from around the world reviewing almost 36,000 sample units, focussing on cropland identification. For quality

Pigeons' Discrimination of Michotte's Launching Effect

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Michael E.; Beckmann, Joshua S.; Wasserman, Edward A.

2006-01-01

We trained four pigeons to discriminate a Michotte launching animation from three other animations using a go/no-go task. The pigeons received food for pecking at one of the animations, but not for pecking at the others. The four animations featured two types of interactions among objects: causal (direct launching) and noncausal (delayed, distal,…

Use of wikis as a collaborative ICT tool for extending the frontiers of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

When Web 2.0 technologies are used in the classroom, learners and teachers are given the opportunity to extend the frontiers of knowledge by collaborating and contributing to knowledge. This paper explores the possibility of using Wikis – a Web 2.0 technology – to extend the frontiers of knowledge. It also discusses how ...

Assisting Instructional Assessment of Undergraduate Collaborative Wiki and SVN Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jihie; Shaw, Erin; Xu, Hao; Adarsh, G. V.

2012-01-01

In this paper we examine the collaborative performance of undergraduate engineering students who used shared project documents (Wikis, Google documents) and a software version control system (SVN) to support project collaboration. We present an initial implementation of TeamAnalytics, an instructional tool that facilitates the analyses of the…

Chinese preservice teachers’ professional identity links with education program performance: The roles of task value belief and learning motivations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan eZhang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available AbstractProfessional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers’ career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning motivation, extrinsic learning motivation, and performance in the education program. Grade-point average (GPA of courses (both subject and pedagogy courses was examined as an indicator of performance, and questionnaires were used to measure the remaining variables. Data from 606 preservice teachers in the first three years of a teacher-training program indicated that: (1 variables in this research were all significantly correlated with each other, except the correlation between intrinsic learning motivation and program performance; (2 professional identity was positively linked to task value belief, intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivations, and program performance in a structural equation model (SEM; (3 task value belief was positively linked to intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivation; (4 higher extrinsic (but not intrinsic learning motivation was associated with increased program performance; and (5 task value belief and extrinsic learning motivation were significant mediators in the model.

Wikis and Collaborative Writing Applications in Health Care: A Scoping Review

Science.gov (United States)

Grajales III, Francisco J; Faber, Marjan J; Kuziemsky, Craig E; Gagnon, Susie; Bilodeau, Andrea; Rioux, Simon; Nelen, Willianne LDM; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Turgeon, Alexis F; Aubin, Karine; Gold, Irving; Poitras, Julien; Eysenbach, Gunther; Kremer, Jan AM; Légaré, France

2013-01-01

Background Collaborative writing applications (eg, wikis and Google Documents) hold the potential to improve the use of evidence in both public health and health care. The rapid rise in their use has created the need for a systematic synthesis of the evidence of their impact as knowledge translation (KT) tools in the health care sector and for an inventory of the factors that affect their use. Objective Through the Levac six-stage methodology, a scoping review was undertaken to explore the depth and breadth of evidence about the effective, safe, and ethical use of wikis and collaborative writing applications (CWAs) in health care. Methods Multiple strategies were used to locate studies. Seven scientific databases and 6 grey literature sources were queried for articles on wikis and CWAs published between 2001 and September 16, 2011. In total, 4436 citations and 1921 grey literature items were screened. Two reviewers independently reviewed citations, selected eligible studies, and extracted data using a standardized form. We included any paper presenting qualitative or quantitative empirical evidence concerning health care and CWAs. We defined a CWA as any technology that enables the joint and simultaneous editing of a webpage or an online document by many end users. We performed qualitative content analysis to identify the factors that affect the use of CWAs using the Gagnon framework and their effects on health care using the Donabedian framework. Results Of the 111 studies included, 4 were experimental, 5 quasi-experimental, 5 observational, 52 case studies, 23 surveys about wiki use, and 22 descriptive studies about the quality of information in wikis. We classified them by theme: patterns of use of CWAs (n=26), quality of information in existing CWAs (n=25), and CWAs as KT tools (n=73). A high prevalence of CWA use (ie, more than 50%) is reported in 58% (7/12) of surveys conducted with health care professionals and students. However, we found only one

Wikis to facilitate patient participation in developing information leaflets: first experiences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belt, T.H. van de; Faber, M.J.; Knijnenburg, J.M.; Duijnhoven, N.T.L. van; Nelen, W.L.D.M.; Kremer, J.A.M.

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Although patients have gained a wealth of experienced based knowledge they are usually not involved in the development of patient information. We sought to determine the technical feasibility of wikis in generating dynamic patient information leaflets with participation from patients and

The Impact of a Collaborative Wiki Assignment on Teaching and Learning in a Teacher Education Program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanessa Joy Bravo

2011-10-01

Full Text Available This study explored students’ perceptions and behaviors of public wiki use during a collaborative Wikipedia assignment in a graduate technology and literacy education course. Results confirmed that the majority of students had an overall positive experience posting content on Wikipedia. Students learned how to use Wikipedia through collaborative practice, including, how to adhere to its standards and cite work properly, the importance of critically evaluating online information, and the value of publishing work to an authentic audience. Students (prospective and current teachers reported numerous ways in which collaboration on Wikipedia could be integrated into their K-12 classrooms in order to promote higher order thinking and foster meaningful knowledge construction. Pedagogical practices for the effective integration of public wiki assignments in higher education and K-12 settings are recommended.

Technoeconomic analysis of biofuels: A wiki-based platform for lignocellulosic biorefineries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klein-Marcuschamer, Daniel; Oleskowicz-Popiel, Piotr; Simmons, Blake A.

2010-01-01

We present a process model for a lignocellulosic ethanol biorefinery that is open to the biofuels academic community. Beyond providing a series of static results, the wiki-based platform provides a dynamic and transparent tool for analyzing, exploring, and communicating the impact of process adva...

Development of a Virtual Environment for Catapult Launch Officers

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-01

the duties of a launch officer. Analysis of the data gathered from the job task analysis produced a flowchart that can be represented as a finite...duties of a launch officer. Analysis of the data gathered from the job task analysis produced a flowchart that can be represented as a finite state...pass through when learning a skill as shown in Table 3.1. These skill levels are: novice, advanced beginner , competence, proficiency, expertise

Co-development of a Wiki for Tracking the Environmental Footprint of Small Business Activities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen Hasan

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: Climate change mitigation is a global challenge, in which academia and business have a role to play. This research explores ways to develop a freely-available information system that would enable small businesses to identify and reduce their environmental footprint. Background: While large organizations have the resources to track emissions and other pertinent data, small businesses may not, despite intentions to be more environmentally responsible. Freely available applications to track emissions focus on the carbon footprint of things, whereas activities are a more meaningful unit of analysis for business managers. Methodology: Using a design science research approach, we conducted a study of a collaborative project that investigated how a low-cost, freely-available online wiki could be developed by group of students, under the guidance of university scholars and business owners. In the project, different student groups were tasked to create the wiki, input content and design a dashboard interface for managers to find data relevant to their business. The research takes an information systems view of the project, relying on the holistic notion of activity from activity theory and taking a design science approach to the study. Contribution: The paper contributes to the practices of green information systems, climate change, and small business. Theoretically it provides new insights into the linear view of design science in resource poor, collaborative projects. Findings: The research demonstrates the viability of an online system to track the envi-ronmental footprint of business activities. It reveals the challenges from a design science perspective of attempts to create online systems using freely available products and labor. Recommendations for Practitioners: Meaningful information systems to assist small businesses to manage their environmental footprint should focus on activities not things, be low cost and easy to use

Wikis and collaborative writing applications in health care: a scoping review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Archambault, P.M.; Belt, T.H. van de; Grajales, F.J., 3rd; Faber, M.J.; Kuziemsky, C.E.; Gagnon, S.; Bilodeau, A.; Rioux, S.; Nelen, W.L.D.M.; Gagnon, M.P.; Turgeon, A.F.; Aubin, K.; Gold, I.; Poitras, J.; Eysenbach, G.; Kremer, J.A.M.; Legare, F.

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: Collaborative writing applications (eg, wikis and Google Documents) hold the potential to improve the use of evidence in both public health and health care. The rapid rise in their use has created the need for a systematic synthesis of the evidence of their impact as knowledge

Media Art Wiki. Uso de Wikis para la enseñanza interdisciplinar y multimedia del arte de los nuevos medios de comunicación en entornos virtuales de aprendizaje

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pau Alsina

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Este capítulo expone y analiza una experiencia piloto de uso de Wikis para la enseñanza de las prácticas artísticas vinculadas a los nuevos medios de comunicación digital. El denominado "Media Art Wiki" constituye un recurso para la enseñanza del Arte y la Estética de los nuevos medios en un contexto de enseñanza-aprendizaje virtual como es la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC. Los objetivos iniciales del proyecto consistieron en generar un entorno dinámico de documentación multimedia de las prácticas de Arte de los nuevos medios, y a su vez, que ese espacio de contenidos abiertos pudiera alimentarse de la acción participativa y colaborativa de los estudiantes de las diferentes asignaturas implicadas, contribuyendo de este modo a un enfoque interdisciplinar de la materia común. El Media Art Wiki pretende innovar dentro del aula virtual en cuatro aspectos diferentes: proceso, formato, estructura y contenidos tratando de responder asimismo a un planteamiento pedagógico, que vincule cada una de las actividades implicadas en el Wiki con varios programas y asignaturas. En este capítulo intentaremos dar cuenta de las implicaciones del uso de este tipo de herramientas en la enseñanza universitaria, estructurando el texto en diferentes apartados que, por un lado, trazan el contexto a partir del cual surgió el proyecto, sus necesidades, objetivos y motivaciones dentro del marco teórico del aprendizaje significativo- y el contexto -modelo de enseñanza-aprendizaje- de la UOC. Por otro lado procedemos a la descripción técnica y de contenido del proyecto, así como el diseño de la estrategia didáctica y de las actividades a desarrollar por los estudiantes a corto y medio plazo. Finalmente exponemos la evaluación de dicha experiencia desde la perspectiva de los docentes y los estudiantes para llegar a plantear nuestras conclusiones y posibilidades de desarrollos de futuro.

A Novel Wiki-Based Remote Laboratory Platform for Engineering Education

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ning; Chen, Xuemin; Lan, Qianlong; Song, Gangbing; Parsaei, Hamid R.; Ho, Siu-Chun

2017-01-01

With the unprecedented growth of e-learning, more and more new IT technologies are used to develop e-learning tools. As one of the most common forms of social computing, Wiki technology has been used to develop the collaborative and cooperative learning platform to support multiple users learning online effectively. In this paper, we propose a new…

Eine studentische Wiki-Bibliothek für unterrichtsbegleitende Materialien: Konzeption, Implementierung und Evaluation für das Medizinische Curriculum München (MeCuM [A student-driven wiki-library for educational materials: Concept, implementation, and evaluation for the Medical Curriculum Munich (MeCuM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Berger, Michael

2007-11-01

Full Text Available [english] Problem: The new study regulation for medical licensing in Germany has caused significant reform of the medical curricula. At Munich University (LMU, the Medical Curriculum Munich (MeCuM was introduced in 2004. More individual responsibility of the students regarding their academic goals as well as a problem-oriented thought process are essential features of the new curriculum. Through our project, an open web based platform for the design of curriculum-specific teaching and study material has become accessible to students and faculty of the MeCuM. Methods: Students created an online library in harmony with the curricular structure of the MeCuM. The technical implementation was carried out with the MediaWiki-Open-Source software. Contents can be edited from all students or faculty of the MeCuM in an anonymous or personalized manner. An online questionnaire was carried out to evaluate the project. Results: Our online library as a wiki is the first solution of this kind in medical education in Germany. The concept was implemented without technical difficulties and is linked to the official websites of LMU Munich. The website’s contents were visited 417,808 times from December 2005 through June 2007. Online-based evaluation showed that the project is positively recognized, and students are motivated to contribute actively. Discussion: The project closely reflects the academic curriculum of the MeCuM and creates additional opportunities for interaction between students and teachers. The design as an open source project allows easy handling as well as frequent control and ability to update the contents, but integrity and accuracy of the data content require further effort. Additional evaluation will be essential for improvements. The integration of faculty as reviewers and tutors is planned. Sustainability of the project is dependent upon continued student leadership. The concept of the project has been transferred to another medical

Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning: An Online Wiki Experience in Teacher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Biasutti, Michele; EL-Deghaidy, Heba

2015-01-01

In the current research study the use of Wikis as an online didactic tool to apply project-based learning in higher education was reported. The study was conducted in university teacher education programmes. During the online activities, participants developed interdisciplinary projects for the primary school working collaboratively in small…

The Zones of Proximal and Distal Development in Chinese Language Studies with the Use of Wikis

Science.gov (United States)

Chew, Esyin; Ding, Seong Lin

2014-01-01

Educational practitioners in the higher education institutions of the UK have increasingly promoted the use of wikis. The technology enhanced learning experience of the UK was transferred to a local higher educational agency in Malaysia through a collaborative research project called WiLearn. By examining a student cohort enrolled in Chinese…

Ensino na comunidade e inteligência coletiva: partilhando saberes com o WIKI

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Antonio Pithon Cyrino

Full Text Available As novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação têm permitido a produção de inovações no processo de ensino-aprendizagem no ensino superior. Neste estudo de intervenção e pesquisa em disciplina de ensino em comunidade da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu - Unesp (FMB-Unesp, procura-se explorar tais possibilidades mediante o envolvimento de alunos, professores e membros da própria comunidade. Para tanto, desenvolveu-se uma página Wiki, com informações produzidas pelos alunos a respeito de um bairro da cidade de Botucatu, com o objetivo de criar um ambiente de troca, interação, cooperação e produção compartilhada de conhecimentos entre esses sujeitos. Um grupo de jovens dessa comunidade recebeu treinamento no uso do Wiki, o que lhes permitiu incluir na página informações novas sobre o território. A análise mostra que na produção textual desses jovens ganhou destaque alguns elementos significativos de seu cotidiano. A presença de um professor tutor na comunidade foi essencial para o êxito do processo. Os resultados alcançados apontam a viabilidade e potencialidade do uso do Wiki como ferramenta de inteligência coletiva, por permitir a troca de saberes entre alunos e comunidade, valorizando toda forma de conhecimento e a expressão das singularidades.

EdWiki. El wiki como plataforma para la creación y publicación de contenidos educativos multiformato

OpenAIRE

Santanach Delisau, Francesc; Mor, Enric; Duran Cals, Jordi; Juhé Brogué, Albert

2012-01-01

El proceso de elaboración y distribución de materiales didácticos es de gran importancia en las instituciones educativas. Las plataformas para editar y publicar contenidos educativos en la red cobran cada día más importancia en la medida que permitan seguir procesos de calidad y que como herramientas sean fiables. En este trabajo se presenta EdWiki, una herramienta para la creación y edición de contenidos educativos en línea. Esta herramienta da respuesta a la necesidad de profesores y docent...

Get the Diagnosis: an evidence-based medicine collaborative Wiki for diagnostic test accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Mark M; Kohlberg, Gavriel D

2017-04-01

Despite widespread calls for its use, there are challenges to the implementation of evidence-based medicine (EBM) in clinical practice. In response to the challenges of finding timely, pertinent information on diagnostic test accuracy, we developed an online, crowd-sourced Wiki on diagnostic test accuracy called Get the Diagnosis (GTD, http://www.getthediagnosis.org). Since its launch in November 2008 till October 2015, GTD has accumulated information on 300 diagnoses, with 1617 total diagnostic entries. There are a total of 1097 unique diagnostic tests with a mean of 5.4 tests (range 0-38) per diagnosis. 73% of entries (1182 of 1617) have an associated sensitivity and specificity and 89% of entries (1432 of 1617) have associated peer-reviewed literature citations. Altogether, GTD contains 474 unique literature citations. For a sample of three diagnoses, the search precision (percentage of relevant results in the first 30 entries) in GTD was 100% as compared with a range of 13.3%-63.3% for PubMed and between 6.7% and 76.7% for Google Scholar. GTD offers a fast, precise and efficient way to look up diagnostic test accuracy. On three selected examples, GTD had a greater precision rate compared with PubMed and Google Scholar in identifying diagnostic test information. GTD is a free resource that complements other currently available resources. 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/.

Wiki como herramienta de aprendizaje en grupo y evaluación al alumno

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Jesús Miró Obradors

2013-11-01

Full Text Available “Estimular el aprendizaje autónomo, incentivar el estudio individual y colectivo y reducir las formas pasivas de enseñanza" es uno de los objetivos de los nuevos planes de estudios. Siendo una Wiki aquél espacio de trabajo en línea que posibilita la creación colectiva de documentos utilizando un navegador web, consideramos ésta, una buena herramienta para el desarrollo del trabajo en grupo de los alumnos, así como para realizar una evaluación continuada de los mismos. Metodología: 1 Establecer grupos de estudiantes, 2 Crear wikis en las asignaturas abiertas en Moodle del Campus Virtual UCM (CV, 2 Introducción por el profesor de las actividades, 3 Abrir un foro, 4 Envío de las tareas (CV, 5 Calificación. Resultados y conclusiones: Alumnos de asignaturas en el Área de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular y Celular del Grado en Farmacia (UCM, han trabajado en wikis: a Una tabla, en la cual cada grupo de estudiantes introduce dos palabras clave (sin repetir de cada tema impartido y a su vez, redacta el enunciado de dos preguntas relativas a palabras clave que han incluido previamente otro grupo de alumnos. La lista resultante y revisada de unas 75 cuestiones, se utilizó para elaborar exámenes, realizados en clase tras la finalización de cada bloque de contenidos. b Cuestiones relativas a seminarios y películas de cine proyectadas previamente. El módulo Wiki de Moodle ha permitido a cada estudiante trabajar en páginas web on line con sus compañeros, habiendo podido añadir, expandir o modificar su contenido en ellas. Las versiones antiguas nunca se eliminan y pueden restaurarse. Esto ha permitido, además de calificar el trabajo de grupo, hacer un seguimiento del trabajo individual de cada estudiante, para su mejor evaluación. PIMCD 2013 nº 3 (UCM.

Co-creation of information leaflets to meet the support needs of people living with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) through innovative use of wiki technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodham, Karen; Gavin, Jeff; Coulson, Neil; Watts, Leon

2016-01-01

People living with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) experience frustration with the lack of knowledge and understanding of CRPS as a pain condition. We report on our attempt to address this issue. People living with CRPS taking part in a larger study were invited to co-construct a CRPS wiki page that addressed the areas in which they had experienced the most difficulty. A blank wiki page was set up for participants to populate with issues they felt needed to be raised and addressed. Participants failed to engage with the wiki technology. We modified our procedure and completed an inductive analysis of a sister-forum which participants were using as part of the larger study. Six issues of importance were identified. We used the discussion forum threads to populate the themes. Due to a continued lack of engagement with the wiki technology, the team decided to create a suite of leaflets which were piloted with delegates at a CRPS patient conference. Future work should be mindful of the extent to which patients are able and willing to share their experiences through such technology. Striking the balance between patient-endorsed and researcher-driven co-creation of such material is imperative.

A Capstone Wiki Knowledge Base: A Case Study of an Online Tool Designed to Promote Life-Long Learning through Engineering Literature Research

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, James B.; Coyle, James R.

2011-01-01

This article reports the results of a case study in which an experimental wiki knowledge base was designed, developed, and tested by the Brill Science Library at Miami University for an undergraduate engineering senior capstone project. The wiki knowledge base was created to determine if the science library could enhance the engineering literature…

A Course Wiki: Challenges in Facilitating and Assessing Student-Generated Learning Content for the Humanities Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Lazda-Cazers, Rasma

2010-01-01

New Web technology allows for the design of traditionally lecture-centered humanities courses by fostering active learning and engaging students as producers of learning content. The article presents the experiences with a student-generated wiki for a Germanic Mythology course. Evaluations indicated an overwhelmingly positive student experience…

Online Open Neuroimaging Mass Meta-Analysis with a Wiki

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Finn Arup; Kempton, Matthew J.; Williams, Steven C. R.

2015-01-01

We describe a system for meta-analysis where a wiki stores numerical data in a simple comma-separated values format and a web service performs the numerical statistical computation. We initially apply the system on multiple meta-analyses of structural neuroimaging data results. The described system...... allows for mass meta-analysis, e.g., meta-analysis across multiple brain regions and multiple mental disorders providing an overview of important relationships and their uncertainties in a collaborative environment....

Data Collaborative: A Practical Exploration of Big Data in Course Wikis

Science.gov (United States)

Percell, Jay C.

2016-01-01

Wikis continue to be used within technology environments of K-12 and higher education because they offer a collaborative environment for students to produce and receive content in concert with each other or on an individual basis (Kirkham, 2014). These online spaces are typically used as a course management system where students can both receive…

Astronaut James S. Voss Performs Task in the Russian Zvezda Service Module

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

Astronaut James S. Voss, Expedition Two flight engineer, performs an electronics task in the Russian Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station (ISS). Zvezda is linked to the Russian-built Functional Cargo Block (FGB), or Zarya, the first component of the ISS. Zarya was launched on a Russian Proton rocket prior to the launch of Unity, the first U.S.-built component to the ISS. Zvezda (Russian word for star), the third component of the ISS and the primary Russian contribution to the ISS, was launched by a three-stage Proton rocket on July 12, 2000. Zvezda serves as the cornerstone for early human habitation of the station, providing living quarters, a life support system, electrical power distribution, a data processing system, a flight control system, and a propulsion system. It also provides a communications system that includes remote command capabilities from ground flight controllers. The 42,000-pound module measures 43 feet in length and has a wing span of 98 feet. Similar in layout to the core module of Russia's Mir space station, it contains 3 pressurized compartments and 13 windows that allow ultimate viewing of Earth and space.

Wiki and Digital Video Use in Strategic Interaction-Based Experiential EFL Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Dehaan, Jonathan; Johnson, Neil H.; Yoshimura, Noriko; Kondo, Takako

2012-01-01

This paper details the use of a free and access-controlled wiki as the learning management system for a four-week teaching module designed to improve the oral communication skills of Japanese university EFL students. Students engaged in repeated experiential learning cycles of planning, doing, observing, and evaluating their performance of a role…

The Effect of Google Earth and Wiki Models on Oral Presentation Skills of University EFL Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Awada, Ghada; Diab, Hassan B.

2018-01-01

This article reports the results of an experimental study that investigated the effectiveness of Google Earth and Wiki tools in improving the oral presentation skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and boosting their motivation for learning. The participants (n =81) are enrolled in writing classes at two English-medium…

Virtual strategies to improve transversal competences, using wikis in a collaborative work

Science.gov (United States)

Guinau, Marta; Playa, Elisabet

2016-04-01

A major educational aim in university degrees since the implementation of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) on the European universities is the work based on transversal competences. However, the first course students arrive at the Spanish universities with important deficiencies on some of these competences, especially regarding on oral and written expression, time management and collaborative work. The experience of the teachers involved in this work has revealed the coordination difficulty between the students to work in group, important deficiencies on information management and the stress caused by the oral presentations. The results presented here correspond to a teaching innovation project. It is based on: a) the development of works in groups of 3 or 4 students, proposed as flipped classrooms strategy and b) the implementation of a virtual tool (a wiki). This tool helps the students with scientific information management and facilitates the access of all the students belonging to the work group at the information provided by colleagues. The wiki also improves the monitoring and evaluation of the work and contributions of each student by teachers. Each group must develop a topic related to the subject - General Geology and Geochemistry - that the group chose from a list of earth sciences topics proposed by teachers. The resulting works are presented in poster and oral presentations (10 min. per group and 5 min. for questions). Each work is evaluated by teachers using the evidences provided on the wiki and by means of evaluation guides. Moreover, the students must self and co-evaluate the presented works. The implementation of this project has provided information to analyze the impact of these strategies and to quantify it in terms of 'Learning Analytics'.

Wiki-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Adult Onset Sarcoma: A New Paradigm in Sarcoma Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhaus, S. J.; Thomas, D.; Desai, J.; Vuletich, C.; von Dincklage, J.; Olver, I.

2015-01-01

In 2013 Australia introduced Wiki-based Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Adult Onset Sarcoma. These guidelines utilized a customized MediaWiki software application for guideline development and are the first evidence-based guidelines for clinical management of sarcoma. This paper presents our experience with developing and implementing web-based interactive guidelines and reviews some of the challenges and lessons from adopting an evidence-based (rather than consensus-based) approach to clinical sarcoma guidelines. Digital guidelines can be easily updated with new evidence, continuously reviewed and widely disseminated. They provide an accessible method of enabling clinicians and consumers to access evidence-based clinical practice recommendations and, as evidenced by over 2000 views in the first four months after release, with 49% of those visits being from countries outside of Australia. The lessons learned have relevance to other rare cancers in addition to the international sarcoma community. PMID:25784832

Chinese Preservice Teachers’ Professional Identity Links with Education Program Performance: The Roles of Task Value Belief and Learning Motivations

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Yan; Hawk, Skyler T.; Zhang, Xiaohui; Zhao, Hongyu

2016-01-01

Professional identity is a key issue spanning the entirety of teachers’ career development. Despite the abundance of existing research examining professional identity, its link with occupation-related behavior at the primary career stage (i.e., GPA in preservice education) and the potential process that underlies this association is still not fully understood. This study explored the professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers, and its links with task value belief, intrinsic learning...

Using Wiki in Teacher Education: Impact on Knowledge Management Processes and Student Satisfaction

Science.gov (United States)

Biasutti, Michele; EL-Deghaidy, Heba

2012-01-01

The current study reports on the use of Wiki as an online didactic tool to develop knowledge management (KM) processes in higher education. This study integrates social constructivist principles to learning where learners are pro-active and collaborative through higher order cognitive processes. The study was administered in two countries, namely…

Developing Business Writing Skills and Reducing Writing Anxiety of EFL Learners through Wikis

Science.gov (United States)

Kassem, Mohamed Ali Mohamed

2017-01-01

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of using wikis on developing business writing skills and reducing writing anxiety of Business Administration students at Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz University, KSA. Sixty students, who were randomly chosen and divided into two equivalent groups: control and experimental, participated in the…

Easy and difficult performance-approach goals : Their moderating effect on the link between task interest and performance attainment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blaga, Monica; Van Yperen, N.W.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the positive link between task interest and performance attainment can he negatively affected by the pursuit of difficult performance-approach goals. This was tested in a sample of 60 undergraduate Students at a Dutch university, In line with

El diseño de una Wiki sobre ecoturismo como herramienta para el aprendizaje universitario de turismo en entorno virtual

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesc González Reverté

2010-01-01

Full Text Available La experiencia consiste en la creación de una wiki sobre Ecoturismo organizada en torno al trabajo colectivo como objeto de aprendizaje de la evaluación continua para la asignatura de (Ecoturismo. Tiene dos objetivos de innovación: 1 el desarrollo de metodologías docentes aptas para el trabajo colaborativo, y 2 habituar al uso de las herramientas del web 2.0 a estudiantes y a docentes. Las principales aportaciones del proyecto han sido el diseño de una metodología novedosa de trabajo en equipo en entorno de aprendizaje virtual; y la integración de las entradas de la wiki como recurso docente. Las encuestas de satisfacción realizadas entre los estudiantes muestran la excelente acogida del proyecto. Los principales problemas detectados tienen que ver con las dificultades técnicas en la implementación de la wiki así como el exceso de carga docente que ha supuesto.

Wikis: Developing Pre-Service Teachers' Leadership Skills and Knowledge of Content Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Reid-Griffin, Angelia; Slaten, Kelli M.

2016-01-01

In this initial phase of our multi-year research study we set out to explore the development of leadership skills in our pre-service secondary teachers after using an online wiki, Wikispaces. This paper presents our methods for preparing a group of 13 mathematics and 3 science secondary pre-service teachers to demonstrate the essential knowledge,…

Challenges of the Administrative Consultation Wiki Research Project as a Learning and Competences Development Method for MPA Students

Science.gov (United States)

Kovac, Polonca; Stare, Janez

2015-01-01

Administrative Consultation Wiki (ACW) is a project run under the auspices of the Faculty of Administration and the Ministry of Public Administration in Slovenia since 2009. A crucial component thereof is the involvement of students of Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree programs to offer them an opportunity to develop competences in…

WikiLeaks under fire: Is it electronic civil disobedience?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miquel Comas Oliver

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper evaluates the usefulness of the civil disobedience theory to legitimate the e-leaking of secrets, i.e. ethical and electronic disclosure of confidential information. First, the main definitions of offline civil disobedience are reviewed. Liberalism established the dominant set of validity conditions: symbolic, peaceful, responsible, public, constitutionally loyal, etc. We criticize this standpoint thanks to the discursive approach, but also highlighting its prejudices. Second, we analyse whether WikiLeaks meets those classical requirements. Encrypted anonymity, partial decriminalization and limited irresponsibility become acceptable. Regarding publicity, the disobedient visualization of a political conflict can be satisfied without revealing the identity of its participants.

Pre-Launch Tasks Proposed in our Contract of December 1991

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

We propose, during the pre-EOS phase to: (1) develop, with other MODIS Team Members, a means of discriminating different major biome types with NDVI and other AVHRR-based data; (2) develop a simple ecosystem process model for each of these biomes, BIOME-BGC; (3) relate the seasonal trend of weekly composite NDVI to vegetation phenology and temperature limits to develop a satellite defined growing season for vegetation; and (4) define physiologically based energy to mass conversion factors for carbon and water for each biome. Our final core at-launch product will be simplified, completely satellite driven biome specific models for net primary production. We will build these biome specific satellite driven algorithms using a family of simple ecosystem process models as calibration models, collectively called BIOME-BGC, and establish coordination with an existing network of ecological study sites in order to test and validate these products. Field datasets will then be available for both BIOME-BGC development and testing, use for algorithm developments of other MODIS Team Members, and ultimately be our first test point for MODIS land vegetation products upon launch. We will use field sites from the National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research network, and develop Glacier National Park as a major site for intensive validation.

Using Wikis as a Support and Assessment Tool in Collaborative Digital Game-Based Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Samur, Yavuz

2011-01-01

In computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments, there are many researches done on collaborative learning activities; however, in game-based learning environments, more research and literature on collaborative learning activities are required. Actually, both game-based learning environments and wikis enable us to use new chances…

The Effect of Predicted Vehicle Displacement on Ground Crew Task Performance and Hardware Design

Science.gov (United States)

Atencio, Laura Ashley; Reynolds, David W.

2011-01-01

NASA continues to explore new launch vehicle concepts that will carry astronauts to low- Earth orbit to replace the soon-to-be retired Space Transportation System (STS) shuttle. A tall vertically stacked launch vehicle (> or =300 ft) is exposed to the natural environment while positioned on the launch pad. Varying directional winds and vortex shedding cause the vehicle to sway in an oscillating motion. Ground crews working high on the tower and inside the vehicle during launch preparations will be subjected to this motion while conducting critical closeout tasks such as mating fluid and electrical connectors and carrying heavy objects. NASA has not experienced performing these tasks in such environments since the Saturn V, which was serviced from a movable (but rigid) service structure; commercial launchers are likewise attended by a service structure that moves away from the vehicle for launch. There is concern that vehicle displacement may hinder ground crew operations, impact the ground system designs, and ultimately affect launch availability. The vehicle sway assessment objective is to replicate predicted frequencies and displacements of these tall vehicles, examine typical ground crew tasks, and provide insight into potential vehicle design considerations and ground crew performance guidelines. This paper outlines the methodology, configurations, and motion testing performed while conducting the vehicle displacement assessment that will be used as a Technical Memorandum for future vertically stacked vehicle designs.

Research and Teaching: WikiED--Using Web 2.0 Tools to Teach Content and Critical Thinking

Science.gov (United States)

Frisch, Jennifer K.; Jackson, Paula C.; Murray, Meg C.

2013-01-01

WIKIed Biology is a National Science Foundation Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics interdisciplinary project in which the authors developed and implemented a model for student centered, inquiry-driven instruction using Web 2.0 technologies to increase inquiry and conceptual understanding in…

WEBQUEST AND WIKI: SEARCH OF INFORMATION IN INTERNET AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETENCES IN COLLABORATIVE WEBQUEST Y WIKIS: BÚSQUEDA DE INFORMACIÓN EN RED Y DESARROLLO DE COMPETENCIAS EN COLABORACIÓN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lourdes Villalustre Martínez

2011-03-01

Full Text Available In university education is committed to strategies and resources, -that exploit the potential of digital tools-, such as Webquests as supported collaborative research methodologies in the search for information and the use of content on the Internet for conducting projects. Which can be articulated from 2.0 tools like wikis, for its versatility and capacity to generate knowledge collaboratively by creating online content.In the virtual subject of Education in the rural area was designed a collaborative learning activity based on the philosophy of webquests and supported by the use of wikis, - setting up what was called Gameproject - that facilitates access and management information to create a project of socio-educational intervention.After its implementation in several years, 161 students were asked about competences they considered to have developed and consolidated with the proposed collaborative work. The students stressed the skills to research, collection and processing of information, and other more specific competences relating to the future performance of their work. Noted that students without prior experience in virtual training, considered to have consolidated over the powers associated with the use of tools.En la formación universitaria se está apostando por estrategias y recursos didácticos, -que aprovechan las potencialidades de diferentes instrumentos digitales-, como las Webquests en tanto metodologías de investigación colaborativa apoyada en la búsqueda de información y en la utilización de contenidos alojados en Internet para la realización de proyectos. Los cuales pueden articularse a partir de herramientas 2.0 como las wikis, por su gran versatilidad y capacidad para generar conocimiento de forma colaborativa mediante la creación de contenidos on-line.   En la asignatura virtual de Educación en el ámbito rural1 se ha diseñado una actividad formativa en colaboración basada en la filosofía de las webquests y

Characterizing Epistemic Uncertainty for Launch Vehicle Designs

Science.gov (United States)

Novack, Steven D.; Rogers, Jim; Hark, Frank; Al Hassan, Mohammad

2016-01-01

NASA Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) has the task of estimating the aleatory (randomness) and epistemic (lack of knowledge) uncertainty of launch vehicle loss of mission and crew risk and communicating the results. Launch vehicles are complex engineered systems designed with sophisticated subsystems that are built to work together to accomplish mission success. Some of these systems or subsystems are in the form of heritage equipment, while some have never been previously launched. For these cases, characterizing the epistemic uncertainty is of foremost importance, and it is anticipated that the epistemic uncertainty of a modified launch vehicle design versus a design of well understood heritage equipment would be greater. For reasons that will be discussed, standard uncertainty propagation methods using Monte Carlo simulation produce counter intuitive results and significantly underestimate epistemic uncertainty for launch vehicle models. Furthermore, standard PRA methods such as Uncertainty-Importance analyses used to identify components that are significant contributors to uncertainty are rendered obsolete since sensitivity to uncertainty changes are not reflected in propagation of uncertainty using Monte Carlo methods.This paper provides a basis of the uncertainty underestimation for complex systems and especially, due to nuances of launch vehicle logic, for launch vehicles. It then suggests several alternative methods for estimating uncertainty and provides examples of estimation results. Lastly, the paper shows how to implement an Uncertainty-Importance analysis using one alternative approach, describes the results, and suggests ways to reduce epistemic uncertainty by focusing on additional data or testing of selected components.

The NASA Human Research Wiki - An Online Collaboration Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Yael; Rasbury, Jack; Johnson, Jordan; Barstend, Kristina; Saile, Lynn; Watkins, Sharmi

2012-01-01

The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) element is one of six elements of the Human Research Program (HRP). ExMC is charged with decreasing the risk of: "Inability to adequately recognize or treat an ill or injured crew member" for exploration-class missions In preparation for exploration-class missions, ExMC has compiled a large evidence base, previously available only to persons within the NASA community. ExMC has developed the "NASA Human Research Wiki" in an effort to make the ExMC information available to the general public and increase collaboration within and outside of NASA. The ExMC evidence base is comprised of several types of data, including: (1)Information on more than 80 medical conditions which could occur during space flight (a)Derived from several sources (b)Including data on incidence and potential outcomes, as captured in the Integrated Medical Model s (IMM) Clinical Finding Forms (CliFFs). (2)Approximately 25 gap reports (a)Identify any "gaps" in knowledge and/or technology that would need to be addressed in order to provide adequate medical support for these novel missions.

A method for increasing the accuracy of image annotating in crowd-sourcing

OpenAIRE

Nurmukhametov, O.R.; Baklanov, A.

2016-01-01

Crowdsourcing is a new approach to solve tasks when a group of volunteers replaces experts. Recent results show that crowdsourcing is an efficient tool for annotating large datasets. Geo-Wiki is an example of successful citizen science projects. The goal of Geo-Wiki project is to improve a global land cover map by applying crowdsourcing for image recognition. In our research, we investigate methods for increasing reliability of data collected during The Cropland Capture Game (Geo-Wiki). In th...

How to Increase the Accuracy of Crowdsourcing Campaigns?

OpenAIRE

Nurmukhametov, O.; Baklanov, A.; Fritz, S.; Khachay, M.; Salk, C.; See, L.; Shchepashchenko, D.

2015-01-01

Crowdsourcing is a new approach to performing tasks, with a group of volunteers rather than experts. For example, the Geo-Wiki project [1] aims to improve the global land-cover map by crowdsourcing for image recognition. Though crowdsourcing gives a simple way to perform tasks that are hard to automate, analysis of data received from non-experts is a challenging problem that requires a holistic approach. Here we study in detail the dataset of the Cropland Capture game (part of Geo-Wiki projec...

UMass at TREC WEB 2014: Entity Query Feature Expansion using Knowledge Base Links

Science.gov (United States)

2014-11-01

task on the category A subset and demonstrate the benefit of entity-centric approaches even for non-entity queries like “dark chocolate health benefits ...category A subset and demonstrate the benefit of entity-centric approaches even for non-entity queries like ???dark chocolate health benefits ???. 15...rogers 289 benefits of yoga Model MAP ERR@20 NDCG@20 SDM 4.18 9.15 12.61 WikiRM1 4.00 9.31 12.80 SDM-RM3 3.53 7.61 11.00 EQFE 4.67 10.00 14.61 (a) Results

Development of a decision aid for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and invasive mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit employing user-centered design and a wiki platform for rapid prototyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Plaisance, Ariane; Witteman, Holly O; LeBlanc, Annie; Kryworuchko, Jennifer; Heyland, Daren Keith; Ebell, Mark H; Blair, Louisa; Tapp, Diane; Dupuis, Audrey; Lavoie-Bérard, Carole-Anne; McGinn, Carrie Anna; Légaré, France; Archambault, Patrick Michel

2018-01-01

Upon admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), all patients should discuss their goals of care and express their wishes concerning life-sustaining interventions (e.g., cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)). Without such discussions, interventions that prolong life at the cost of decreasing its quality may be used without appropriate guidance from patients. To adapt an existing decision aid about CPR to create a wiki-based decision aid individually adapted to each patient's risk factors; and to document the use of a wiki platform for this purpose. We conducted three weeks of ethnographic observation in our ICU to observe intensivists and patients discussing goals of care and to identify their needs regarding decision making. We interviewed intensivists individually. Then we conducted three rounds of rapid prototyping involving 15 patients and 11 health professionals. We recorded and analyzed all discussions, interviews and comments, and collected sociodemographic data. Using a wiki, a website that allows multiple users to contribute or edit content, we adapted the decision aid accordingly and added the Good Outcome Following Attempted Resuscitation (GO-FAR) prediction rule calculator. We added discussion of invasive mechanical ventilation. The final decision aid comprises values clarification, risks and benefits of CPR and invasive mechanical ventilation, statistics about CPR, and a synthesis section. We added the GO-FAR prediction calculator as an online adjunct to the decision aid. Although three rounds of rapid prototyping simplified the information in the decision aid, 60% (n = 3/5) of the patients involved in the last cycle still did not understand its purpose. Wikis and user-centered design can be used to adapt decision aids to users' needs and local contexts. Our wiki platform allows other centers to adapt our tools, reducing duplication and accelerating scale-up. Physicians need training in shared decision making skills about goals of care and in using the

Development of a decision aid for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and invasive mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit employing user-centered design and a wiki platform for rapid prototyping.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ariane Plaisance

Full Text Available Upon admission to an intensive care unit (ICU, all patients should discuss their goals of care and express their wishes concerning life-sustaining interventions (e.g., cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR. Without such discussions, interventions that prolong life at the cost of decreasing its quality may be used without appropriate guidance from patients.To adapt an existing decision aid about CPR to create a wiki-based decision aid individually adapted to each patient's risk factors; and to document the use of a wiki platform for this purpose.We conducted three weeks of ethnographic observation in our ICU to observe intensivists and patients discussing goals of care and to identify their needs regarding decision making. We interviewed intensivists individually. Then we conducted three rounds of rapid prototyping involving 15 patients and 11 health professionals. We recorded and analyzed all discussions, interviews and comments, and collected sociodemographic data. Using a wiki, a website that allows multiple users to contribute or edit content, we adapted the decision aid accordingly and added the Good Outcome Following Attempted Resuscitation (GO-FAR prediction rule calculator.We added discussion of invasive mechanical ventilation. The final decision aid comprises values clarification, risks and benefits of CPR and invasive mechanical ventilation, statistics about CPR, and a synthesis section. We added the GO-FAR prediction calculator as an online adjunct to the decision aid. Although three rounds of rapid prototyping simplified the information in the decision aid, 60% (n = 3/5 of the patients involved in the last cycle still did not understand its purpose.Wikis and user-centered design can be used to adapt decision aids to users' needs and local contexts. Our wiki platform allows other centers to adapt our tools, reducing duplication and accelerating scale-up. Physicians need training in shared decision making skills about goals of care and in

Uso de wikis como herramienta de trabajo colaborativo en un proceso de formación inicial docente

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilich Silva-Peña

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A través del presente artículo queremos compartir el desarrollo de una experiencia de utilización de wikis como estrategia de trabajo colaborativo en un curso de formación inicial docente. La experiencia se enmarcó en el contexto de un proyecto de Investigación+Desarrollo donde se exploraron mejoras tecnológicas a incorporar en la formación docente. Se utilizó el software Moodle ®, con características Open source. Para sistematizar los resultados desde la mirada de los/as estudiantes se aplicaron cuestionarios con respuestas abiertas, que fueron codificadas utilizando una metodología cualitativa. Los resultados muestran una alta valoración de los wikis como herramienta de aprendizaje, especialmente por el apoyo que otorga al trabajo pedagógico no presencial y asincrónico.

NASA's Student Launch Projects: A Government Education Program for Science and Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, Christena C.

2009-01-01

Among the many NASA education activities, the Student Launch projects are examples of how one agency has been working with students to inspire math, science and engineering interest. There are two Student Launch projects: Student Launch Initiative (SLI) for middle and high school students and the University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) for college students. The programs are described and website links are provided for further information. This document presents an example of how an agency can work with its unique resources in partnership with schools and communities to bring excitement to the classroom.

Dynamic navigation simulation of an articulated multi-link arm for in-vessel inspection tasks in a Tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rastogi, Naveen; Prakash, Ravi; Dutta, Pramit; Virpara, Nirav

2013-01-01

This paper is part of the remote handling (RH) activities towards preparedness for the future fusion machines. The aim of the R and D program performed is to demonstrate the feasibility of the inspection tasks inside the Vacuum Vessel. Due to the toroidal geometry and huge dimensions of the Vacuum Vessel, there is an inevitable need of a precise and fast automated articulated inspection system that can perform the required inspection tasks without damaging the surface and to maintain the machine availability for the maximum time. When considering generic Tokamak relevant conditions, the set of major challenges for the Remote Equipment is to sustain the severe operating conditions: ultra high vacuum, temperature and tritium level. The limited number of machine access ports and the very constrained environment complicate the introduction of a robot into the machine. The Multi Link inspection arm is required to be deployed in the bounded environment inside the Tokamak Vessel. This paper presents the development of software for implementation of autonomous navigation motion control algorithms based design simulations for the inspection Arm for routine inspection tasks, navigation to the targeted coordinates inside the Vessel, clash avoidance and to perform other auxiliary mechanical tasks. The software is also capable to store the joints and frame locations at every interval which can be used for the real time control application. The developed software has the flexibility to work with any number of links and joints. (author)

Linking Theoretical Decision-making Mechanisms in the Simon Task with Electrophysiological Data: A Model-based Neuroscience Study in Humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Servant, Mathieu; White, Corey; Montagnini, Anna; Burle, Borís

2016-10-01

A current challenge for decision-making research is in extending models of simple decisions to more complex and ecological choice situations. Conflict tasks (e.g., Simon, Stroop, Eriksen flanker) have been the focus of much interest, because they provide a decision-making context representative of everyday life experiences. Modeling efforts have led to an elaborated drift diffusion model for conflict tasks (DMC), which implements a superimposition of automatic and controlled decision activations. The DMC has proven to capture the diversity of behavioral conflict effects across various task contexts. This study combined DMC predictions with EEG and EMG measurements to test a set of linking propositions that specify the relationship between theoretical decision-making mechanisms involved in the Simon task and brain activity. Our results are consistent with a representation of the superimposed decision variable in the primary motor cortices. The decision variable was also observed in the EMG activity of response agonist muscles. These findings provide new insight into the neurophysiology of human decision-making. In return, they provide support for the DMC model framework.

El wiki : espacio de comunicación y aprendizaje en ELE

OpenAIRE

Mendes, Laura Manuela Domingues

2014-01-01

Projeto de mestrado em Espanhol Língua Segunda e Língua Estrangeira En este trabajo se debate la pertinencia de la utilización de una aplicación de software social, el wiki, en el contexto de la enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera, para fomentar el proceso de la lectoescritura en trabajo colaborativo en esta lengua. La propuesta es construir un entorno virtual dentro del espacio del aula para estimular el aprendizaje y comunicación real en español, producto de un conju...

FoodWiki: a Mobile App Examines Side Effects of Food Additives Via Semantic Web.

Science.gov (United States)

Çelik Ertuğrul, Duygu

2016-02-01

In this article, a research project on mobile safe food consumption system (FoodWiki) is discussed that performs its own inferencing rules in its own knowledge base. Currently, the developed rules examines the side effects that are causing some health risks: heart disease, diabetes, allergy, and asthma as initial. There are thousands compounds added to the processed food by food producers with numerous effects on the food: to add color, stabilize, texturize, preserve, sweeten, thicken, add flavor, soften, emulsify, and so forth. Those commonly used ingredients or compounds in manufactured foods may have many side effects that cause several health risks such as heart disease, hypertension, cholesterol, asthma, diabetes, allergies, alzheimer etc. according to World Health Organization. Safety in food consumption, especially by patients in these risk groups, has become crucial, given that such health problems are ranked in the top ten health risks around the world. It is needed personal e-health knowledge base systems to help patients take control of their safe food consumption. The systems with advanced semantic knowledge base can provide recommendations of appropriate foods before consumption by individuals. The proposed FoodWiki system is using a concept based search mechanism that performs on thousands food compounds to provide more relevant information.

The Effects of Wiki-based Recursive Process Writing on Chinese Narrative Essays for Chinese as a Second Language (CSL Students in Singapore

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chee Kuen Chin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on the effects of using wiki-based process writing in Singapore’s Chinese as a Second Language (CSL scenarios. A group of 32 Secondary 1 (Seventh Grade students (“Students” received various forms of online scaffolding at different steps of the writing process over two years. A whole set of teaching materials on 45 writing skills was developed and uploaded to the Wiki platform through five recursive cycles. In each cycle, the students were encouraged to apply skills they learned via Wiki platform in their writing and afterwards work as a team in the platform to peer-review each other’s first draft. With feedback received from peer revision, students proceeded to edit their first draft, focusing on the content of narratives and the appropriateness on their use of micro writing skills. The scaffolding decreased as the project progressed. Students’ pre-, mid- and post-writing tests were marked and compared. The authors analyzed the impact that the feedback in the process had towards the students’ overall writing performance. It was discovered that students' quality of written products was improved in general. It was also discovered that students benefited the most from giving remarks to their peers’ writing. The revision patterns of high, medium and low language ability students were also compared. It was found that the higher the language ability of the students, the more concerned they were with macro level for their revisions. ICT-mediated process writing has not garnered much attention in the field of CSL. The study hopes to contribute to the literature of ICTmediated writing instruction in the field of CSL.

A task analysis-linked approach for integrating the human factor in reliability assessments of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryan, T.G.

1988-01-01

This paper describes an emerging Task Analysis-Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT) for assessing the contributions of human error to nuclear power plant systems unreliability and risk. Techniques such as TALENT are emerging as a recognition that human error is a primary contributor to plant safety, however, it has been a peripheral consideration to data in plant reliability evaluations. TALENT also recognizes that involvement of persons with behavioral science expertise is required to support plant reliability and risk analyses. A number of state-of-knowledge human reliability analysis tools are also discussed which support the TALENT process. The core of TALENT is comprised of task, timeline and interface analysis data which provide the technology base for event and fault tree development, serve as criteria for selecting and evaluating performance shaping factors, and which provide a basis for auditing TALENT results. Finally, programs and case studies used to refine the TALENT process are described along with future research needs in the area. (author)

Studying the use of forest management decision support systems: An initial synthesis of lessons learned from case studies compiled using a semantic wiki

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gordon, S.N.; Floris, A.; Boerboom, L.G.J.; Lamas, T.; Eriksson, L.O.; Nieuwenhuis, M.G.; Rodriguez, L.

2014-01-01

In order to share information on the development and use of forest management decision support systems (FMDSS), a European-initiated network has established a wiki website as part of its activities. Case studies and associated lessons learned were solicited from the network using semantic structures

Arquitectura en territorios informados y transparentes Una wiki en la escuela de arquitectura

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Fernández García

2010-01-01

Full Text Available El marco general de nuestra investigación en la universidad son los espacios de convivencia, información y formación que configuran los habitantes en un territorio online. La Web 2.0 nos ha dotado de nuevas herramientas con la que construir espacios. Desde la fundación en agosto de 2006 de CityWiki, indagamos en la arquitectura de estos lugares que se articulan en un espacio común en el que, a falta de jerarquía y policía, la acción en él la define el empoderamiento y la libertad del ciudadano responsable. A modo de laboratorio, desde entonces, embarcamos la actividad investigadora y docente en la actitud 2.0 incluida en la WWW. En la primera parte de este artículo se expone el pensamiento actualizado que empíricamente evoluciona emparejado a la actualidad de nuestras investigaciones. El objetivo es hacer entender el territorio wiki como informado y transparente llamado a añadir capas de información a la realidad para de esta forma no sustituirla sino ampliarla. Seguidamente, en la segunda parte, se describe y analiza la experiencia de innovación llevada a cabo durante el curso 2007/2008 en la que se ensayó un modelo docente instrumentados en los modos y paisajes previamente descritos.

Wiki Loves Monuments 2011: experiència a Espanya i reflexions des de la difusió del patrimoni cultural

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emilio José Rodríguez Posada

2012-05-01

Full Text Available La Wikipedia va néixer al ciberespai. Els seus primers anys es van caracteritzar per una feina distribuïda i asíncrona entre usuaris de tot el planeta, que amb prou feines tenien relació personal fora de la xarxa. Amb el pas del temps, alguns dels seus voluntaris van fer les anomenades wikitrobades, però al començament les reunions de wikimedistes tenien la finalitat d'estrènyer llaços i no comportaven cap millora directa dels continguts dels projectes. Més endavant van sorgir iniciatives presencials en les quals es van involucrar, a més de voluntaris, algunes entitats culturals; la més recent i que ha tingut més impacte és Wiki Loves Monuments 2011, un concurs destinat a fotografiar monuments de divuit països europeus, entre els quals hi ha Espanya. Gràcies a l'alta participació, s'han pres en conjunt més de 160.000 fotografies de monuments. Espanya ha ocupat el tercer lloc en nombre d'imatges. En aquest article estudiem els orígens de Wiki Loves Monuments, com es va posar en marxa, com es va desenvolupar i els resultats obtinguts. L'èxit de l'edició 2011 i les peticions d'altres països han fet que ja es treballi en l'organització de Wiki Loves Monuments 2012, aquesta vegada a escala mundial.

Launch vehicle design and GNC sizing with ASTOS

Science.gov (United States)

Cremaschi, Francesco; Winter, Sebastian; Rossi, Valerio; Wiegand, Andreas

2018-03-01

The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently involved in several activities related to launch vehicle designs (Future Launcher Preparatory Program, Ariane 6, VEGA evolutions, etc.). Within these activities, ESA has identified the importance of developing a simulation infrastructure capable of supporting the multi-disciplinary design and preliminary guidance navigation and control (GNC) design of different launch vehicle configurations. Astos Solutions has developed the multi-disciplinary optimization and launcher GNC simulation and sizing tool (LGSST) under ESA contract. The functionality is integrated in the Analysis, Simulation and Trajectory Optimization Software for space applications (ASTOS) and is intended to be used from the early design phases up to phase B1 activities. ASTOS shall enable the user to perform detailed vehicle design tasks and assessment of GNC systems, covering all aspects of rapid configuration and scenario management, sizing of stages, trajectory-dependent estimation of structural masses, rigid and flexible body dynamics, navigation, guidance and control, worst case analysis, launch safety analysis, performance analysis, and reporting.

The Max Launch Abort System - Concept, Flight Test, and Evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Michael G.

2014-01-01

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) is an independent engineering analysis and test organization providing support across the range of NASA programs. In 2007 NASA was developing the launch escape system for the Orion spacecraft that was evolved from the traditional tower-configuration escape systems used for the historic Mercury and Apollo spacecraft. The NESC was tasked, as a programmatic risk-reduction effort to develop and flight test an alternative to the Orion baseline escape system concept. This project became known as the Max Launch Abort System (MLAS), named in honor of Maxime Faget, the developer of the original Mercury escape system. Over the course of approximately two years the NESC performed conceptual and tradeoff analyses, designed and built full-scale flight test hardware, and conducted a flight test demonstration in July 2009. Since the flight test, the NESC has continued to further develop and refine the MLAS concept.

Enhancing Enterprise 2.0 Ecosystems Using Semantic Web and Linked Data Technologies:The SemSLATES Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Passant, Alexandre; Laublet, Philippe; Breslin, John G.; Decker, Stefan

During the past few years, various organisations embraced the Enterprise 2.0 paradigms, providing their employees with new means to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing in the workplace. However, while tools such as blogs, wikis, and principles like free-tagging or content syndication allow user-generated content to be more easily created and shared in the enterprise, in spite of some social issues, these new practices lead to various problems in terms of knowledge management. In this chapter, we provide an approach based on Semantic Web and Linked Data technologies for (1) integrating heterogeneous data from distinct Enterprise 2.0 applications, and (2) bridging the gap between raw text and machine-readable Linked Data. We discuss the theoretical background of our proposal as well as a practical case-study in enterprise, focusing on the various add-ons that have been provided to the original information system, as well as presenting how public Linked Open Data from the Web can be used to enhance existing Enterprise 2.0 ecosystems.

La Universidad de Extremadura y su compromiso pedagógico con la educación virtual: los wikis como expresión de la web 2.0

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel Ángel Martín Sánchez

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Las universidades actuales se enfrentan al reto de actualizar no sólo sus recursos tecnológicos, sino también, y quizá más profundamente, el conocimiento de los docentes y su práctica pedagógica. Creemos que sólo así se logrará una verdadera innovación en los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje en este nuevo Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Una de las innovaciones que la tecnología ofrece es la relacionada con herramientas de software social, donde podemos encontrar la tecnología Wiki como motor de diversas experiencias didácticas en el ámbito universitario. La implantación de herramientas como el Wiki está provocando en el profesorado un proceso de replanteamiento de su racionalidad pedagógica y de sus prácticas docentes. Mediante el presente artículo pretendemos ofrecer un acercamiento a distintas prácticas con Wikis que desde hace algunos años se vienen implantando en la Universidad de Extremadura, en ellas son protagonistas la formación del profesorado, la reflexión del alumnado sobre la propia actividad mediante portafolios y diarios personales y, finalmente, el uso de los Wikis como herramientas para desarrollar aprendizaje colaborativo.

Vandenberg Air Force Base Upper Level Wind Launch Weather Constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Shafer, Jaclyn A.; Wheeler, Mark M.

2012-01-01

The 30th Operational Support Squadron Weather Flight (30 OSSWF) provides comprehensive weather services to the space program at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California. One of their responsibilities is to monitor upper-level winds to ensure safe launch operations of the Minuteman III ballistic missile. The 30 OSSWF tasked the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to analyze VAFB sounding data with the goal of determining the probability of violating (PoV) their upper-level thresholds for wind speed and shear constraints specific to this launch vehicle, and to develop a tool that will calculate the PoV of each constraint on the day of launch. In order to calculate the probability of exceeding each constraint, the AMU collected and analyzed historical data from VAFB. The historical sounding data were retrieved from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory archive for the years 1994-2011 and then stratified into four sub-seasons: January-March, April-June, July-September, and October-December. The maximum wind speed and 1000-ft shear values for each sounding in each subseason were determined. To accurately calculate the PoV, the AMU determined the theoretical distributions that best fit the maximum wind speed and maximum shear datasets. Ultimately it was discovered that the maximum wind speeds follow a Gaussian distribution while the maximum shear values follow a lognormal distribution. These results were applied when calculating the averages and standard deviations needed for the historical and real-time PoV calculations. In addition to the requirements outlined in the original task plan, the AMU also included forecast sounding data from the Rapid Refresh model. This information provides further insight for the launch weather officers (LWOs) when determining if a wind constraint violation will occur over the next few hours on day of launch. The interactive graphical user interface (GUI) for this project was developed in

Heavy Lift Launch Capability with a New Hydrocarbon Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Threet, Grady E., Jr.; Holt, James B.; Philips, Alan D.; Garcia, Jessica A.

2011-01-01

The Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center was tasked to define the thrust requirement of a new liquid oxygen rich staged combustion cycle hydrocarbon engine that could be utilized in a launch vehicle to meet NASA s future heavy lift needs. Launch vehicle concepts were sized using this engine for different heavy lift payload classes. Engine out capabilities for one of the heavy lift configurations were also analyzed for increased reliability that may be desired for high value payloads or crewed missions. The applicability for this engine in vehicle concepts to meet military and commercial class payloads comparable to current ELV capability was also evaluated.

INTERVIEW: Quick, Social and Collaborative - wiki-based user documentation at APC by Schneider Electric

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Margrethe H.; Pernille Bagger Nielsen, Pernille; Kalianov, Stanislav

2013-01-01

In the software documentation department at APC by Schneider Electric in Kolding, Denmark, Technical Writer Pernille Bagger Nielsen writes user documentation for the software developed by the company. In cooperation with Localization Manager Stanislav Kalianov she reorganised the user documentation...... for publication as wiki-based documentation on the internet. The new platform supports their strategy of using agile and iterative, topic-based, collaborative writing when developing user documentation. Their experience will interest readers who consider introducing a similar new strategy....

The Effects of Wiki-Based Recursive Process Writing on Chinese Narrative Essays for Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) Students in Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, Chee Kuen; Gong, Cheng; Tay, Boon Pei

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the effects of using wiki-based process writing in Singapore's Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) scenarios. A group of 32 Secondary 1 (Seventh Grade) students ("Students") received various forms of online scaffolding at different steps of the writing process over two years. A whole set of teaching materials on 45…

Launching a world-class joint venture.

Science.gov (United States)

Bamford, James; Ernst, David; Fubini, David G

2004-02-01

More than 5,000 joint ventures, and many more contractual alliances, have been launched worldwide in the past five years. Companies are realizing that JVs and alliances can be lucrative vehicles for developing new products, moving into new markets, and increasing revenues. The problem is, the success rate for JVs and alliances is on a par with that for mergers and acquisitions--which is to say not very good. The authors, all McKinsey consultants, argue that JV success remains elusive for most companies because they don't pay enough attention to launch planning and execution. Most companies are highly disciplined about integrating the companies they target through M&A, but they rarely commit sufficient resources to launching similarly sized joint ventures or alliances. As a result, the parent companies experience strategic conflicts, governance gridlock, and missed operational synergies. Often, they walk away from the deal. The launch phase begins with the parent companies' signing of a memorandum of understanding and continues through the first 100 days of the JV or alliance's operation. During this period, it's critical for the parents to convene a team dedicated to exposing inherent tensions early. Specifically, the launch team must tackle four basic challenges. First, build and maintain strategic alignment across the separate corporate entities, each of which has its own goals, market pressures, and shareholders. Second, create a shared governance system for the two parent companies. Third, manage the economic interdependencies between the corporate parents and the JV. And fourth, build a cohesive, high-performing organization (the JV or alliance)--not a simple task, since most managers come from, will want to return to, and may even hold simultaneous positions in the parent companies. Using real-world examples, the authors offer their suggestions for meeting these challenges.

Evolution of the Florida Launch Site Architecture: Embracing Multiple Customers, Enhancing Launch Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Colloredo, Scott; Gray, James A.

2011-01-01

The impending conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program and the Constellation Program cancellation unveiled in the FY2011 President's budget created a large void for human spaceflight capability and specifically launch activity from the Florida launch Site (FlS). This void created an opportunity to re-architect the launch site to be more accommodating to the future NASA heavy lift and commercial space industry. The goal is to evolve the heritage capabilities into a more affordable and flexible launch complex. This case study will discuss the FlS architecture evolution from the trade studies to select primary launch site locations for future customers, to improving infrastructure; promoting environmental remediation/compliance; improving offline processing, manufacturing, & recovery; developing range interface and control services with the US Air Force, and developing modernization efforts for the launch Pad, Vehicle Assembly Building, Mobile launcher, and supporting infrastructure. The architecture studies will steer how to best invest limited modernization funding from initiatives like the 21 st elSe and other potential funding.

NASA's Launch Propulsion Systems Technology Roadmap

Science.gov (United States)

McConnaughey, Paul K.; Femminineo, Mark G.; Koelfgen, Syri J.; Lepsch, Roger A; Ryan, Richard M.; Taylor, Steven A.

2012-01-01

Safe, reliable, and affordable access to low-Earth (LEO) orbit is necessary for all of the United States (US) space endeavors. In 2010, NASA s Office of the Chief Technologist commissioned 14 teams to develop technology roadmaps that could be used to guide the Agency s and US technology investment decisions for the next few decades. The Launch Propulsion Systems Technology Area (LPSTA) team was tasked to address the propulsion technology challenges for access to LEO. The developed LPSTA roadmap addresses technologies that enhance existing solid or liquid propulsion technologies and their related ancillary systems or significantly advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of less mature systems like airbreathing, unconventional, and other launch technologies. In developing this roadmap, the LPSTA team consulted previous NASA, military, and industry studies as well as subject matter experts to develop their assessment of this field, which has fundamental technological and strategic impacts for US space capabilities.

LACO-Wiki: A land cover validation tool and a new, innovative teaching resource for remote sensing and the geosciences

Science.gov (United States)

See, Linda; Perger, Christoph; Dresel, Christopher; Hofer, Martin; Weichselbaum, Juergen; Mondel, Thomas; Steffen, Fritz

2016-04-01

The validation of land cover products is an important step in the workflow of generating a land cover map from remotely-sensed imagery. Many students of remote sensing will be given exercises on classifying a land cover map followed by the validation process. Many algorithms exist for classification, embedded within proprietary image processing software or increasingly as open source tools. However, there is little standardization for land cover validation, nor a set of open tools available for implementing this process. The LACO-Wiki tool was developed as a way of filling this gap, bringing together standardized land cover validation methods and workflows into a single portal. This includes the storage and management of land cover maps and validation data; step-by-step instructions to guide users through the validation process; sound sampling designs; an easy-to-use environment for validation sample interpretation; and the generation of accuracy reports based on the validation process. The tool was developed for a range of users including producers of land cover maps, researchers, teachers and students. The use of such a tool could be embedded within the curriculum of remote sensing courses at a university level but is simple enough for use by students aged 13-18. A beta version of the tool is available for testing at: http://www.laco-wiki.net.

Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maramba Inocencio

2006-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We have witnessed a rapid increase in the use of Web-based 'collaborationware' in recent years. These Web 2.0 applications, particularly wikis, blogs and podcasts, have been increasingly adopted by many online health-related professional and educational services. Because of their ease of use and rapidity of deployment, they offer the opportunity for powerful information sharing and ease of collaboration. Wikis are Web sites that can be edited by anyone who has access to them. The word 'blog' is a contraction of 'Web Log' – an online Web journal that can offer a resource rich multimedia environment. Podcasts are repositories of audio and video materials that can be "pushed" to subscribers, even without user intervention. These audio and video files can be downloaded to portable media players that can be taken anywhere, providing the potential for "anytime, anywhere" learning experiences (mobile learning. Discussion Wikis, blogs and podcasts are all relatively easy to use, which partly accounts for their proliferation. The fact that there are many free and Open Source versions of these tools may also be responsible for their explosive growth. Thus it would be relatively easy to implement any or all within a Health Professions' Educational Environment. Paradoxically, some of their disadvantages also relate to their openness and ease of use. With virtually anybody able to alter, edit or otherwise contribute to the collaborative Web pages, it can be problematic to gauge the reliability and accuracy of such resources. While arguably, the very process of collaboration leads to a Darwinian type 'survival of the fittest' content within a Web page, the veracity of these resources can be assured through careful monitoring, moderation, and operation of the collaborationware in a closed and secure digital environment. Empirical research is still needed to build our pedagogic evidence base about the different aspects of these tools in

Ciberativismo: a guerra da WikiLeaks contra os segredos de Estado

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carole Ferreira da Cruz

2012-07-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1806-5023.2012v9n1p90 Resenha do livro WikiLeaks: a guerra de Julian Assange contra os Segredos de Estado (Editora Verus, 2011, 336 p., no qual os repórteres investigativos do The Guardian, David Leigh e Luke Harding, contam os bastidores do maior vazamento da história, que revelou ao mundo detalhes obscuros da diplomacia mundial e das guerras do Afeganistão e do Iraque. A partir da análise do livro-reportagem sobre a organização WikliLeaks, pretendemos refletir sobre os mecanismos de resistência e atuação contra-hegemônica no contexto das redes abertas pelas tecnologias digitais.

Sharing and executing linked data queries in a collaborative environment.

Science.gov (United States)

García Godoy, María Jesús; López-Camacho, Esteban; Navas-Delgado, Ismael; Aldana-Montes, José F

2013-07-01

Life Sciences have emerged as a key domain in the Linked Data community because of the diversity of data semantics and formats available through a great variety of databases and web technologies. Thus, it has been used as the perfect domain for applications in the web of data. Unfortunately, bioinformaticians are not exploiting the full potential of this already available technology, and experts in Life Sciences have real problems to discover, understand and devise how to take advantage of these interlinked (integrated) data. In this article, we present Bioqueries, a wiki-based portal that is aimed at community building around biological Linked Data. This tool has been designed to aid bioinformaticians in developing SPARQL queries to access biological databases exposed as Linked Data, and also to help biologists gain a deeper insight into the potential use of this technology. This public space offers several services and a collaborative infrastructure to stimulate the consumption of biological Linked Data and, therefore, contribute to implementing the benefits of the web of data in this domain. Bioqueries currently contains 215 query entries grouped by database and theme, 230 registered users and 44 end points that contain biological Resource Description Framework information. The Bioqueries portal is freely accessible at http://bioqueries.uma.es. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

COSMOS Launch Services

Science.gov (United States)

Kalnins, Indulis

2002-01-01

COSMOS-3M is a two stage launcher with liquid propellant rocket engines. Since 1960's COSMOS has launched satellites of up to 1.500kg in both circular low Earth and elliptical orbits with high inclination. The direct SSO ascent is available from Plesetsk launch site. The very high number of 759 launches and the achieved success rate of 97,4% makes this space transportation system one of the most reliable and successful launchers in the world. The German small satellite company OHB System co-operates since 1994 with the COSMOS manufacturer POLYOT, Omsk, in Russia. They have created the joint venture COSMOS International and successfully launched five German and Italian satellites in 1999 and 2000. The next commercial launches are contracted for 2002 and 2003. In 2005 -2007 COSMOS will be also used for the new German reconnaissance satellite launches. This paper provides an overview of COSMOS-3M launcher: its heritage and performance, examples of scientific and commercial primary and piggyback payload launches, the launch service organization and international cooperation. The COSMOS launch service business strategy main points are depicted. The current and future position of COSMOS in the worldwide market of launch services is outlined.

Validation and discovery of genotype-phenotype associations in chronic diseases using linked data.

Science.gov (United States)

Pathak, Jyotishman; Kiefer, Richard; Freimuth, Robert; Chute, Christopher

2012-01-01

This study investigates federated SPARQL queries over Linked Open Data (LOD) in the Semantic Web to validate existing, and potentially discover new genotype-phenotype associations from public datasets. In particular, we report our preliminary findings for identifying such associations for commonly occurring chronic diseases using the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and Database for SNPs (dbSNP) within the LOD knowledgebase and compare them with Gene Wiki for coverage and completeness. Our results indicate that Semantic Web technologies can play an important role for in-silico identification of novel disease-gene-SNP associations, although additional verification is required before such information can be applied and used effectively.

The Diplomatic Asylum: From Haya De La Torre to The "WikiLeaks" Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agustina Vázquez

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The WikiLeaks’ founder represents not only a challenge to freedom of information, but also to International Law related to the diplomatic asylum. Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for five years. In the last weeks, news surfaced that Sweden has ceased to request his extradition, the fact that caused much of the case under study. Assange’s situation seems to be diametrically different from Edward Snowden’s; however, both are labeled as "refugees for political reasons". While Assange looks forward to an improvement in his situation in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Snowden still lives in Russia. Is the diplomatic asylum a usual practice? How to understand the diplomatic asylum in Latin America? What about England? In this paper, the analysis will assume that the concept of asylum is not recognized as a universal practice of International Law. However, in Latin America, it seems to be a usual practice since the judgment of the International Court of Justice on Haya de la Torre’s case.

Succumbing to Bottom-Up Biases on Task Choice Predicts Increased Switch Costs in the Voluntary Task Switching Paradigm

Science.gov (United States)

Orr, Joseph M.; Weissman, Daniel H.

2010-01-01

Bottom-up biases are widely thought to influence task choice in the voluntary task switching paradigm. Definitive support for this hypothesis is lacking, however, because task choice and task performance are usually confounded. We therefore revisited this hypothesis using a paradigm in which task choice and task performance are temporally separated. As predicted, participants tended to choose the task that was primed by bottom-up biases. Moreover, such choices were linked to increased switch costs during subsequent task performance. These findings provide compelling evidence that bottom-up biases influence voluntary task choice. They also suggest that succumbing to such biases reflects a reduction of top-down control that persists to influence upcoming task performance. PMID:21713192

Principal States of Dynamic Functional Connectivity Reveal the Link Between Resting-State and Task-State Brain: An fMRI Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Lin; Zhu, Yang; Sun, Junfeng; Deng, Lifu; He, Naying; Yang, Yang; Ling, Huawei; Ayaz, Hasan; Fu, Yi; Tong, Shanbao

2018-01-25

Task-related reorganization of functional connectivity (FC) has been widely investigated. Under classic static FC analysis, brain networks under task and rest have been demonstrated a general similarity. However, brain activity and cognitive process are believed to be dynamic and adaptive. Since static FC inherently ignores the distinct temporal patterns between rest and task, dynamic FC may be more a suitable technique to characterize the brain's dynamic and adaptive activities. In this study, we adopted [Formula: see text]-means clustering to investigate task-related spatiotemporal reorganization of dynamic brain networks and hypothesized that dynamic FC would be able to reveal the link between resting-state and task-state brain organization, including broadly similar spatial patterns but distinct temporal patterns. In order to test this hypothesis, this study examined the dynamic FC in default-mode network (DMN) and motor-related network (MN) using Blood-Oxygenation-Level-Dependent (BOLD)-fMRI data from 26 healthy subjects during rest (REST) and a hand closing-and-opening (HCO) task. Two principal FC states in REST and one principal FC state in HCO were identified. The first principal FC state in REST was found similar to that in HCO, which appeared to represent intrinsic network architecture and validated the broadly similar spatial patterns between REST and HCO. However, the second FC principal state in REST with much shorter "dwell time" implied the transient functional relationship between DMN and MN during REST. In addition, a more frequent shifting between two principal FC states indicated that brain network dynamically maintained a "default mode" in the motor system during REST, whereas the presence of a single principal FC state and reduced FC variability implied a more temporally stable connectivity during HCO, validating the distinct temporal patterns between REST and HCO. Our results further demonstrated that dynamic FC analysis could offer unique

Wikis y aprendizaje colaborativo: lecciones aprendidas (y por aprender en la facultad de educación

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rocío Anguita Martínez

2010-01-01

Full Text Available El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha llevado a las Universidades de toda Europa, entre ellas las españolas, a cambios metodológicos para su adaptación al Proceso de Bolonia. Estos entornos educativos suponen una nueva conceptualización de la docencia, en la que las Nuevas Tecnologías de apoyo a los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje adquieren un papel fundamental. En este escenario, una comunidad de profesores procedentes de la Facultad de Educación y Trabajo Social de la Universidad de Valladolid (UVa, vienen desarrollando desde hace años diversas innovaciones educativas en la asignatura de Nuevas Tecnologías Aplicadas a la Educación (NNTT. Innovaciones que han desencadenado en la puesta en práctica durante el curso académico 2007-2008 de una plataforma Wiki como eje transversal para el desarrollo de aprendizaje colaborativo. Este artículo analiza cómo desde una asignatura soportada por tecnología Wiki y orientada sobre los principios del aprendizaje por indagación (IBL se puede ayudar a promover el trabajo colaborativo y el pensamiento crítico entre los estudiantes desde la apertura de posibilidades didácticas y docentes.

Human factors assessment in PRA using Task Analysis Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wells, J.E.; Banks, W.W.

1991-01-01

Thirty years ago the US military and US aviation industry, and more recently, in response to the US Three Mile Island and USSR Chernobyl accidents, the US commercial nuclear power industry, acknowledged that human error, as an immediate precursor, and as a latent or indirect influence in the form of training, maintainability, inservice test, and surveillance programs, is a primary contributor to unreality and risk in complex high-reliability systems. A 1985 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) study of Licensee Event Reports (LERs) suggests that upwards of 65% of commercial nuclear system failures involve human error. Despite the magnitude and nature of human error cited in that study, there has been limited attention to personnel-centered issues, especially person-to-person issues involving group processes, management and organizational environment. The paper discusses NRC integration and applications research with respect to the Task Analysis Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT) in risk assessment applications

Social Media and Peer Feedback: What Do Students Really Think about Using Wiki and Facebook as Platforms for Peer Feedback?

Science.gov (United States)

Demirbilek, Muhammet

2015-01-01

Web 2.0 tools are becoming increasingly pervasive in higher education, and as a result, there is increasing interest in the use of online feedback activities. This study investigated students' actual experiences and perceptions using social media, Wiki and Facebook, tools to provide peer feedback on students' instructional material projects and to…

Launching to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Sumrall, John P.

2007-01-01

America is returning to the Moon in preparation for the first human footprint on Mars, guided by the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration. This presentation will discuss NASA's mission today, the reasons for returning to the Moon and going to Mars, and how NASA will accomplish that mission. The primary goals of the Vision for Space Exploration are to finish the International Space Station, retire the Space Shuttle, and build the new spacecraft needed to return people to the Moon and go to Mars. Unlike the Apollo program of the 1960s, this phase of exploration will be a journey, not a race. In 1966, the NASA's budget was 4 percent of federal spending. Today, with 6/10 of 1 percent of the budget, NASA must incrementally develop the vehicles, infrastructure, technology, and organization to accomplish this goal. Fortunately, our knowledge and experience are greater than they were 40 years ago. NASA's goal is a return to the Moon by 2020. The Moon is the first step to America's exploration of Mars. Many questions about the Moon's history and how its history is linked to that of Earth remain even after the brief Apollo explorations of the 1960s and 1970s. This new venture will carry more explorers to more diverse landing sites with more capable tools and equipment. The Moon also will serve as a training ground in several respects before embarking on the longer, more perilous trip to Mars. The journeys to the Moon and Mars will require a variety of vehicles, including the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle, the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, and the Lunar Surface Access Module. The architecture for the lunar missions will use one launch to ferry the crew into orbit on the Ares I and a second launch to orbit the lunar lander and the Earth Departure Stage to send the lander and crew vehicle to the Moon. In order to reach the Moon and Mars within a lifetime and within budget, NASA is building on proven hardware and decades of experience derived from

INVESTIGATION OF LAUNCHING PROCESS FOR STEEL REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAMEWORK OF LARGE BRIDGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. A. Grechukhin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Bridges are considered as the most complicated, labour-consuming and expensive components in roadway network of the Republic of Belarus. So their construction and operation are to be carried out at high technological level. One of the modern industrial methods is a cyclic longitudinal launching of large frameworks which provide the possibility to reject usage of expensive auxiliary facilities and reduce a construction period. There are several variants of longitudinal launching according to shipping conditions and span length: without launching girder, with launching girder, with top strut-framed beam in the form of cable-stayed system, with strut-framed beam located under span. While using method for the cyclic longitudinal launching manufacturing process of span is concentrated on the shore. The main task of the investigations is to select economic, quick and technologically simple type of the cyclic longitudinal launching with minimum resource- and labour inputs. Span launching has been comparatively analyzed with temporary supports being specially constructed within the span and according to capital supports with the help of launching girder. Conclusions made on the basis of calculations for constructive elements of span according to bearing ability of element sections during launching and also during the process of reinforced concrete plate grouting and at the stage of operation have shown that span assembly with application of temporary supports does not reduce steel spread in comparison with the variant excluding them. Results of the conducted investigations have been approbated in cooperation with state enterprise “Belgiprodor” while designing a bridge across river Sozh.

14 CFR 420.21 - Launch site location review-launch site boundary.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Launch site location review-launch site boundary. 420.21 Section 420.21 Aeronautics and Space COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL AVIATION... travels given a worst-case launch vehicle failure in the launch area. An applicant must clearly and...

Wikis en lenguas para fines específicos y su traducción

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Las herramientas Wiki pueden llegar a ser muy útiles tanto en la enseñanza de lenguas en general como en la traducción, sobre todo si se tiene en cuenta que, hoy en día, dentro del nuevo marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, los docentes tienen que enfrentarse a dificultades como grupos numerosos de alumnos, pocas clases presenciales y competencias transversales añadidas al contenido de las materias. Por este motivo, que una herramienta como las wikis, que permita trabajar fuera del aula y con la cual el estudiante puede realizar trabajos individuales y en grupo, conectado y en contacto con el resto de sus compañeros y profesores, resulta especialmente útil. Mientras que la sencillez de estas herramientas permite al docente diseñar actividades atractivas y útiles con un esfuerzo y conocimientos tecnológicos relativamente mínimos, para los estudiantes supone una gran oportunidad para aprender a trabajar con las TIC y de manera grupal y colaborativa. En este capítulo se describen las tareas y actividades que se diseñaron y pusieron en práctica para las asignaturas del Máster Oficial en Comunicación Intercultural, Interpretación y Traducción en los Servicios Públicos y para las asignaturas de inglés para fines específicos del postgrado y grado de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Alcalá, centrándonos de manera especial en su diseño, las dificultades y ventajas que plantearon y la respuesta que se obtuvo por parte del alumnado.

Wikisearching and Wikilinking

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkinson, Dylan; Leung, Kai-Cheung; Trotman, Andrew

The University of Otago submitted three element runs and three passage runs to the Relevance-in-Context task of the ad hoc track. The best Otago run was a whole-document run placing 7th. The best Otago passage run placed 13th while the best Otago element run placed 31st. There were a total of 40 runs submitted to the task. The ad hoc result reinforced our prior belief that passages are better answers than elements and that the most important aspect of the focused retrieval is the identification of relevant documents. Six runs were submitted to the Link-the-Wiki track. The best Otago run placed 1st (of 21) in file to file automatic assessment and 6th (of 28) with manual assessment. The Itakura & Clarke algorithm was used for outgoing links, with special attention paid to parsing and case sensitivity. For incoming links representative terms were selected from the document and used to find similar documents.

Metabolonote: A wiki-based database for managing hierarchical metadata of metabolome analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takeshi eAra

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Metabolomics—technology for comprehensive detection of small molecules in an organism—lags behind the other omics in terms of publication and dissemination of experimental data. Among the reasons for this are difficulty precisely recording information about complicated analytical experiments (metadata, existence of various databases with their own metadata descriptions, and low reusability of the published data, resulting in submitters (the researchers who generate the data being insufficiently motivated. To tackle these issues, we developed Metabolonote, a Semantic MediaWiki-based database designed specifically for managing metabolomic metadata. We also defined a metadata and data description format, called TogoMD, with an ID system that is required for unique access to each level of the tree-structured metadata such as study purpose, sample, analytical method, and data analysis. Separation of the management of metadata from that of data and permission to attach related information to the metadata provide advantages for submitters, readers, and database developers. The metadata are enriched with information such as links to comparable data, thereby functioning as a hub of related data resources. They also enhance not only readers' understanding and use of data, but also submitters' motivation to publish the data. The metadata are computationally shared among other systems via APIs, which facilitates the construction of novel databases by database developers. A permission system that allows publication of immature metadata and feedback from readers also helps submitters to improve their metadata. Hence, this aspect of Metabolonote, as a metadata preparation tool, is complementary to high-quality and persistent data repositories such as MetaboLights. A total of 808 metadata for analyzed data obtained from 35 biological species are published currently. Metabolonote and related tools are available free of cost at http://metabolonote.kazusa.or.jp/.

A new ball launching system with controlled flight parameters for catching experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

d'Avella, A; Cesqui, B; Portone, A; Lacquaniti, F

2011-03-30

Systematic investigations of sensorimotor control of interceptive actions in naturalistic conditions, such as catching or hitting a ball moving in three-dimensional space, requires precise control of the projectile flight parameters and of the associated visual stimuli. Such control is challenging when air drag cannot be neglected because the mapping of launch parameters into flight parameters cannot be computed analytically. We designed, calibrated, and experimentally validated an actuated launching apparatus that can control the average spatial position and flight duration of a ball at a given distance from a fixed launch location. The apparatus was constructed by mounting a ball launching machine with adjustable delivery speed on an actuated structure capable of changing the spatial orientation of the launch axis while projecting balls through a hole in a screen hiding the apparatus. The calibration procedure relied on tracking the balls with a motion capture system and on approximating the mapping of launch parameters into flight parameters by means of polynomials functions. Polynomials were also used to estimate the variability of the flight parameters. The coefficients of these polynomials were obtained using the launch and flight parameters of 660 launches with 65 different initial conditions. The relative accuracy and precision of the apparatus were larger than 98% for flight times and larger than 96% for ball heights at a distance of 6m from the screen. Such novel apparatus, by reliably and automatically controlling desired ball flight characteristics without neglecting air drag, allows for a systematic investigation of naturalistic interceptive tasks. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

La wiki-webquest: una actividad colaborativa en la asignatura de "Nuevas Tecnologías Aplicadas a la Educación"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Santos Fernández

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Las instituciones de educación superior están sufriendo un proceso de reconversión buscando su adaptación a las características del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Uno de los cambios más importantes, a los que debe hacer frente su profesorado, consiste en una reorganización metodológica diferente de sus clases. Por ello, es necesario pensar en nuevas fórmulas en la formación del profesorado. Como resultado de esta necesidad, decidimos organizar la asignatura de Nuevas Tecnologías Aplicadas a la Educación, de la Facultad de Educación de Valladolid, empleando una metodología activa, el IBL, apoyada en una plataforma Wiki, proponiendo a nuestro alumnado una serie de actividades que debían realizar colaborativamente. En este trabajo, presentamos una de esas actividades, la elaboración de una Wiki- WebQuest. A partir de la descripción de esta actividad, pretendemos mostrar algunas luces y sombras sobre su puesta en práctica (la versatilidad y flexibilidad de la plataforma, la posibilidad de colaboración entre la universidad y la escuela, la falta de adaptación de algunos contenidos al nivel curricular del curso concreto, la falta de asesoramiento del profesorado al alumnado de primaria sobre el uso de estas nuevas herramientas, etc. Esta actividad fue desarrollada a partir de la colaboración con contextos educativos reales (dos centros de primaria, sirviendo de caso de estudio para diseñar una Wiki-WebQuest. Asimismo, también colaboraron dos asignaturas de la titulación de Magisterio (Didáctica General y Metodología del Idioma Extranjero, con el objetivo de enriquecer el proceso de aprendizaje.

Trends in the commercial launch services industry

Science.gov (United States)

Haase, Ethan E.

2001-02-01

The market for space launch services has undergone significant development in the last two decades and is poised to change even further. With the introduction of new players in the market, and the development of new vehicles by existing providers, competition has increased. At the same time, customer payloads have been changing as satellites grow in size and capability. Amidst these changes, launch delays have become a concern in the industry, and launch service providers have developed different solutions to avoid delays and satisfy customer needs. This analysis discusses these trends in the launch services market and their drivers. Focus is given to the market for medium, intermediate, and heavy launch services which generally includes launches of GEO communication satellites, large government payloads, and NGSO constellations. .

Propuesta de utilización de wikis para el desarrollo de la expresión escrita mediante el trabajo colaborativo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Carlos Araujo Portugal

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Escribir en la lengua materna como en una extranjera cada vez resulta más difícil. En este artículo se plantean unas actividades a realizar a través de un wiki que tienen como objetivo usar y fomentar la escritura colaborativa por parte de los alumnos en una lengua extranjera para el desarrollo de la expresión escrita en ese idioma. Todo ello se encuadra en el contexto de las enseñanzas de idiomas que imparten las Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas en España, pero que podría adaptarse a cualquier centro de enseñanza de idiomas. Previamente se analizan diversas corrientes pedagógicas que se pueden utilizar para la consecución del objetivo didáctico señalado, seleccionando el constructivismo. También se intenta justificar por qué un wiki resulta más adecuado para dicho objetivo que el correo electrónico, el blogs o los foros de discusión.

Intelligent launch and range operations virtual testbed (ILRO-VTB)

Science.gov (United States)

Bardina, Jorge; Rajkumar, Thirumalainambi

2003-09-01

Intelligent Launch and Range Operations Virtual Test Bed (ILRO-VTB) is a real-time web-based command and control, communication, and intelligent simulation environment of ground-vehicle, launch and range operation activities. ILRO-VTB consists of a variety of simulation models combined with commercial and indigenous software developments (NASA Ames). It creates a hybrid software/hardware environment suitable for testing various integrated control system components of launch and range. The dynamic interactions of the integrated simulated control systems are not well understood. Insight into such systems can only be achieved through simulation/emulation. For that reason, NASA has established a VTB where we can learn the actual control and dynamics of designs for future space programs, including testing and performance evaluation. The current implementation of the VTB simulates the operations of a sub-orbital vehicle of mission, control, ground-vehicle engineering, launch and range operations. The present development of the test bed simulates the operations of Space Shuttle Vehicle (SSV) at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The test bed supports a wide variety of shuttle missions with ancillary modeling capabilities like weather forecasting, lightning tracker, toxic gas dispersion model, debris dispersion model, telemetry, trajectory modeling, ground operations, payload models and etc. To achieve the simulations, all models are linked using Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The test bed provides opportunities for government, universities, researchers and industries to do a real time of shuttle launch in cyber space.

Low-Cost Launch Systems for the Dual-Launch Concept

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Pearson, Jerone; Zukauskas, Wally; Weeks, Thomas; Cass, Stein; Stytz, Martin

2000-01-01

.... Performing fewer engine tests, designing structures with lower structural margins, parallel processing, eliminating payload clean room requirements and extensive testing before launch, horizontal...

Testing Strategies and Methodologies for the Max Launch Abort System

Science.gov (United States)

Schaible, Dawn M.; Yuchnovicz, Daniel E.

2011-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) was tasked to develop an alternate, tower-less launch abort system (LAS) as risk mitigation for the Orion Project. The successful pad abort flight demonstration test in July 2009 of the "Max" launch abort system (MLAS) provided data critical to the design of future LASs, while demonstrating the Agency s ability to rapidly design, build and fly full-scale hardware at minimal cost in a "virtual" work environment. Limited funding and an aggressive schedule presented a challenge for testing of the complex MLAS system. The successful pad abort flight demonstration test was attributed to the project s systems engineering and integration process, which included: a concise definition of, and an adherence to, flight test objectives; a solid operational concept; well defined performance requirements, and a test program tailored to reducing the highest flight test risks. The testing ranged from wind tunnel validation of computational fluid dynamic simulations to component ground tests of the highest risk subsystems. This paper provides an overview of the testing/risk management approach and methodologies used to understand and reduce the areas of highest risk - resulting in a successful flight demonstration test.

The Application of the NASA Advanced Concepts Office, Launch Vehicle Team Design Process and Tools for Modeling Small Responsive Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Threet, Grady E.; Waters, Eric D.; Creech, Dennis M.

2012-01-01

The Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) Launch Vehicle Team at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is recognized throughout NASA for launch vehicle conceptual definition and pre-phase A concept design evaluation. The Launch Vehicle Team has been instrumental in defining the vehicle trade space for many of NASA s high level launch system studies from the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) through the Augustine Report, Constellation, and now Space Launch System (SLS). The Launch Vehicle Team s approach to rapid turn-around and comparative analysis of multiple launch vehicle architectures has played a large role in narrowing the design options for future vehicle development. Recently the Launch Vehicle Team has been developing versions of their vetted tools used on large launch vehicles and repackaged the process and capability to apply to smaller more responsive launch vehicles. Along this development path the LV Team has evaluated trajectory tools and assumptions against sounding rocket trajectories and air launch systems, begun altering subsystem mass estimating relationships to handle smaller vehicle components, and as an additional development driver, have begun an in-house small launch vehicle study. With the recent interest in small responsive launch systems and the known capability and response time of the ACO LV Team, ACO s launch vehicle assessment capability can be utilized to rapidly evaluate the vast and opportune trade space that small launch vehicles currently encompass. This would provide a great benefit to the customer in order to reduce that large trade space to a select few alternatives that should best fit the customer s payload needs.

The Impact of ICT Training Through Wikis on In-Service EFL Teachers: Changes in Beliefs, Attitudes, and Competencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yamith José Fandiño Parra

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The development of information and communication technology (ICT invites teachers to abandon traditional roles and act more as mentors, exploring the new media themselves as learners and thus acting as role models for their students (Fitzpatrick & Davies, 2003. For turning students into producers of online content and creating a collaborative learning environment, wikis appear to help foreign language teachers to infuse ICT in their classrooms (Kovacic, Bubas & Zlatovic, 2007. Within this context, results from an action research project carried out in four public schools suggest that beliefs, attitudes, and competencies can be impacted positively when working on the use of new technologies with in-service English teachers.

Launch Services, a Proven Model

Science.gov (United States)

Trafton, W. C.; Simpson, J.

2002-01-01

From a commercial perspective, the ability to justify "leap frog" technology such as reusable systems has been difficult to justify because the estimated 5B to 10B investment is not supported in the current flat commercial market coupled with an oversupply of launch service suppliers. The market simply does not justify investment of that magnitude. Currently, next generation Expendable Launch Systems, including Boeing's Delta IV, Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5, Ariane V ESCA and RSC's H-IIA are being introduced into operations signifying that only upgrades to proven systems are planned to meet the changes in anticipated satellite demand (larger satellites, more lifetime, larger volumes, etc.) in the foreseeable future. We do not see a new fleet of ELVs emerging beyond that which is currently being introduced, only continuous upgrades of the fleet to meet the demands. To induce a radical change in the provision of launch services, a Multinational Government investment must be made and justified by World requirements. The commercial market alone cannot justify such an investment. And if an investment is made, we cannot afford to repeat previous mistakes by relying on one system such as shuttle for commercial deployment without having any back-up capability. Other issues that need to be considered are national science and security requirements, which to a large extent fuels the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Former Soviet Union, European and United States space transportation entries. Additionally, this system must support or replace current Space Transportation Economies with across-the-board benefits. For the next 10 to 20 years, Multinational cooperation will be in the form of piecing together launch components and infrastructure to supplement existing launch systems and reducing the amount of non-recurring investment while meeting the future requirements of the End-User. Virtually all of the current systems have some form of multinational participation: Sea Launch

Incorporation of Cross-Disciplinary Teaching and a Wiki Research Project to Engage Undergraduate Students' to Develop Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, and Communication Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Crist, Courtney A.; Duncan, Susan E.; Bianchi, Laurie M.

2017-01-01

A Wiki research project was created in the Functional Foods for Health (FST/HNFE 2544) as an instructional tool and assignment for improving undergraduate students' proficiency in evaluating appropriate information sources for rapidly evolving science and research. The project design targeted improving students' information literacy skills…

Social Networks and the Desire to Save Face: A Case from Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Netzley, Michael A.; Rath, Akanksha

2012-01-01

For 5 years, corporate communication undergraduates have maintained a wiki as a final course and community service project. Using Web 2.0 platforms to crowdsource and curate content, they learn to employ online communications for work purposes. When the course was launched in 2007, the dominant social media narrative invited educators to embrace a…

BCD: a wiki-based decommissioning knowledge management tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fontaine, V.; Coudouneau, L.; Goursaud, V.

2008-01-01

Knowledge management allows decommissioning stakeholders to take advantage of past experience (in terms of efficiency, quality, safety, cost, etc.), avoid repeating previous errors, and identify good ideas and practices. It is usually broken down into three processes: collecting information, supplementing and enriching it, and making it available to all decommissioning stakeholders. The CEA has been collecting and centralizing data for many years: the first qualitative assessment of operational experience began in 1991. However, the documents collected were not always relevant for this assessment and, for lack of enrichment and distribution, were generally not used to a significant extent. In order to take advantage of the existing and future body of knowledge and to share this knowledge among decommissioning stakeholders, the CEA decommissioning review unit decided to develop an intranet site known as BCD (from the French acronym for Central Decommissioning Database) using the same wiki technology as the collaborative web encyclopedia, Wikipedia. The objective of BCD is to develop a decommissioning encyclopedia comprising definitions and terminology, the regulatory framework, the lessons of experience with technical or contractual projects, guidelines, statements of results, etc. This article describes BCD and its potential, together with the results observed to date and its prospects for future development. (authors)

Adaptação de um wiki para a informatização da documentação do sistema de gestão da qualidade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graziele Cristina Silveira Zerbini Costal

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A documentação de um Sistema de Gestão da Qualidade padrão ISO 9001 é muitas vezes vista como uma fonte de burocracia nas organizações. Este artigo descreve o WikiQMS como uma alternativa para a informatização da documentação de tal sistema. O método científico foi aplicado para o desenvolvimento do sistema. O protótipo foi desenvolvido a partir de um software wiki, com base nos requisitos da ISO 9001 levantados na literatura e também pela avaliação de um painel de especialistas. O experimento de campo em uma empresa júnior permitiu validar o sistema em uma situação real de implantação da documentação do Sistema de Gestão da Qualidade. O protótipo atende adequadamente aos requisitos mínimos de implantação e gestão da documentação do Sistema de Gestão da Qualidade padrão ISO 9001. Além disso, o WikiQMS apresenta as vantagens de uma solução da Web 2.0 para a questão da edição colaborativa, autoria coletiva, acessibilidade e usabilidade.

The Link between Higher Order Thinking Skills, Representation and Concepts in Enhancing TIMSS Tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nor’ain Mohd. Tajudin

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Students’ performances in TIMSS have featured strongly in recent discussions and debates about the quality of mathematical learning outcomes both from teachers and policy makers. Findings of TIMSS trends showed that most high school students in Malaysia continue to perform at less than satisfactory levels, particularly, in tasks that are cognitively demanding. In this article, we present a critical analysis of selected TIMSS Tasks and demonstrate how to support students better in the use of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS in making progress with such tasks. In so doing we present analyses of TIMSS tasks and a model of these tasks that relate HOTS, representation and concepts which can be utilised by teachers to understand the role of HOTS better in empowering students shift to higher levels of cognitive funtioning in the context of tackling TIMSS and similarly demanding tasks. Our analyses and model provide an important starting point for the design of future professional development programs for Malaysian mathematics teachers in reconceptualising HOTS and implementing them in regular classrooms.

FoodWiki: Ontology-Driven Mobile Safe Food Consumption System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duygu Çelik

2015-01-01

Full Text Available An ontology-driven safe food consumption mobile system is considered. Over 3,000 compounds are being added to processed food, with numerous effects on the food: to add color, stabilize, texturize, preserve, sweeten, thicken, add flavor, soften, emulsify, and so forth. According to World Health Organization, governments have lately focused on legislation to reduce such ingredients or compounds in manufactured foods as they may have side effects causing health risks such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, allergens, and obesity. By supervising what and how much to eat as well as what not to eat, we can maximize a patient’s life quality through avoidance of unhealthy ingredients. Smart e-health systems with powerful knowledge bases can provide suggestions of appropriate foods to individuals. Next-generation smart knowledgebase systems will not only include traditional syntactic-based search, which limits the utility of the search results, but will also provide semantics for rich searching. In this paper, performance of concept matching of food ingredients is semantic-based, meaning that it runs its own semantic based rule set to infer meaningful results through the proposed Ontology-Driven Mobile Safe Food Consumption System (FoodWiki.

Heavy Lift Launch Capability with a New Hydrocarbon Engine (NHE)

Science.gov (United States)

Threet, Grady E., Jr.; Holt, James B.; Philips, Alan D.; Garcia, Jessica A.

2011-01-01

The Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center has analyzed over 2000 Ares V and other heavy lift concepts in the last 3 years. These concepts were analyzed for Lunar Exploration Missions, heavy lift capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as well as exploratory missions to other near earth objects in our solar system. With the pending retirement of the Shuttle fleet, our nation will be without a civil heavy lift launch capability, so the future development of a new heavy lift capability is imperative for the exploration and large science missions our Agency has been tasked to deliver. The majority of the heavy lift concepts analyzed by ACO during the last 3 years have been based on liquid oxygen / liquid hydrogen (LOX/LH2) core stage and solids booster stage propulsion technologies (Ares V / Shuttle Derived and their variants). These concepts were driven by the decisions made from the results of the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS), which in turn, led to the Ares V launch vehicle that has been baselined in the Constellation Program. Now that the decision has been made at the Agency level to cancel Constellation, other propulsion options such as liquid hydrocarbon fuels are back in the exploration trade space. NASA is still planning exploration missions with the eventual destination of Mars and a new heavy lift launch vehicle is still required and will serve as the centerpiece of our nation s next exploration architecture s infrastructure. With an extensive launch vehicle database already developed on LOX/LH2 based heavy lift launch vehicles, ACO initiated a study to look at using a new high thrust (> 1.0 Mlb vacuum thrust) hydrocarbon engine as the primary main stage propulsion in such a launch vehicle.

Mapping queries to the Linking Open Data cloud: a case study using DBpedia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meij, E.; Bron, M.; Hollink, L.; Huurnink, B.; de Rijke, M.

2011-01-01

We introduce the task of mapping search engine queries to DBpedia, a major linking hub in the Linking Open Data cloud. We propose and compare various methods for addressing this task, using a mixture of information retrieval and machine learning techniques. Specifically, we present a supervised

Review of the Lightning Strike Incident at Launch Complex 37 on July 27, 1967, and Comparison to a Gemini Lightning Strike

Science.gov (United States)

Llewellyn, J. A.

1967-01-01

The Launch Complex 37 lightning strike of July 27, 1967, was reviewed and compared to a similar incident on the Gemini Program. Available data indicate little likelihood of damaging currents having been present in SA-204 Launch Vehicle or the ground equipment during the July 27th incident. Based on the results of subsystem and system testing after the strike, anticipated results of future testing, the six months elapsed time between the strike-and launch, and the fact that much of the critical airborne electrical/electronic equipment has been removed since the strike for other reasons, no new actions are considered necessary at this time in the Gemini case, significant failures occurred in both airborne and ground circuits. Due to the resultant semi, condlictor uncertainty, and the relatively' short time prior to planned launch, all critical airborne components containing semiconduetors were replaced, and a sophisticated data comparison task was implemented.

Structural Weight Estimation for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cerro, Jeff; Martinovic, Zoran; Su, Philip; Eldred, Lloyd

2002-01-01

This paper describes some of the work in progress to develop automated structural weight estimation procedures within the Vehicle Analysis Branch (VAB) of the NASA Langley Research Center. One task of the VAB is to perform system studies at the conceptual and early preliminary design stages on launch vehicles and in-space transportation systems. Some examples of these studies for Earth to Orbit (ETO) systems are the Future Space Transportation System [1], Orbit On Demand Vehicle [2], Venture Star [3], and the Personnel Rescue Vehicle[4]. Structural weight calculation for launch vehicle studies can exist on several levels of fidelity. Typically historically based weight equations are used in a vehicle sizing program. Many of the studies in the vehicle analysis branch have been enhanced in terms of structural weight fraction prediction by utilizing some level of off-line structural analysis to incorporate material property, load intensity, and configuration effects which may not be captured by the historical weight equations. Modification of Mass Estimating Relationships (MER's) to assess design and technology impacts on vehicle performance are necessary to prioritize design and technology development decisions. Modern CAD/CAE software, ever increasing computational power and platform independent computer programming languages such as JAVA provide new means to create greater depth of analysis tools which can be included into the conceptual design phase of launch vehicle development. Commercial framework computing environments provide easy to program techniques which coordinate and implement the flow of data in a distributed heterogeneous computing environment. It is the intent of this paper to present a process in development at NASA LaRC for enhanced structural weight estimation using this state of the art computational power.

Uso de wikis para la realización de trabajos colaborativos en el aula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galache Laza, T.

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Habitualmente, la evaluación del alumnado que realizamos en la Universidad se basa únicamente en uno o varios exámenes individuales. Este hecho contrasta con su vida laboral posterior, donde se potenciará el trabajo en equipo, obteniendo la mayoría de los resultados a través de trabajos colaborativos. Con esta idea hemos realizado una experiencia docente en una asignatura optativa de la Diplomatura en Ciencias Empresariales, Investigación Operativa. Los alumnos de esta asignatura están distribuidos en tres grupos homogéneos de unos 20 alumnos. En cada uno de ellos hemos dedicado una parte importante de la calificación final a la realización de trabajos programados por los profesores, consistentes en realizar dentro de una plataforma Moodle, Wikis en los que cada grupo desarrolla un material predeterminado y conocido desde la programación del curso. Para cada grupo, cada uno de sus alumnos, deberá evaluar los Wikis realizados por los alumnos de los otros grupos, evaluación que ha de ser justificada y razonada, pudiendo cada profesor a su vez evaluarla de forma negativa o positiva. Con todo ello, los alumnos deben formar equipos para trabajar con sus compañeros en una tarea común a todos ellos y a su vez deben evaluar, de forma razonada, los trabajos realizados por sus compañeros de los otros grupos. Los resultados que hemos obtenido en cuanto a participación de los alumnos y rendimiento académico de los mismos son muy interesantes y nos llevan a la realización de importantes consideraciones de tipo práctico en trabajos colaborativos.

The Challenges of Integrating NASA's Human, Budget, and Data Capital within the Constellation Program's Exploration Launch Projects Office

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, Luanne; Morris, Kenneth B.; Self, Tim

2006-01-01

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration directs NASA to retire the Space Shuttle in 2010 and replace it with safe, reliable, and cost-effective space transportation systems for crew and cargo travel to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Such emerging space transportation initiatives face massive organizational challenges, including building and nurturing an experienced, dedicated team with the right skills for the required tasks; allocating and tracking the fiscal capital invested in achieving technical progress against an integrated master schedule; and turning generated data into usehl knowledge that equips the team to design and develop superior products for customers and stakeholders. This paper discusses how NASA's Exploration Launch Projects Office, which is responsible for delivering these new launch vehicles, integrates these resources to create an engineering business environment that promotes mission success.

Search and Hyperlinking Task at MediaEval 2012

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eskevich, Maria; Jones, Gareth J.F.; Chen, Shu; Aly, Robin; Ordelman, Roeland J.F.; Larson, Martha

2012-01-01

The Search and Hyperlinking Task was one of the Brave New Tasks at MediaEval 2012. The Task consisted of two sub- tasks which focused on search and linking in retrieval from a collection of semi-professional video content. These tasks followed up on research carried out within the MediaEval 2011

Foreign launch competition growing

Science.gov (United States)

Brodsky, R. F.; Wolfe, M. G.; Pryke, I. W.

1986-07-01

A survey is given of progress made by other nations in providing or preparing to provide satellite launch services. The European Space Agency has four generations of Ariane vehicles, with a fifth recently approved; a second launch facility in French Guiana that has become operational has raised the possible Ariane launch rate to 10 per year, although a May failure of an Ariane 2 put launches on hold. The French Hermes spaceplane and the British HOTOL are discussed. Under the auspices of the Italian National Space Plane, the Iris orbital transfer vehicle is developed and China's Long March vehicles and the Soviet Protons and SL-4 vehicles are discussed; the Soviets moreover are apparently developing not only a Saturn V-class heavy lift vehicle with a 150,000-kg capacity (about five times the largest U.S. capacity) but also a space shuttle and a spaceplane. Four Japanese launch vehicles and some vehicles in an Indian program are also ready to provide launch services. In this new, tough market for launch services, the customers barely outnumber the suppliers. The competition develops just as the Challenger and Titan disasters place the U.S. at a disadvantage and underline the hard work ahead to recoup its heretofore leading position in launch services.

Using Discrete Event Simulation to Model Integrated Commodities Consumption for a Launch Campaign of the Space Launch System

Science.gov (United States)

Leonard, Daniel; Parsons, Jeremy W.; Cates, Grant

2014-01-01

In May 2013, NASA's GSDO Program requested a study to develop a discrete event simulation (DES) model that analyzes the launch campaign process of the Space Launch System (SLS) from an integrated commodities perspective. The scope of the study includes launch countdown and scrub turnaround and focuses on four core launch commodities: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and helium. Previously, the commodities were only analyzed individually and deterministically for their launch support capability, but this study was the first to integrate them to examine the impact of their interactions on a launch campaign as well as the effects of process variability on commodity availability. The study produced a validated DES model with Rockwell Arena that showed that Kennedy Space Center's ground systems were capable of supporting a 48-hour scrub turnaround for the SLS. The model will be maintained and updated to provide commodity consumption analysis of future ground system and SLS configurations.

Three-dimensional vision enhances task performance independently of the surgical method.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, O J; Hagen, M; Kurmann, A; Horgan, S; Candinas, D; Vorburger, S A

2012-10-01

Within the next few years, the medical industry will launch increasingly affordable three-dimensional (3D) vision systems for the operating room (OR). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D visualization on surgical skills and task performance. In this study, 34 individuals with varying laparoscopic experience (18 inexperienced individuals) performed three tasks to test spatial relationships, grasping and positioning, dexterity, precision, and hand-eye and hand-hand coordination. Each task was performed in 3D using binocular vision for open performance, the Viking 3Di Vision System for laparoscopic performance, and the DaVinci robotic system. The same tasks were repeated in 2D using an eye patch for monocular vision, conventional laparoscopy, and the DaVinci robotic system. Loss of 3D vision significantly increased the perceived difficulty of a task and the time required to perform it, independently of the approach (P robot than with laparoscopy (P = 0.005). In every case, 3D robotic performance was superior to conventional laparoscopy (2D) (P < 0.001-0.015). The more complex the task, the more 3D vision accelerates task completion compared with 2D vision. The gain in task performance is independent of the surgical method.

Modeling the Virtual Machine Launching Overhead under Fermicloud

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garzoglio, Gabriele [Fermilab; Wu, Hao [Fermilab; Ren, Shangping [IIT, Chicago; Timm, Steven [Fermilab; Bernabeu, Gerard [Fermilab; Noh, Seo-Young [KISTI, Daejeon

2014-11-12

FermiCloud is a private cloud developed by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for scientific workflows. The Cloud Bursting module of the FermiCloud enables the FermiCloud, when more computational resources are needed, to automatically launch virtual machines to available resources such as public clouds. One of the main challenges in developing the cloud bursting module is to decide when and where to launch a VM so that all resources are most effectively and efficiently utilized and the system performance is optimized. However, based on FermiCloud’s system operational data, the VM launching overhead is not a constant. It varies with physical resource (CPU, memory, I/O device) utilization at the time when a VM is launched. Hence, to make judicious decisions as to when and where a VM should be launched, a VM launch overhead reference model is needed. The paper is to develop a VM launch overhead reference model based on operational data we have obtained on FermiCloud and uses the reference model to guide the cloud bursting process.

Wikis: Hacía un modelo comunitario de preservación y socialización del conocimiento

OpenAIRE

Bordignon, Fernando R. A.

2007-01-01

Spanish Abstract: El software social está compuesto por una serie de herramientas que ayudan a formar y gestionar comunidades de usuarios o pares. Hablar de términos como folksonomias, bitácoras o blogs, sistemas de recomendación y entornos colaborativos de desarrollo es enfocar la atención en una nueva generación de software que tiene por característica la ruptura de la asimetría que caracterizó la relación anterior entre usuarios y generadores de contenidos. Las wikis son una de las p...

Launch Vehicle Control Center Architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Michael D.; Epps, Amy; Woodruff, Van; Vachon, Michael Jacob; Monreal, Julio; Williams, Randall; McLaughlin, Tom

2014-01-01

This analysis is a survey of control center architectures of the NASA Space Launch System (SLS), United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V and Delta IV, and the European Space Agency (ESA) Ariane 5. Each of these control center architectures have similarities in basic structure, and differences in functional distribution of responsibilities for the phases of operations: (a) Launch vehicles in the international community vary greatly in configuration and process; (b) Each launch site has a unique processing flow based on the specific configurations; (c) Launch and flight operations are managed through a set of control centers associated with each launch site, however the flight operations may be a different control center than the launch center; and (d) The engineering support centers are primarily located at the design center with a small engineering support team at the launch site.

A Low-Cost Launch Assistance System for Orbital Launch Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleg Nizhnik

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The author reviews the state of art of nonrocket launch assistance systems (LASs for spaceflight focusing on air launch options. The author proposes an alternative technologically feasible LAS based on a combination of approaches: air launch, high-altitude balloon, and tethered LAS. Proposed LAS can be implemented with the existing off-the-shelf hardware delivering 7 kg to low-earth orbit for the 5200 USD per kg. Proposed design can deliver larger reduction in price and larger orbital payloads with the future advances in the aerostats, ropes, electrical motors, and terrestrial power networks.

Functional Roles of Neural Preparatory Processes in a Cued Stroop Task Revealed by Linking Electrophysiology with Behavioral Performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Wang

Full Text Available It is well established that cuing facilitates behavioral performance and that different aspects of instructional cues evoke specific neural preparatory processes in cued task-switching paradigms. To deduce the functional role of these neural preparatory processes the majority of studies vary aspects of the experimental paradigm and describe how these variations alter markers of neural preparatory processes. Although these studies provide important insights, they also have notable limitations, particularly in terms of understanding the causal or functional relationship of neural markers to cognitive and behavioral processes. In this study, we sought to address these limitations and uncover the functional roles of neural processes by examining how variability in the amplitude of neural preparatory processes predicts behavioral performance to subsequent stimuli. To achieve this objective 16 young adults were recruited to perform a cued Stroop task while their brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. Four temporally overlapping but functionally and topographically distinct cue-triggered event related potentials (ERPs were identified: 1 A left-frontotemporal negativity (250-700 ms that was positively associated with word-reading performance; 2 a midline-frontal negativity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with color-naming and incongruent performance; 3 a left-frontal negativity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with switch trial performance; and 4 a centroparietal positivity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with performance for almost all trial types. These results suggest that at least four dissociable cognitive processes are evoked by instructional cues in the present task, including: 1 domain-specific task facilitation; 2 switch-specific task-set reconfiguration; 3 preparation for response conflict; and 4 proactive attentional control. Examining the relationship between ERPs and behavioral

Functional Roles of Neural Preparatory Processes in a Cued Stroop Task Revealed by Linking Electrophysiology with Behavioral Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chao; Ding, Mingzhou; Kluger, Benzi M

2015-01-01

It is well established that cuing facilitates behavioral performance and that different aspects of instructional cues evoke specific neural preparatory processes in cued task-switching paradigms. To deduce the functional role of these neural preparatory processes the majority of studies vary aspects of the experimental paradigm and describe how these variations alter markers of neural preparatory processes. Although these studies provide important insights, they also have notable limitations, particularly in terms of understanding the causal or functional relationship of neural markers to cognitive and behavioral processes. In this study, we sought to address these limitations and uncover the functional roles of neural processes by examining how variability in the amplitude of neural preparatory processes predicts behavioral performance to subsequent stimuli. To achieve this objective 16 young adults were recruited to perform a cued Stroop task while their brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. Four temporally overlapping but functionally and topographically distinct cue-triggered event related potentials (ERPs) were identified: 1) A left-frontotemporal negativity (250-700 ms) that was positively associated with word-reading performance; 2) a midline-frontal negativity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with color-naming and incongruent performance; 3) a left-frontal negativity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with switch trial performance; and 4) a centroparietal positivity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with performance for almost all trial types. These results suggest that at least four dissociable cognitive processes are evoked by instructional cues in the present task, including: 1) domain-specific task facilitation; 2) switch-specific task-set reconfiguration; 3) preparation for response conflict; and 4) proactive attentional control. Examining the relationship between ERPs and behavioral

SLS Trade Study 0058: Day of Launch (DOL) Wind Biasing

Science.gov (United States)

Decker, Ryan K.; Duffin, Paul; Hill, Ashley; Beck, Roger; Dukeman, Greg

2014-01-01

SLS heritage hardware and legacy designs have shown load exceedances at several locations during Design Analysis Cycles (DAC): MPCV Z bending moments; ICPS Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) loads; Core Stage loads just downstream of Booster forward interface. SLS Buffet Loads Mitigation Task Team (BLMTT) tasked to study issue. Identified low frequency buffet load responses are a function of the vehicle's total angle of attack (AlphaTotal). SLS DOL Wind Biasing Trade team to analyze DOL wind biasing methods to limit maximum AlphaTotal in the M0.8 - 2.0 altitude region for EM-1 and EM-2 missions through investigating: Trajectory design process; Wind wavelength filtering options; Launch availability; DOL process to achieve shorter processing/uplink timeline. Trade Team consisted of personnel supporting SLS, MPCV, GSDO programs.

Rationales for the Lightning Launch Commit Criteria

Science.gov (United States)

Willett, John C. (Editor); Merceret, Francis J. (Editor); Krider, E. Philip; O'Brien, T. Paul; Dye, James E.; Walterscheid, Richard L.; Stolzenburg, Maribeth; Cummins, Kenneth; Christian, Hugh J.; Madura, John T.

2016-01-01

Since natural and triggered lightning are demonstrated hazards to launch vehicles, payloads, and spacecraft, NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) follow the Lightning Launch Commit Criteria (LLCC) for launches from Federal Ranges. The LLCC were developed to prevent future instances of a rocket intercepting natural lightning or triggering a lightning flash during launch from a Federal Range. NASA and DoD utilize the Lightning Advisory Panel (LAP) to establish and develop robust rationale from which the criteria originate. The rationale document also contains appendices that provide additional scientific background, including detailed descriptions of the theory and observations behind the rationales. The LLCC in whole or part are used across the globe due to the rigor of the documented criteria and associated rationale. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) adopted the LLCC in 2006 for commercial space transportation and the criteria were codified in the FAA's Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for Safety of an Expendable Launch Vehicle (Appendix G to 14 CFR Part 417, (G417)) and renamed Lightning Flight Commit Criteria in G417.

Launching technological innovations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Talke, Katrin; Salomo, Søren

2009-01-01

have received less attention. This study considers the interdependencies between strategic, internally and externally, directed tactical launch activities and investigates both direct and indirect performance effects. The analysis is based upon data from 113 technological innovations launched...

Embassy cinema: what WikiLeaks reveals about US state support for Hollywood.

Science.gov (United States)

Moody, Paul

2017-10-01

In an article for Foreign Affairs at the outbreak of the World War II, film producer Walter Wanger referred to Hollywood movies as '120,000 American ambassadors'. The preeminence of Hollywood in presenting US ideology to the world has been asserted ever since. Yet the relationship between Hollywood and America's actual ambassadors, employed by the global network of American embassies, has rarely been investigated, despite the key role that this often overlooked aspect of the state apparatus plays in the maintenance of Hollywood's commercial interests and American cultural hegemony. The release by WikiLeaks in November 2010 of over 250,000 diplomatic cables has provided an opportunity to address this gap, by offering researchers an unparalleled insight into the worldwide network of American embassies. This article employs these documents to explain how these embassies have influenced global film policies since early 2003, and the implications they have for conceptions of American power in the wake of the 'War on Terror'.

Development of a Decision Aid for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Involving Intensive Care Unit Patients' and Health Professionals' Participation Using User-Centered Design and a Wiki Platform for Rapid Prototyping: A Research Protocol

Science.gov (United States)

Heyland, Daren Keith; Ebell, Mark H; Dupuis, Audrey; Lavoie-Bérard, Carole-Anne; Légaré, France; Archambault, Patrick Michel

2016-01-01

Background Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an intervention used in cases of cardiac arrest to revive patients whose heart has stopped. Because cardiac arrest can have potentially devastating outcomes such as severe neurological deficits even if CPR is performed, patients must be involved in determining in advance if they want CPR in the case of an unexpected arrest. Shared decision making (SDM) facilitates discussions about goals of care regarding CPR in intensive care units (ICUs). Patient decision aids (DAs) are proven to support the implementation of SDM. Many patient DAs about CPR exist, but they are not universally implemented in ICUs in part due to lack of context and cultural adaptation. Adaptation to local context is an important phase of implementing any type of knowledge tool such as patient DAs. User-centered design supported by a wiki platform to perform rapid prototyping has previously been successful in creating knowledge tools adapted to the needs of patients and health professionals (eg, asthma action plans). This project aims to explore how user-centered design and a wiki platform can support the adaptation of an existing DA for CPR to the local context. Objective The primary objective is to use an existing DA about CPR to create a wiki-based DA that is adapted to the context of a single ICU and tailorable to individual patient’s risk factors while employing user-centered design. The secondary objective is to document the use of a wiki platform for the adaptation of patient DAs. Methods This study will be conducted in a mixed surgical and medical ICU at Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis, Quebec, Canada. We plan to involve all 5 intensivists and recruit at least 20 alert and oriented patients admitted to the ICU and their family members if available. In the first phase of this study, we will observe 3 weeks of daily interactions between patients, families, intensivists, and other allied health professionals. We will specifically observe 5 dyads of

The Versatile Link common project: feasibility report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasey, F; Soos, C; Troska, J; Hall, D; Huffman, T; Weidberg, T; Kwan, S; Prosser, A; Xiang, A; Ye, J

2012-01-01

The Versatile Link is a bi-directional digital optical data link operating at rates up to 4.8 Gbit/s and featuring radiation-resistant low-power and low-mass front-end components. The system is being developed in multimode or singlemode versions operating at 850 nm or 1310 nm wavelength respectively. It has serial data interfaces and is protocol-agnostic, but is targeted to operate in tandem with the GigaBit Transceiver (GBT) serializer/deserializer chip being designed at CERN. This paper gives an overview of the project status three and a half years after its launch. It describes the challenges encountered and highlights the solutions proposed at the system as well as the component level. It concludes with a positive feasibility assesment and an outlook for future project development directions.

Sentinel-1A - Launching the first satellite and launching the operational Copernicus programme

Science.gov (United States)

Aschbacher, Josef; Milagro Perez, Maria Pilar

2014-05-01

The first Copernicus satellite, Sentinel-1A, is prepared for launch in April 2014. It will provide continuous, systematic and highly reliable radar images of the Earth. Sentinel-1B will follow around 18 months later to increase observation frequency and establish an operational system. Sentinel-1 is designed to work in a pre-programmed conflict-free operation mode ensuring the reliability required by operational services and creating a consistent long-term data archive for applications based on long time series. This mission will ensure the continuation and improvement of SAR operational services and applications addressing primarily medium- to high-resolution applications through a main mode of operation that features both a wide swath (250 km) and high geometric (5 × 20 m) and radiometric resolution, allowing imaging of global landmasses, coastal zones, sea ice, polar areas, and shipping routes at high resolution. The Sentinel-1 main operational mode (Interferometric Wide Swath) will allow to have a complete coverage of the Earth in 6 days in the operational configuration when the two Sentinel-1 spacecraft will be in orbit simultaneously. High priority areas like Europe, Canada and some shipping routes will be covered almost daily. This high global observation frequency is unprecedented and cannot be reached with any other current radar mission. Envisat, for example, which was the 'workhorse' in this domain up to April 2012, reached global coverage every 35 days. Sentinel-1 data products will be made available systematically and free of charge to all users including institutional users, the general public, scientific and commercial users. The transition of the Copernicus programme from the development to operational phase will take place at about the same time when the first Sentinel-1 satellite will be launched. During the operational phase, funding of the programme will come from the European Union Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the years 2014

Un modelo de implementación de una wiki para la formación jurídica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Giménez Costa

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Desde la experiencia en el uso de la herramienta wiki en diversas asignaturas impartidas en la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona se pueden extraer algunas conclusiones que permiten la elaboración de una estrategia para la implementación de actividades de trabajo colaborativo, utilizando dicha herramienta. Con carácter previo al diseño de la actividad es necesario contextualizarla, reflexionando sobre algunas cuestiones como los potenciales usuarios, los objetivos de la actividad, el plan de trabajo, los recursos técnicos y humanos necesarios, el sistema de seguimiento del aprendizaje, las vías de comunicación, el sistema y criterios de evaluación. Una vez contextualizada, se puede proceder al diseño de la actividad y de la documentación y a su presentación on line, adoptando decisiones y elaborando materiales sobre las competencias a desarrollar, el objeto del trabajo, los criterios de evaluación, el cronograma, las reglas de estilo, los criterios de formación de los grupos, la metodología, las vías de comunicación, y el diseño y formalización del espacio de trabajo en el campus virtual. Por último, es necesario alertar sobre diversos problemas que pueden aparecer durante la elaboración del trabajo en grupo mediante una wiki, tanto de carácter tecnológico como sociológicos.

La investigación del discurso escrito en el aprendizaje de idiomas en entornos colaborativos y wikis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Belén Díez-Bedmar

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Es bien sabido que el uso de las nuevas tecnologías ha sido instrumental en la promoción del conocimiento digital y del aprendizaje colaborativo del lenguaje. Sin embargo, Bax (2003 ha visto en la comunicación asistida por ordenador un gran potencial en las etapas abierta y de normalización. Aunque un número importante de investigaciones en los últimos años se han dedicado a la comunicación asíncrona por medio de web 1.0, los esfuerzos realizados en la actualidad han comenzado a analizar el uso de herramientas de video síncronas (Jáuregui y Bañados, 2008, blogs (Murray y Hourigan, 2008 y wikis (Lund, 2008. En este artículo presentamos una experiencia colaborativa en línea entre dos Instituciones de Educación Superior en Inglaterra y España (curso académico 2008/2009. Dicha experiencia ofreció a los alumnos la oportunidad de desarrollar su destreza escritora por medio de una serie de actividades de naturaleza digital en las que el wiki estaba integrado de forma natural. Los alumnos ingleses y españoles se embarcaron en la redacción de un folleto turístico de un monumento relevante desde el punto de vista histórico/artístico del otro país de forma colaborativa, ayudando al compañero en la redacción de su folleto y siendo ayudado de la misma manera.

From documents to datasets: A MediaWiki-based method of annotating and extracting species observations in century-old field notebooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomer, Andrea; Vaidya, Gaurav; Guralnick, Robert; Bloom, David; Russell, Laura

2012-01-01

Part diary, part scientific record, biological field notebooks often contain details necessary to understanding the location and environmental conditions existent during collecting events. Despite their clear value for (and recent use in) global change studies, the text-mining outputs from field notebooks have been idiosyncratic to specific research projects, and impossible to discover or re-use. Best practices and workflows for digitization, transcription, extraction, and integration with other sources are nascent or non-existent. In this paper, we demonstrate a workflow to generate structured outputs while also maintaining links to the original texts. The first step in this workflow was to place already digitized and transcribed field notebooks from the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History founder, Junius Henderson, on Wikisource, an open text transcription platform. Next, we created Wikisource templates to document places, dates, and taxa to facilitate annotation and wiki-linking. We then requested help from the public, through social media tools, to take advantage of volunteer efforts and energy. After three notebooks were fully annotated, content was converted into XML and annotations were extracted and cross-walked into Darwin Core compliant record sets. Finally, these recordsets were vetted, to provide valid taxon names, via a process we call "taxonomic referencing." The result is identification and mobilization of 1,068 observations from three of Henderson's thirteen notebooks and a publishable Darwin Core record set for use in other analyses. Although challenges remain, this work demonstrates a feasible approach to unlock observations from field notebooks that enhances their discovery and interoperability without losing the narrative context from which those observations are drawn."Compose your notes as if you were writing a letter to someone a century in the future."Perrine and Patton (2011).

Linking Task-based Language Teaching and Sociocultural Theory: Private Speech and Scaffolding in Reading Comprehension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soheila Tahmasebi

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In Sociocultural Theory, mediations in second language learning include (1 mediation by others (2 mediation by self (3 and mediation by artifacts, which incorporates brilliant insights for EFL contexts (Lantolf, 2000. Putting these ideas in a task-based method, the present study aimed at examining the contribution of scaffolding and private speech in improving EFL learners’ skills and seeking how learners performance might link to  social or interpersonal activities they engage in. Screened through an Oxford Placement Test, 54 EFL freshmen taking a reading comprehension course participated in this study and formed two randomly divided groups and pretested using a 30-item TOEFL test of reading comprehension. The control group benefited from a teacher, who paraphrased, summarized and provided the meaning of the new words and expressions. The experimental group was asked to do the same tasks through collaboration, private speech and artifacts. Students' performances were video-taped to be used for discourse analyses and provide measures of fluency, accuracy and complexity (Iwashita, Elder, & McNamara, 2001. Two types of measurements were used: 1 a final test of reading comprehension, 2 an oral presentation of a text whose readability matched that of the texts used during the experiment. The students' performances on presenting the text orally were rated based on the idea units recalled (Johnson, 1970. The data analysis revealed no difference between the two groups in the final test, but in oral presentation, the experimental group outperformed the control group.

Throttleable GOX/ABS launch assist hybrid rocket motor for small scale air launch platform

Science.gov (United States)

Spurrier, Zachary S.

Aircraft-based space-launch platforms allow operational flexibility and offer the potential for significant propellant savings for small-to-medium orbital payloads. The NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's Towed Glider Air-Launch System (TGALS) is a small-scale flight research project investigating the feasibility for a remotely-piloted, towed, glider system to act as a versatile air launch platform for nano-scale satellites. Removing the crew from the launch vehicle means that the system does not have to be human rated, and offers a potential for considerable cost savings. Utah State University is developing a small throttled launch-assist system for the TGALS platform. This "stage zero" design allows the TGALS platform to achieve the required flight path angle for the launch point, a condition that the TGALS cannot achieve without external propulsion. Throttling is required in order to achieve and sustain the proper launch attitude without structurally overloading the airframe. The hybrid rocket system employs gaseous-oxygen and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) as propellants. This thesis summarizes the development and testing campaign, and presents results from the clean-sheet design through ground-based static fire testing. Development of the closed-loop throttle control system is presented.

Announcing the Launch of CPTAC’s Proteogenomics DREAM Challenge | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Science.gov (United States)

This week, we are excited to announce the launch of the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) Proteogenomics Computational DREAM Challenge.  The aim of this Challenge is to encourage the generation of computational methods for extracting information from the cancer proteome and for linking those data to genomic and transcriptomic information.  The specific goals are to predict proteomic and phosphoproteomic data from other multiple data types including transcriptomics and genetics.

APME launches common method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1993-01-01

A common approach for carrying out ecological balances for commodity thermoplastics is due to be launched by the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe (APME; Brussels) and its affiliate, The European Centre for Plastics in the Environment (PWMI) this week. The methodology report is the latest stage of a program started in 1990 that aims to describe all operations up to the production of polymer powder or granules at the plant gate. Information gathered will be made freely available to companies considering the use of polymers. An industry task force, headed by PWMI executive director Vince Matthews, has gathered information on the plastics production processes from oil to granule, and an independent panel of specialists, chaired by Ian Boustead of the U.K.'s Open University, devised the methodology and analysis. The methodology report stresses the need to define the system being analyzed and discusses how complex chemical processes can be analyzed in terms of consumption of fuels, energy, and raw materials, as well as solid, liquid, and gaseous emissions

Beyond Wiki to Judgewiki for Transparent Climate Change Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Capron, M. E.

2008-12-01

Climate Change is like the prisoner's dilemma, a zero-sum game, or cheating in sports. Everyone and every country is tempted to selfishly maintain or advance their standard of living. The tremendous difference between standards of living amplifies the desire to opt out of Climate Change solutions adverse to economic competitiveness. Climate Change is also exceedingly complex. No one person, one organization, one country, or partial collection of countries has the capacity and the global support needed to make decisions on Climate Change solutions. There are thousands of potential actions, tens of thousands of known and unknown environmental and economic impacts. Some actions are belatedly found to be unsustainable beyond token volumes, corn ethanol or soy-biodiesel for example. Mankind can address human nature and complexity with a globally transparent information and decision process available to all 7 billion of us. We need a process that builds trust and simplifies complexity. Fortunately, we have the Internet for trust building communication and computers to simplify complexity. Mankind can produce new software tailored to the challenge. We would combine group information collection software (a wiki) with a decision-matrix (a judge), market forecasting, and video games to produce the tool mankind needs for trust building transparent decisions on Climate Change actions. The resulting software would be a judgewiki.

GRYPHON: Air launched space booster

Science.gov (United States)

1993-06-01

The project chosen for the winter semester Aero 483 class was the design of a next generation Air Launched Space Booster. Based on Orbital Sciences Corporation's Pegasus concept, the goal of Aero 483 was to design a 500,000 pound air launched space booster capable of delivering 17,000 pounds of payload to Low Earth Orbit and 8,000 pounds of payload to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit. The resulting launch vehicle was named the Gryphon. The class of forty senior aerospace engineering students was broken down into eight interdependent groups. Each group was assigned a subsystem or responsibility which then became their field of specialization. Spacecraft Integration was responsible for ensuring compatibility between subsystems. This group kept up to date on subsystem redesigns and informed those parties affected by the changes, monitored the vehicle's overall weight and dimensions, and calculated the mass properties of the booster. This group also performed the cost/profitability analysis of the Gryphon and obtained cost data for competing launch systems. The Mission Analysis Group was assigned the task of determining proper orbits, calculating the vehicle's flight trajectory for those orbits, and determining the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle. The Propulsion Group chose the engines that were best suited to the mission. This group also set the staging configurations for those engines and designed the tanks and fuel feed system. The commercial satellite market, dimensions and weights of typical satellites, and method of deploying satellites was determined by the Payloads Group. In addition, Payloads identified possible resupply packages for Space Station Freedom and identified those packages that were compatible with the Gryphon. The guidance, navigation, and control subsystems were designed by the Mission Control Group. This group identified required tracking hardware, communications hardware telemetry systems, and ground sites for the location of the Gryphon

Hot-Fire Test of Liquid Oxygen/Hydrogen Space Launch Mission Injector Applicable to Exploration Upper Stage

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Greg; Turpin, Jason; Nettles, Mindy

2015-01-01

This task is to hot-fire test an existing Space Launch Mission (SLM) injector that is applicable for all expander cycle engines being considered for the exploration upper stage. The work leverages investment made in FY 2013 that was used to additively manufacture three injectors (fig. 1) all by different vendors..

Magnetic Launch Assist Demonstration Test

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

This image shows a 1/9 subscale model vehicle clearing the Magnetic Launch Assist System, formerly referred to as the Magnetic Levitation (MagLev), test track during a demonstration test conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Engineers at MSFC have developed and tested Magnetic Launch Assist technologies. To launch spacecraft into orbit, a Magnetic Launch Assist System would use magnetic fields to levitate and accelerate a vehicle along a track at very high speeds. Similar to high-speed trains and roller coasters that use high-strength magnets to lift and propel a vehicle a couple of inches above a guideway, a launch-assist system would electromagnetically drive a space vehicle along the track. A full-scale, operational track would be about 1.5-miles long and capable of accelerating a vehicle to 600 mph in 9.5 seconds. This track is an advanced linear induction motor. Induction motors are common in fans, power drills, and sewing machines. Instead of spinning in a circular motion to turn a shaft or gears, a linear induction motor produces thrust in a straight line. Mounted on concrete pedestals, the track is 100-feet long, about 2-feet wide and about 1.5-feet high. The major advantages of launch assist for NASA launch vehicles is that it reduces the weight of the take-off, the landing gear, the wing size, and less propellant resulting in significant cost savings. The US Navy and the British MOD (Ministry of Defense) are planning to use magnetic launch assist for their next generation aircraft carriers as the aircraft launch system. The US Army is considering using this technology for launching target drones for anti-aircraft training.

U.S. advanced launch vehicle technology programs : Quarterly Launch Report : special report

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

U.S. firms and U.S. government agencies are jointly investing in advanced launch vehicle technology. This Special Report summarizes U.S. launch vehicle technology programs and highlights the changing : roles of government and industry players in pick...

Human factors assessment in PRA using task analysis linked evaluation technique (TALENT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wells, J.E.; Banks, W.W.

1990-01-01

Human error is a primary contributor to risk in complex high-reliability systems. A 1985 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) study of licensee event reports (LERs) suggests that upwards of 65% of commercial nuclear system failures involve human error. Since then, the USNRC has initiated research to fully and properly integrate human errors into the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) process. The resulting implementation procedure is known as the Task Analysis Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT). As indicated, TALENT is a broad-based method for integrating human factors expertise into the PRA process. This process achieves results which: (1) provide more realistic estimates of the impact of human performance on nuclear power safety, (2) can be fully audited, (3) provide a firm technical base for equipment-centered and personnel-centered retrofit/redesign of plants enabling them to meet internally and externally imposed safety standards, and (4) yield human and hardware data capable of supporting inquiries into human performance issues that transcend the individual plant. The TALENT procedure is being field-tested to verify its effectiveness and utility. The objectives of the field-test are to examine (1) the operability of the process, (2) its acceptability to the users, and (3) its usefulness for achieving measurable improvements in the credibility of the analysis. The field-test will provide the information needed to enhance the TALENT process

Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-15

FY13+ Phase I Buy Contractor: United Launch Services, LLC Contractor Location: 9501 East Panorama Circle Centennial , CO 80112 Contract Number...Contract Name: FY13+ Phase I Buy Contractor: United Launch Services, LLC Contractor Location: 9501 East Panorama Circle Centennial , CO 80112 Contract...FY12 EELV Launch Services (ELS5) Contractor: United Launch Services, LLC. Contractor Location: 9501 East Panorama Circle Centennial , CO 80112

Impact 2.0 : New Mechanisms for Linking Research and Policy ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

At the same time, interactive web-based services and applications, including wikis and social networking sites are ... had a significant impact on people's social lives and political action, as well as industries like advertising and the media.

The Role of Representations in Executive Function: Investigating a Developmental Link Between Flexibility and Abstraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria eKharitonova

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Young children often perseverate, engaging in previously correct, but no longer appropriate behaviors. One account posits that such perseveration results from the use of stimulus-specific representations of a situation, which are distinct from abstract, generalizable representations that support flexible behavior. Previous findings supported this account, demonstrating that only children who flexibly switch between rules could generalize their behavior to novel stimuli. However, this link between flexibility and generalization might reflect general cognitive abilities, or depend upon similarities across the measures or their temporal order. The current work examined these issues by testing the specificity and generality of this link. In two experiments with three-year-old children, flexibility was measured in terms of switching between rules in a card-sorting task, while abstraction was measured in terms of selecting which stimulus did not belong in an odd-one-out task. The link between flexibility and abstraction was general across (1 abstraction dimensions similar to or different from those in the card-sorting task and (2 abstraction tasks that preceded or followed the switching task. Good performance on abstraction and flexibility measures did not extend to all cognitive tasks, including an IQ measure, and dissociated from children’s ability to gaze at the correct stimulus in the odd-one-out task, suggesting that the link between flexibility and abstraction is specific to such measures, rather than reflecting general abilities that affect all tasks. We interpret these results in terms of the role that developing prefrontal cortical regions play in processes such as working memory, which can support both flexibility and abstraction.

Iraq Radiosonde Launch Records

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Iraqi upper air records loaned to NCDC from the Air Force 14th Weather Squadron. Scanned notebooks containing upper air radiosonde launch records and data. Launches...

Trading away what kind of jobs? Globalization, trade and tasks in the US economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemeny, Thomas; Rigby, David

2012-04-01

Economists and other social scientists are calling for a reassessment of the impact of international trade on labor markets in developed and developing countries. Classical models of globalization and trade, based upon the international exchange of finished goods, fail to capture the fragmentation of much commodity production and the geographical separation of individual production tasks. This fragmentation, captured in the growing volume of intra-industry trade, prompts investigation of the effects of trade within, rather than between, sectors of the economy. In this paper we examine the relationship between international trade and the task structure of US employment. We link disaggregate US trade data from 1972 to 2006, the NBER manufacturing database, the Decennial Census, and occupational and task data from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Within-industry shifts in task characteristics are linked to import competition and technological change. Our results suggest that trade has played a major role in the growth in relative demand for nonroutine tasks, particularly those requiring high levels of interpersonal interaction.

The People Unite: Learning Meaningful Civics Online

Science.gov (United States)

Pitts, Annette Boyd; Dziuban, Charles; Cornett, Jeffrey W.

2011-01-01

Throughout the world, today's students are being characterized as digital natives, the "net generation." This twenty-first-century student cohort is adept at multi-tasking and at using a variety of tools and resources including electronic search engines, blogs, wikis, visual images, videos, gaming platforms, and social networking.…

Launching Garbage-Bag Balloons.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hy

1997-01-01

Presents a modification of a procedure for making and launching hot air balloons made out of garbage bags. Student instructions for balloon construction, launching instructions, and scale diagrams are included. (DDR)

The Launch Systems Operations Cost Model

Science.gov (United States)

Prince, Frank A.; Hamaker, Joseph W. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

One of NASA's primary missions is to reduce the cost of access to space while simultaneously increasing safety. A key component, and one of the least understood, is the recurring operations and support cost for reusable launch systems. In order to predict these costs, NASA, under the leadership of the Independent Program Assessment Office (IPAO), has commissioned the development of a Launch Systems Operations Cost Model (LSOCM). LSOCM is a tool to predict the operations & support (O&S) cost of new and modified reusable (and partially reusable) launch systems. The requirements are to predict the non-recurring cost for the ground infrastructure and the recurring cost of maintaining that infrastructure, performing vehicle logistics, and performing the O&S actions to return the vehicle to flight. In addition, the model must estimate the time required to cycle the vehicle through all of the ground processing activities. The current version of LSOCM is an amalgamation of existing tools, leveraging our understanding of shuttle operations cost with a means of predicting how the maintenance burden will change as the vehicle becomes more aircraft like. The use of the Conceptual Operations Manpower Estimating Tool/Operations Cost Model (COMET/OCM) provides a solid point of departure based on shuttle and expendable launch vehicle (ELV) experience. The incorporation of the Reliability and Maintainability Analysis Tool (RMAT) as expressed by a set of response surface model equations gives a method for estimating how changing launch system characteristics affects cost and cycle time as compared to today's shuttle system. Plans are being made to improve the model. The development team will be spending the next few months devising a structured methodology that will enable verified and validated algorithms to give accurate cost estimates. To assist in this endeavor the LSOCM team is part of an Agency wide effort to combine resources with other cost and operations professionals to

Balloon launching station, Mildura, Victoria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Mildura Balloon Launching Station was established in 1960 by the Department of Supply (now the Department of Manufacturing Industry) on behalf of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) to determine the content of radioactive material in the upper atmosphere over Australia. The Station location and layout, staffing, balloon launching equipment, launching, tracking and recovery are described. (R.L.)

An initial test of a normative Figure Of Merit for the quality of overall task performance

Science.gov (United States)

Lemay, Moira; Comstock, J. R., Jr.

1990-01-01

An overall indicator, or Figure Of Merit (FOM), of the quality of crew/vehicle system performance is needed to establish the effect of workload on efficiency and to identify overload conditions. A normative FOM is proposed in which performance is measured on a representative task and a normative data base obtained. FOMs for subsequent executions of the task are then reported in terms of weighted deviations from average task performance. Performance of discrete tasks is measured primarily in terms of subtask time and errors. Discrete task performance is then combined with a measure of continuous vehicle control. In order to test the normative FOM procedure, the technique was applied to an existing set of data from a simulated landing task in which standard communications with ATC was compared with a data link communications system. The results indicated that while mean task performance was not affected, task variability, as measured by the FOM, was significantly higher when data link communications were used. In order to establish the sensitivity of the normative FOM method, further testing of the measure is recommended.

Magnetic Launch Assist Experimental Track

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

In this photograph, a futuristic spacecraft model sits atop a carrier on the Magnetic Launch Assist System, formerly known as the Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) System, experimental track at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Engineers at MSFC have developed and tested Magnetic Launch Assist technologies that would use magnetic fields to levitate and accelerate a vehicle along a track at very high speeds. Similar to high-speed trains and roller coasters that use high-strength magnets to lift and propel a vehicle a couple of inches above a guideway, a Magnetic Launch Assist system would electromagnetically drive a space vehicle along the track. A full-scale, operational track would be about 1.5-miles long and capable of accelerating a vehicle to 600 mph in 9.5 seconds. This track is an advanced linear induction motor. Induction motors are common in fans, power drills, and sewing machines. Instead of spinning in a circular motion to turn a shaft or gears, a linear induction motor produces thrust in a straight line. Mounted on concrete pedestals, the track is 100-feet long, about 2-feet wide, and about 1.5-feet high. The major advantages of launch assist for NASA launch vehicles is that it reduces the weight of the take-off, the landing gear, the wing size, and less propellant resulting in significant cost savings. The US Navy and the British MOD (Ministry of Defense) are planning to use magnetic launch assist for their next generation aircraft carriers as the aircraft launch system. The US Army is considering using this technology for launching target drones for anti-aircraft training.

WEBQUEST Y WIKIS: BÚSQUEDA DE INFORMACIÓN EN RED Y DESARROLLO DE COMPETENCIAS EN COLABORACIÓN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lourdes Villalustre Martínez

2011-04-01

Full Text Available En la formación universitaria se está apostando por estrategias y recursos didácticos, -que aprovechan las potencialidades de diferentes instrumentos digitales-, como las Webquests en tanto metodologías de investigación colaborativa apoyada en la búsqueda de información y en la utilización de contenidos alojados en Internet para la realización de proyectos. Los cuales pueden articularse a partir de herramientas 2.0 como las wikis, por su gran versatilidad y capacidad para generar conocimiento de forma colaborativa mediante la creación de contenidos on-line.   En la asignatura virtual de Educación en el ámbito rural1 se ha diseñado una actividad formativa en colaboración basada en la filosofía de las webquests y apoyada en el uso de las wikis, - configurando lo que se denominó Gameproject- Del Moral; Villalustre (2007b, que promueve el acceso y gestión de la información para elaborar un proyecto de intervención socio-educativo. Tras su implementación en varios años, se preguntó a 161 estudiantes sobre las competencias que consideraban haber desarrollado y/o consolidado con el trabajo colaborativo planteado. Éstos destacaron mayoritariamente las habilidades para la investigación, la recogida y tratamiento de la información, y otras más específicas vinculadas al futuro desempeño de su actividad profesional. Hay que destacar que los estudiantes sin experiencia previa en cursos de formación virtual consideraron haber consolidado más las competencias vinculadas al uso de herramientas informáticas.

High Altitude Launch for a Practical SSTO

Science.gov (United States)

Landis, Geoffrey A.; Denis, Vincent

2003-01-01

Existing engineering materials allow the constuction of towers to heights of many kilometers. Orbital launch from a high altitude has significant advantages over sea-level launch due to the reduced atmospheric pressure, resulting in lower atmospheric drag on the vehicle and allowing higher rocket engine performance. High-altitude launch sites are particularly advantageous for single-stage to orbit (SSTO) vehicles, where the payload is typically 2% of the initial launch mass. An earlier paper enumerated some of the advantages of high altitude launch of SSTO vehicles. In this paper, we calculate launch trajectories for a candidate SSTO vehicle, and calculate the advantage of launch at launch altitudes 5 to 25 kilometer altitudes above sea level. The performance increase can be directly translated into increased payload capability to orbit, ranging from 5 to 20% increase in the mass to orbit. For a candidate vehicle with an initial payload fraction of 2% of gross lift-off weight, this corresponds to 31% increase in payload (for 5-km launch altitude) to 122% additional payload (for 25-km launch altitude).

Human Factors Virtual Analysis Techniques for NASA's Space Launch System Ground Support using MSFC's Virtual Environments Lab (VEL)

Science.gov (United States)

Searcy, Brittani

2017-01-01

Using virtual environments to assess complex large scale human tasks provides timely and cost effective results to evaluate designs and to reduce operational risks during assembly and integration of the Space Launch System (SLS). NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) uses a suite of tools to conduct integrated virtual analysis during the design phase of the SLS Program. Siemens Jack is a simulation tool that allows engineers to analyze human interaction with CAD designs by placing a digital human model into the environment to test different scenarios and assess the design's compliance to human factors requirements. Engineers at MSFC are using Jack in conjunction with motion capture and virtual reality systems in MSFC's Virtual Environments Lab (VEL). The VEL provides additional capability beyond standalone Jack to record and analyze a person performing a planned task to assemble the SLS at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The VEL integrates Vicon Blade motion capture system, Siemens Jack, Oculus Rift, and other virtual tools to perform human factors assessments. By using motion capture and virtual reality, a more accurate breakdown and understanding of how an operator will perform a task can be gained. By virtual analysis, engineers are able to determine if a specific task is capable of being safely performed by both a 5% (approx. 5ft) female and a 95% (approx. 6'1) male. In addition, the analysis will help identify any tools or other accommodations that may to help complete the task. These assessments are critical for the safety of ground support engineers and keeping launch operations on schedule. Motion capture allows engineers to save and examine human movements on a frame by frame basis, while virtual reality gives the actor (person performing a task in the VEL) an immersive view of the task environment. This presentation will discuss the need of human factors for SLS and the benefits of analyzing tasks in NASA MSFC's VEL.

The reusable launch vehicle technology program

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

1995-01-01

Today's launch systems have major shortcomings that will increase in significance in the future, and thus are principal drivers for seeking major improvements in space transportation. They are too costly; insufficiently reliable, safe, and operable; and increasingly losing market share to international competition. For the United States to continue its leadership in the human exploration and wide ranging utilization of space, the first order of business must be to achieve low cost, reliable transportatin to Earth orbit. NASA's Access to Space Study, in 1993, recommended the development of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket vehicle as an Agency goal. The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is to mature the technologies essential for a next-generation reusable launch system capable of reliably serving National space transportation needs at substantially reduced costs. The primary objectives of the RLV technology program are to (1) mature the technologies required for the next-generation system, (2) demonstrate the capability to achieve low development and operational cost, and rapid launch turnaround times and (3) reduce business and technical risks to encourage significant private investment in the commercial development and operation of the next-generation system. Developing and demonstrating the technologies required for a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket is a focus of the program becuase past studies indicate that it has the best potential for achieving the lowest space access cost while acting as an RLV technology driver (since it also encompasses the technology requirements of reusable rocket vehicles in general).

The reusable launch vehicle technology program

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

Today's launch systems have major shortcomings that will increase in significance in the future, and thus are principal drivers for seeking major improvements in space transportation. They are too costly; insufficiently reliable, safe, and operable; and increasingly losing market share to international competition. For the United States to continue its leadership in the human exploration and wide ranging utilization of space, the first order of business must be to achieve low cost, reliable transportatin to Earth orbit. NASA's Access to Space Study, in 1993, recommended the development of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket vehicle as an Agency goal. The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is to mature the technologies essential for a next-generation reusable launch system capable of reliably serving National space transportation needs at substantially reduced costs. The primary objectives of the RLV technology program are to (1) mature the technologies required for the next-generation system, (2) demonstrate the capability to achieve low development and operational cost, and rapid launch turnaround times and (3) reduce business and technical risks to encourage significant private investment in the commercial development and operation of the next-generation system. Developing and demonstrating the technologies required for a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket is a focus of the program becuase past studies indicate that it has the best potential for achieving the lowest space access cost while acting as an RLV technology driver (since it also encompasses the technology requirements of reusable rocket vehicles in general).

Space Shuttle Launch Probability Analysis: Understanding History so We Can Predict the Future

Science.gov (United States)

Cates, Grant R.

2014-01-01

The Space Shuttle was launched 135 times and nearly half of those launches required 2 or more launch attempts. The Space Shuttle launch countdown historical data of 250 launch attempts provides a wealth of data that is important to analyze for strictly historical purposes as well as for use in predicting future launch vehicle launch countdown performance. This paper provides a statistical analysis of all Space Shuttle launch attempts including the empirical probability of launch on any given attempt and the cumulative probability of launch relative to the planned launch date at the start of the initial launch countdown. This information can be used to facilitate launch probability predictions of future launch vehicles such as NASA's Space Shuttle derived SLS. Understanding the cumulative probability of launch is particularly important for missions to Mars since the launch opportunities are relatively short in duration and one must wait for 2 years before a subsequent attempt can begin.

How to Improve the Supportive Role of Estonian Innovation System toward Launching New Products by High Technology Companies?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liisi Sepp

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the study is to evaluate how supportive is Estonian national innovation system toward the launching of new innovative products by high technology firms. The article intends to combine two broad areas of research – national innovation system approach and the different models of the new product launching. Based on the literature review and in-depth analysis of three case studies of Estonian high-tech company’s major barriers as well success factors of highly innovative product launches were identified. The barriers of the new product launching were linked with the systemic failures of the national innovation system. The most relevant failures of Estonian national innovation system inhibiting the new product development are capability and networking failures. The sources of innovation of high-technology firms are too narrow, linkages with domestic firms and higher education institutions as well with foreign firms are poorly developed. High-tech firms have also serious capacity problems due to the extremely weak support mechanism by national innovation system on the seed funding stage of product development and prototype building stage as well. Paper argues that resources needed for the innovation should not be looked too narrowly following linear innovation model approach. Instead interactive approach is needed, which combines capability building, network development, interactive learning with direct investments into fundamental research.

The Ares I-1 Flight Test--Paving the Road for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Stephan R.; Tinker, Michael L.; Tuma, Meg

2007-01-01

In accordance with the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration and the nation's desire to again send humans to explore beyond Earth orbit, NASA has been tasked to send human beings to the moon, Mars, and beyond. It has been 30 years since the United States last designed and built a human-rated launch vehicle. NASA is now building the Ares I crew launch vehicle, which will loft the Orion crew exploration vehicle into orbit, and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle, which will launch the Lunar Surface Access Module and Earth departure stage to rendezvous Orion for missions to the moon. NASA has marshaled unique resources from the government and private sectors to perform the technically and programmatically complex work of delivering astronauts to orbit early next decade, followed by heavy cargo late next decade. Our experiences with Saturn and the Shuttle have taught us the value of adhering to sound systems engineering, such as the "test as you fly" principle, while applying aerospace best practices and lessons learned. If we are to fly humans safely aboard a launch vehicle, we must employ a variety of methodologies to reduce the technical, schedule, and cost risks inherent in the complex business of space transportation. During the Saturn development effort, NASA conducted multiple demonstration and verification flight tests to prove technology in its operating environment before relying upon it for human spaceflight. Less testing on the integrated Shuttle system did not reduce cost or schedule. NASA plans a progressive series of demonstration (ascent), verification (orbital), and mission flight tests to supplement ground research and high-altitude subsystem testing with real-world data, factoring the results of each test into the next one. In this way, sophisticated analytical models and tools, many of which were not available during Saturn and Shuttle, will be calibrated and we will gain confidence in their predictions, as we gain hands-on experience in operating the first

Study on Alternative Cargo Launch Options from the Lunar Surface

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheryl A. Blomberg; Zamir A. Zulkefli; Spencer W. Rich; Steven D. Howe

2013-07-01

In the future, there will be a need for constant cargo launches from Earth to Mars in order to build, and then sustain, a Martian base. Currently, chemical rockets are used for space launches. These are expensive and heavy due to the amount of necessary propellant. Nuclear thermal rockets (NTRs) are the next step in rocket design. Another alternative is to create a launcher on the lunar surface that uses magnetic levitation to launch cargo to Mars in order to minimize the amount of necessary propellant per mission. This paper investigates using nuclear power for six different cargo launching alternatives, as well as the orbital mechanics involved in launching cargo to a Martian base from the moon. Each alternative is compared to the other alternative launchers, as well as compared to using an NTR instead. This comparison is done on the basis of mass that must be shipped from Earth, the amount of necessary propellant, and the number of equivalent NTR launches. Of the options, a lunar coil launcher had a ship mass that is 12.7% less than the next best option and 17 NTR equivalent launches, making it the best of the presented six options.

Medical Care Tasks among Spousal Dementia Caregivers: Links to Care-Related Sleep Disturbances.

Science.gov (United States)

Polenick, Courtney A; Leggett, Amanda N; Maust, Donovan T; Kales, Helen C

2018-05-01

Medical care tasks are commonly provided by spouses caring for persons living with dementia (PLWDs). These tasks reflect complex care demands that may interfere with sleep, yet their implications for caregivers' sleep outcomes are unknown. The authors evaluated the association between caregivers' medical/nursing tasks (keeping track of medications; managing tasks such as ostomy care, intravenous lines, or blood testing; giving shots/injections; and caring for skin wounds/sores) and care-related sleep disturbances. A retrospective analysis of cross-sectional data from the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Study of Caregiving was conducted. Spousal caregivers and PLWDs/proxies were interviewed by telephone at home. The U.S. sample included 104 community-dwelling spousal caregivers and PLWDs. Caregivers reported on their sociodemographic and health characteristics, caregiving stressors, negative caregiving relationship quality, and sleep disturbances. PLWDs (or proxies) reported on their health conditions and sleep problems. Caregivers who performed a higher number of medical/nursing tasks reported significantly more frequent care-related sleep disturbances, controlling for sociodemographic and health characteristics, caregiving stressors, negative caregiving relationship quality, and PLWDs' sleep problems and health conditions. Post hoc tests showed that wound care was independently associated with more frequent care-related sleep disturbances after accounting for the other medical/nursing tasks and covariates. Spousal caregivers of PLWDs who perform medical/nursing tasks may be at heightened risk for sleep disturbances and associated adverse health consequences. Interventions to promote the well-being of both care partners may benefit from directly addressing caregivers' needs and concerns about their provision of medical/nursing care. Copyright © 2018 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights

An Agent-Based Simulation for Investigating the Impact of Stereotypes on Task-Oriented Group Formation

Science.gov (United States)

Maghami, Mahsa; Sukthankar, Gita

In this paper, we introduce an agent-based simulation for investigating the impact of social factors on the formation and evolution of task-oriented groups. Task-oriented groups are created explicitly to perform a task, and all members derive benefits from task completion. However, even in cases when all group members act in a way that is locally optimal for task completion, social forces that have mild effects on choice of associates can have a measurable impact on task completion performance. In this paper, we show how our simulation can be used to model the impact of stereotypes on group formation. In our simulation, stereotypes are based on observable features, learned from prior experience, and only affect an agent's link formation preferences. Even without assuming stereotypes affect the agents' willingness or ability to complete tasks, the long-term modifications that stereotypes have on the agents' social network impair the agents' ability to form groups with sufficient diversity of skills, as compared to agents who form links randomly. An interesting finding is that this effect holds even in cases where stereotype preference and skill existence are completely uncorrelated.

Peer Review of Launch Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Timmy R.

2011-01-01

Catastrophic failures of launch vehicles during launch and ascent are currently modeled using equivalent trinitrotoluene (TNT) estimates. This approach tends to over-predict the blast effect with subsequent impact to launch vehicle and crew escape requirements. Bangham Engineering, located in Huntsville, Alabama, assembled a less-conservative model based on historical failure and test data coupled with physical models and estimates. This white paper summarizes NESC's peer review of the Bangham analytical work completed to date.

On the economics of staging for reusable launch vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Michael D.; Claybaugh, William R.

1996-03-01

There has been much recent discussion concerning possible replacement systems for the current U.S. fleet of launch vehicles, including both the shuttle and expendable vehicles. Attention has been focused upon the feasibility and potential benefits of reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch systems for future access to low Earth orbit (LEO). In this paper we assume the technical feasibility of such vehicles, as well as the benefits to be derived from system reusability. We then consider the benefits of launch vehicle staging from the perspective of economic advantage rather than performance necessity. Conditions are derived under which two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) launch systems, utilizing SSTO-class vehicle technology, offer a relative economic advantage for access to LEO.

Experiencia del uso conjunto de WebQuests y Wikis en una asignatura universitaria no presencial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Torrico González, Ängel

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Desde hace unos años se viene investigando el uso de WebQuests para hacer posible una enseñanza de calidad en aulas no universitarias. El uso de estas técnicas en recintos universitarios es pequeño y habitualmente en asignaturas presenciales.Nosotros hemos realizado una experiencia en una asignatura de libre configuración no presencial dentro del Campus Andaluz Virtual, que nos ha servido para configurar una metodología propia, en la que destacamos el uso obligado de una herramienta con la que los alumnos puedan realizar una puesta en común de los resultados obtenidos: el Wiki, que unido al uso de la WebQuest nos ha proporcionado unos resultados muy positivos para el alumnado, tanto a nivel de enseñanza como de aprendizaje.

Feeding the Second Screen: Semantic Linking based on Subtitles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Odijk, D.; Meij, E.; de Rijke, M.; Ferreira, J.; Magalhães, J.; Calado, P.

2013-01-01

Television is changing. Increasingly, broadcasts are consumed interactively. This allows broadcasters to provide consumers with additional background information that they may bookmark for later consumption. To support this type of functionality, we consider the task of linking a textual streams

An empirically derived figure of merit for the quality of overall task performance

Science.gov (United States)

Lemay, Moira

1989-01-01

The need to develop an operationally relevant figure of merit for the quality of performance of a complex system such as an aircraft cockpit stems from a hypothesized dissociation between measures of performance and those of workload. Performance can be measured in terms of time, errors, or a combination of these. In most tasks performed by expert operators, errors are relatively rare and often corrected in time to avoid consequences. Moreover, perfect performance is seldom necessary to accomplish a particular task. Moreover, how well an expert performs a complex task consisting of a series of discrete cognitive tasks superimposed on a continuous task, such as flying an aircraft, does not depend on how well each discrete task is performed, but on their smooth sequencing. This makes the amount of time spent on each subtask of paramount importance in measuring overall performance, since smooth sequencing requires a minimum amount of time spent on each task. Quality consists in getting tasks done within a crucial time interval while maintaining acceptable continuous task performance. Thus, a figure of merit for overall quality of performance should be primarily a measure of time to perform discrete subtasks combined with a measure of basic vehicle control. Thus, the proposed figure of merit requires doing a task analysis on a series of performance, or runs, of a particular task, listing each discrete task and its associated time, and calculating the mean and standard deviation of these times, along with the mean and standard deviation of tracking error for the whole task. A set of simulator data on 30 runs of a landing task was obtained and a figure of merit will be calculated for each run. The figure of merit will be compared for voice and data link, so that the impact of this technology on total crew performance (not just communication performance) can be assessed. The effect of data link communication on other cockpit tasks will also be considered.

Magnetic Launch Assist System Demonstration Test

Science.gov (United States)

2001-01-01

Engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have been testing Magnetic Launch Assist Systems, formerly known as Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) technologies. To launch spacecraft into orbit, a Magnetic Launch Assist system would use magnetic fields to levitate and accelerate a vehicle along a track at a very high speed. Similar to high-speed trains and roller coasters that use high-strength magnets to lift and propel a vehicle a couple of inches above a guideway, the launch-assist system would electromagnetically drive a space vehicle along the track. A full-scale, operational track would be about 1.5-miles long and capable of accelerating a vehicle to 600 mph in 9.5 seconds. This photograph shows a subscale model of an airplane running on the experimental track at MSFC during the demonstration test. This track is an advanced linear induction motor. Induction motors are common in fans, power drills, and sewing machines. Instead of spinning in a circular motion to turn a shaft or gears, a linear induction motor produces thrust in a straight line. Mounted on concrete pedestals, the track is 100-feet long, about 2-feet wide, and about 1.5- feet high. The major advantages of launch assist for NASA launch vehicles is that it reduces the weight of the take-off, the landing gear, the wing size, and less propellant resulting in significant cost savings. The US Navy and the British MOD (Ministry of Defense) are planning to use magnetic launch assist for their next generation aircraft carriers as the aircraft launch system. The US Army is considering using this technology for launching target drones for anti-aircraft training.

Determining the Probability of Violating Upper-Level Wind Constraints for the Launch of Minuteman III Ballistic Missiles at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Science.gov (United States)

Shafer, Jaclyn A.; Brock, Tyler M.

2012-01-01

The 30th Operational Support Squadron Weather Flight (30 OSSWF) provides comprehensive weather services to the space program at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California. One of their responsibilities is to monitor upper-level winds to ensure safe launch operations of the Minuteman Ill ballistic missile. The 30 OSSWF tasked the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to analyze VAFB sounding data with the goal of determining the probability of violating (PoV) their upper-level thresholds for wind speed and shear constraints specific to this launch vehicle, and to develop a tool that will calculate the PoV of each constraint on the day of launch. In order to calculate the probability of exceeding each constraint, the AMU collected and analyzed historical data from VAFB. The historical sounding data were retrieved from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory archive for the years 1994-2011 and then stratified into four sub-seasons: January-March, April-June, July-September, and October-December. The AMU determined the theoretical distributions that best fit the maximum wind speed and maximum wind shear datasets and applied this information when calculating the averages and standard deviations needed for the historical and real-time PoV calculations. In addition, the AMU included forecast sounding data from the Rapid Refresh model. This information provides further insight for the launch weather officers (LWOs) when determining if a wind constraint violation will occur over the next few hours on the day of launch. The AMU developed an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) in Microsoft Excel using Visual Basic for Applications. The GUI displays the critical sounding data easily and quickly for LWOs on day of launch. This tool will replace the existing one used by the 30 OSSWF, assist the LWOs in determining the probability of exceeding specific wind threshold values, and help to improve the overall upper winds forecast for

NASA Exploration Launch Projects Overview: The Crew Launch Vehicle and the Cargo Launch Vehicle Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Snoddy, Jimmy R.; Dumbacher, Daniel L.; Cook, Stephen A.

2006-01-01

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration (January 2004) serves as the foundation for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) strategic goals and objectives. As the NASA Administrator outlined during his confirmation hearing in April 2005, these include: 1) Flying the Space Shuttle as safely as possible until its retirement, not later than 2010. 2) Bringing a new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) into service as soon as possible after Shuttle retirement. 3) Developing a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics at NASA, consistent with the redirection of the human space flight program to focus on exploration. 4) Completing the International Space Station (ISS) in a manner consistent with international partner commitments and the needs of human exploration. 5) Encouraging the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector. 6) Establishing a lunar return program having the maximum possible utility for later missions to Mars and other destinations. In spring 2005, the Agency commissioned a team of aerospace subject matter experts to perform the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS). The ESAS team performed in-depth evaluations of a number of space transportation architectures and provided recommendations based on their findings? The ESAS analysis focused on a human-rated Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) for astronaut transport and a heavy lift Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) to carry equipment, materials, and supplies for lunar missions and, later, the first human journeys to Mars. After several months of intense study utilizing safety and reliability, technical performance, budget, and schedule figures of merit in relation to design reference missions, the ESAS design options were unveiled in summer 2005. As part of NASA's systems engineering approach, these point of departure architectures have been refined through trade studies during the ongoing design phase leading to the development phase that