What Attracts People to Visit Community Open Spaces? A Case Study of the Overseas Chinese Town Community in Shenzhen, China

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yiyong; Liu, Tao; Xie, Xiaohuan; Marušić, Barbara Goličnik

2016-01-01

A well-designed open space that encourages outdoor activity and social communication is a community asset that could potentially contribute to the health of local residents and social harmony of the community. Numerous factors may influence the use of each single space and may result in a variety of visitors. Compared with previous studies that focused on accessibility, this study highlights the relationship between the utilization and characteristics of community open spaces in China. The Overseas Chinese Town community in Shenzhen is regarded as an example. The association between the number of visitors and space characteristics is examined with multivariate regression models. Results show that large areas with accessible lawns, well-maintained footpaths, seats, commercial facilities, and water landscapes are important characteristics that could increase the use of community open spaces. However, adding green vegetation, sculptures, and landscape accessories in open spaces has limited effects on increasing the outdoor activities of residents. Thus, to increase the use of community open spaces, landscape designers should focus more on creating user-oriented spaces with facilities that encourage active use than on improving ornamental vegetation and accessories. PMID:27367713

Shared Space, Liminal Space: Five Years into a Community-University Place-Based Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Barajas, Heidi Lasley; Martin, Lauren

2016-01-01

This article explores shared space at the University of Minnesota's Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center (UROC), located four miles off campus in a community strong in assets, but facing inequality, disinvestment and racism. UROC's mission promotes university-community collaboration to solve critical urban challenges. We…

Space technology, sustainable development and community applications: Internet as a facilitator

Science.gov (United States)

Peter, Nicolas; Afrin, Nadia; Goh, Gérardine; Chester, Ed

2006-07-01

Among other approaches, space technologies are currently being deployed for disaster management, environmental monitoring, urban planning, health applications, communications, etc. Although space-based applications have tremendous potential for socioeconomic development, they are primarily technology driven and the requirements from the end-users (i.e. the development community) are rarely taken into consideration during the initial development stages. This communication gap between the "space" and "development" communities can be bridged with the help of the web-based knowledge sharing portal focused on space applications for development. This online community uses the development gateway foundation's sophisticated content management system. It is modeled after the development gateway's knowledge sharing portals ( http://topics.developmentgateway.org) and draws from their expertise in knowledge management, partnership building and marketing. These types of portal are known to facilitate broad-based partnerships across sectors, regions and the various stakeholders but also to facilitate North-South and South-South cooperation. This paper describes the initiative "Space for Development" ( http://topics.developmentgateway.org/space) started in 2004 which aims to demonstrate how such a web-based portal can be structured to facilitate knowledge sharing in order to bridge the gap between the "space" and "development" communities in an innovative and global manner.

Latest Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) services and innovative tools supporting the space weather research and operational communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, A. M. M.; Rastaetter, L.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Mays, M. L.; Chulaki, A.; Shim, J. S.; MacNeice, P. J.; Taktakishvili, A.; Collado-Vega, Y. M.; Weigand, C.; Zheng, Y.; Mullinix, R.; Patel, K.; Pembroke, A. D.; Pulkkinen, A. A.; Boblitt, J. M.; Bakshi, S. S.; Tsui, T.

2017-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), with the fundamental goal of aiding the transition of modern space science models into space weather forecasting while supporting space science research, has been serving as an integral hub for over 15 years, providing invaluable resources to both space weather scientific and operational communities. CCMC has developed and provided innovative web-based point of access tools varying from: Runs-On-Request System - providing unprecedented global access to the largest collection of state-of-the-art solar and space physics models, Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) - a powerful dissemination system for space weather information, Advanced Online Visualization and Analysis tools for more accurate interpretation of model results, Standard Data formats for Simulation Data downloads, and Mobile apps to view space weather data anywhere to the scientific community. In addition to supporting research and performing model evaluations, CCMC also supports space science education by hosting summer students through local universities. In this poster, we will showcase CCMC's latest innovative tools and services, and CCMC's tools that revolutionized the way we do research and improve our operational space weather capabilities. CCMC's free tools and resources are all publicly available online (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov).

Makerspace in STEM for Girls: A Physical Space to Develop Twenty-First-Century Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Sheffield, Rachel; Koul, Rekha; Blackley, Susan; Maynard, Nicoleta

2017-01-01

"Makerspace" has been lauded as a new way forward to create communities, empower students and bring together enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels "to tinker" and create. Makerspace education has been touted as having the potential to empower young people to become agents of change in their communities. This paper examines…

On sceptics and enthusiasts: What are the expectations towards self-driving cars?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick; Haustein, Sonja

2018-01-01

Automation in transport is increasing rapidly. While it is assumed that automated driving will have a significant impact on travel demand, the nature of this impact is not clear yet. Based on an online survey (N = 3040), this study explores the expected consequences of automated driving...... in the Danish population. Participants were divided into three homogeneous segments based on attitudes towards automated and conventional car driving: Sceptics (38%); Indifferent stressed drivers (37%) and Enthusiasts (25%). The attitudinal segments differ in their socio-demographic profiles, current travel......). All in all, increased travel demand can be expected from an uptake of increasingly automated cars, which will be realised in the different segments with different speeds, depending on policies, business models, and proven functionality and safety....

Making media work in space: an interdisciplinary perspective on media and communication requirements for current and future space communities

Science.gov (United States)

Babidge, S.; Cokley, J.; Gordon, F.; Louw, E.

2005-10-01

As humans expand into space communities will form. These have already begun to form in small ways, such as long-duration missions on the International Space Station and the space shuttle, and small-scale tourist excursions into space. Social, behavioural and communications data emerging from such existing communities in space suggest that the physically-bounded, work-oriented and traditionally male-dominated nature of these extremely remote groups present specific problems for the resident astronauts, groups of them viewed as ‘communities’, and their associated groups who remain on Earth, including mission controllers, management and astronauts’ families. Notionally feminine group attributes such as adaptive competence, social adaptation skills and social sensitivity will be crucial to the viability of space communities and in the absence of gender equity, ‘staying in touch’ by means of ‘news from home’ becomes more important than ever. A template of news and media forms and technologies is suggested to service those needs and enhance the social viability of future terraforming activities.

Space for innovation for sustainable community-based biofuel production and use: Lessons learned for policy from Nhambita community, Mozambique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schut, Marc; Paassen, Annemarie van; Leeuwis, Cees; Bos, Sandra; Leonardo, Wilson; Lerner, Anna

2011-01-01

This paper provides insights and recommendations for policy on the opportunities and constrains that influence the space for innovation for sustainable community-based biofuel production and use. Promoted by the Mozambican government, Nhambita community established jatropha trials in 2005. Initial results were promising, but crop failure and the absence of organized markets led to scepticism amongst farmers. We start from the idea that the promotion of community-based biofuel production and use requires taking interactions between social-cultural, biophysical, economic, political and legal subsystems across different scales and levels of analysis through time into account. Our analysis demonstrates that heterogeneous farming strategies and their synergies at community level should be carefully assessed. Furthermore, national and international political and legal developments, such as the development of biofuel sustainability criteria, influence the local space in which community-based biofuel developments take place. We conclude that ex-ante integrated assessment and creating an enabling environment can enhance space for sustainable community-based biofuel production and use. It may provide insights into the opportunities and constraints for different types of smallholders, and promote the development of adequate policy mechanisms to prevent biofuels from becoming a threat rather than an opportunity for smallholders. - Highlights: → This paper explores space for innovation for community-based biofuel production and use. → Heterogeneous farming strategies and their synergies at community level are key. → Farmers have little trust in jatropha due to crop failure and absence of markets. → (Inter)national biofuel policies influence space for local biofuel production and use. → Policies should focus on ex-ante integrated assessment and creating an enabling environment.

77 FR 8801 - Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-15

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Request for applications. SUMMARY: The..., requests applications for the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program (Community Forest...

Learning in third spaces: community art studio as storefront university classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Timm-Bottos, Janis; Reilly, Rosemary C

2015-03-01

Third spaces are in-between places where teacher-student scripts intersect, creating the potential for authentic interaction and a shift in what counts as knowledge. This paper describes a unique community-university initiative: a third space storefront classroom for postsecondary students in professional education programs, which also functions as a community art studio for the surrounding neighborhood. This approach to professional education requires an innovative combination of theory, methods, and materials as enacted by the professionals involved and performed by the students. This storefront classroom utilizes collaborative and inclusive instructional practices that promote human and community development. It facilitates the use of innovative instructional strategies including art making and participatory dialogue to create a liminal learning space that reconfigures professional education. In researching the effectiveness of this storefront classroom, we share the voices of students who have participated in this third space as part of their coursework to underscore these principles and practices.

Learning From Critical Collective Spaces: Reflections on the Community-Diversity Dialectic in Safe Spaces

OpenAIRE

Wallin-Ruschman, Jennifer; Patka, Mazna

2016-01-01

Safe spaces have the potential to become prefigurative groups that aim to create social change. The idea of a safe space as a place separate and sheltered from dominant culture to mobilize for social change has gained traction in a number of academic and practical areas. However, safe spaces have the ability to be both progressive and regressive. To guide our discussion we utilize the concept of community-diversity dialectic to address the tension between these forces within two settings. Fir...

Belonging in a Videogame Space: Bridging Affinity Spaces and Communities of Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Sandra Schamroth; Lammers, Jayne C.

2017-01-01

Background: Focusing on ways a common endeavor brings people together, Gee offered the concept of affinity spaces, which suggests that open participation without exclusion or membership is possible. This theory contrasts with Lave and Wenger's communities of practice, which called attention to situated, hierarchical participatory practices.…

User community development for the space transportation system/Skylab

Science.gov (United States)

Archer, J. L.; Beauchamp, N. A.

1974-01-01

The New User Function plan for identifying beneficial uses of space is described. Critical issues such as funding, manpower, and protection of user proprietary rights are discussed along with common barriers which impede the development of a user community. Studies for developing methodologies of identifying new users and uses of the space transportation system are included.

Life-Space Predicts Health Care Utilization in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Richard E; Williams, Courtney P; Sawyer, Patricia; Lo, Alexander X; Connelly, Kay; Nassel, Ariann; Brown, Cynthia J

2017-09-01

To determine whether decline in life-space mobility predicts increased health care utilization among community-dwelling older adults. Health care utilization (number of emergency department [ED] visits and hospitalizations) was self-reported during monthly interviews among 419 community-dwelling African American and non-Hispanic White adults aged 75 years and older in The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging II. Life-space was measured using the UAB Life-Space Assessment. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine associations of life-space at the beginning of each interval with health care utilization over the 1-month interval. Overall, 400 participants were followed for 36 months. A 10-point decrease in life-space was associated with 14% increased odds of an ED visit and/or hospitalization over the next month, adjusting for demographics, transportation difficulty, comorbidity, and having a doctor visit in the last month. Life-space is a practical alternative in predicting future health care utilization to performance-based measures, which can be difficult to incorporate into clinical or public health practice.

Who Manages Space? Eco-DRR and the Local Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Syarifah Aini Dalimunthe

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The notion of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (DRR has only recently emerged in Indonesia. The Indonesian central government now adopts some policies related to ecosystem-based DRR with formal commitments from local administrations. At the implementation level, various activities have taken place, such as mangrove planting and restoration along the coastline to address the rising sea level and the “one billion trees” program to address the urgent issue of deforestation. These governmental activities have involved local communities that reside in the high-risk area, while nonlocal actors, particularly from the private and the nongovernmental sectors, have contributed as a third element to development. This paper examines space management in the context of Eco-DRR, paying special attention to uncertainty and anxiety in the local communities as the government and private sectors engage in development activities that have significant impacts on their present and future lives. The present study pursues this purpose by means of in-depth interview and focus group discussions (FGD with local leaders in mangrove planting and restoration programs. The study took place in a small island community in a part of the Jakarta Megapolitan Region, Indonesia. The results point out that the community feels left behind due to lack of trust in managing the conservation space. Another issue to be addressed is how to improve the democratization of environment management and livelihood base of the local community. Therefore, building confidence and ameliorating relationships between actors within/without the local community should lead to a better Eco-DRR initiative.

The Critical Role of the Research Community in Space Weather Planning and Execution

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Robert M.; Behnke, Richard A.; Moretto, Therese

2018-03-01

The explosion of interest in space weather in the last 25 years has been due to a confluence of efforts all over the globe, motivated by the recognition that events on the Sun and the consequent conditions in interplanetary space and Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere can have serious impacts on vital technological systems. The fundamental research conducted at universities, government laboratories, and in the private sector has led to tremendous improvements in the ability to forecast space weather events and predict their impacts on human technology and health. The mobilization of the research community that made this progress possible was the result of a series of actions taken by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build a national program aimed at space weather. The path forward for space weather is to build on those successes through continued involvement of the research community and support for programs aimed at strengthening basic research and education in academia, the private sector, and government laboratories. Investments in space weather are most effective when applied at the intersection of research and applications. Thus, to achieve the goals set forth originally by the National Space Weather Program, the research community must be fully engaged in the planning, implementation, and execution of space weather activities, currently being coordinated by the Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation Subcommittee under the National Science and Technology Council.

Enthusiastic portrayal of 3D bioprinting in the media: Ethical side effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Frederic; Viaña, John Noel M; O'Connell, Cathal D; Dodds, Susan

2018-02-01

There has been a surge in mass media reports extolling the potential for using three-dimensional printing of biomaterials (3D bioprinting) to treat a wide range of clinical conditions. Given that mass media is recognized as one of the most important sources of health and medical information for the general public, especially prospective patients, we report and discuss the ethical consequences of coverage of 3D bioprinting in the media. First, we illustrate how positive mass media narratives of a similar biofabricated technology, namely the Macchiarini scaffold tracheas, which was involved in lethal experimental human trials, influenced potential patient perceptions. Second, we report and analyze the positively biased and enthusiastic portrayal of 3D bioprinting in mass media. Third, we examine the lack of regulation and absence of discussion about risks associated with bioprinting technology. Fourth, we explore how media misunderstanding is dangerously misleading the narrative about the technology. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Community Based Distribution of Child Spacing Methods at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

uses volunteer CBD agents. Mrs. E.F. Pelekamoyo. Service Delivery Officer. National Family Welfare Council of Malawi. Private Bag 308. Lilongwe 3. Malawi. Community Based Distribution of. Child Spacing Methods ... than us at the Hospital; male motivators by talking to their male counterparts help them to accept that their ...

Too Human versus the enthusiast press: Video game journalists as mediators of commodity value

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Carlson

2009-03-01

Full Text Available This article examines the role of mediators in the production of commodity value, arguing that there is a rise in a kind of immaterial labor, shaped by contemporary conditions of late capitalism, that functions explicitly as a mediating force. In this example, video game journalists are understood as actively engaged in producing and negotiating the value and meaning of video games for both producers and consumers. By specifically examining a moment of value contestation, a podcast debate between a journalist and a game developer, this article traces the mediating practices of the enthusiast gaming press and examines the way their history with and relationship to the video game industry continue to structure their ability to filter knowledge and shape desires.

Making Space Cool - Successful Outreach at Yuri's Night Stuttgart

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Christine; Bretschneider, Jens; Nathanson, Emil; Grossmann, Agnes

Yuri’s Night - also known as the “World Space Party” - is the annual celebration commemorating Gagarin’s historic flight on April 12, 1961, and the maiden voyage of the American space shuttle on April 12, 1981. It was created by young space enthusiasts in 2000 at the annual Space Generation Congress and was first celebrated in 2001, registering more than 60 events around the world from the start. Since then the interest in celebrating human spaceflight grew constantly to over 350 events across all seven continents in 2013. The honoring of Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight in Stuttgart started in 2007 and resulted in one of the largest events outside the US, with five parties following in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. The Stuttgart event was originally organized as space party for an audience at the age of 20 and beyond including informative aspects at the afternoon and a following party far into the night. Since 2010 the focus of the Yuri’s Night Stuttgart is to bring awareness of space exploration to people of all ages, including particularly many participatory hands-on space activities for kids and families that attract hundreds of visitors every year. As much as Yuri’s Night is a worldwide party, the events in Stuttgart successfully concentrate on educational aspects that help to inspire new generations of space enthusiasts who will ultimately shape the future of space exploration. It is therefore not only a look back to one of the greatest achievements of the 20th Century, but it is also a look into the future: from multinational cooperation on the International Space Station to benefit of space flight to the introduction of the next generation of space technology. This paper will introduce the celebrations of Yuri’s Night in Stuttgart of the past four years and compare them to the early events. It provides a summary of the development of the Yuri’s Night including educational aspects, public relations and media attraction and gives

Essential Biodiversity Variables: A framework for communication between the biodiversity community and space agencies

Science.gov (United States)

Leidner, A. K.; Skidmore, A. K.; Turner, W. W.; Geller, G. N.

2017-12-01

The biodiversity community is working towards developing a consensus on a set of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) that can be used to measure and monitor biodiversity change over time. These EBVs will inform research, modeling, policy, and assessment efforts. The synoptic coverage provided by satellite data make remote sensing a particularly important observation tool to inform many EBVs. Biodiversity is a relatively new subject matter for space agencies, and thus the definition, description, and requirements of EBVs with a significant remote sensing component can foster ways for the biodiversity community to clearly and concisely communicate observational needs to space agencies and the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS, the international coordinating body for civilian space agencies). Here, we present an overview of EBVs with a particular emphasis on those for which remote sensing will play a significant role and also report on the results of recent workshops to prioritize and refine EBVs. Our goal is to provide a framework for the biodiversity community to coalesce around a set of observational needs to convey to space agencies. Compared to many physical science disciplines, the biodiversity community represents a wide range of sub-disciplines and organizations (academia, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, national and local natural resource management agencies, etc.), which creates additional challenges when communicating needs to space agencies unfamiliar with the topic. EBVs thus offer a communication pathway that could increase awareness within space agencies of the uses of remote sensing for biodiversity research and applications, which in turn could foster greater use of remote sensing in the broader biodiversity community.

The NASA Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) Next Generation Space Weather Data Warehouse

Science.gov (United States)

Maddox, M. M.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Pulkkinen, A. A.; Zheng, Y.; Rastaetter, L.; Chulaki, A.; Pembroke, A. D.; Wiegand, C.; Mullinix, R.; Boblitt, J.; Mendoza, A. M. M.; Swindell, M. J., IV; Bakshi, S. S.; Mays, M. L.; Shim, J. S.; Hesse, M.; Collado-Vega, Y. M.; Taktakishvili, A.; MacNeice, P. J.

2014-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables, supports, and performs research and development for next generation space science and space weather models. The CCMC currently hosts a large and expanding collection of state-or-the-art, physics-based space weather models that have been developed by the international research community. There are many tools and services provided by the CCMC that are currently available world-wide, along with the ongoing development of new innovative systems and software for research, discovery, validation, visualization, and forecasting. Over the history of the CCMC's existence, there has been one constant engineering challenge - describing, managing, and disseminating data. To address the challenges that accompany an ever-expanding number of models to support, along with a growing catalog of simulation output - the CCMC is currently developing a flexible and extensible space weather data warehouse to support both internal and external systems and applications. This paper intends to chronicle the evolution and future of the CCMC's data infrastructure, and the current infrastructure re-engineering activities that seek to leverage existing community data model standards like SPASE and the IMPEx Simulation Data Model.

Why NASA and the Space Electronics Community Cares About Cyclotrons

Science.gov (United States)

LaBel, Kenneth A.

2017-01-01

NASA and the space community are faced with the harsh reality of operating electronic systems in the space radiation environment. Systems need to work reliably (as expected for as long as expected) and be available during critical operations such as docking or firing a thruster. This talk will provide a snapshot of the import of ground-based research on the radiation performance of electronics. Discussion topics include: 1) The space radiation environment hazard, 2) Radiation effects on electronics, 3) Simulation of effects with cyclotrons (and other sources), 4) Risk prediction for space missions, and, 5) Real-life examples of both ground-based testing and space-based anomalies and electronics performance. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the current state of radiation facilities in North America for ground-based electronics testing.

Life space and mental health: a study of older community-dwelling persons in Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Byles, Julie E; Leigh, Lucy; Vo, Kha; Forder, Peta; Curryer, Cassie

2015-01-01

The ability of older people to mobilise within and outside their community is dependent on a number of factors. This study explored the relationship between spatial mobility and psychological health among older adults living in Australia. The survey sample consisted of 260 community-dwelling men and women aged 75-80 years, who returned a postal survey measuring spatial mobility (using the Life Space Questionnaire) and psychological health (using the SF36 Health Related Quality of Life Profile). From the Life Space Questionnaire, participants were given a life-space score and multinomial regression was used to explore the potential effect of mental health on life-space score. The study found a significant association between mental health and life space. However, gender, physical functioning, and ability to drive were most strongly associated with the extent of life space and spatial mobility. Compared to men, older women are more likely to experience less spatial mobility and restricted life space, and hence are more vulnerable to social isolation. Mental health and life space were associated for the older people in this study. These findings have important implications for health policy and highlight the need to support older persons to maintain independence and social networks, and to successfully age in place within their community. This study also highlights the utility of the Life Space Questionnaire in terms of identifying older persons at risk of poorer mental health.

Modeling microbial community structure and functional diversity across time and space.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Peter E; Gibbons, Sean M; Gilbert, Jack A

2012-07-01

Microbial communities exhibit exquisitely complex structure. Many aspects of this complexity, from the number of species to the total number of interactions, are currently very difficult to examine directly. However, extraordinary efforts are being made to make these systems accessible to scientific investigation. While recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies have improved accessibility to the taxonomic and functional diversity of complex communities, monitoring the dynamics of these systems over time and space - using appropriate experimental design - is still expensive. Fortunately, modeling can be used as a lens to focus low-resolution observations of community dynamics to enable mathematical abstractions of functional and taxonomic dynamics across space and time. Here, we review the approaches for modeling bacterial diversity at both the very large and the very small scales at which microbial systems interact with their environments. We show that modeling can help to connect biogeochemical processes to specific microbial metabolic pathways. © 2012 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-risk driving attitudes and everyday driving violations of car and racing enthusiasts in Ontario, Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Yildirim-Yenier, Zümrüt; Vingilis, Evelyn; Wiesenthal, David L; Mann, Robert E; Seeley, Jane

2015-01-01

Attitudes and individual difference variables of car and racing enthusiasts regarding high-risk behaviors of street racing and stunt driving have recently been investigated. Positive attitudes toward high-risk driving, personality variables such as driver thrill seeking, and other self-reported risky driving acts were associated with these behaviors. However, probable relationships among high-risk driving tendencies, everyday driving behaviors, and negative road safety outcomes have remained largely unexamined. This study aimed to investigate the associations among car and racing enthusiasts' high-risk driving attitudes, self-reported everyday driving violations (i.e., ordinary and aggressive violations), and self-reported negative outcomes (i.e., collisions and driving offense citations). A web-based survey was conducted with members and visitors of car club and racing websites in Ontario, Canada. Data were obtained from 366 participants. The questionnaire included 4 attitude measures-(1) attitudes toward new penalties for Ontario's Street Racers, Stunt and Aggressive Drivers Legislation; (2) attitudes toward new offenses of stunt driving under the same legislation; (3) general attitudes toward street racing and stunt driving; (4) comparison of street racing with other risky driving behaviors-self-reported driving violations (i.e., ordinary and aggressive violations); self-reported collisions and offense citations; and background and driving questions (e.g., age, driving frequency). Results revealed that attitudes toward stunt driving offenses negatively and general attitudes toward street racing and stunt driving positively predicted ordinary violations, which, in turn, predicted offense citations. Moreover, general attitudes toward street racing and stunt driving positively predicted aggressive violations, which, in turn, predicted offense citations. The findings indicate that positive high-risk driving attitudes may be transferring to driving violations in

Towards science educational spaces as dynamic and coauthored communities of practice

Science.gov (United States)

Dhingra, Koshi

2008-04-01

In this essay review, four studies around the themes of identity and globalization are summarized and analyzed. The researchers' perspectives are generally grounded in Brown and Campione's ideas on situated knowledge ( Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 229-270). Cambridge: The MIT Press/Bradford Books, 1994) and Lave and Wenger's definition of learning as an activity fostered through participation in communities of practice ( Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1991). Questions about the goals of science education spaces, the nature of globalization in relation to practices in schools, the role of identities-in-practice in relation to participation in communities of practice such as classrooms are explored. Recommendations for key design features in effective science educational spaces, based upon the findings presented in the collection of four studies, are offered. School, it is suggested here, functions best as a clearing house for the myriad science-related stories student participants generate in their various communities of practice (e.g., within popular culture, family, community, informal educational sites). In this way, school has the potential to construct bridges between multiple student experiences and identities-in-practice.

A methodology for selecting optimum organizations for space communities

Science.gov (United States)

Ragusa, J. M.

1978-01-01

This paper suggests that a methodology exists for selecting optimum organizations for future space communities of various sizes and purposes. Results of an exploratory study to identify an optimum hypothetical organizational structure for a large earth-orbiting multidisciplinary research and applications (R&A) Space Base manned by a mixed crew of technologists are presented. Since such a facility does not presently exist, in situ empirical testing was not possible. Study activity was, therefore, concerned with the identification of a desired organizational structural model rather than the empirical testing of it. The principal finding of this research was that a four-level project type 'total matrix' model will optimize the effectiveness of Space Base technologists. An overall conclusion which can be reached from the research is that application of this methodology, or portions of it, may provide planning insights for the formal organizations which will be needed during the Space Industrialization Age.

Initial Efforts in Characterizing Radiation and Plasma Effects on Space Assets: Bridging the Space Environment, Engineering and User Community

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Y.; Ganushkina, N. Y.; Guild, T. B.; Jiggens, P.; Jun, I.; Mazur, J. E.; Meier, M. M.; Minow, J. I.; Pitchford, D. A.; O'Brien, T. P., III; Shprits, Y.; Tobiska, W. K.; Xapsos, M.; Rastaetter, L.; Jordanova, V. K.; Kellerman, A. C.; Fok, M. C. H.

2017-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) has been leading the community-wide model validation projects for many years. Such effort has been broadened and extended via the newly-launched International Forum for Space Weather Modeling Capabilities Assessment (https://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/assessment/), Its objective is to track space weather models' progress and performance over time, which is critically needed in space weather operations. The Radiation and Plasma Effects Working Team is working on one of the many focused evaluation topics and deals with five different subtopics: Surface Charging from 10s eV to 40 keV electrons, Internal Charging due to energetic electrons from hundreds keV to several MeVs. Single Event Effects from solar energetic particles (SEPs) and galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) (several MeV to TeVs), Total Dose due to accumulation of doses from electrons (>100 KeV) and protons (> 1 MeV) in a broad energy range, and Radiation Effects from SEPs and GCRs at aviation altitudes. A unique aspect of the Radiation and Plasma Effects focus area is that it bridges the space environments, engineering and user community. This presentation will summarize the working team's progress in metrics discussion/definition and the CCMC web interface/tools to facilitate the validation efforts. As an example, tools in the areas of surface charging/internal charging will be demoed.

Competition for space and the structure of ecological communities

CERN Document Server

Yodzis, Peter

1978-01-01

This volume is an investigation of interspecific competition for space, particularly among sessile organisms, both plant and animal, and its consequences for community structure. While my own contribu­ tion ----and the bulk of this volume --- lies in mathematical analysis of the phenomenon, I have also tried to summarize the most important natural historical aspects of these communities, and have devoted much effort to relating the mathematical results to observations of the natural world. Thus, the volume has both a synthetic and an analytic aspect. On the one hand, I have been struck by certain similarities among many communities, from forests to mussel beds, in which spatial com­ petition is important. On the other hand, I have analyzed this pheno­ menon by means of reaction-dispersal models. Finally, the mathematical analysis has suggested a conceptual framework for these communities which, I believe, further unifies and illuminates the field data. A focal perception of this work is that, just as niche...

Life-space mobility and dimensions of depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Polku, Hannele; Mikkola, Tuija M; Portegijs, Erja; Rantakokko, Merja; Kokko, Katja; Kauppinen, Markku; Rantanen, Taina; Viljanen, Anne

2015-01-01

To examine the association between life-space mobility and different dimensions of depressive symptoms among older community-dwelling people. Cross-sectional analyses of baseline data of the 'Life-Space Mobility in Old Age' cohort study were carried out. The participants were community-dwelling women and men aged 75-90 years (N = 848). Data were gathered via structured interviews in participants' home. Life-space mobility (the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Life-Space Assessment - questionnaire) and depressive symptoms (Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, CES-D) were assessed. Other factors examined included sociodemographic factors, difficulties walking 500 m, number of chronic diseases and the sense of autonomy in participation outdoors (subscale of Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire). Poorer life-space mobility was associated with higher prevalence of different dimensions of depressive symptoms. The associations were partially mediated through walking difficulties, health and the sense of autonomy in participation outdoor activities. Poorer life-space mobility interrelates with higher probability for depressive symptoms, thus compromising older adults' mental wellbeing. A focus on older adults' life-space mobility may assist early identification of persons, who have elevated risk for depressive symptoms. The association between life-space mobility and depressive symptoms should be studied further utilizing longitudinal study designs to examine temporality and potential causality.

Community-Based Field Experiences in Teacher Education: Possibilities for a Pedagogical Third Space

Science.gov (United States)

Hallman, Heidi L.

2012-01-01

The present article discusses the importance of community-based field experiences as a feature of teacher education programs. Through a qualitative case study, prospective teachers' work with homeless youth in an after-school initiative is presented. Framing community-based field experiences in teacher education through "third space" theory, the…

Community mobility among older adults with reduced kidney function: a study of life-space.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowling, C Barrett; Muntner, Paul; Sawyer, Patricia; Sanders, Paul W; Kutner, Nancy; Kennedy, Richard; Allman, Richard M

2014-03-01

Life-Space Assessment captures community mobility and social participation and quantifies the distance, frequency, and independence obtained as an older adult moves through his or her environment. Reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is associated with decline in activities of daily living among older adults, but less is known about the association of eGFR with restrictions in mobility. Prospective observational cohort study. Community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging who had serum creatinine measured during a baseline in-home study visit and completed at least one telephone follow-up (N = 390). eGFR ≥ 60, 45-59, and space mobility trajectory. Life-space mobility was evaluated by telephone every 6 months for up to 4.5 years using the previously validated Life-Space Assessment. Scores using this tool range from 0-120 (higher scores indicate greater mobility). Mean age of the 390 participants was 77.6 ± 5.8 (SD) years, 41% were African American, 50.5% were women; 30.0% had eGFR of 45-59 mL/min/1.73 m(2), and 20.2% had eGFR space mobility scores were 64.8(95% CI, 62.0-67.6), 63.8 (95% CI, 60.3-67.4), and 58.3 (95% CI, 53.8-62.7) among those with eGFR categories ≥ 60, 45-59, and space mobility was found among those with eGFRs space mobility among community-dwelling older adults. Findings should be confirmed in a larger population. Published by Elsevier Inc.

International Observe the Moon Night: A Worldwide Public Observing Event that Annually Engages Scientists, Educators, and Citizen Enthusiasts in NASA Science

Science.gov (United States)

Buxner, S.; Jones, A. P.; Bleacher, L.; Wasser, M. L.; Day, B. H.; Shaner, A. J.; Bakerman, M. N.; Joseph, E.

2017-12-01

International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) is an annual worldwide event, held in the fall, that celebrates lunar and planetary science and exploration. InOMN is sponsored by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in collaboration with NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), the NASA's Heliophysics Education Consortium, CosmoQuest, Night Sky Network, and Science Festival Alliance. Other key partners include the NASA Museum Alliance, Night Sky Network, and NASA Solar System Ambassadors. In 2017, InOMN will bring together thousands of people across the globe to observe and learn about the Moon and its connection to planetary science. We are partnering with the NASA Science Mission Directorate total solar eclipse team to highlight InOMN as an opportunity to harness and sustain the interest and momentum in space science and observation following the August 21st eclipse. This is part of a new partnership with the Sun-Earth Day team, through the Heliophysics Education Consortium, to better connect the two largest NASA-sponsored public engagement events, increase participation in both events, and share best practices in implementation and evaluation between the teams. Over 3,800 InOMN events have been registered between 2010 and 2016, engaging over 550,000 visitors worldwide. Most InOMN events are held in the United States, with strong representation from many other countries. InOMN events are evaluated to determine the value of the events and to allow us to improve the experience for event hosts and visitors. Our results show that InOMN events are hosted by scientists, educators, and citizen enthusiasts around the world who leverage InOMN to bring communities together, get visitors excited and learn about the Moon - and beyond, and share resources to extend engagement in lunar and planetary science and observation. Through InOMN, we annually provide resources such as event-specific Moon maps, presentations, advertising materials, and

Patterns of Intergroup Contact in Public Spaces: Micro-Ecology of Segregation in Australian Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naomi Priest

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The use of public spaces can promote social cohesion and facilitate interpersonal interactions within the community. However, the ways racial and ethnic groups interact in public spaces can also reflect and influence informal segregation in the wider community. The present study aimed to examine patterns of intergroup contact within public spaces in Victoria, Australia through short-term observation in four localities. Data were collected on within-group, intergroup and absence of contact for people from minority and majority groups. A total of 974 contacts were observed. Findings indicate that in the observed public spaces, people from visible minority groups tended to have no contact with others or to interact with people from other ethnic/racial groups. In contrast, those from the majority group tended to interact predominately with other majority group members. This suggests that majority group members are more likely to ‘self-segregate’ in public spaces than those from minority groups.

When do plant radiations influence community assembly? The importance of historical contingency in the race for niche space.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanentzap, Andrew J; Brandt, Angela J; Smissen, Rob D; Heenan, Peter B; Fukami, Tadashi; Lee, William G

2015-07-01

Plant radiations are widespread but their influence on community assembly has rarely been investigated. Theory and some evidence suggest that radiations can allow lineages to monopolize niche space when founding species arrive early into new bioclimatic regions and exploit ecological opportunities. These early radiations may subsequently reduce niche availability and dampen diversification of later arrivals. We tested this hypothesis of time-dependent lineage diversification and community dominance using the alpine flora of New Zealand. We estimated ages of 16 genera from published phylogenies and determined their relative occurrence across climatic and physical gradients in the alpine zone. We used these data to reconstruct occupancy of environmental space through time, integrating palaeoclimatic and palaeogeological changes. Our analysis suggested that earlier-colonizing lineages encountered a greater availability of environmental space, which promoted greater species diversity and occupancy of niche space. Genera that occupied broader niches were subsequently more dominant in local communities. An earlier time of arrival also contributed to greater diversity independently of its influence in accessing niche space. We suggest that plant radiations influence community assembly when they arise early in the occupancy of environmental space, allowing them to exclude later-arriving colonists from ecological communities by niche preemption. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Space Weather Forecasting and Research at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center

Science.gov (United States)

Aronne, M.

2015-12-01

The Space Weather Research Center (SWRC), within the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), provides experimental research forecasts and analysis for NASA's robotic mission operators. Space weather conditions are monitored to provide advance warning and forecasts based on observations and modeling using the integrated Space Weather Analysis Network (iSWA). Space weather forecasters come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from modelers to astrophysicists to undergraduate students. This presentation will discuss space weather operations and research from an undergraduate perspective. The Space Weather Research, Education, and Development Initiative (SW REDI) is the starting point for many undergraduate opportunities in space weather forecasting and research. Space weather analyst interns play an active role year-round as entry-level space weather analysts. Students develop the technical and professional skills to forecast space weather through a summer internship that includes a two week long space weather boot camp, mentorship, poster session, and research opportunities. My unique development of research projects includes studying high speed stream events as well as a study of 20 historic, high-impact solar energetic particle events. This unique opportunity to combine daily real-time analysis with related research prepares students for future careers in Heliophysics.

Bloggers Behavior and Emergent Communities in Blog Space

OpenAIRE

Mitrović, Marija; Tadić, Bosiljka

2009-01-01

Interactions between users in cyberspace may lead to phenomena different from those observed in common social networks. Here we analyse large data sets about users and Blogs which they write and comment, mapped onto a bipartite graph. In such enlarged Blog space we trace user activity over time, which results in robust temporal patterns of user--Blog behavior and the emergence of communities. With the spectral methods applied to the projection on weighted user network we detect clusters of us...

Making space: Jennifer Camper, LGBTQ anthologies, and queer comics communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Galvan, Margaret

2018-05-04

This article examines the career of lesbian cartoonist Jennifer Camper and how she has fostered queer community both in her comics and in real life. Archival research in LGBTQ archives and in Camper's own personal papers evidences how Camper begins developing her comics in the 1980s by participating in various grassroots LGBTQ publication spaces. From this foundation of support, she engages in comics activism with her representations of these communities during the midst of the AIDS crisis. Through these analyses, this article theorizes how Camper foregrounds intersectionality and counterpublics in her work on and off the page.

Cyberspace Versus Citizenship: IT and emerging non space communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.E. Little

1993-11-01

Full Text Available In 1964 Melvin Webber challenged the notions of community and centrality used in urban studies by demonstrating that "community without propinquity" was emerging within certain social networks. He argued that individuals were enmeshed in an overlapping range of groups, and that increasingly these social networks were not limited by physical or geographical location. His definition of community acknowledges a differentiated range of "non-place" cultures. It reflects a change to a process, rather than product oriented view of urban form, triggered in part by the influence of general systems theory. Webber influenced and was influenced by the emergence of an orientation towards non-physical aspects of community, and a participatory approach to design which emerged strongly during the seventies. Reexamination of Webber's work in the light of current information technology offers some insight into the nature of the globalisation of the world economy, and consequent impacts on nationality and sovereignty. The technologies that will be commonplace by the end of the century can both empower and disempower and it will be necessary to reconsider our current notions of both citizenship and of access to and control of such crucial resources. Opportunities offered by IT for marginalised or peripheral groups, whether at the level of nation, region or local community, will challenge existing definitions of centre and periphery. The moral panics surrounding such activities as "hacking" and its supporting "cyberpunk" sub culture demonstrate a growing awareness of the importance of emerging non-space communities.

Bacterial communities of disease vectors sampled across time, space, and species.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Ryan T; Knight, Rob; Martin, Andrew P

2010-02-01

A common strategy of pathogenic bacteria is to form close associations with parasitic insects that feed on animals and to use these insects as vectors for their own transmission. Pathogens interact closely with other coexisting bacteria within the insect, and interactions between co-occurring bacteria may influence the vector competency of the parasite. Interactions between particular lineages can be explored through measures of alpha-diversity. Furthermore, general patterns of bacterial community assembly can be explored through measures of beta-diversity. Here, we use pyrosequencing (n=115,924 16S rRNA gene sequences) to describe the bacterial communities of 230 prairie dog fleas sampled across space and time. We use these communinty characterizations to assess interactions between dominant community members and to explore general patterns of bacterial community assembly in fleas. An analysis of co-occurrence patterns suggests non-neutral negative interactions between dominant community members (Pspace (phylotype-based: R=0.418, Pspace and time.

REXUS/BEXUS: launching student experiments -a step towards a stronger space science community

Science.gov (United States)

Fittock, Mark; Stamminger, Andreas; Maria, Roth; Dannenberg, Kristine; Page, Helen

The REXUS/BEXUS (Rocket/Balloon Experiments for University Students) programme pro-vides opportunities to teams of European student scientists and engineers to fly experiments on sounding rockets and high altitude balloons. This is an opportunity for students and the scientific community to benefit from encouragement and support for experiments. An important feature of the programme is that the students experience a full project life-cycle which is typically not a part of their university education and which helps to prepare them for further scientific work. They have to plan, organize, and control their project in order to develop and build up an experiment but must also work on the scientic aspects. Many of the students continue to work in the field on which they focused in the programme and can often build upon both the experience and the results from flight. Within the REXUS/BEXUS project cycle, they are encouraged to write and present papers about their experiments and results; increasing amounts of scientific output are seen from the students who participate. Not only do the students learn and develop from REXUS/BEXUS but the scientific community also reaps significant benefits. Another major benefit of the programme is the promotion that the students are able to bring to the whole space community. Not only are the public made more aware of advanced science and technical concepts but an advantage is present in the contact that the students who participate have to other university level students. Students are less restricted in their publicity and attract large public followings online as well as presenting themselves in more traditional media outlets. Many teams' creative approach to outreach is astonishing. The benefits are not only for the space science community as a whole; institutes, universities and departments can see increased interest following the support of participating students in the programme. The programme is realized under a bilateral Agency

Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Space and the Social Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward Thompson, Catharine; Aspinall, Peter; Roe, Jenny; Robertson, Lynette; Miller, David

2016-04-22

Environment-health research has shown significant relationships between the quantity of green space in deprived urban neighbourhoods and people's stress levels. The focus of this paper is the nature of access to green space (i.e., its quantity or use) necessary before any health benefit is found. It draws on a cross-sectional survey of 406 adults in four communities of high urban deprivation in Scotland, United Kingdom. Self-reported measures of stress and general health were primary outcomes; physical activity and social wellbeing were also measured. A comprehensive, objective measure of green space quantity around each participant's home was also used, alongside self-report measures of use of local green space. Correlated Component Regression identified the optimal predictors for primary outcome variables in the different communities surveyed. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three out of four communities sampled, and of poor general health in the fourth, least healthy, community. The amount of green space in the neighbourhood, and in particular access to a garden or allotment, were significant predictors of stress. Physical activity, frequency of visits to green space in winter months, and views from the home were predictors of general health. The findings have implications for public health and for planning of green infrastructure, gardens and public open space in urban environments.

Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Space and the Social Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catharine Ward Thompson

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Environment-health research has shown significant relationships between the quantity of green space in deprived urban neighbourhoods and people’s stress levels. The focus of this paper is the nature of access to green space (i.e., its quantity or use necessary before any health benefit is found. It draws on a cross-sectional survey of 406 adults in four communities of high urban deprivation in Scotland, United Kingdom. Self-reported measures of stress and general health were primary outcomes; physical activity and social wellbeing were also measured. A comprehensive, objective measure of green space quantity around each participant’s home was also used, alongside self-report measures of use of local green space. Correlated Component Regression identified the optimal predictors for primary outcome variables in the different communities surveyed. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three out of four communities sampled, and of poor general health in the fourth, least healthy, community. The amount of green space in the neighbourhood, and in particular access to a garden or allotment, were significant predictors of stress. Physical activity, frequency of visits to green space in winter months, and views from the home were predictors of general health. The findings have implications for public health and for planning of green infrastructure, gardens and public open space in urban environments.

Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Space and the Social Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ward Thompson, Catharine; Aspinall, Peter; Roe, Jenny; Robertson, Lynette; Miller, David

2016-01-01

Environment-health research has shown significant relationships between the quantity of green space in deprived urban neighbourhoods and people’s stress levels. The focus of this paper is the nature of access to green space (i.e., its quantity or use) necessary before any health benefit is found. It draws on a cross-sectional survey of 406 adults in four communities of high urban deprivation in Scotland, United Kingdom. Self-reported measures of stress and general health were primary outcomes; physical activity and social wellbeing were also measured. A comprehensive, objective measure of green space quantity around each participant’s home was also used, alongside self-report measures of use of local green space. Correlated Component Regression identified the optimal predictors for primary outcome variables in the different communities surveyed. Social isolation and place belonging were the strongest predictors of stress in three out of four communities sampled, and of poor general health in the fourth, least healthy, community. The amount of green space in the neighbourhood, and in particular access to a garden or allotment, were significant predictors of stress. Physical activity, frequency of visits to green space in winter months, and views from the home were predictors of general health. The findings have implications for public health and for planning of green infrastructure, gardens and public open space in urban environments. PMID:27110803

The Community-based Organizations Working Group of the Space Science Education Support Network

Science.gov (United States)

Lutz, J. H.; Lowes, L. L.; Asplund, S.

2004-12-01

The NASA Space Science Support Network Community-based Organizations Working Group (CBOWG) has been working for the past two years on issues surrounding afterschool programs and programs for youth (e.g., Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, 4-H, summer camps, afterschool and weekend programs for various ages, programs with emphases on minority youth). In this session the co-leaders of the CBOWG will discuss the challenges of working with community-based organizations on a regional or national level. We will highlight some ties that we have forged with the National Institute for Out of School Time (NIOST) and the National Afterschool Association (NAA). We will also talk about efforts to coordinate how various entities within NASA cooperate with community-based organizations to serve the best interests of these groups. We will give a couple of examples of how NASA space science organizations have partnered with community-based organizations. The session will include some handouts of information and resources that the CBOWG has found useful in developing an understanding of this segment of informal education groups. We would like to thank NASA for providing resources to support the work of the CBOWG.

Grassland communities of urban open spaces in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mamokete N.V. Dingaan

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Natural vegetation in urban environments is greatly impacted by human activities and it is in constant threat of degradation and destruction as a result of urbanisation. This vegetation, although fragmented, serves an important ecological function and needs to be properly managed and conserved. Studies on urban vegetation are lacking in South Africa, with only a handful having been carried out since the end of the last century. This study was initiated to identify, classify and describe the grassland communities of the urban open spaces in Bloemfontein. Relevés were compiled in 61 sample plots, where species present and habitat information were recorded. Care was taken to restrict sample plots to vegetation in pristine condition, wherever possible, and severely degraded stands were avoided. A two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, revealed two distinct major communities, seven communities and four sub-communities. Both detrended and canonical correspondence analyses indicated the vegetation units to be associated with soil texture and pH, although biotic factors such as overgrazing, burning and mowing also influence the composition of the vegetation. The proper management and conservation of urban open spaces requires in-depth knowledge of the spatial distribution, floristic, structural and functional compositions within the major vegetation types in this environment. The present study further contributed towards formulating ways for the proper management, utilisation and functioning of the open spaces within the Bloemfontein area.Conservation implications: The Grassland Biome of South Africa is poorly conserved, mainly because of its status as an agricultural hub of the country. The preservation of natural and semi-natural forms of urban vegetation is important because such vegetation, although often disturbed and degraded, could form dispersal corridors between peri-urban and rural

Birth Spacing of Pregnant Women in Nepal: A Community-Based Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Karkee, Rajendra; Lee, Andy H

2016-01-01

Optimal birth spacing has health advantages for both mother and child. In developing countries, shorter birth intervals are common and associated with social, cultural, and economic factors, as well as a lack of family planning. This study investigated the first birth interval after marriage and preceding interbirth interval in Nepal. A community-based prospective cohort study was conducted in the Kaski district of Nepal. Information on birth spacing, demographic, and obstetric characteristics was obtained from 701 pregnant women using a structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analyses were performed to ascertain factors associated with short birth spacing. About 39% of primiparous women gave their first child birth within 1 year of marriage and 23% of multiparous women had short preceding interbirth intervals (gender equality in society.

"Space on Earth:" A Learning Community Integrating English, Math, and Science

Science.gov (United States)

Fortna, Joanna; Sullivan, Jim

2010-01-01

Imagine a mathematics instructor and English instructor sharing an office; scribbled equations litter one desk, snatches of poetry the other. Our learning community, "Space on Earth," grew from conversations in just such an office where we bridged our own disciplinary gap and discovered a shared passion for helping students apply the concepts and…

Getting the word out: neural correlates of enthusiastic message propagation.

Science.gov (United States)

Falk, Emily B; O'Donnell, Matthew Brook; Lieberman, Matthew D

2012-01-01

What happens in the mind of a person who first hears a potentially exciting idea?We examined the neural precursors of spreading ideas with enthusiasm, and dissected enthusiasm into component processes that can be identified through automated linguistic analysis, gestalt human ratings of combined linguistic and non-verbal cues, and points of convergence/divergence between the two. We combined tools from natural language processing (NLP) with data gathered using fMRI to link the neurocognitive mechanisms that are set in motion during initial exposure to ideas and subsequent behaviors of these message communicators outside of the scanner. Participants' neural activity was recorded as they reviewed ideas for potential television show pilots. Participants' language from video-taped interviews collected post-scan was transcribed and given to an automated linguistic sentiment analysis (SA) classifier, which returned ratings for evaluative language (evaluative vs. descriptive) and valence (positive vs. negative). Separately, human coders rated the enthusiasm with which participants transmitted each idea. More positive sentiment ratings by the automated classifier were associated with activation in neural regions including medial prefrontal cortex; MPFC, precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex; PC/PCC, and medial temporal lobe; MTL. More evaluative, positive, descriptions were associated exclusively with neural activity in temporal-parietal junction (TPJ). Finally, human ratings indicative of more enthusiastic sentiment were associated with activation across these regions (MPFC, PC/PCC, DMPFC, TPJ, and MTL) as well as in ventral striatum (VS), inferior parietal lobule and premotor cortex. Taken together, these data demonstrate novel links between neural activity during initial idea encoding and the enthusiasm with which the ideas are subsequently delivered. This research lays the groundwork to use machine learning and neuroimaging data to study word of mouth communication and

Getting the word out: Neural correlates of enthusiastic message propagation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily eFalk

2012-11-01

Full Text Available What happens in the mind of a person who first hears a potentially exciting idea? We examined the neural precursors of spreading ideas with enthusiasm, and dissect enthusiasm into component processes that can be identified through automated linguistic analysis, gestalt human ratings of combined linguistic and non-verbal cues, and points of convergence/divergence between the two. We combined tools from natural language processing with data gathered using fMRI, to link the neurocognitive mechanisms that are set in motion during initial exposure to ideas and subsequent behaviors of these message communicators outside of the scanner. Participants’ neural activity was recorded as they reviewed ideas for potential television show pilots. Participants’ language from video-taped interviews collected post-scan was transcribed and given to an automated linguistic sentiment analysis classifier, which returned ratings for evaluative language (evaluative vs. descriptive and valence (positive vs. negative. Separately, human coders rated the enthusiasm with which participants transmitted each idea. More positive sentiment ratings by the automated classifier were associated with activation in neural regions including medial prefrontal cortex; MPFC, precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex; PC/PCC, and medial temporal lobe; MTL. More evaluative, positive, descriptions were associated exclusively with neural activity in temporal parietal junction (TPJ. Finally, human ratings indicative of more enthusiastic sentiment were associated with activation across these regions (MPFC, PC/PCC, DMPFC, TPJ, MTL as well as in ventral striatum, inferior parietal lobule and premotor cortex. Taken together, these data demonstrate novel links between neural activity during initial idea encoding and the enthusiasm with which the ideas are subsequently delivered. These data also demonstrate the novel use of machine learning tools to link natural language data to neuroimaging data.

Getting the word out: neural correlates of enthusiastic message propagation

Science.gov (United States)

Falk, Emily B.; O'Donnell, Matthew Brook; Lieberman, Matthew D.

2012-01-01

What happens in the mind of a person who first hears a potentially exciting idea?We examined the neural precursors of spreading ideas with enthusiasm, and dissected enthusiasm into component processes that can be identified through automated linguistic analysis, gestalt human ratings of combined linguistic and non-verbal cues, and points of convergence/divergence between the two. We combined tools from natural language processing (NLP) with data gathered using fMRI to link the neurocognitive mechanisms that are set in motion during initial exposure to ideas and subsequent behaviors of these message communicators outside of the scanner. Participants' neural activity was recorded as they reviewed ideas for potential television show pilots. Participants' language from video-taped interviews collected post-scan was transcribed and given to an automated linguistic sentiment analysis (SA) classifier, which returned ratings for evaluative language (evaluative vs. descriptive) and valence (positive vs. negative). Separately, human coders rated the enthusiasm with which participants transmitted each idea. More positive sentiment ratings by the automated classifier were associated with activation in neural regions including medial prefrontal cortex; MPFC, precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex; PC/PCC, and medial temporal lobe; MTL. More evaluative, positive, descriptions were associated exclusively with neural activity in temporal-parietal junction (TPJ). Finally, human ratings indicative of more enthusiastic sentiment were associated with activation across these regions (MPFC, PC/PCC, DMPFC, TPJ, and MTL) as well as in ventral striatum (VS), inferior parietal lobule and premotor cortex. Taken together, these data demonstrate novel links between neural activity during initial idea encoding and the enthusiasm with which the ideas are subsequently delivered. This research lays the groundwork to use machine learning and neuroimaging data to study word of mouth communication and

Creating "communicative spaces": a case of NGO community organizing for HIV/AIDS prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

de Souza, Rebecca

2009-12-01

This study uses the case study method to investigate the processes used by a local nongovernmental organization called the Society for People's Action for Development to organize sex workers in the slums of Bangalore, India, for HIV/AIDS prevention. The nongovernmental organization-facilitated HIV/AIDS program is based on the new paradigm of community organizing that encourages community participation and capacity building. Grounded in the culture-centered approach, this study documents the processes used to organize the women, while highlighting the role of communication in these processes. The study identifies 4 primary processes used to mobilize the community, namely collectivization, community awareness and sensitization, capacity building, and providing legal education and support. Each of these processes highlights the importance of attending to the economic, social, and political realities that shape the health of women. The common thread linking these processes together is the notion of "voice." More specifically, each process serves as a catalyst to produce discursive practices that enable women to provide support to each other, increase awareness in the community about the problems that they face, build self-reliance through financial skills training and communication training, and defend their legal rights. In addition, the study suggests that the primary role of nongovernmental organizations should be the creation of "communicative spaces," which are discursive and material spaces within marginalized communities and mainstream society where cultural participants can identify problems (oftentimes beyond the realm of health), manage solutions to those problems, and advocate for health and social change.

Community History as a Male-Constructed Space: Challenging Gendered Memories among South African Muslim Women

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Doria

2009-01-01

The post-Apartheid community history is a male-constructed space, narrated into present-day consciousness by male community leaders and history writers. The patriarchal worldview disparages women's contributions and activisms. This article reports on how Muslim women from a small fishing village in South Africa in the early 1900s strategized to…

Life-Space Assessment questionnaire: Novel measurement properties for Brazilian community-dwelling older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Simões, Maria do Socorro Mp; Garcia, Isabel Ff; Costa, Lucíola da Cm; Lunardi, Adriana C

2018-05-01

The Life-Space Assessment (LSA) assesses mobility from the spaces that older adults go, and how often and how independent they move. Despite its increased use, LSA measurement properties remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to analyze the content validity, reliability, construct validity and interpretability of the LSA for Brazilian community-dwelling older adults. In this clinimetric study we analyzed the measurement properties (content validity, reliability, construct validity and interpretability) of the LSA administered to 80 Brazilian community-dwelling older adults. Reliability was analyzed by Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency), intraclass correlation coefficients and 95% confidence interval (reproducibility), and standard error of measurement (measurement error). Construct validity was analyzed by Pearson's correlations between the LSA and accelerometry (time in inactivity and moderate-to-vigorous activities), and interpretability was analyzed by determination of the minimal detectable change, and floor and ceiling effects. The LSA met the criteria for content validity. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.92, intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.97 (95% confidence interval 0.95-0.98) and standard error of measurement was 4.12. The LSA showed convergence with accelerometry (negative correlation with time in inactivity and positive correlation with time in moderate to vigorous activities), the minimal detectable change was 0.36 and we observed no floor or ceiling effects. The LSA showed adequate reliability, validity and interpretability for life-space mobility assessment of Brazilian community-dwelling older adults. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2018; 18: 783-789. © 2018 Japan Geriatrics Society.

Enthusiastic Teachers, Vivid Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, John W.

2000-04-01

in important ways to such professional development. My overriding goal for this Journal is to provide accurate, interesting, relevant information that can enhance chemistry teaching and learning. Your editorial staff organize the information so that access is as quick and easy as possible, and we try to make connections both by juxtaposition of articles in print and by linking information electronically. The latest example of this is being introduced this month. It is a new feature directed especially to busy high school chemistry teachers: the JCE High School Chemed Learning Information Center (JCE HS CLIC). In this special section of JCE Online we have collected and organized JCE's many articles that are of interest to high school teachers, aiming to provide the quickest, easiest access to the information. You can read more about it on page 536. We look forward to feedback from those who have tried CLIC and have suggestions for adding to it or otherwise improving it. When asked how children today could be weaned from the many distractions of modern life and turned on to chemistry, Oliver Sacks recommended, "Enthusiastic teachers, vivid experiments". I recommend that you read Sacks's article in the New Yorker to rejuvenate your enthusiasm and read JCE to find new, vivid experiments. The combination may be just what is needed to capture students' attention for the rest of this school year and to enhance learning for many years to come.

Birth spacing of pregnant women in Nepal: A community-based study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajendra Karkee

2016-09-01

Full Text Available BackgroundOptimal birth spacing has health advantages for both mother and child. In developing countries, shorter birth intervals are common and associated with social, cultural and economic factors, as well as a lack of family planning. This study investigated the first birth interval after marriage and preceding interbirth interval in Nepal.MethodsA community-based prospective cohort study was conducted in the Kaski district of Nepal. Information on birth spacing, demographic and obstetric characteristics was obtained from 701 pregnant women using a structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analyses were performed to ascertain factors associated with short birth spacing.ResultsAbout 39% of primiparous women gave their first child birth within one year of marriage and 23% of multiparous women had short preceding interbirth intervals (<24 months. The average birth spacing among the multiparous group was 44.9 (SD 21.8 months. Overall, short birth spacing appeared to be inversely associated with advancing maternal age.For the multiparous group, Janajati and lower caste women, and those whose newborn was female, were more likely to have short birth spacing.ConclusionsThe preceding interbirth interval was relatively long in the Kaski district of Nepal and tended to be associated with maternal age, caste, and sex of newborn infant. Optimal birth spacing programs should target Janajati and lower caste women, along with promotion of gender equality in society.

Theaters of time and space: The American planetarium community, 1930-1970

Science.gov (United States)

Marche, Jordan Dale, II

American astronomy education was transformed by the introduction of a remarkable teaching tool---the projection planetarium. Conceived at the Carl Zeiss firm of Jena, Germany, the first prototype was exhibited at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, in 1923. Between 1930 and 1970, more than 700 planetaria were completed or remained under construction in the Unite States, Canada, and Mexico. Members of the American planetarium community united to form the first continent-wide professional association and to launch its quarterly journal, signifying that disciplinary maturity had been achieved. Social developments in the American planetarium community are examined in light of three principal issues (along with the role of gender): patronage, professionalization, and popularization. The analytical narrative is supplemented by quantitative analysis of North American planetaria and their personnel. Utilizing methods employed in collective biography, the Appendix contains further assessments derived from five professional traits of the community's 919 known planetarium directors. On the basis of technological developments and the changing nature of patronage, three distinct periods of historical development are recognized. In the formative stage (1930--1946), the community was dominated by Zeiss-equipped facilities installed at five metropolitan cities. During the second period (1947--1957), inexpensive pinhole-style projectors, marketed by Philadelphia entrepreneur Armand N. Spitz, revolutionized the availability of 'artificial skies'. In response to the "crisis of confidence" triggered by Sputnik's launch, a third developmental period (1958--1970) ensued. The necessity of offering a space science education to rapidly growing numbers of young people justified the construction of hundreds of new planetaria through the 1960s. Originally created for teaching the confirmation of scientific theories, planetaria became important tools for researching other biological and educational

Space Educational Opportunities and Outreach Activities at the Dawn of the 21st Century. A European Students Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Ferretti, S.; Robinson, D.; Manfletti, C.; Amadori, K.; Boccalatte, A.; Alessandrini, M.; Bedogna, P.; Corradi, P.; Marcuccio, M.

2002-01-01

Taking part in space activities and participating in the development and growth of space project has now become an undeniable reality. Thanks to academic institutions and outreach activities space enthusiasts can engage in numerous and diverse yet unique opportunities. The ESA Outreach Office sees students of every background taking part in its activities. This unique mixture of students of diverse nationalities enthusiastically co-operating ensures the program's interdisciplinarity. The added value of such an environment to the programs is significant and must not be forgotten. The friendship that blossom, and lose with which cultural and language barriers are overcome during the time spent working on the projects offered to university student and young professionals are invaluable. The purpose of this abstract is to give our perspective to the space community and to the general public on the importance of developing a space culture. The academic value of the space research projects mainly in which the authors have participated, the importance of such projects for the future of European relations and personal and social development through experience of international teams are topics that will be addressed. The activities discussed are : Attending sessions of congresses around the world, making contacts of major companies and players in the space sector, dealing of topics such as space engineering, policy and law, life sciences, business and finance, satellite applications, the exhilaration of floating in zero-g, the interdisciplinary, international and intercultural approach, the chance of quickly learning about many new concepts are just some of the marvellous experiences and opportunities that these programs offer. Reaching out to the general public is the second purpose of these unique activities.Images, photos and reports can seep into every house thanks to the great instrument that is the media, thus informing almost everyone about the activities and

Battle Mound: Exploring space, place, and history of a Red River Caddo community in southwest Arkansas

Science.gov (United States)

McKinnon, Duncan Paul

This research is a synthesis of archaeogeophysical and archaeohistorical data collected from the Battle Mound site (3LA1). Using these data, this research seeks to understand how the site is organized in terms of architectural variability and how differential use areas, such as domestic or community space, can be compared to ethnographic and archaeological data concerning Caddo community structure and landscape use. The research is formulated around three research questions related to spatial organization and settlement patterning, intrasite behavioral practices, and Caddo culture history. Results show that an examination at multiple scales of resolution can inform about the spatial organization and settlement patterning of Caddo communities and how these underlying principles that define space have endured or been modified over time. It also proposes a new intrasite model that can be productively tested with geophysical methods and the mapping of the distribution of features within large village areas.

77 FR 13261 - Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-06

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Request for Applications: The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program AGENCY: Forest Service. ACTION: Notice; Correction. SUMMARY: The Department..., published a document in the Federal Register of February 15, 2011, concerning requests for applications for...

Harnessing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to enable community-oriented primary care.

Science.gov (United States)

Bazemore, Andrew; Phillips, Robert L; Miyoshi, Thomas

2010-01-01

Despite growing acceptance and implementation of geographic information systems (GIS) in the public health arena, its utility for clinical population management and coordination by leaders in a primary care clinical health setting has been neither fully realized nor evaluated. In a primary care network of clinics charged with caring for vulnerable urban communities, we used GIS to (1) integrate and analyze clinical (practice management) data and population (census) data and (2) generate distribution, service area, and population penetration maps of those clinics. We then conducted qualitative evaluation of the responses of primary care clinic leaders, administrators, and community board members to analytic mapping of their clinic and regional population data. Practice management data were extracted, geocoded, and mapped to reveal variation between actual clinical service areas and the medically underserved areas for which these clinics received funding, which was surprising to center leaders. In addition, population penetration analyses were performed to depict patterns of utilization. Qualitative assessments of staff response to the process of mapping clinical and population data revealed enthusiastic engagement in the process, which led to enhanced community comprehension, new ideas about data use, and an array of applications to improve their clinical revenue. However, they also revealed barriers to further adoption, including time, expense, and technical expertise, which could limit the use of GIS and mapping unless economies of scale across clinics, the use of web technology, and the availability of dynamic mapping tools could be realized. Analytic mapping was enthusiastically received and practically applied in the primary care setting, and was readily comprehended by clinic leaders for innovative purposes. This is a tool of particular relevance amid primary care safety-net expansion and increased funding of health information technology diffusion in these

Open-source, community-driven microfluidics with Metafluidics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, David S; Thorsen, Todd A; Babb, Jonathan; Wick, Scott T; Gam, Jeremy J; Weiss, Ron; Carr, Peter A

2017-06-07

Microfluidic devices have the potential to automate and miniaturize biological experiments, but open-source sharing of device designs has lagged behind sharing of other resources such as software. Synthetic biologists have used microfluidics for DNA assembly, cell-free expression, and cell culture, but a combination of expense, device complexity, and reliance on custom set-ups hampers their widespread adoption. We present Metafluidics, an open-source, community-driven repository that hosts digital design files, assembly specifications, and open-source software to enable users to build, configure, and operate a microfluidic device. We use Metafluidics to share designs and fabrication instructions for both a microfluidic ring-mixer device and a 32-channel tabletop microfluidic controller. This device and controller are applied to build genetic circuits using standard DNA assembly methods including ligation, Gateway, Gibson, and Golden Gate. Metafluidics is intended to enable a broad community of engineers, DIY enthusiasts, and other nontraditional participants with limited fabrication skills to contribute to microfluidic research.

Between Community Spaces: Squares of Minor Centers of Calabria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Francini

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The theme of open “community spaces” in recent years has to the development of important interdisci­plinary issues. Nevertheless, the reading of smaller towns, in urbanistic, historical-anthropological and geographical terms appears less extended, considering the declination of public spaces as "squares." Starting from this declension we would like to introduce the first results of a research. The research had the aim of (reinterpreting the particular characteristics of these areas in specific areas such as small towns, using the region of Calabria for the case of analytic application. These communities have diverse and stratified living cultures, altered by settlement processes that have triggered two different types of urban contexts. The former often lead either to urban areas in depopulated decay or, in contrast, in places of memories: empty containers of relationships, sterile and crystallized museum objects, reduced to scenarios on which passing groups of visitors move necessarily from those realities. The latter often encircle primitive nuclei, asphyxiating them, or characterizing the so-called "dual" or "satellites" towns, completely detached from the original urban center in which all public functions are decentralized. The applied methodology is based on the reading of the historical-functional evolution of squares by the identification of codified compositional criteria. Through this research we seek to verify how urban planning, in synergy with other disciplines, can define processes of regeneration aimed at restoring the meaning of "center", and thus of an urban-community reference center.

Y2K+1: Technology, Community-College Students, the Millennium, and Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Science.gov (United States)

Haspel, Paul

2002-01-01

Considers how screening Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" in a sophomore film class shows modern community-college students that millennial anxiety existed well before late 1999, the time of "Y2K" fears. Presents an assignment that examines "2001: A Space Odyssey" in the context of its time and in 2001. (SG)

The impact of technology on the enactment of inquiry in a technology enthusiast's sixth grade science classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Waight, Noemi; Abd-El-Khalick, Fouad

2007-01-01

This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of inquiry in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology-enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several inquiry activities were completed, some of which were supported with the use of technology. Non-participant observation, classroom videotaping, and semi-structured and critical-incident interviews were used to collect data. The results indicated that the technology in use worked to restrict rather than promote inquiry in the participant classroom. In the presence of computers, group activities became more structured with a focus on sharing tasks and accounting for individual responsibility, and less time was dedicated to group discourse with a marked decrease in critical, meaning-making discourse. The views and beliefs of teachers and students in relation to their specific contexts moderate the potential of technology in supporting inquiry teaching and learning and should be factored both in teacher training and attempts to integrate technology in science teaching.

"This is My Community": Reproducing and Resisting Boundaries of Exclusion in Contested Public Spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Toolis, Erin E; Hammack, Phillip L

2015-12-01

The way that public space is structured has significant implications for identity, social interaction, and participation in society. For those experiencing homelessness, with no or limited private space, survival hinges on the accessibility and livability of public space. However, the increasing privatization of public space in the United States has contributed to the implementation of anti-homeless ordinances in cities, restricting sitting, standing, panhandling, and sleeping in public. This study analyzes data from interviews with housed and unhoused community members, text from a local policy document, and ethnographic observations to explore how boundaries between "insiders" and "outsiders" are drawn in public space and mediated through individual discourse. Our findings suggest that boundaries of exclusion are constructed through dominant narratives that portray the unhoused as a threat to safety and economic vitality, thus justifying the need for regulation and punishment through the criminalization of homelessness. Yet, informants also demonstrate resistance to this narrative by discussing how criminalization of homelessness perpetuates dehumanization, violence, and economic inequality. Policy implications for the regulation of public space are discussed.

DESA WISATA SEBAGAI COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dhimas Setyo Nugroho

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of community-based tourism in the dome house tourism village has succeeded in becoming a tool to trigger the development of the dome house resident and its environment. All of the development can be obviously seen from the economic, social, cultural, environmental and political aspects with a very enthusiastic participation of the resident. The rapid development of the resident and their high participation can emerge a strategy to make the tourist village survive from the tourism industry competition. In this case, the author found that there is a connection between the high level of community participation and the rapid development as the result of it. Therefore, the more the resident willing to participate, the more it will affect the development of the resident and its environment. This research uses qualitative method. The data were obtained by conducting interview, observation, and documentation. After those steps, the data were processed by interactive and SWOT analysis. Then, questionnaire was used to validate the data towards 21 residents.

Move the Neighborhood: study design of a community-based participatory public open space intervention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau; Winge, Laura; Carroll, Sidse

evaluation will be used to gain knowledge of the intervention processes. DISCUSSION: The study presents new methods and approaches in the field of public open space interventions through interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory co-design approach and combination of measurements. Using both effect......BACKGROUND: A limited amount of research has examined the effect of changing public open spaces on active living. This abstract presents the study protocol of an intervention study designed in an interdisciplinary collaboration built on principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR...... and process evaluations the study will provide unique insights in the role and importance of the interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory processes, tailoring changes in public open space to local needs and wishes. These results can be used to guide urban renewal projects in deprived neighbourhoods...

Impact of Driving Cessation on Trajectories of Life-Space Scores Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Huisingh, Carrie; Levitan, Emily B; Sawyer, Patricia; Kennedy, Richard; Brown, Cynthia J; McGwin, Gerald

2017-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the trajectories of life-space before and after the transition to driving cessation among a diverse sample of community-dwelling older adults. Life-space scores and self-reported driving cessation were assessed at annual visits from baseline through Year 6 among participants in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging. Approximately 58% of older adults reported having stopped driving during the 6 years of follow-up. After adjusting for potential confounders, results from a random intercept model indicate that mean life-space scores decreased about 1 to 2 points every year ( p = .0011) and approximately 28 points at the time of driving cessation ( p space decline post driving cessation was not significantly different from the rate of decline prior to driving cessation. Driving cessation was associated with a precipitous decline in life-space score; however, the driving cessation event did not accelerate the rate of life-space decline.

Will this open space work?

Science.gov (United States)

Vischer, J

1999-01-01

Northern Oil is moving offices, and CEO Fritz Schumacher wants to make the most of the move in this fictional case study. He believes that adopting an open-plan work space will reinvent how the company works, not to mention cut costs. Facilities manager Sasha Pasternak also supports the open plan. Her job would be easier, and her budget would stretch further, if Northern had standardized workstations and used partitions, not walls. And she likes the way the new design flattens the organization: everyone has the same amount of space and the same ergonomically sound furniture. The new building would have more conference rooms and just-in-time work spaces for employees who worked mostly off-site. And although she knew that initial meetings between the architects and Northern employees hadn't yielded much support for open space--people were attached to their private offices--she expected that people would warm to the idea. But when the new design was unveiled, employees were less than enthusiastic. They hurled questions like, How will workers concentrate if they can't shut their office doors? How will people have confidential meetings with their boss? And why would people stay at Northern when the competition offers them private offices? There was even talk of circulating a petition refusing to move to the new space. A week later, the architect presented revised plans to the project group. The new options would add costs and reduce the amount of space savings, but offering a choice to employees might make them feel less threatened. What should the project team do? Five commentators offer advice.

Space Detectives

Science.gov (United States)

Tyszka, Steph; Saraiva, Jose; Doran, Rosa

2017-04-01

NUCLIO is a Portuguese non-profit organization with a strong record of investing in science education and outreach. We have developed and implemented many activities mostly directed to a young audience, in a bid to awaken and reinforce the interest that young people devote to Astronomy and all things spatial. In this framework, we have created a week-long program called Space Detectives, supported by the Municipality of Cascais, based on a story-line that provided a number of challenges and opportunities for learning matters as diverse as the electro-magnetic spectrum, means of communication, space travel, the martian environment, coding and robotics. We report on the first session that took place in December 2016. We had as participants several kids aged 9 to 12, with a mixed background in terms of interest in the sciences. Their response varied from enthusiastic to somewhat less interested, depending on the nature of the subject and the way it was presented - a reaction not necessarily related to its complexity. This week was taken as something of a trial run, in preparation for the European Commission- funded project "Stories of Tomorrow", to be implemented in schools. The individual activities and the way they were related to the story-line, as well as the smooth transition from one to the next, were subject to an analysis that will allow for improvements in the next installments of this program. We believe this is an excellent approach to the goals of using Space and Astronomy as an anchor for generating and keeping interest in the scientific areas, and of finding new and richer ways of learning.

Space Research, Education, and Related Activities In the Space Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Black, David

2002-01-01

The mission of this activity, known as the Cooperative Program in Space Sciences (CPSS), is to conduct space science research and leading-edge instrumentation and technology development, enable research by the space sciences communities, and to expedite the effective dissemination of space science research, technology, data, and information to the educational community and the general public. To fulfill this mission, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) recruits and maintains a staff of scientific researchers, operates a series of guest investigator facilities, organizes scientific meetings and workshops, and encourages various interactions with students and university faculty members. This paper is the final report from this now completed Cooperative Agreement.

The Psychoprophylactic Method of Painless Childbirth in Socialist Czechoslovakia: from State Propaganda to Activism of Enthusiasts.

Science.gov (United States)

Hrešanová, Ema

2016-10-01

This paper explores the history of the 'psychoprophylactic method of painless childbirth' in socialist Czechoslovakia, in particular, in the Czech and Moravian regions of the country, showing that it substantially differs from the course that the method took in other countries. This non-pharmacological method of pain relief originated in the USSR and became well known as the Lamaze method in western English-speaking countries. Use of the method in Czechoslovakia, however, followed a very different path from both the West, where its use was refined mainly outside the biomedical frame, and the USSR, where it ceased to be pursued as a scientific method in the 1950s after Stalin's death. The method was imported to Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s and it was politically promoted as Soviet science's gift to women. In the 1960s the method became widespread in practice but research on it diminished and, in the 1970s, its use declined too. However, in the 1980s, in the last decade of the Communist regime, the method resurfaced in the pages of Czechoslovak medical journals and underwent an exciting renaissance, having been reintroduced by a few enthusiastic individuals, most of them women. This article explores the background to the renewed interest in the method while providing insight into the wider social and political context that shaped socialist maternity and birth care in different periods.

Talk in Blended-Space Speech Communities: An Exploration of Discursive Practices of a Professional Development Group

Science.gov (United States)

Garvin, Tabitha Ann

2011-01-01

This study is an exploration of alternative teacher professional development. While using symbolic interactionism for a research lens, it characterizes the discursive practices commonly found in formal, informal, and blended-space speech communities based on the talk within a leadership-development program comprised of five female, church-based…

Teófilo Tabanera, Father of the Argentine Space Program

Science.gov (United States)

de León, Pablo; Tabanera, Marcela; Tabanera, Marisol

2017-08-01

No other figure was able to organize and catalyze the seminal interest of space exploration in Argentina more than Teófilo Tabanera. Born in 1909, Tabanera showed an early interest in the possibilities of space travel and dedicated most of his life to popularize it in his country. He created the Sociedad Argentina Interplanetaria (1949), which was the first space enthusiast's organization in Latin America. Present in the first meeting of representatives of various space societies, which led to the creation of the International Astronautical Federation, Tabanera was able to bring his enthusiasm to this new organization. A prolific writer, Tabanera wrote the first books about space exploration in Spanish, and organized many courses and conferences on the subject. When the Comisión Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales (the Argentine Space Agency) was created in 1960 by a decree of President Arturo Frondizi, Tabanera was appointed as its first administrator. There, with meager funds, he organized launch campaigns and international projects on sounding rockets. Thanks to his knowledge of the international space sector, Tabanera invited many experts to Argentina, among them Wernher von Braun and even the Apollo XI crew, just a few months after their return from the Moon. He continued his activities in the IAF (International Astronautical Federation) serving as vice president for seven terms, and was a cofounder of the International Academy of Astronautics (I.A.A.). His many contributions, both to the Argentine and international space sector, are a testimony to his undying enthusiasm and interest in space as a way of advancing humankind.

Space Sustainment: A New Approach for America in Space

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-01

international community toward promoting market incentives in international space law. This would open up the competitive space for new entrants ...announces- new -space-situational-awareness-satellite-program.aspx. 29. Gruss, “U.S. Space Assets Face Growing Threat .” 30. McDougall, Heavens and the...November–December 2014 Air & Space Power Journal | 117 SCHRIEVER ESSAY WINNER SECOND PLACE Space Sustainment A New Approach for America in Space Lt

Research on Community Structure in Bus Transport Networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Xuhua; Wang Bo; Sun Youxian

2009-01-01

We abstract the bus transport networks (BTNs) to two kinds of complex networks with space L and space P methods respectively. Using improved community detecting algorithm (PKM agglomerative algorithm), we analyze the community property of two kinds of BTNs graphs. The results show that the BTNs graph described with space L method have obvious community property, but the other kind of BTNs graph described with space P method have not. The reason is that the BTNs graph described with space P method have the intense overlapping community property and general community division algorithms can not identify this kind of community structure. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel community structure called N-depth community and present a corresponding community detecting algorithm, which can detect overlapping community. Applying the novel community structure and detecting algorithm to a BTN evolution model described with space P, whose network property agrees well with real BTNs', we get obvious community property. (general)

Spaces of hope? Youth perspectives on health and wellness in indigenous communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Lydia; Kamper, David; Swanson, Kate

2018-03-01

This article addresses an apparent paradox between academic and policy depictions of American Indian reservations as "broken" and "unhealthy" places, and Indigenous youth perceptions of reservations as spaces of "health" and "wellness." Public health literature often frames reservations as damaged, health-denying places, chronicling the extraordinarily high rates of suicide, substance abuse, as well as vast health disparities. Despite these dire statistics, our research with Native youth in San Diego County found that young people chose to primarily emphasize their positive experiences with, and attachments to, their reservations. In this article, we share strength- and desire-based narratives to explore how reservations can serve as spaces of wellness for Indigenous youth, despite ongoing settler colonial harm. We seek to expand the discussion on the unintended consequences of deficit-centered scholarship by arguing that health research should also engage with the narratives of hope and desire that are reflective of the way many Native youth feel about their communities. In this article, we urge scholars and practitioners to rethink how we conduct health research to include methodologies that listen to the narratives and experiences of those who, day in and day out, navigate settler colonial landscapes, while continuing to create spaces of hope and healing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

With Their Help: How Community Members Construct a Congruent Third Space in an Urban Kindergarten Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Quigley, Cassie F.

2013-01-01

Through the use of narrative enquiry, this paper tells the story of how a kindergarten teacher in an all-girls' school incorporates family and community members' involvement to the construction of the congruent Third Space present in the classroom, and the ways the girls respond to this involvement, thereby providing a successful model for other…

From Sanctuaries to Prefigurative Social Change: Creating Health-Enabling Spaces in East London Community Gardens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madeleine A. Guerlain

2016-05-01

for effective community mobilization. AIDS Care, 22(Suppl. 2, 1569-1579; and a discussion of how creating these spaces is an act of prefigurative social change. Our findings suggest that in East London, participation in community gardens is not based on a common political intention or self-conscious motive to prefigure a new society, but instead on the shared practice of gardening. This results in unintended benefits that often address participants’ personal adversities in ways that contribute to the material, relational and symbolic deprivation of their daily lives – opening up new possibilities for being, seeing and doing. In this sense, community gardens in East London offer an alternative to traditional notions of prefigurative social action that are predicated on strategic intention. We argue for an understanding of prefiguration that better accounts for what participants themselves would like to achieve in their own lives, rather than in relation to externally imposed notions of what counts as political change.

Space: A new frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Cutolo, Mona; Miranda, Denis M.

1986-08-01

The challenges and the promises of space colonization present an exciting opportunity for exploring and analyzing the values, the institutions and the physical environments we have created on Earth. Here we describe an interdisciplinary course, team-taught, that examines the current state of space exploration and the innovative technologies spawned by space research. The course also explores the possible social, economic, political and international impacts of migration to space of people and industries. A course project is to design a space colony for a community of 10,000 people. Given the technical design parameters and other details, the students are to engineer socially an ideal community, bearing in mind the short lifetimes of utopian communities of the past. The process is intended to help the students gain a fair understanding of the dynamics of human societies and of the technologies we have developed that enable us to change our world and to design new worlds.

SUSTAINABILITY OF DIGITAL PUBLIC SPACES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matej Hudák

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Modern digital public spaces are evolving from being mostly the provider of ICT and internet connection to institutions that provide complex range of services and support for the community. With this shift in their focus new challenges are emerging, among others their sustainability.Methodology/Approach: We build on and extend the methodology of Digital Cooperatives project. Within this project, survey on 59 digital public spaces from 12 EU countries was conducted. These digital public spaces were examined in 21 areas, some of them relating to their sustainability. We further analyse the sustainability issue of these digital public spaces.Findings: We identified three main issues affecting sustainability of digital public spaces – budgeting, services and community. Digital public spaces mostly rely on public funding and have limited diversification of their funds, which increases a risk when one source of funding drops out. They also have to build a strong community of users, supporters, which will make use of their capacities and helps co-create new services and thus strengthen and improve the community itself.Originality/Value of paper: Research in this paper is based on the collection of best practices from various EU countries in the field of digital public spaces. Recommendations based on these practices could help the creation of new, and in current digital public spaces.

Scottish solar enthusiasts out and about in the North

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Porteous, Colin (Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow (United Kingdom))

1993-12-01

Each year the Scottish Solar Energy Group organises a 3-4 day visit to solar buildings or installations which are a bit further afield than Scotland's ''central belt''. This year they visited a new house overlooking Loch Ness. The Lionacleit community school in Benbecula, while of a much larger scale at abut 6000m[sup 2], is analogous to the house in that energy consciousness is addressed through a range of both active and passive measures. (author)

Boston in the 1970s: is there a lesbian community? And if there is, who is in it?

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Amy

2014-01-01

This excerpt from Amy Hoffman's memoir, An Army of Ex-Lovers: My Life at the Gay Community News (University of Massachusetts Press, 2007), describes some of the alternative community institutions serving lesbian feminists in Boston in the late 1970s. Hoffman, in her twenties at the time and fairly newly out, is an enthusiastic patron of these institutions. However, after a while, she begins to wonder about them. Boston in the 1970s was racially segregated and tense; a judicial order to desegregate the schools led to racist riots. The women's community was, sadly, no more diverse than the city's neighborhoods, and the alternative institutions, Hoffman realizes, are organized by and cater mostly to young, white, middle-class women like her. They fail to appeal to the needs and interests of poor women of color-although of course some do participate, and others become active in service organizations such as battered women's shelters.

The Learning Exchange: A Shared Space for the University of British Columbia and Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Towle, Angela; Leahy, Kathleen

2016-01-01

The Learning Exchange was established by the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1999 in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES). The challenge has been to create a shared space for learning exchanges between two very different communities: a research-intensive university and an inner city area most commonly depicted as a place of hopelessness.…

A Continuation of Base-Line Studies for Environmentally Monitoring Space Transportation System (STS) at John F. Kennedy Space Center. Volume 1; Terrestrial Community Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Stout, I. J.

1979-01-01

Vegetation and small mammal populations in or around the Merritt Island area were studied. Thirty sites were selected from plant communities which were relatively free of logging, grazing, and clearing operations. The vegetative analysis was designed to yield a quantitative description and ecological explanation of the major types of upland vegetation in order to determine the possible future effects of NASA space activities on them. Changes in the relative abundance of small mammal populations, species diversity, standing crop biomass, reproductive activity, and other demographic features were documented in order to gather sufficient information on these populations so that it would be possible to detect even the smaller nonnatural behavior changes in the mammals which might be attributable to NASA space activities.

Space Robotics Challenge

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Space Robotics Challenge seeks to infuse robot autonomy from the best and brightest research groups in the robotics community into NASA robots for future...

Community Factors Influencing Birth Spacing among Married ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AJRH Managing Editor

level factors on birth spacing behaviour in Uganda and Zimbabwe, to ... environments as potential influences on birth spacing ..... health: multivariable cross-country analysis, MACRO ... Equity monitoring for social marketing: Use of wealth.

Creating a Public Space through Service-Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Brigham, Erin

2012-01-01

In this paper, I suggest that community-based learning can act as a "public space" for the exchange of religious and non-religious identities. By providing a space for the collaboration between religiously-affiliated Universities and non-religiously affiliated community partners, community-based learning offers the opportunity for the negotiation…

Social acceptability and perceived impact of a community-led cash transfer programme in Zimbabwe.

Science.gov (United States)

Skovdal, Morten; Mushati, Phyllis; Robertson, Laura; Munyati, Shungu; Sherr, Lorraine; Nyamukapa, Constance; Gregson, Simon

2013-04-15

Cash transfer programmes are increasingly recognised as promising and scalable interventions that can promote the health and development of children. However, concerns have been raised about the potential for cash transfers to contribute to social division, jealousy and conflict at a community level. Against this background, and in our interest to promote community participation in cash transfer programmes, we examine local perceptions of a community-led cash transfer programme in Eastern Zimbabwe. We collected and analysed data from 35 individual interviews and three focus group discussions, involving 24 key informants (community committee members and programme implementers), 24 cash transfer beneficiaries, of which four were youth, and 14 non-beneficiaries. Transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis and coding to generate concepts. Study participants described the programme as participatory, fair and transparent - reducing the likelihood of jealousy. The programme was perceived to have had a substantial impact on children's health and education, primarily through aiding parents and guardians to better cater for their children's needs. Moreover, participants alluded to the potential of the programme to facilitate more transformational change, for example by enabling families to invest money in assets and income generating activities and by promoting a community-wide sense of responsibility for the support of orphaned and vulnerable children. Community participation, combined with the perceived impact of the cash transfer programme, led community members to speak enthusiastically about the programme. We conclude that community-led cash transfer programmes have the potential to open up for possibilities of participation and community agency that enable social acceptability and limit social divisiveness.

Transforming community access to space science models

Science.gov (United States)

MacNeice, Peter; Hesse, Michael; Kuznetsova, Maria; Maddox, Marlo; Rastaetter, Lutz; Berrios, David; Pulkkinen, Antti

2012-04-01

Researching and forecasting the ever changing space environment (often referred to as space weather) and its influence on humans and their activities are model-intensive disciplines. This is true because the physical processes involved are complex, but, in contrast to terrestrial weather, the supporting observations are typically sparse. Models play a vital role in establishing a physically meaningful context for interpreting limited observations, testing theory, and producing both nowcasts and forecasts. For example, with accurate forecasting of hazardous space weather conditions, spacecraft operators can place sensitive systems in safe modes, and power utilities can protect critical network components from damage caused by large currents induced in transmission lines by geomagnetic storms.

Community wildlife sites in Oxfordshire: an exploration of ecological and social meanings for green spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Lawrence

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The paper explores the experiences and meanings that participants attribute to community wildlife sites, a new kind of space created through the initiative and commitment of local residents, often without any wider organisational involvement. The study focuses on six case studies in Oxfordshire, England. It is exploratory and discusses the findings as points of departure for further research. In all the sites, community was an important part of the motivation for starting the work, social relations a rewarding aspect of engaging in it, and personal connection with the site and its experiences of nature, a widely and emotionally expressed outcome. The sites offer spaces for the active enactment of participation in nature. While access is essential, property rights appear to be less important than the sense of ownership generated through interaction with the site. Likewise, formal organisation and governance is less important to the participants, than the social interactions of the group, and new friendships. The primary purpose in each case, is to give people more access to ‘the countryside’ or ‘nature’ or ‘orchids’. In doing so, however, the participants have given themselves experiences that are personally meaningful. There is potential for contribution to resilient landscapes through networks of habitats, and to wider social objectives of government policy, but these will have to be balanced carefully with the important of local initiative in contributing to the sites’ meanings.

Advancing Space Sciences through Undergraduate Research Experiences at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory - a novel approach to undergraduate internships for first generation community college students

Science.gov (United States)

Raftery, C. L.; Davis, H. B.; Peticolas, L. M.; Paglierani, R.

2015-12-01

The Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley launched an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in the summer of 2015. The "Advancing Space Sciences through Undergraduate Research Experiences" (ASSURE) program recruited heavily from local community colleges and universities, and provided a multi-tiered mentorship program for students in the fields of space science and engineering. The program was focussed on providing a supportive environment for 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates, many of whom were first generation and underrepresented students. This model provides three levels of mentorship support for the participating interns: 1) the primary research advisor provides academic and professional support. 2) The program coordinator, who meets with the interns multiple times per week, provides personal support and helps the interns to assimilate into the highly competitive environment of the research laboratory. 3) Returning undergraduate interns provided peer support and guidance to the new cohort of students. The impacts of this program on the first generation students and the research mentors, as well as the lessons learned will be discussed.

The Community Cloud Atlas - Building an Informed Cloud Watching Community

Science.gov (United States)

Guy, N.; Rowe, A.

2014-12-01

The sky is dynamic, from long lasting cloud systems to ethereal, fleeting formations. After years of observing the sky and growing our personal collections of cloud photos, we decided to take to social media to share pictures, as well as build and educate a community of cloud enthusiasts. We began a Facebook page, the Community Cloud Atlas, described as "...the place to show off your pictures of the sky, identify clouds, and to discuss how specific cloud types form and what they can tell you about current and future weather." Our main goal has been to encourage others to share their pictures, while we describe the scenes from a meteorological perspective and reach out to the general public to facilitate a deeper understanding of the sky. Nearly 16 months later, we have over 1400 "likes," spanning 45 countries with ages ranging from 13 to over 65. We have a consistent stream of submissions; so many that we decided to start a corresponding blog to better organize the photos, provide more detailed explanations, and reach a bigger audience. Feedback from users has been positive in support of not only sharing cloud pictures, but also to "learn the science as well as admiring" the clouds. As one community member stated, "This is not 'just' a place to share some lovely pictures." We have attempted to blend our social media presence with providing an educational resource, and we are encouraged by the response we have received. Our Atlas has been informally implemented into classrooms, ranging from a 6th grade science class to Meteorology courses at universities. NOVA's recent Cloud Lab also made use of our Atlas as a supply of categorized pictures. Our ongoing goal is to not only continue to increase understanding and appreciation of the sky among the public, but to provide an increasingly useful tool for educators. We continue to explore different social media options to interact with the public and provide easier content submission, as well as software options for

Training astronauts using three-dimensional visualisations of the International Space Station.

Science.gov (United States)

Rycroft, M; Houston, A; Barker, A; Dahlstron, E; Lewis, N; Maris, N; Nelles, D; Bagaoutdinov, R; Bodrikov, G; Borodin, Y; Cheburkov, M; Ivanov, D; Karpunin, P; Katargin, R; Kiselyev, A; Kotlayarevsky, Y; Schetinnikov, A; Tylerov, F

1999-03-01

Recent advances in personal computer technology have led to the development of relatively low-cost software to generate high-resolution three-dimensional images. The capability both to rotate and zoom in on these images superposed on appropriate background images enables high-quality movies to be created. These developments have been used to produce realistic simulations of the International Space Station on CD-ROM. This product is described and its potentialities demonstrated. With successive launches, the ISS is gradually built up, and visualised over a rotating Earth against the star background. It is anticipated that this product's capability will be useful when training astronauts to carry out EVAs around the ISS. Simulations inside the ISS are also very realistic. These should prove invaluable when familiarising the ISS crew with their future workplace and home. Operating procedures can be taught and perfected. "What if" scenario models can be explored and this facility should be useful when training the crew to deal with emergency situations which might arise. This CD-ROM product will also be used to make the general public more aware of, and hence enthusiastic about, the International Space Station programme.

Grid Technology as a Cyberinfrastructure for Delivering High-End Services to the Earth and Space Science Community

Science.gov (United States)

Hinke, Thomas H.

2004-01-01

Grid technology consists of middleware that permits distributed computations, data and sensors to be seamlessly integrated into a secure, single-sign-on processing environment. In &is environment, a user has to identify and authenticate himself once to the grid middleware, and then can utilize any of the distributed resources to which he has been,panted access. Grid technology allows resources that exist in enterprises that are under different administrative control to be securely integrated into a single processing environment The grid community has adopted commercial web services technology as a means for implementing persistent, re-usable grid services that sit on top of the basic distributed processing environment that grids provide. These grid services can then form building blocks for even more complex grid services. Each grid service is characterized using the Web Service Description Language, which provides a description of the interface and how other applications can access it. The emerging Semantic grid work seeks to associates sufficient semantic information with each grid service such that applications wii1 he able to automatically select, compose and if necessary substitute available equivalent services in order to assemble collections of services that are most appropriate for a particular application. Grid technology has been used to provide limited support to various Earth and space science applications. Looking to the future, this emerging grid service technology can provide a cyberinfrastructures for both the Earth and space science communities. Groups within these communities could transform those applications that have community-wide applicability into persistent grid services that are made widely available to their respective communities. In concert with grid-enabled data archives, users could easily create complex workflows that extract desired data from one or more archives and process it though an appropriate set of widely distributed grid

Interrelated experiments in laboratory and space plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koepke, M. E.

2005-01-01

Many advances in understanding space plasma phenomena have been linked to insight derived from theoretical modelling and/or laboratory experiments. Here are discussed advances for which laboratory experiments played an important role. How the interpretation of the space plasma data was influenced by one or more laboratory experiments is described. The space-motivation of laboratory investigations and the scaling of laboratory plasma parameters to space plasma conditions are discussed. Examples demonstrating how laboratory experiments develop physical insight, benchmark theoretical models, discover unexpected behaviour, establish observational signatures, and pioneer diagnostic methods for the space community are presented. The various device configurations found in space-related laboratory investigations are outlined. A primary objective of this review is to articulate the overlapping scientific issues that are addressable in space and lab experiments. A secondary objective is to convey the wide range of laboratory and space plasma experiments involved in this interdisciplinary alliance. The interrelation ship between plasma experiments in the laboratory and in space has a long history, with numerous demonstrations of the benefits afforded the space community by laboratory results. An experiment's suitability and limitations for investigating space processes can be quantitatively established using dimensionless parameters. Even with a partial match of these parameters, aspects of waves, instabilities, nonlinearities, particle transport, reconnection, and hydrodynamics are addressable in a way useful to observers and modelers of space phenomena. Because diagnostic access to space plasmas, laboratory-experimentalists awareness of space phenomena, and efforts by theorists and funding agencies to help scientists bridge the gap between the space and laboratory communities are increasing, the range of laboratory and space plasma experiments with overlapping scientific

Green Open Space: Awareness for Health or Sustainability?

Science.gov (United States)

Dewi, O. C.; Chairunnisa, I.; Hidayat, T.; Anggraini, M.; Napitupulu, A.

2018-03-01

Universitas Indonesia in cooperation with American Red Cross and Indonesian Red Cross have been assisting green open space revitalisation program in 7 locations in Bogor Regency (2016-2017). The program was held under The Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Greater Jakarta Project; an initiative program from American Red Cross Indonesia. This project was not only improving the existing green open space quality, but also creating one adapted from public land. The revitalization project figures what happened on daily basis on the existing land, proposing new programming facilities, community-based construction, monitoring and handing over. This paper discovers the meaning of a green space for the community, whether the community aware of its benefit on human health or environmental sustainability. The research question is does the community aware of green open space benefit for human health or environmental sustainability? Or both? The original data from the community was gathered and grouped based on its relevance with environmental quality and public health.

Understanding on-line community: the affordances of virtual space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Ruhleder

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Increasing numbers of on-line venues for learning are emerging as virtual communities become more accessible and commonplace. This paper looks at one particular virtual community, an on-line degree programme at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which offers an M.S. in Library and Information Science (called LEEP. It draws on a framework presented by Mynatt, et al. (1998, which provides a lens for talking about on-line community as a set of affordances. This framework is applied to illustrate the interactions, artefacts, and expectations that shape this community.

14th SpaceOps Conference

CERN Document Server

Schmidhuber, Michael; Lee, Young; Kim, Bangyeop

2017-01-01

This book includes a selection of 30 reviewed and enhanced manuscripts published during the 14th SpaceOps Conference held in May 2016 in Daejeon, South Korea. The selection was driven by their quality and relevance to the space operations community. The papers represent a cross-section of three main subject areas: · Mission Management – management tasks for designing, preparing and operating a particular mission. · Spacecraft Operations – preparation and implementation of all activities to operate a space vehicle (crewed and uncrewed) under all conditions. · Ground Operations – preparation, qualification, and operations of a mission dedicated ground segment and appropriate infrastructure including antennas, control centers, and communication means and interfaces. This book promotes the SpaceOps Committee’s mission to foster the technical interchange on all aspects of space mission operations and ground data systems while promoting and maintaining an international community of space operations exper...

The Construction of Islamic Social-Cultural Space in a Mixed Community of Hui and Han---the Case of Nagu,Yunnan Province

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xue Ximing; Yang Xihao; Ma Chuang

2015-01-01

The cultural space of multi ethnic residential regions is always diverse and complicat-ed,and the conflicts and integration of multi cul-tures is the main driving force in the process of constructing cultural space. The structure of this kind of culture space is not always stable or un-changeable. On one hand,the nature of cultural space is that it will exhibit new changes following with a deepening of the degree of integration among various cultures,which in turn might play an ac-tive role on the self-renewal of the cultural space. On the other hand,the dramatic cultural conflict produced from cultural misunderstandings might split the former cultural space,especially if some of the ethnic religions or belief systems are misun-derstood. In this case,ethnic or religious conflicts will be unavoidable—and,this will further influ-ence the social stability of a multi-ethnic country or region. Hence,the research on the form and the mechanism for constructing the cultural space of a multi-ethnic residential community becomes very important.

Technological Spaces: An Initial Appraisal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ivanov, Ivan; Bézivin, Jean; Aksit, Mehmet

2002-01-01

In this paper, we propose a high level view of technological spaces (TS) and relations among these spaces. A technological space is a working context with a set of associated concepts, body of knowledge, tools, required skills, and possibilities. It is often associated to a given user community with

Enthusiastic Little Astronomers

Science.gov (United States)

Novak, Ines

2016-04-01

Younger primary school students often show great interest in the vast Universe hiding behind the starry night's sky, but don't have a way of learning about it and exploring it in regular classes. Some of them would search children's books, Internet or encyclopedias for information or facts they are interested in, but there are those whose hunger for knowledge would go unfulfilled. Such students were the real initiators of our extracurricular activity called Little Astronomers. With great enthusiasm they would name everything that interests them about the Universe that we live in and I would provide the information in a fun and interactive yet acceptable way for their level of understanding. In our class we learn about Earth and its place in the Solar System, we learn about the planets and other objects of our Solar System and about the Sun itself. We also explore the night sky using programs such as Stellarium, learning to recognize constellations and name them. Most of our activities are done using a PowerPoint presentation, YouTube videos, and Internet simulations followed by some practical work the students do themselves. Because of the lack of available materials and funds, most of materials are hand made by the teacher leading the class. We also use the school's galileoscope as often as possible. Every year the students are given the opportunity to go to an observatory in a town 90 km away so that they could gaze at the sky through the real telescope for the first time. Our goal is to start stepping into the world of astronomy by exploring the secrets of the Universe and understanding the process of rotation and revolution of our planet and its effects on our everyday lives and also to become more aware of our own role in our part of the Universe. The hunger for knowledge and enthusiasm these students have is contagious. They are becoming more aware of their surroundings and also understanding their place in the Universe that helps them remain humble and helps them think about the consequences that our actions as humankind have on our only home that we call Earth.

Neighbouring green space and mortality in community-dwelling elderly Hong Kong Chinese: a cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dan; Lau, Kevin Ka-Lun; Yu, Ruby; Wong, Samuel Y S; Kwok, Timothy T Y; Woo, Jean

2017-08-01

Green space has been shown to be beneficial for human wellness through multiple pathways. This study aimed to explore the contributions of neighbouring green space to cause-specific mortality. Data from 3544 Chinese men and women (aged ≥65 years at baseline) in a community-based cohort study were analysed. Outcome measures, identified from the death registry, were death from all-cause, respiratory system disease, circulatory system disease. The quantity of green space (%) within a 300 m radius buffer was calculated for each subject from a map created based on the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index. Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for demographics, socioeconomics, lifestyle, health conditions and housing type were used to estimate the HRs and 95% CIs. During a mean of 10.3 years of follow-up, 795 deaths were identified. Our findings showed that a 10% increase in coverage of green space was significantly associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality (HR 0.963, 95% CI 0.930 to 0.998), circulatory system-caused mortality (HR 0.887, 95% CI 0.817 to 0.963) and stroke-caused mortality (HR 0.661, 95% CI 0.524 to 0.835), independent of age, sex, marital status, years lived in Hong Kong, education level, socioeconomic ladder, smoking, alcohol intake, diet quality, self-rated health and housing type. The inverse associations between coverage of green space with all-cause mortality (HR 0.964, 95% CI 0.931 to 0.999) and circulatory system disease-caused mortality (HR 0.888, 95% CI 0.817 to 0.964) were attenuated when the models were further adjusted for physical activity and cognitive function. The effects of green space on all-cause and circulatory system-caused mortality tended to be stronger in females than in males. Higher coverage of green space was associated with reduced risks of all-cause mortality, circulatory system-caused mortality and stroke-caused mortality in Chinese older people living in a highly urbanised city. © Article author(s) (or their

Towards the Next Generation of Space Environment Prediction Capabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuznetsova, M. M.

2015-12-01

Since its establishment more than 15 years ago, the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC, http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov) is serving as an assess point to expanding collection of state-of-the-art space environment models and frameworks as well as a hub for collaborative development of next generation space weather forecasting systems. In partnership with model developers and international research and operational communities the CCMC integrates new data streams and models from diverse sources into end-to-end space weather impacts predictive systems, identifies week links in data-model & model-model coupling and leads community efforts to fill those gaps. The presentation will highlight latest developments, progress in CCMC-led community-wide projects on testing, prototyping, and validation of models, forecasting techniques and procedures and outline ideas on accelerating implementation of new capabilities in space weather operations.

New models to support the professional education of health visitors: A qualitative study of the role of space and place in creating 'community of learning hubs'.

Science.gov (United States)

Donetto, Sara; Malone, Mary; Sayer, Lynn; Robert, Glenn

2017-07-01

In response to a policy-driven workforce expansion in England new models of preparing health visitors for practice have been implemented. 'Community of Learning hubs' (COLHs) are one such model, involving different possible approaches to student support in clinical practice placements (for example, 'long arm mentoring' or 'action learning set' sessions). Such models present opportunities for studying the possible effects of spatiality on the learning experiences of students and newly qualified health visitors, and on team relationships more broadly. To explore a 'community of learning hub' model in health visitor education and reflect on the role of space and place in the learning experience and professional identity development of student health visitors. Qualitative research conducted during first year of implementation. Three 'community of learning hub' projects based in two NHS community Trusts in London during the period 2013-2015. Managers and leads (n=7), practice teachers and mentors (n=6) and newly qualified and student health visitors (n=16). Semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews analysed thematically. Participants had differing views as to what constituted a 'hub' in their projects. Two themes emerged around the spaces that shape the learning experience of student and newly qualified health visitors. Firstly, a generalised need for a 'quiet place' which allows pause for reflection but also for sharing experiences and relieving common anxieties. Secondly, the role of physical arrangements in open-plan spaces to promote access to support from more experienced practitioners. Attention to spatiality can shed light on important aspects of teaching and learning practices, and on the professional identities these practices shape and support. New configurations of time and space as part of educational initiatives can surface new insights into existing practices and learning models. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Typology of social space in Kauman Kampong Semarang

Science.gov (United States)

Endrianto Pandelaki, Edward; Suprapti, Atiek; Wahyu Firmandhani, Satriya

2017-12-01

Social space is various forms of spaces used by community in conducting social interaction. These kinds of spaces should be given more attention since they serve as catalyst in the implementation of good social cohesion in community. The effort includes giving concern toward their various implemented form. This concern will give benefits in the creation of resilient built environment. Kauman Kampong in Semarang, is an old urban kampong and still exist up until now. During its development, the inhabitant live and conduct their activities in good shape. Therefore this kampong is an appropriate place to learn and explore social spaces which is formed and utilized by the community who conduct their activities in this kampong. The aim of this research is to find out forms and typology of social space in Kauman Kampong in Semarang. Qualitative method is used in this research since the nature of this research is explorative. There are various social activities in Kauman Kampong in Semarang, such as religious, trading, and other social interaction, which have formed various social spaces. These social spaces have their own physical characteristics and with various intensity of activities. Based on collected data in field survey, the typology of social spaces that could be inferred are: permanent, temporary, and dynamic social space.

NASA Space Environments Technical Discipline Team Space Weather Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Minow, J. I.; Nicholas, A. C.; Parker, L. N.; Xapsos, M.; Walker, P. W.; Stauffer, C.

2017-12-01

The Space Environment Technical Discipline Team (TDT) is a technical organization led by NASA's Technical Fellow for Space Environments that supports NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer through the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. The Space Environments TDT conducts independent technical assessments related to the space environment and space weather impacts on spacecraft for NASA programs and provides technical expertise to NASA management and programs where required. This presentation will highlight the status of applied space weather activities within the Space Environment TDT that support development of operational space weather applications and a better understanding of the impacts of space weather on space systems. We will first discuss a tool that has been developed for evaluating space weather launch constraints that are used to protect launch vehicles from hazardous space weather. We then describe an effort to better characterize three-dimensional radiation transport for CubeSat spacecraft and processing of micro-dosimeter data from the International Space Station which the team plans to make available to the space science community. Finally, we will conclude with a quick description of an effort to maintain access to the real-time solar wind data provided by the Advanced Composition Explorer satellite at the Sun-Earth L1 point.

NASA GSFC Space Weather Center - Innovative Space Weather Dissemination: Web-Interfaces, Mobile Applications, and More

Science.gov (United States)

Maddox, Marlo; Zheng, Yihua; Rastaetter, Lutz; Taktakishvili, A.; Mays, M. L.; Kuznetsova, M.; Lee, Hyesook; Chulaki, Anna; Hesse, Michael; Mullinix, Richard;

Narrating Developmental Disability: Researchers, Advocates, and the Creation of an Interview Space in the Context of University-Community Partnerships

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niamh Mulcahy

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the narration of developmental disability through interviews between participants, researchers, and members of community organizations serving the disabled population, in the context of university-community collaborations. These kinds of collaborations are extremely important for researching vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations, which often face lower levels of physical, mental, and social well-being as a consequence of shame, stigma, or discrimination. Community collaboration can thus be invaluable for reaching members of marginalized populations, who may be difficult to locate or otherwise avoid contact with outsiders, because it provides members of a research team with local knowledge of a population, a means of accessing possible participants, and legitimation for the project. I suggest, however, that although the researcher's externality may initially invite skepticism toward the investigation from participants, it can also benefit them by providing a forum for catharsis. Based on a pilot study I conducted with a community advocacy organization for the disabled, I note that some participants expressed an appreciation for being able to discuss certain emotions and experiences during interviews with an outsider who was not involved as a caseworker. I conclude that the presence of a trusted community advocate and a researcher at an interview affects a participant's narrative by providing a safe space for participants to voice their stories to outsiders.

Gaining momentum: GeoGebra inspires educators and students around the world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zsolt Lavicza

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The use of technology is slowly becoming a substantial part of today’s education. Although due to the increased accessibility of affordable computing technologies in the 1980s and 90s it was predicted that computers would become rapidly integrated into mathematics teaching and learning (Kaput, 1992, technology uptake in schools has been considerably slow. The current expansion of technology use took a new unconventional direction: a bottom-up, community-based collaborative development, catalyzed by Internet-based communities and increasingly available community-developed software packages. During the past decades it has been demonstrated that a large number of enthusiasts can alter conventional thinking and models of development and innovation. The success of open source projects like Linux, Firefox, Moodle, and Wikipedia shows that collaboration and sharing can produce valuable resources in a variety of areas of life. While working on the open-source project GeoGebra we are witnessing the emergence of an enthusiastic international community around the software.

Live from the Moon ExoLab: EuroMoonMars Simulation at ESTEC 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Neklesa, A.; Foing, B. H.; Lillo, A.; Evellin, P.; Kołodziejczyk, A.; Jonglez, C.; Heinicke, C.; Harasymczuk, M.; Authier, L.; Blanc, A.; Chahla, C.; Tomic, A.; Mirino, M.; Schlacht, I.; Hettrich, S.; Pacher, T.

2017-10-01

Space enthusiasts simulated the landing on the Moon having pre-landed Habitat ExoHab, ExoLab 2.0, supported by the control centre on Earth. We give here the first-hand experience from a reporter (A.N.) who joined the space crew.

In individual or collective dwellings, wood-fuel: an enthusiastic market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2007-01-01

The wood-fuel market benefits from the present day development of renewable energy sources, both in the individual residential sector where wood-fuel is becoming a main space-heating solution and not only an auxiliary one, and in the collective residential, tertiary and industrial sectors where more than 1850 wood-burning facilities have been implemented in 6 years under the impulse of the wood-fuel development plan. Sales have raised by 40% in the residential sector in 2006 and a 50% increase of renewable energy sources is expected in the heat generation sector from now to 2010. This article presents the main trends of the French wood-fuel market and the existing offer of wood-fuel boilers. (J.S.)

Experience with Space Forums and Engineering Courses Organized for the Broad Dissemination of Space-related Information

Science.gov (United States)

Dessimoz, J.-D.; D'Aquino, U.; Gander, J.-G.; Sekler, J.

2002-01-01

Space technologies have been recognised as being of major importance for the welfare of our civilisation, not only in our industrially developed countries, but also for the world at large. Dating back to 1959, the Swiss Association for Astronautics (SRV; see http://srv-ch.org) has a long tradition of public communication in view of fostering support for space activities on a national scale. In recent years, the SRV has notably organised (or contributed for) about a dozen of Introductory Courses into Space Technology at different Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS), as well as set-up four Space Forums for reaching young people and the public at large. Space Forums are organised for younger students and the public at large. They have been so far organised at Zurich, with increasing impact. In 2002 the Space Forum is located at the "Technopark", a structure aiming at fostering technology transfers between universities and business, as well as to help creating start-up's. Contributions come from highly qualified speakers, such as "our" ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier, or scientists from leading research organisations. An exhibition is also organised, which presents space projects and material with very positive impact on the audience. As favourable by-product, the event tends to trigger further echoes in media (e.g. major press representatives and local radios). A good place is also made for outstanding contributions from young teenagers / enthusiastic supporters, which brings additional fresh views and effective communication channels for reaching the younger public. The Space techniques courses aim at a different public: engineering students and graduates. They are organised on a semester basis, with a frequency of about 1 or 2 courses per year; they are nearly always offered at different locations (most of the time at UAS) and can also be viewed as continuing education initiatives. Topics typically include a historical overview of space-related developments

A Study on the Relationship between Design Elements of Outdoor Leisure Spaces and Types of Leisure Activities in Sustainable Community Development - A Case Study on Tainan, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, J. H.; Zhang, H.

2018-01-01

Sustainable community development encompasses three aspects: “Lifestyle”, “Production” and “Ecology”. Among them, “Lifestyle” is closest to people and reflects basic human needs. Creating outdoor spaces that encourage residents to engage in leisure activities will not only provide them with spiritual sustenance but also fulfil one of the key criteria in sustainable community development. This study explores the relationship between design elements of outdoor leisure spaces and types of leisure activities from residents' perspective with the goal to inform future spatial planning. The study collected 365 valid questionnaires from Tainan residents. Factor analysis was used to extract factors from design elements of outdoor leisure spaces, and regression analysis was applied to understand the effect level. The result shows design elements have positive effect on the types of leisure activities. In addition, different elements exert different influences on the choice of activities.

24 CFR 245.120 - Meeting space.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Meeting space. 245.120 Section 245... PARTICIPATION IN MULTIFAMILY HOUSING PROJECTS Tenant Organizations § 245.120 Meeting space. (a) Owners of... of any community room or other available space appropriate for meetings that is part of the...

Community-acquired bacterial meningitis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Beek, Diederik; Brouwer, Matthijs; Hasbun, Rodrigo; Koedel, Uwe; Whitney, Cynthia G.; Wijdicks, Eelco

2016-01-01

Meningitis is an inflammation of the meninges and subarachnoid space that can also involve the brain cortex and parenchyma. It can be acquired spontaneously in the community - community-acquired bacterial meningitis - or in the hospital as a complication of invasive procedures or head trauma

A cultural landscape approach to community-based conservation in Solomon Islands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard K. Walter

2014-12-01

Full Text Available International environmental organizations have an increasing commitment to the development of conservation programs in high-diversity regions where indigenous communities maintain customary rights to their lands and seas. A major challenge that these programs face is the alignment of international conservation values with those of the indigenous communities whose cooperation and support are vital. International environmental organizations are focused on biodiversity conservation, but local communities often have a different range of concerns and interests, only some of which relate to biodiversity. One solution to this problem involves adoption of a cultural landscape approach as the ethical and organizational foundation of the conservation program. In our conservation work in coastal Melanesia, we have developed a cultural landscape approach that involves the construction of a conceptual model of environment that reflects the indigenous perceptions of landscape. This model incorporates cultural, ideational, and spiritual values alongside other ecosystem services and underpins the conservation activities, priorities, and organizational structure of our programs. This cultural landscape model was a reaction to a survey of environmental values conducted by our team in which Solomon Islanders reported far greater interest in conserving cultural heritage sites than any other ecosystem resources. This caused a radical rethinking of community-based conservation programs. The methodologies we adopted are derived from the fields of archaeology and historical anthropology, in which there is an established practice of working through research problems within the framework of indigenous concepts of, and relationship to, landscape. In our work in Isabel Province, Solomon Islands, coastal communities have enthusiastically adopted conservation programs that are based on cultural landscape models that recognize indigenous values. A particularly useful tool is

Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jenny Roe

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Very little is known about how differences in use and perceptions of urban green space impact on the general health of black and minority ethnic (BME groups. BME groups in the UK suffer from poorer health and a wide range of environmental inequalities that include poorer access to urban green space and poorer quality of green space provision. This study used a household questionnaire (n = 523 to explore the relationship between general health and a range of individual, social and physical environmental predictors in deprived white British and BME groups living in ethnically diverse cities in England. Results from Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID segmentation analyses identified three distinct general health segments in our sample ranging from “very good” health (people of Indian origin, to ”good” health (white British, and ”poor” health (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani origin and other BME groups, labelled ”Mixed BME” in the analyses. Correlated Component Regression analyses explored predictors of general health for each group. Common predictors of general health across all groups were age, disability, and levels of physical activity. However, social and environmental predictors of general health-including use and perceptions of urban green space-varied among the three groups. For white British people, social characteristics of place (i.e., place belonging, levels of neighbourhood trust, loneliness ranked most highly as predictors of general health, whilst the quality of, access to and the use of urban green space was a significant predictor of general health for the poorest health group only, i.e., in ”Mixed BME”. Results are discussed from the perspective of differences in use and perceptions of urban green space amongst ethnic groups. We conclude that health and recreation policy in the UK needs to give greater attention to the provision of local green space amongst poor BME

Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Roe, Jenny; Aspinall, Peter A.; Ward Thompson, Catharine

2016-01-01

Very little is known about how differences in use and perceptions of urban green space impact on the general health of black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. BME groups in the UK suffer from poorer health and a wide range of environmental inequalities that include poorer access to urban green space and poorer quality of green space provision. This study used a household questionnaire (n = 523) to explore the relationship between general health and a range of individual, social and physical environmental predictors in deprived white British and BME groups living in ethnically diverse cities in England. Results from Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) segmentation analyses identified three distinct general health segments in our sample ranging from “very good” health (people of Indian origin), to ”good” health (white British), and ”poor” health (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani origin and other BME groups), labelled ”Mixed BME” in the analyses. Correlated Component Regression analyses explored predictors of general health for each group. Common predictors of general health across all groups were age, disability, and levels of physical activity. However, social and environmental predictors of general health-including use and perceptions of urban green space-varied among the three groups. For white British people, social characteristics of place (i.e., place belonging, levels of neighbourhood trust, loneliness) ranked most highly as predictors of general health, whilst the quality of, access to and the use of urban green space was a significant predictor of general health for the poorest health group only, i.e., in ”Mixed BME”. Results are discussed from the perspective of differences in use and perceptions of urban green space amongst ethnic groups. We conclude that health and recreation policy in the UK needs to give greater attention to the provision of local green space amongst poor BME communities since this

Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Roe, Jenny; Aspinall, Peter A; Ward Thompson, Catharine

2016-07-05

Very little is known about how differences in use and perceptions of urban green space impact on the general health of black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. BME groups in the UK suffer from poorer health and a wide range of environmental inequalities that include poorer access to urban green space and poorer quality of green space provision. This study used a household questionnaire (n = 523) to explore the relationship between general health and a range of individual, social and physical environmental predictors in deprived white British and BME groups living in ethnically diverse cities in England. Results from Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) segmentation analyses identified three distinct general health segments in our sample ranging from "very good" health (people of Indian origin), to "good" health (white British), and "poor" health (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani origin and other BME groups), labelled "Mixed BME" in the analyses. Correlated Component Regression analyses explored predictors of general health for each group. Common predictors of general health across all groups were age, disability, and levels of physical activity. However, social and environmental predictors of general health-including use and perceptions of urban green space-varied among the three groups. For white British people, social characteristics of place (i.e., place belonging, levels of neighbourhood trust, loneliness) ranked most highly as predictors of general health, whilst the quality of, access to and the use of urban green space was a significant predictor of general health for the poorest health group only, i.e., in "Mixed BME". Results are discussed from the perspective of differences in use and perceptions of urban green space amongst ethnic groups. We conclude that health and recreation policy in the UK needs to give greater attention to the provision of local green space amongst poor BME communities since this can play an

Hyperbolic mapping of complex networks based on community information

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zuxi; Li, Qingguang; Jin, Fengdong; Xiong, Wei; Wu, Yao

2016-08-01

To improve the hyperbolic mapping methods both in terms of accuracy and running time, a novel mapping method called Community and Hyperbolic Mapping (CHM) is proposed based on community information in this paper. Firstly, an index called Community Intimacy (CI) is presented to measure the adjacency relationship between the communities, based on which a community ordering algorithm is introduced. According to the proposed Community-Sector hypothesis, which supposes that most nodes of one community gather in a same sector in hyperbolic space, CHM maps the ordered communities into hyperbolic space, and then the angular coordinates of nodes are randomly initialized within the sector that they belong to. Therefore, all the network nodes are so far mapped to hyperbolic space, and then the initialized angular coordinates can be optimized by employing the information of all nodes, which can greatly improve the algorithm precision. By applying the proposed dual-layer angle sampling method in the optimization procedure, CHM reduces the time complexity to O(n2) . The experiments show that our algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Move the Neighbourhood: Study design of a community-based participatory public open space intervention in a Danish deprived neighbourhood to promote active living

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte Skau Pawlowski

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A limited amount of research has examined the effect of changing public open spaces on active living. This paper will present the study protocol of a community-based intervention study co-designed in an interdisciplinary collaboration with community members to develop urban installations highly tailored to promote active living among children (10–13-years-old and seniors (>60-years-old in a deprived neighbourhood in Copenhagen. Methods The study builds on a quasi-experimental study design with two sub-studies: 1 a children study and 2 a senior study. The interventions will be developed, designed and implemented in collaboration with local children and seniors, respectively, using different co-design tools and methods. We will evaluate the effect of the interventions on children’s and senior’s use of the new-built urban installations using accelerometers in combination with GPS as well as systematic observation using the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC. A process evaluation with focus groups consisting of the various stakeholders in the two sub-studies will be used to gain knowledge of the intervention processes. Discussion The paper presents new approaches in the field of public open space interventions through interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory co-design approach and combination of measurements. Using both effect and process evaluations the study will provide unique insights in the role and importance of the interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory processes, and tailoring changes in public open space to local needs and wishes. These results can be used to guide urban renewal projects in deprived neighbourhoods in the future. Trial registration Retrospectively registered with study ID ISRCTN50036837 . Date of registration: 16 December 2016.

Move the Neighbourhood: Study design of a community-based participatory public open space intervention in a Danish deprived neighbourhood to promote active living.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau; Winge, Laura; Carroll, Sidse; Schmidt, Tanja; Wagner, Anne Margrethe; Nørtoft, Kamilla Pernille Johansen; Lamm, Bettina; Kural, René; Schipperijn, Jasper; Troelsen, Jens

2017-05-19

A limited amount of research has examined the effect of changing public open spaces on active living. This paper will present the study protocol of a community-based intervention study co-designed in an interdisciplinary collaboration with community members to develop urban installations highly tailored to promote active living among children (10-13-years-old) and seniors (>60-years-old) in a deprived neighbourhood in Copenhagen. The study builds on a quasi-experimental study design with two sub-studies: 1) a children study and 2) a senior study. The interventions will be developed, designed and implemented in collaboration with local children and seniors, respectively, using different co-design tools and methods. We will evaluate the effect of the interventions on children's and senior's use of the new-built urban installations using accelerometers in combination with GPS as well as systematic observation using the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC). A process evaluation with focus groups consisting of the various stakeholders in the two sub-studies will be used to gain knowledge of the intervention processes. The paper presents new approaches in the field of public open space interventions through interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory co-design approach and combination of measurements. Using both effect and process evaluations the study will provide unique insights in the role and importance of the interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory processes, and tailoring changes in public open space to local needs and wishes. These results can be used to guide urban renewal projects in deprived neighbourhoods in the future. Retrospectively registered with study ID ISRCTN50036837 . Date of registration: 16 December 2016.

Travels in Space and Place: Identity and Rural Schooling

Science.gov (United States)

Corbett, Michael

2007-01-01

This analysis draws on interview data from a three-year study of educational decision making of youth living in a coastal community in Atlantic Canada. Students whose educational and mobility aspirations extend outside the known spaces of the community develop the ability to negotiate multiple social spaces in and out of school. The school- …

Private Astronaut Training Prepares Commercial Crews of Tomorrow

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

A new company that includes a handful of former NASA personnel is already taking applications for the first comprehensive commercial astronaut training approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Waypoint 2 Space, located at Johnson Space Center, hopes to draw space tourists and enthusiasts and future commercial crewmembers with first-hand NASA know-how, as well as agency training technology.

Biological challenges of true space settlement

Science.gov (United States)

Mankins, John C.; Mankins, Willa M.; Walter, Helen

2018-05-01

"Space Settlements" - i.e., permanent human communities beyond Earth's biosphere - have been discussed within the space advocacy community since the 1970s. Now, with the end of the International Space Station (ISS) program fast approaching (planned for 2024-2025) and the advent of low cost Earth-to-orbit (ETO) transportation in the near future, the concept is coming once more into mainstream. Considerable attention has been focused on various issues associated with the engineering and human health considerations of space settlement such as artificial gravity and radiation shielding. However, relatively little attention has been given to the biological implications of a self-sufficient space settlement. Three fundamental questions are explored in this paper: (1) what are the biological "foundations" of truly self-sufficient space settlements in the foreseeable future, (2) what is the minimum scale for such self-sustaining human settlements, and (3) what are the integrated biologically-driven system requirements for such settlements? The paper examines briefly the implications of the answers to these questions in relevant potential settings (including free space, the Moon and Mars). Finally, this paper suggests relevant directions for future research and development in order for such space settlements to become viable in the future.

Grassroots maker spaces : a recipe for innovation?

OpenAIRE

Wang, Ding; Dunn, Nick; Coulton, Paul

2015-01-01

Makerspace has become an increasingly fashionable term that many community spaces use to label themselves. In this paper, we identify makerspace as an experience-led community space where people gather to make things together with the assistance of both digital and traditional making tools. This paper takes the inspiration from both Tuan’s definition of place and Lefebvre’s ‘triad spatial model’ and offers a unique analysis of what makerspace is in relation to makers’ experience. In addition,...

Development and Use of Health-Related Technologies in Indigenous Communities: Critical Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Louise; Jacklin, Kristen; O'Connell, Megan E

2017-07-20

Older Indigenous adults encounter multiple challenges as their age intersects with health inequities. Research suggests that a majority of older Indigenous adults prefer to age in place, and they will need culturally safe assistive technologies to do so. The aim of this critical review was to examine literature concerning use, adaptation, and development of assistive technologies for health purposes by Indigenous peoples. Working within Indigenous research methodologies and from a decolonizing approach, searches of peer-reviewed academic and gray literature dated to February 2016 were conducted using keywords related to assistive technology and Indigenous peoples. Sources were reviewed and coded thematically. Of the 34 sources captured, only 2 concerned technology specifically for older Indigenous adults. Studies detailing technology with Indigenous populations of all ages originated primarily from Canada (n=12), Australia (n=10), and the United States (n=9) and were coded to four themes: meaningful user involvement and community-based processes in development, the digital divide, Indigenous innovation in technology, and health technology needs as holistic and interdependent. A key finding is the necessity of meaningful user involvement in technology development, especially in communities struggling with the digital divide. In spite of, or perhaps because of this divide, Indigenous communities are enthusiastically adapting mobile technologies to suit their needs in creative, culturally specific ways. This enthusiasm and creativity, coupled with the extensive experience many Indigenous communities have with telehealth technologies, presents opportunity for meaningful, culturally safe development processes. ©Louise Jones, Kristen Jacklin, Megan E O'Connell. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 20.07.2017.

Complementary and alternative medicine use for arthritis pain in 2 Chicago community areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Feinglass, Joe; Lee, Chin; Rogers, Michelle; Temple, Leslie Mendoza; Nelson, Cynthia; Chang, Rowland W

2007-01-01

To compare the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for arthritis between 2 ethnically distinct metropolitan Chicago community areas. A telephone interview survey of adults age 45 years or above living in North (88.9% white) or South (79.7% African American) areas. Of 763 respondents, 405 reported arthritis or chronic joint symptoms and were asked about use and satisfaction with 7 CAM therapies. Differences between areas were compared with population-weighted tests; multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the likelihood of CAM use controlled for demographics, behavioral risk factors, and arthritis severity. South Chicago respondents had a higher prevalence and more severe arthritis symptoms such as mean joint pain and more functional limitations. Use of CAM therapy by South Chicago respondents, most commonly massage and relaxation techniques, was 10% greater than North Chicago respondents (61.5% to 51%) but this was not significantly different. Among CAM users, South Chicago respondents reported higher satisfaction with 6 of the 7 CAM therapies and greater future interest in CAM therapies. Poor overall health status (P=0.03), arthritis pain (P=0.005), and concomitant use of prescription medications (P=0.03) were the only significant predictors of CAM use. Although there were only small differences in overall CAM use by area, older residents of largely African American communities were enthusiastic users of relaxation, massage, and nutritional and dietary techniques. CAM modalities could be important adjuncts to traditional medical treatment of arthritis pain for minority communities.

Girls InSpace project: A new space physics outreach initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Abe Pacini, A.; Tegbaru, D.; Max, A., Sr.

2017-12-01

We present here the concept and state-of-art of the new space physics youth education and outreach initiative called "Girls InSpace project". The project goal is to spread quality scientific information to underrepresented groups, motivate girls in STEM and promote gender equality in the Space Physics area. Initially, the "Girls InSpace project" will be available in two languages (Portuguese and English) aiming to reach out to the youth of Brazil, United States, Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia and Angola. Eventually, the material will be translated to French and Spanish, focusing on French-speaking countries in Africa and Latin America. The project spans a collection of four books about a group of young girls and their adventures (always related to the sky and simultaneously introducing earth and space science concepts). Ancillary content such as a webpage, mobile applications and lesson plans are also in development. The books were written by a Space Physicist PhD woman, illustrated by a Brazilian young artist and commented by senior female scientists, creating positive role models for the next generation of girls in STEM. The story lines were drawn around the selected topics of astronomy and space physics, introducing scientific information to the target readers (girls from 8-13 years old) and enhancing their curiosity and critical thinking. The books instill the readers to explore the available extra web-content (with images, videos, interviews with scientists, real space data, coding and deeper scientific information) and game apps (with Virtual Reality components and real space images). Moreover, for teachers K-12, a collection of lesson plans will be made available, aiming to facilitate scientific content discussed in the books and inside classroom environments. Gender bias in STEM reported earlier this year in Nature and based on a study of the American Geophysical Union's member database showed a competitive disadvantage for women in the Earth and Space

Architectural design drives the biogeography of indoor bacterial communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Kembel, Steven W; Meadow, James F; O'Connor, Timothy K; Mhuireach, Gwynne; Northcutt, Dale; Kline, Jeff; Moriyama, Maxwell; Brown, G Z; Bohannan, Brendan J M; Green, Jessica L

2014-01-01

Architectural design has the potential to influence the microbiology of the built environment, with implications for human health and well-being, but the impact of design on the microbial biogeography of buildings remains poorly understood. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome. Sequencing of the bacterial 16S gene from dust samples revealed that indoor bacterial communities were extremely diverse, containing more than 32,750 OTUs (operational taxonomic units, 97% sequence similarity cutoff), but most communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococci. Architectural design characteristics related to space type, building arrangement, human use and movement, and ventilation source had a large influence on the structure of bacterial communities. Restrooms contained bacterial communities that were highly distinct from all other rooms, and spaces with high human occupant diversity and a high degree of connectedness to other spaces via ventilation or human movement contained a distinct set of bacterial taxa when compared to spaces with low occupant diversity and low connectedness. Within offices, the source of ventilation air had the greatest effect on bacterial community structure. Our study indicates that humans have a guiding impact on the microbial biodiversity in buildings, both indirectly through the effects of architectural design on microbial community structure, and more directly through the effects of human occupancy and use patterns on the microbes found in different spaces and space types. The impact of design decisions in structuring the indoor microbiome offers the possibility to use ecological knowledge to shape our buildings in a way that will select for an indoor microbiome that promotes our health and well-being.

THE INFLUENCE OF OPEN SPACE UTILIZATION ON RESIDENTS’ ATTACHMENT WITH COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF RURAL MARKET SQUARE IN SOUTH-WEST NIGERIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agboola Oluwagbemiga Paul

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Open space such as market square is a communal ground where people carry out their various functional activities. This research work is undertaken in order to fill the knowledge gap in areas of people and place relationship, where improvements are needed to overcome challenges in the provision of facilities, design, and planning. In view of its significance, it becomes imperative to explore the relationship between the utilization of market square and residents’ attachment to the community. Therefore, 382 respondents’ views on market dependence, identity, activities preferences, and attachment to the community were collected through self-administered questionnaires. The findings from Structural Equation Modelling (SEM using AMOS tool version 22 for the tested hypothesized model reveal that residents’ dependence and identity with market square had positive significant impacts on residents’ attachment to the community with standardised path coefficient values of 0.32 and 0.48 respectively. It is therefore suggested that appropriate machinery should be put in place towards improving the quality of the market square to further enhance users’ interaction cum the sustainability of the community in Nigeria.

Public participation in post-Fordist urban green space governance: the case of community gardens in Berlin.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosol, Marit

2010-01-01

This article examines citizen participation in the governance of contemporary urban green space. Rather than exploring normative questions of ideal forms of participatory democracy, it focuses on changing roles and relationships between local state and non-state actors in order to identify and explain the changing nature of participation. I argue that neoliberal urban restructuring has changed the conditions for participation and thus participation itself in fundamental ways and that we need an account of changes in statehood and governance in order to capture this conceptually. Based on the case of community gardens in Berlin, the article discusses the extent to which this changed relationship is expressed by current citizen participation as well as the potential and problems that result from it. My empirical results show the emergence of a new political acceptance of autonomously organized projects and active citizen participation in urban green space governance. The central argument of this article is that this new acceptance can be conceptualized as an expression of the neoliberalization of cities. Nevertheless, this neoliberal strategy at the same time leads to complex and contradictory outcomes and the resulting benefits are also acknowledged.

Students perceive healthcare as a valuable learning environment when accepted as a part of the workplace community.

Science.gov (United States)

Hägg-Martinell, Ann; Hult, Håkan; Henriksson, Peter; Kiessling, Anna

2014-01-01

The healthcare system is complex and the education of medical and nursing students is not always a priority within it. However, education offered at the point of care provides students with opportunities to apply knowledge, and to develop the necessary skills and attitudes needed to practice their future profession. The major objective of this study was to identify students' views of generic aspects of the healthcare environment that influences their progress towards professional competence. We collected free text answers of 75 medical students and 23 nursing students who had completed an extensive questionnaire concerning their learning in clinical wards. In order to obtain richer data and a deeper understanding, we also interviewed a purposive sample of students. Qualitative content analysis was conducted. We identified three themes: (1) How management, planning and organising for learning enabled content and learning activities to relate to the syllabus and workplace, and how this management influenced space and resources for supervision and learning; (2) Workplace culture elucidated how hierarchies and communication affected student learning and influenced their professional development and (3) Learning a profession illustrated the importance of supervisors' approaches to students, their enthusiasm and ability to build relationships, and their feedback to students on performance. From a student perspective, a valuable learning environment is characterised as one where management, planning and organising are aligned and support learning. Students experience a professional growth when the community of practice accepts them, and competent and enthusiastic supervisors give them opportunities to interact with patients and to develop their own responsibilities.

Yoga Communities and Eating Disorders: Creating Safe Space for Positive Embodiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook-Cottone, Catherine; Douglass, Laura Lee

2017-11-01

With adequate education and guidance, yoga communities, as part of the therapeutic landscape in the 21st century, can play a significant role promoting positive embodiment for those with, and at-risk for, eating disorders (EDs). To do this, yoga teachers need to know how to create a body-positive community and be able to recognize and respond to those at risk and struggling with EDs in their communities. In order to address yoga teaching methods associated with EDs and ED risk, broader conceptual approaches and specific practices associated with positive embodiment are offered. These include the broader conceptual approaches of: intentional inclusion and acceptance, experiential emphasis, supporting positive embodiment and inquiry. Studio pragmatics are also detailed as related to the body, breath, emotions, and community. Assessment, referral, and community engagement are also addressed.

The International Space University

Science.gov (United States)

Davidian, Kenneth J.

1990-01-01

The International Space University (ISU) was founded on the premise that any major space program in the future would require international cooperation as a necessary first step toward its successful completion. ISU is devoted to being a leading center for educating future authorities in the world space industry. ISU's background, goals, current form, and future plans are described. The results and benefits of the type of education and experience gained from ISU include technical reports describing the design projects undertaken by the students, an exposure to the many different disciplines which are a part of a large space project, an awareness of the existing activities from around the world in the space community, and an international professional network which spans all aspects of space activities and covers the globe.

SP-100 nuclear space power systems with application to space commercialization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, J.M.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to familiarize the Space Commercialization Community with the status and characteristics of the SP-100 space nuclear power system. The program is a joint undertaking by the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and NASA. The goal of the program is to develop, validate, and demonstrate the technology for space nuclear power systems in the range of 10 to 1000 kWe electric for use in the future civilian and military space missions. Also discussed are mission applications which are enhanced and/or enabled by SP-100 technology and how this technology compares to that of more familiar solar power systems. The mission applications include earth orbiting platforms and lunar/Mars surface power

Management of outer space

Science.gov (United States)

Perek, Lubos

1993-10-01

Various aspects of space-environment management are discussed. Attention is called to the fact that, while space radio communications are already under an adequate management by the International Communications Union, the use of nuclear power sources is regulated by the recently adopted set of principles, and space debris will be discussed in the near future at the UN COPUOS, other aspects of management of outer space received little or no attention of the international community. These include the competency of crews and technical equipment of spacecraft launched by newcomers to space exploration; monitoring of locations and motions of space objects (now in national hands), with relevant data made accessible through a computer network; and the requirement to use space only for beneficial purposes and not for promoting narrow and debatable interests damaging the outer space environment and impeding on astronomical observations. It is suggested that some of these tasks would be best performed by an international space agency within the UN system of organizations.

Community detection by graph Voronoi diagrams

Science.gov (United States)

Deritei, Dávid; Lázár, Zsolt I.; Papp, István; Járai-Szabó, Ferenc; Sumi, Róbert; Varga, Levente; Ravasz Regan, Erzsébet; Ercsey-Ravasz, Mária

2014-06-01

Accurate and efficient community detection in networks is a key challenge for complex network theory and its applications. The problem is analogous to cluster analysis in data mining, a field rich in metric space-based methods. Common to these methods is a geometric, distance-based definition of clusters or communities. Here we propose a new geometric approach to graph community detection based on graph Voronoi diagrams. Our method serves as proof of principle that the definition of appropriate distance metrics on graphs can bring a rich set of metric space-based clustering methods to network science. We employ a simple edge metric that reflects the intra- or inter-community character of edges, and a graph density-based rule to identify seed nodes of Voronoi cells. Our algorithm outperforms most network community detection methods applicable to large networks on benchmark as well as real-world networks. In addition to offering a computationally efficient alternative for community detection, our method opens new avenues for adapting a wide range of data mining algorithms to complex networks from the class of centroid- and density-based clustering methods.

Stories of upward social mobility and migration in one Romanian commune. On the emergence of “rurban” spaces in migrant-sending communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica ALEXANDRU

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to explore how international migration changed rural communities and social mobility trajectories. I show how the intense structural changes following the socio-economic transition in Romania supported the emergence and growth of labour migration. I look at migration instances that reveal positive changes of the quality of life, housing, educational and occupational opportunities of migrants. I posit that migration changes social mobility trajectories and shapes “rurban” villages where standards of living and lifestyles merge old and new ways of life. These communities gradually begin to resemble more to host countries and to urban localities in Romania than to the traditional rural spaces.

CCMC: bringing space weather awareness to the next generation

Science.gov (United States)

Chulaki, A.; Muglach, K.; Zheng, Y.; Mays, M. L.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Taktakishvili, A.; Collado-Vega, Y. M.; Rastaetter, L.; Mendoza, A. M. M.; Thompson, B. J.; Pulkkinen, A. A.; Pembroke, A. D.

2017-12-01

Making space weather an element of core education is critical for the future of the young field of space weather. Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) is an interagency partnership established to aid the transition of modern space science models into space weather forecasting while supporting space science research. Additionally, over the past ten years it has established itself as a global space science education resource supporting undergraduate and graduate education and research, and spreading space weather awareness worldwide. A unique combination of assets, capabilities and close ties to the scientific and educational communities enable our small group to serve as a hub for rising generations of young space scientists and engineers. CCMC offers a variety of educational tools and resources publicly available online and providing access to the largest collection of modern space science models developed by the international research community. CCMC has revolutionized the way these simulations are utilized in classrooms settings, student projects, and scientific labs. Every year, this online system serves hundreds of students, educators and researchers worldwide. Another major CCMC asset is an expert space weather prototyping team primarily serving NASA's interplanetary space weather needs. Capitalizing on its unique capabilities and experiences, the team also provides in-depth space weather training to hundreds of students and professionals. One training module offers undergraduates an opportunity to actively engage in real-time space weather monitoring, analysis, forecasting, tools development and research, eventually serving remotely as NASA space weather forecasters. In yet another project, CCMC is collaborating with Hayden Planetarium and Linkoping University on creating a visualization platform for planetariums (and classrooms) to provide simulations of dynamic processes in the large domain stretching from the solar corona to the Earth's upper

Positioning Space Solar Power (SSP) as the Next Logical Step after the International Space Station (ISS)

Science.gov (United States)

Charania, A.

2002-01-01

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the International Space Station (ISS) will stand as a testament of the engineering capabilities of the international community. The choices for the next logical step for this community remain vast and conflicting: a Mars mission, moon colonization, Space Solar Power (SSP), etc. This examination focuses on positioning SSP as one such candidate for consideration. A marketing roadmap is presented that reveals the potential benefits of SSP to both the space community and the global populace at large. Recognizing that scientific efficiency itself has no constituency large enough to persuade entities to outlay funds for such projects, a holistic approach is taken to positioning SSP. This includes the scientific, engineering, exploratory, economic, political, and development capabilities of the system. SSP can be seen as both space exploration related and a resource project for undeveloped nations. Coupling these two non-traditional areas yields a broader constituency for the project that each one alone could generate. Space exploration is many times seen as irrelevant to the condition of the populace of the planet from which the money comes for such projects. When in this new century, billions of people on the planet still have never made a phone call or even have access to clean water, the origins of this skepticism can be understandable. An area of concern is the problem of not living up to the claims of overeager program marketers. Just as the ISS may never live up to the claims of its advocates in terms of space research, any SSP program must be careful in not promising utopian global solutions to any future energy starved world. Technically, SSP is a very difficult problem, even harder than creating the ISS, yet the promise it can hold for both space exploration and Earth development can lead to a renaissance of the relevance of space to the lives of the citizens of the world.

Space Shuttle and Hypersonic Entry

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Charles H.; Gerstenmaier, William H.

2014-01-01

Fifty years of human spaceflight have been characterized by the aerospace operations of the Soyuz, of the Space Shuttle and, more recently, of the Shenzhou. The lessons learned of this past half decade are important and very significant. Particularly interesting is the scenario that is downstream from the retiring of the Space Shuttle. A number of initiatives are, in fact, emerging from in the aftermath of the decision to terminate the Shuttle program. What is more and more evident is that a new era is approaching: the era of the commercial usage and of the commercial exploitation of space. It is probably fair to say, that this is the likely one of the new frontiers of expansion of the world economy. To make a comparison, in the last 30 years our economies have been characterized by the digital technologies, with examples ranging from computers, to cellular phones, to the satellites themselves. Similarly, the next 30 years are likely to be characterized by an exponential increase of usage of extra atmospheric resources, as a result of more economic and efficient way to access space, with aerospace transportation becoming accessible to commercial investments. We are witnessing the first steps of the transportation of future generation that will drastically decrease travel time on our Planet, and significantly enlarge travel envelope including at least the low Earth orbits. The Steve Jobs or the Bill Gates of the past few decades are being replaced by the aggressive and enthusiastic energy of new entrepreneurs. It is also interesting to note that we are now focusing on the aerospace band, that lies on top of the aeronautical shell, and below the low Earth orbits. It would be a mistake to consider this as a known envelope based on the evidences of the flights of Soyuz, Shuttle and Shenzhou. Actually, our comprehension of the possible hypersonic flight regimes is bounded within really limited envelopes. The achievement of a full understanding of the hypersonic flight

The benefits of community-managed open space: community gardening in New York City

Science.gov (United States)

Edie Stone

2009-01-01

One of 18 articles inspired by the Meristem 2007 Forum, "Restorative Commons for Community Health." The articles include interviews, case studies, thought pieces, and interdisciplinary theoretical works that explore the relationship between human health and the urban...

"Becoming" Learners/Teachers in Nomadic Space

Science.gov (United States)

Gorodetsky, Malka; Barak, Judith

2016-01-01

This paper suggests a conjunction between the learning space of educational edge community (EEC) and the Deleuzeguattarian thought regarding the nature of teachers' "becoming." It attends to the emerging subjectivities of teachers/learners within an EEC, a nomadic, open, and smooth space of learning. It is suggested that autonomous…

Community and School Gardens as Spaces for Learning Social Resilience

Science.gov (United States)

Reis, Kimberley; Ferreira, Jo-Anne

2015-01-01

Can community and school gardens help people learn to build social resilience to potential food shortages? We seek to address this question through an examination of the ways in which gardens can teach individual and community resiliency in times of emergency, pockets of food insecurity, and the challenges presented by climate change. We focus on…

The role of the International Space University in building capacity in emerging space nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Robert

The International Space University provides graduate-level training to the future leaders of the emerging global space community at its Central Campus in Strasbourg, France, and at locations around the world. In its two-month Summer Session and one-year Masters program, ISU offers its students a unique Core Curriculum covering all disciplines related to space programs and enterprises - space science, space engineering, systems engineering, space policy and law, business and management, and space and society. Both programs also involve an intense student research Team Project providing international graduate students and young space professionals the opportunity to solve complex problems by working together in an intercultural environment. Since its founding in 1987, ISU has graduated more than 2500 students from 96 countries. Together with hundreds of ISU faculty and lecturers from around the world, ISU alumni comprise an extremely effective network of space professionals and leaders that actively facilitates individual career growth, professional activities and international space cooperation.

Longing Itineraries: Building the Translocal Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gustavo López Angel

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Migration has reshaped social practices, the sense of belonging has been rethought, and the membership is renegotiated and contended; this is why strategies for their sustainability have been generated. The translocal community operates through multilocated relationships that reveal the ways in which migrants are adapting to the new demands of the community. We emphasize the emotional impulse of nostalgia as one of the vehicles of sustainability for the community. The community is redefined and understood in a set of socio-cultural relationships its members generate, and where the locality is not central, but the connection. A new dimension of the social community space is not just the community gathered in a specific place, but also that agreements, commitments, and acknowledgments are exhibited and settled in the cyberspace; this cyberspace gives cohesion and brings a dynamic element to preserve the community, despite the fact that it is even less concrete than the spatial notion of territory. Facebook, YouTube and a blog are the web platforms of the virtual space where "neighbors, compatriots and citizens" (categories of ascription from the migration get together, where there is a reproduction of social practices (even the most ancient and fundamental ones, to give a new dimension to a translocal, multilocated and ciberlocated community.

Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS)

Science.gov (United States)

Morton, M.; Roberts, T.

2011-09-01

US space capabilities benefit the economy, national security, international relationships, scientific discovery, and our quality of life. Realizing these space responsibilities is challenging not only because the space domain is increasingly congested, contested, and competitive but is further complicated by the legacy space situational awareness (SSA) systems approaching end of life and inability to provide the breadth of SSA and command and control (C2) of space forces in this challenging domain. JMS will provide the capabilities to effectively employ space forces in this challenging domain. Requirements for JMS were developed based on regular, on-going engagement with the warfighter. The use of DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF) products facilitated requirements scoping and understanding and transferred directly to defining and documenting the requirements in the approved Capability Development Document (CDD). As part of the risk reduction efforts, the Electronic System Center (ESC) JMS System Program Office (SPO) fielded JMS Capability Package (CP) 0 which includes an initial service oriented architecture (SOA) and user defined operational picture (UDOP) along with force status, sensor management, and analysis tools. Development efforts are planned to leverage and integrate prototypes and other research projects from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Air Force Research Laboratories, Space Innovation and Development Center, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Lincoln Laboratories. JMS provides a number of benefits to the space community: a reduction in operational “transaction time” to accomplish key activities and processes; ability to process the increased volume of metric observations from new sensors (e.g., SBSS, SST, Space Fence), as well as owner/operator ephemerides thus enhancing the high accuracy near-real-time catalog, and greater automation of SSA data sharing supporting collaboration with government, civil, commercial, and foreign

Social Structure and Depression in TrevorSpace.

Science.gov (United States)

Homan, Christopher M; Lu, Naiji; Tu, Xin; Lytle, Megan C; Silenzio, Vincent M B

2014-02-01

We discover patterns related to depression in the social graph of an online community of approximately 20,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. With survey data on fewer than two hundred community members and the network graph of the entire community (which is completely anonymous except for the survey responses), we detected statistically significant correlations between a number of graph properties and those TrevorSpace users showing a higher likelihood of depression, according to the Patient Healthcare Questionnaire-9, a standard instrument for estimating depression. Our results suggest that those who are less depressed are more deeply integrated into the social fabric of TrevorSpace than those who are more depressed. Our techniques may apply to other hard-to-reach online communities, like gay men on Facebook, where obtaining detailed information about individuals is difficult or expensive, but obtaining the social graph is not.

Documentary Media and Religious Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marie-Therese Mäder

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The article considers four spaces where media processes involve religious communities and agents: the spaces of production, of representation, of media communication, and of distribution network and institutional framework for circulation. These three spaces systematise the research question posed to the specific source. Furthermore the concept documentary media as viewed from a semio-pragmatic perspective is introduced. Discussion of the commercial series I’m a Mormon shows how different modes define documentary media according to the three spaces.

Space Weather Models at the CCMC And Their Capabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael; Rastatter, Lutz; MacNeice, Peter; Kuznetsova, Masha

2007-01-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) is a US inter-agency activity aiming at research in support of the generation of advanced space weather models. As one of its main functions, the CCMC provides to researchers the use of space science models, even if they are not model owners themselves. The second focus of CCMC activities is on validation and verification of space weather models, and on the transition of appropriate models to space weather forecast centers. As part of the latter activity, the CCMC develops real-time simulation systems that stress models through routine execution. A by-product of these real-time calculations is the ability to derive model products, which may be useful for space weather operators. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the community-provided, space weather-relevant, model suite, which resides at CCMC. We will discuss current capabilities, and analyze expected future developments of space weather related modeling.

Paradoxes in mathematics

CERN Document Server

Farlow, Stanley J

2014-01-01

Students and puzzle enthusiasts will get plenty of enjoyment plus some painless mathematical instruction from 28 conundrums, including The Curve That Shook the World, Space Travel in a Wineglass, and Through Cantor's Looking Glass.

Hubble Space Telescope via the Web

Science.gov (United States)

O'Dea, Christopher P.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) makes available a wide variety of information concerning the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) via the Space Telescope Electronic Information Service (STEIS). STEIS is accessible via anonymous ftp, gopher, WAIS, and WWW. The information on STEIS includes how to propose for time on the HST, the current status of HST, reports on the scientific instruments, the observing schedule, data reduction software, calibration files, and a set of publicly available images in JPEG, GIF and TIFF format. STEIS serves both the astronomical community as well as the larger Internet community. WWW is currently the most widely used interface to STEIS. Future developments on STEIS are expected to include larger amounts of hypertext, especially HST images and educational material of interest to students, educators, and the general public, and the ability to query proposal status.

Interview with Muhammad Affan Othman on Small Changes

OpenAIRE

Vahid Nimehchisalem

2017-01-01

Small Changes, a community organization in Malaysia (www.smallchangesmy.org), was founded in 2011 to raise funds and provide support for underprivileged individuals in the community. With an interesting tagline of Cultivating Volunteerism, Empowering Generations this community organizations has raised hundreds of thousands and has attracted tens of Malaysian students from local and overseas universities. The team consists of an enthusiastic group of young Malaysians who believe that it is pos...

Designed communities?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stender, Marie

2013-01-01

In current residential spaces there seem to be an increasing emphasis on small-scale communities. A number of new, high profiled residential complexes thus seek to promote new ways of social living by rethinking architectural design, typologies and concepts. In this paper I explore the emergence ...

Evaluating healing for cancer in a community setting from the perspective of clients and healers: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaghela, C; Robinson, N; Gore, J; Peace, B; Lorenc, A

2007-11-01

The real-life practice of 'healing' for cancer in the community as perceived by clients and healers was investigated in a multi-method pilot study. Fifteen clients received six weekly healing sessions. Pre- and post-changes in perception towards well-being and client experience were assessed by EuroQol (EQ-5D), measure yourself concerns and well-being (MYCaW) and a client satisfaction tool. Qualitative methods, including focus groups, explored the perceived effects of healing in more depth and the participants' experience of taking part in research. The study was not designed to test the effect of healing on disease. Quantitative data showed perceived significant improvements in 'concerns/problems' for which clients wanted help (pquantitative improvements to healing itself. Despite some concerns, healers and clients engaged fully with the research process, and were enthusiastic about the importance of research into healing. Our study suggests that, while there are some confounding issues and study limitations to address, clients and healers perceive healing to have a range of benefits, particularly in terms of coping with cancer, and regard it as a useful approach that can be applied in a community setting alongside conventional medicine.

Reimagining Communities and Implementing Social Learning: Contemporary Community Theatre Development in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wan-Jung

2014-01-01

Since the 1990s, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have encountered political, social, economic and cultural challenges. During this period, their community theatres have played distinctive roles in activating their public space to reimagine their communities, form dialogues with their governments and construct learning experiences amongst various…

Space Weather in the Machine Learning Era: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Camporeale, E.; Wing, S.; Johnson, J.; Jackman, C. M.; McGranaghan, R.

2018-01-01

The workshop entitled Space Weather: A Multidisciplinary Approach took place at the Lorentz Center, University of Leiden, Netherlands, on 25-29 September 2017. The aim of this workshop was to bring together members of the Space Weather, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science communities to address the use of advanced techniques such as Machine Learning, Information Theory, and Deep Learning, to better understand the Sun-Earth system and to improve space weather forecasting. Although individual efforts have been made toward this goal, the community consensus is that establishing interdisciplinary collaborations is the most promising strategy for fully utilizing the potential of these advanced techniques in solving Space Weather-related problems.

Positioning Community Art Practices in Urban Cracks

Science.gov (United States)

Verschelden, Griet; Van Eeghem, Elly; Steel, Riet; De Visscher, Sven; Dekeyrel, Carlos

2012-01-01

This article addresses the position of community art practices and the role of practitioners in urban cracks. Community art practices raise possibilities for a reconceptualisation of the concept of community and an extension of the concept of art in public space. Urban cracks are conceptualised as spatial, temporal and relational manifestations of…

Continuing to Build a Community Consensus on the Future of Human Space Flight: Report of the Fourth Community Workshop on Achievability and Sustainability of Human Exploration of Mars (AM IV)

Science.gov (United States)

Thronson, Harley A.; Baker, John; Beaty, David; Carberry, Chris; Craig, Mark; Davis, Richard M.; Drake, Bret G.; Cassady, Joseph; Hays, Lindsay; Hoffman, Stephen J.;

Deep Space Gateway Science Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Quincy, C. D.; Charles, J. B.; Hamill, Doris; Sidney, S. C.

2018-01-01

The NASA Life Sciences Research Capabilities Team (LSRCT) has been discussing deep space research needs for the last two years. NASA's programs conducting life sciences studies - the Human Research Program, Space Biology, Astrobiology, and Planetary Protection - see the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) as affording enormous opportunities to investigate biological organisms in a unique environment that cannot be replicated in Earth-based laboratories or on Low Earth Orbit science platforms. These investigations may provide in many cases the definitive answers to risks associated with exploration and living outside Earth's protective magnetic field. Unlike Low Earth Orbit or terrestrial locations, the Gateway location will be subjected to the true deep space spectrum and influence of both galactic cosmic and solar particle radiation and thus presents an opportunity to investigate their long-term exposure effects. The question of how a community of biological organisms change over time within the harsh environment of space flight outside of the magnetic field protection can be investigated. The biological response to the absence of Earth's geomagnetic field can be studied for the first time. Will organisms change in new and unique ways under these new conditions? This may be specifically true on investigations of microbial communities. The Gateway provides a platform for microbiology experiments both inside, to improve understanding of interactions between microbes and human habitats, and outside, to improve understanding of microbe-hardware interactions exposed to the space environment.

Taking Possession: Rituals, Space and Authority

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Mara DeSilva

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In early modern Europe authority over communities, both people and spaces, was visualized through ritual gestures and processions. Communities gathered to witness ceremonial entries that drew on accepted forms of gestures and speech identifying individuals and articulating their place in the urban power relationship. Ceremonial entries by rulers, ambassadors, bishops, and other office-holders drew on ritual acts projecting messages of possession in order to establish reputations of prestige and authority. This introductory essay draws on cultural anthropology and recent historiography to build a framework for understanding rituals of possession that went beyond the tradition triumphal entry to incorporate substitutes, new modes of prestigious display, and attend to conflicts. By “taking possession” of communities, offices, and spaces using accepted ritual forms, early moderns initiated conversations about authority and power that were far more flexible in their scope, practice, and participants than expected.

Making Bengali Brick Lane: claiming and contesting space in East London.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Claire

2011-06-01

Based on a recent empirical project on 'the Bengal diaspora', the paper explores the construction and contestation of meanings around the iconic East London street, Brick Lane. Taking the 2006 protests around the film Brick Lane as its starting point, the paper draws on original interviews conducted in 2008 with a range of Bengali community representatives, to examine the narratives of space, community and belonging that emerge around the idea of Brick Lane as the 'cultural heartland' of the British Bangladeshi community. By exploring the representation, production and contestation of 'social space' through everyday practices, the paper engages with and contests the representation of minority ethnic 'communities' in the context of contemporary multicultural London and examines the process of 'claiming' and 'making' space in East London. In so doing, the paper contributes to a critical tradition that challenges essentialising and pathologizing accounts of ethnic communities and racialized spaces, or that places them outside of broader social and historical processes - redolent, for example, in contemporary discussions about 'parallel lives' or 'the clash of civilizations'. By contrast, this paper views social space as made through movement and narration, with a particular emphasis on the social agency of local Bengali inhabitants and the multiple meanings that emerge from within this 'imagined community'. However, rather than simply stressing the unfinished and processual nature of spatial meanings, the paper insists on the historical, embodied and affective dimensions of such meaning making, and a reckoning with the broader social and political landscape within which such meanings take shape. The focus on Brick Lane provides an empirically rich, geographically and historically located lens through which to explore the complex role of ethnicity as a marker of social space and of spatial practices of resistance and identity. By exploring Bengali Brick Lane through

Community Gardens as a Platform for Education for Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Corkery, Linda

2004-01-01

Community gardens fulfil many roles, including the reclamation of public space, community building, and the facilitation of social and cultural expression. This paper discusses a nexus between research and education for sustainability that evolved out of an examination of the role of community gardens in fostering community development and…

The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT)

Science.gov (United States)

Leisawitz, David T.

2014-01-01

The far-infrared astrophysics community is eager to follow up Spitzer and Herschel observations with sensitive, high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, for such measurements are needed to understand merger-driven star formation and chemical enrichment in galaxies, star and planetary system formation, and the development and prevalence of water-bearing planets. The Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT) is a wide field-of-view space-based spatio-spectral interferometer designed to operate in the 25 to 400 micron wavelength range. This talk will summarize the SPIRIT mission concept, with a focus on the science that motivates it and the technology that enables it. Without mentioning SPIRIT by name, the astrophysics community through the NASA Astrophysics Roadmap Committee recently recommended this mission as the first in a series of space-based interferometers. Data from a laboratory testbed interferometer will be used to illustrate how the spatio-spectral interferometry technique works.

Reconstructing community assembly in time and space reveals enemy escape in a Western Palearctic insect community.

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Graham N; Lohse, Konrad; Nicholls, James A; Fuentes-Utrilla, Pablo; Sinclair, Frazer; Schönrogge, Karsten; Csóka, György; Melika, George; Nieves-Aldrey, Jose-Luis; Pujade-Villar, Juli; Tavakoli, Majide; Askew, Richard R; Hickerson, Michael J

2012-03-20

How geographically widespread biological communities assemble remains a major question in ecology. Do parallel population histories allow sustained interactions (such as host-parasite or plant-pollinator) among species, or do discordant histories necessarily interrupt them? Though few empirical data exist, these issues are central to our understanding of multispecies evolutionary dynamics. Here we use hierarchical approximate Bayesian analysis of DNA sequence data for 12 herbivores and 19 parasitoids to reconstruct the assembly of an insect community spanning the Western Palearctic and assess the support for alternative host tracking and ecological sorting hypotheses. We show that assembly occurred primarily by delayed host tracking from a shared eastern origin. Herbivores escaped their enemies for millennia before parasitoid pursuit restored initial associations, with generalist parasitoids no better able to track their hosts than specialists. In contrast, ecological sorting played only a minor role. Substantial turnover in host-parasitoid associations means that coevolution must have been diffuse, probably contributing to the parasitoid generalism seen in this and similar systems. Reintegration of parasitoids after host escape shows these communities to have been unsaturated throughout their history, arguing against major roles for parasitoid niche evolution or competition during community assembly. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

SpaceTech—Postgraduate space education

Science.gov (United States)

de Bruijn, Ferdi J.; Ashford, Edward W.; Larson, Wiley J.

2008-07-01

, Interpersonal Skills, Telecommunications, Earth Observation and Navigation. A group CCP, a major asset of this unique program, is a focused project, aimed at the formation of a credible virtual commercial space-related business. Participants exercise space systems engineering fundamentals as well as marketing and business engineering tools, with the goal of creating a financially viable business opportunity. They then present the result, in the form of an unsolicited proposal to potential investors, as well as a varied group of engineers, managers and executives from the space community. During the CCP, participants learn the ties between mission and system design and the potential return to investors. They develop an instinct for the technical concepts and which of the parameters to adjust to make their newly conceived business more effective and profitable.

Community-randomized trial of lambdacyhalothrin-treated hammock nets for malaria control in Yanomami communities in the Amazon region of Venezuela.

Science.gov (United States)

Magris, M; Rubio-Palis, Y; Alexander, N; Ruiz, B; Galván, N; Frias, D; Blanco, M; Lines, J

2007-03-01

We conducted a community-randomized controlled trial in an area of moderate malaria transmission in the Amazon region, southern Venezuela, home of the Yanomami indigenous ethnic group. The aim was to compare the malaria incidence rate in villages with lambdacyhalothrin-treated hammock nets (ITHN) or with placebo-treated hammock nets (PTHN). In both arms of the study, intensive surveillance for early case detection was maintained and prompt malaria treatment was administered. Baseline data were collected before the intervention and a population of around 924 Yanomami was followed for 2 years. Despite the recent introduction of nets in the Yanomami villages and the adverse natural conditions in the area, the nets were accepted enthusiastically by the study population, used conscientiously and looked after carefully. The malaria incidence rate per thousand person-years at risk was 114.6 in the IHTN group and 186.8 in the PTHN group. The adjusted rate ratios indicated that ITHN prevent 56% [IRR: 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI): 52-59%] of new malaria cases. ITHN reduced the prevalence of parasitaemia by 83% [relative risks (RR): 0.17, 95% CI: 47-100%], according to a cross-sectional survey carried out during the high transmission season. The prevalence of splenomegaly and anaemia was too low to detect any possible reduction as a result of ITHN. The main conclusion of the present study is that ITHN can reduce malaria incidence in the area and it is the most feasible method for malaria control in a forested area where indigenous villages are scattered over a large territory. This is the first community-level epidemiological trial to show that ITHN are highly effective against malaria transmitted by Anopheles darlingi.

Spaces of care in the third sector: understanding the effects of professionalization.

Science.gov (United States)

Carey, Gemma; Braunack-Mayer, Annette; Barraket, Jo

2009-11-01

Increasingly the health and welfare needs of individuals and communities are being met by third sector, or not-for-profit, organizations. Since the 1980s third sector organizations have been subject to significant, sector-wide changes, such as the development of contractual funding and an increasing need to collaborate with governments and other sectors. In particular, the processes of 'professionalization' and 'bureaucratization' have received significant attention and are now well documented in third sector literature. These processes are often understood to create barriers between organizations and their community groups and neutralize alternative forms of service provision. In this article we provide a case study of an Australian third sector organization undergoing professionalization. The case study draws on ethnographic and qualitative interviews with staff and volunteers at a health-based third sector organization involved in service provision to marginalized community groups. We examine how professionalization alters organizational spaces and dynamics and conclude that professionalized third sector spaces may still be 'community' spaces where individuals may give and receive care and services. Moreover, we suggest that these community spaces hold potential for resisting the neutralizing effects of contracting.

Integrated landscape approach : Closing the gap between theory and application

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bürgi, Matthias; Ali, Panna; Chowdhury, Afroza; Heinimann, Andreas; Hett, Cornelia; Kienast, Felix; Mondal, Manoranjan Kumar; Upreti, Bishnu Raj; Verburg, Peter H.

2017-01-01

Recently, the integrated landscape approach has gained increasing interest of the scientific community, as well as of organizations active in the field of sustainable development. However, the enthusiastic welcome is challenged by little consensus on theory, terminology and definitions. Moreover,

IHY Modeling Support at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center

Science.gov (United States)

Chulaki, A.; Hesse, Michael; Kuznetsova, Masha; MacNeice, P.; Rastaetter, L.

2005-01-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) is a US inter-agency activity aiming at research in support of the generation of advanced space weather models. As one of its main functions, the CCMC provides to researchers the use of space science models, even if they are not model owners themselves. In particular, the CCMC provides to the research community the execution of "runs-onrequest" for specific events of interest to space science researchers. Through this activity and the concurrent development of advanced visualization tools, CCMC provides, to the general science community, unprecedented access to a large number of state-of-the-art research models. CCMC houses models that cover the entire domain from the Sun to the Earth. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of CCMC modeling services that are available to support activities during the International Heliospheric Year. In order to tailor CCMC activities to IHY needs, we will also invite community input into our IHY planning activities.

The Space House TM : Space Technologies in Architectural Design

Science.gov (United States)

Gampe, F.; Raitt, D.

2002-01-01

The word "space" has always been associated with and had a profound impact upon architectural design. Until relatively recently, however, the term has been used in a different sense to that understood by the aerospace community - for them, space was less abstract, more concrete and used in the context of space flight and space exploration, rather than, say, an empty area or space requiring to be filled by furniture. However, the two senses of the word space have now converged to some extent. Interior designers and architects have been involved in designing the interior of Skylab, the structure of the International Space Station, and futuristic space hotels. Today, architects are designing, and builders are building, houses, offices and other structures which incorporate a plethora of new technologies, materials and production processes in an effort not only to introduce innovative and adventurous ideas but also in an attempt to address environmental and social issues. Foremost among these new technologies and materials being considered today are those that have been developed for and by the space industry. This paper examines some of these space technologies, such as energy efficient solar cells, durable plastics, air and water filtration techniques, which have been adapted to both provide power while reducing energy consumption, conserve resources and so on. Several of these technologies have now been employed by the European Space Agency to develop a Space House TM - the first of its kind, which will be deployed not so much on planets like Mars, but rather here on Earth. The Space House TM, which exhibits many innovative features such as high strength light-weight carbon composites, active noise-damped, (glass and plastic) windows, low-cost solar arrays and latent heat storage, air and water purification systems will be described.

Developing and pilot testing of a tool for "clinicosocial case study" assessment of community medicine residents.

Science.gov (United States)

Gohel, Manisha; Singh, Uday Shankar; Bhanderi, Dinesh; Phatak, Ajay

2016-01-01

Practical and clinical skills teaching should constitute a core part of the postgraduate curriculum of Community Medicine. The clinicosocial case study is a method to enhance learners' skills but there is no generally accepted organized system of formative assessment and structured feedback to guide students. A new tool based on the principles of mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini CEX) was developed and pilot tested as a 'clinicosocial case study' assessment of community medicine residents with feedback as a core component. Ten core domains of clinicosocial skills were identified after reviewing the relevant literature and input from local experts in community medicine and medical education. We pilot tested the tool with eight faculty members to assess five residents during clinicosocial case presentations on a variety of topics. Kappa statistic and Bland Altman plots were used to assess agreement between faculty members' average assessment scores. Cronbach's alpha was used to test the internal consistency with faculty members as domains. All 95% confidence limits using the Bland-Altman method were within the predetermined limit of 2 points. The overall Kappa between two faculty members was fair ranging from 0.2 to 0.3. Qualitative feedback revealed that both faculty and residents were enthusiastic about the process but faculty suggested further standardization, while residents suggested streamlining of the process. This new assessment tool is available for objective and unbiased assessment of residents through 'clinicosocial case study,' which enriches learning through comprehensive feedback. Further validation in different settings is needed.

How small communities respond to environmental change: patterns from tropical to polar ecosystems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henry P. Huntington

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Local communities throughout the world are experiencing extensive social, cultural, economic, environmental, and climatic changes. Rather than passively accepting the effects of such changes, many communities are responding in various ways to take advantage of opportunities and to minimize negative impacts. We review examples from 13 cases around the world to identify patterns in how communities have been able to respond to change. Communities are able to respond by making changes in the time and location of activities, by using different species, by developing or using new technologies, and by organizing themselves internally or in networks. The possible responses a community can make on its own constitute the autonomous response space. When communities work with others to respond, they are in the collaborative response space. These findings suggest that assessments concerning climate and other forms of change should include local responses as a foundation for policy recommendations, recognizing that both autonomous and collaborative responses can contribute to adaptation. Policies designed to achieve adaptation or sustainability should consider ways to expand the autonomous response space, thus freeing local initiative, while also making the collaborative response space more cooperative, thus providing support to communities rather than imposing limitations.

Espacial.com : a cooperative learning model in internet

Science.gov (United States)

Perez-Poch, A.; Solans, R.

Espacial.com is the leading and oldest internet site in Spanish language which reports 24 hours a day on space exploration. Moreover it is the only specialized site that has broadcasted live the main space events in the past years with expert comments in Spanish . From its first day, education is the main purpose of the site always with an international and multidisciplinary approach. Fernando Caldeiro, Class 16 NASA Astronaut, is the leading person in the project with his non-stop presence in the forums making valuable comments and answering questions from its young audience. We analyse the ongoing dynamics in the forum, and how a virtual community of space enthusiasts is created. We show that, because of the presence of some key factors (leadership, commitment to excel, motivation, communicative skills, ldots), it is possible to establish a high degree of compromise for learning although in an non-formal way. Cooperative learning is a well-known pedagogical technique which has proven its efficacy in different formal and non-formal areas. Using internet capabilities this technique proves to be an excellent approach to educational outreach on space-related subjects.

Creative Network Communities in the Translocal Space of Digital Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasa Smite

2013-01-01

Full Text Available What should sociological research be in the age of Web 2.0? Considering that the task of “network sociology” is not only empirical research but also the interpretation of tendencies of the network culture, this research explores the rise of network communities within Eastern and Western Europe in the early Internet era. I coined the term creative networks to distinguish these early creative and social activities from today’s popular social networking. Thus I aimed to interpret the meaning of social action; the motivation of creative community actors, their main fields of activities and social organization forms; and the potential that these early developments contain for the future sustainability of networks. Data comprise interviews with networking experts and founders and members of various networks. Investigating respondents’ motivations for creating online networks and communities, and interpreting those terms, allows for comparing the creative networks of the 1990s with today’s social networks and for drawing conclusions.

The Tourism Encounter in Community-Based Tourism in Northern Thailand: Empty Meeting Ground or Space for Change?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Dolezal

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article offers a contribution to the anthropology of tourism by investigating the tourism encounter in community-based tourism (CBT in Northern Thailand. It does so by discussing MacCannell’s (1992 idea of the Empty Meeting Grounds and Said’s Orientalism (1978, two works that contributed to research on power inequalities between tourists and residents in the developing world. By establishing a relationship between the two and embedding these in the wider literature on the tourism encounter, this article suggests moving away from binaries towards understanding the space of the tourism encounter and its potential for change. Building on empirical research conducted in Ban Mae Kampong, a CBT village in Northern Thailand, findings suggest that CBT shows signs of resident-host interactions that are based on understanding and learning rather than exploitation. While also in CBT friendships and meaning take time to emerge and the ‘Other’ is used as attraction, villagers’ agency and control over tourism are acknowledged. This paper therefore calls for a revisiting of the theoretical grounding that influences our understanding of the tourism encounter and argues for an investigation of community power relations in connection to the tourism encounter and its potential for residents’ empowerment in CBT.

Tethers in Space

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Les; Bilén, Sven G.; Gilchrist, Brian E.; Krause, Linda Habash

2017-09-01

This Special Section of Acta Astronautica contains several peer-reviewed papers selected from among those presented at the Fifth International Conference on Tethers in Space (TiS2016). After a hiatus of 21 years since the last Conference on Tethers in Space, TiS2016 brought together experts, practitioners, and other interested in space tethers and related fields. TiS2016 was held May 24-26, 2016 at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. Leveraging the hard work of a great many volunteers, the conference co-chairs Prof. Brian Gilchrist and Prof. Sven Bilén welcomed an international contingent with authors from the U.S., Canada, Japan, Spain, China, Finland, Estonia, and Italy. The community provided updates on what has transpired since their last gathering by providing lessons learned; describing new technologies and subsystems; and proposing new tether missions and applications. Papers overviewed de-orbit systems, power generation, orbital maneuvering, momentum capture, debris removal, space tugs, space elevators, collision avoidance, and tether dynamics, among others.

Toward a community ecology of landscapes: predicting multiple predator-prey interactions across geographic space.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, Oswald J; Miller, Jennifer R B; Trainor, Anne M; Abrahms, Briana

2017-09-01

Community ecology was traditionally an integrative science devoted to studying interactions between species and their abiotic environments in order to predict species' geographic distributions and abundances. Yet for philosophical and methodological reasons, it has become divided into two enterprises: one devoted to local experimentation on species interactions to predict community dynamics; the other devoted to statistical analyses of abiotic and biotic information to describe geographic distribution. Our goal here is to instigate thinking about ways to reconnect the two enterprises and thereby return to a tradition to do integrative science. We focus specifically on the community ecology of predators and prey, which is ripe for integration. This is because there is active, simultaneous interest in experimentally resolving the nature and strength of predator-prey interactions as well as explaining patterns across landscapes and seascapes. We begin by describing a conceptual theory rooted in classical analyses of non-spatial food web modules used to predict species interactions. We show how such modules can be extended to consideration of spatial context using the concept of habitat domain. Habitat domain describes the spatial extent of habitat space that predators and prey use while foraging, which differs from home range, the spatial extent used by an animal to meet all of its daily needs. This conceptual theory can be used to predict how different spatial relations of predators and prey could lead to different emergent multiple predator-prey interactions such as whether predator consumptive or non-consumptive effects should dominate, and whether intraguild predation, predator interference or predator complementarity are expected. We then review the literature on studies of large predator-prey interactions that make conclusions about the nature of multiple predator-prey interactions. This analysis reveals that while many studies provide sufficient information

NASA's Internal Space Weather Working Group

Science.gov (United States)

St. Cyr, O. C.; Guhathakurta, M.; Bell, H.; Niemeyer, L.; Allen, J.

2011-01-01

Measurements from many of NASA's scientific spacecraft are used routinely by space weather forecasters, both in the U.S. and internationally. ACE, SOHO (an ESA/NASA collaboration), STEREO, and SDO provide images and in situ measurements that are assimilated into models and cited in alerts and warnings. A number of years ago, the Space Weather laboratory was established at NASA-Goddard, along with the Community Coordinated Modeling Center. Within that organization, a space weather service center has begun issuing alerts for NASA's operational users. NASA's operational user community includes flight operations for human and robotic explorers; atmospheric drag concerns for low-Earth orbit; interplanetary navigation and communication; and the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, high altitude aircraft, and launch vehicles. Over the past three years we have identified internal stakeholders within NASA and formed a Working Group to better coordinate their expertise and their needs. In this presentation we will describe this activity and some of the challenges in forming a diverse working group.

Theorizing Critical Placemaking as a Tool for Reclaiming Public Space.

Science.gov (United States)

Toolis, Erin E

2017-03-01

As economic inequality and segregation continue to grow in the U.S., psychology has an important role to play in exploring and promoting processes that can disrupt social injustice. This paper identifies the privatization of public space as a social problem that contributes to the entrenchment of social, economic, and racial inequality, and advances "critical placemaking" as a tool for reclaiming public space for public use. Drawing from key concepts in environmental psychology, narrative psychology, and community psychology, the proposed framework seeks to theorize the processes by which placemaking may contribute to transforming community narratives and building more inclusive, participatory, and democratic communities. Policy implications and future directions for empirical work are discussed. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Workshop on Research for Space Exploration: Physical Sciences and Process Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Bhim S.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes the results of a workshop sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division of NASA to define contributions the microgravity research community can provide to advance the human exploration of space. Invited speakers and attendees participated in an exchange of ideas to identify issues of interest in physical sciences and process technologies. This workshop was part of a continuing effort to broaden the contribution of the microgravity research community toward achieving the goals of the space agency in human exploration, as identified in the NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) strategic plan. The Microgravity program is one of NASA'a major links to academic and industrial basic research in the physical and engineering sciences. At present, it supports close to 400 principal investigators, who represent many of the nation's leading researchers in the physical and engineering sciences and biotechnology. The intent of the workshop provided a dialogue between NASA and this large, influential research community, mission planners and industry technical experts with the goal of defining enabling research for the Human Exploration and Development of Space activities to which the microgravity research community can contribute.

Physics in a spin. CERN Courier, Apr 1987, v. 27(3)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1987-04-15

The biennial international high energy spin physics meetings (Lausanne, 1980; Brookhaven, 1982; Marseille, 1984) provide a useful focus of attention for the enthusiastic community of followers of a sector of physics rarely lacking in interest and where the unexpected is increasingly expected.

Space Biology Meets Astrobiology: Critical Synergies and Concerns

Science.gov (United States)

Boston, Penelope J.; Kirven-Brooks, Melissa

2016-01-01

The broad fields of space biology and astrobiology share much in common in terms of science questions, approaches, and goals. However, historical circumstances and funding agency practices have frequently resulted in a wide separation between the two related areas. Is this a good thing? We believe that it is not, and that much is to be gained in each field from sharing ideas, resources, and perhaps projects between investigators traditionally working in one discipline or the other. Some of the strengths that the Space Biology community offers include sophistication and experience in flying experiments on space missions. In turn, Astrobiology has focused heavily on ground-based and field research. Challenging physical and chemical conditions experienced in space and on other planets partially overlap, and much can be gleaned from the body of work of each community along these topical lines. A combination of these areas of expertise and experience could result in major advances to all involved. When possible, avoiding having to reinvent methods or approaches already used by a sister community can result in greater efficiencies of resource use. We will discuss some case studies where we believe there are significant overlaps including adaptation to a variety of environmental stresses, extremophiles as potential flight organisms, microfluidics as applied to planetary environment simulations, and others.

Space Weather Models and Their Validation and Verification at the CCMC

Science.gov (United States)

Hesse, Michael

2010-01-01

The Community Coordinated l\\lodeling Center (CCMC) is a US multi-agency activity with a dual mission. With equal emphasis, CCMC strives to provide science support to the international space research community through the execution of advanced space plasma simulations, and it endeavors to support the space weather needs of the CS and partners. Space weather support involves a broad spectrum, from designing robust forecasting systems and transitioning them to forecasters, to providing space weather updates and forecasts to NASA's robotic mission operators. All of these activities have to rely on validation and verification of models and their products, so users and forecasters have the means to assign confidence levels to the space weather information. In this presentation, we provide an overview of space weather models resident at CCMC, as well as of validation and verification activities undertaken at CCMC or through the use of CCMC services.

Deep space telescopes

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2006-01-01

The short series of seminars will address results and aims of current and future space astrophysics as the cultural framework for the development of deep space telescopes. It will then present such new tools, as they are currently available to, or imagined by, the scientific community, in the context of the science plans of ESA and of all major world space agencies. Ground-based astronomy, in the 400 years since Galileo’s telescope, has given us a profound phenomenological comprehension of our Universe, but has traditionally been limited to the narrow band(s) to which our terrestrial atmosphere is transparent. Celestial objects, however, do not care about our limitations, and distribute most of the information about their physics throughout the complete electromagnetic spectrum. Such information is there for the taking, from millimiter wavelengths to gamma rays. Forty years astronomy from space, covering now most of the e.m. spectrum, have thus given us a better understanding of our physical Universe then t...

Boston Community Information System 1987-1988 Experimental Test Results

Science.gov (United States)

1989-05-01

magazines, and newspapers for casual and convenient reading." --1038 "Very true. Maybe by 2000 we’ll start to see major shifts to online reading...8217) --1126 academics researchers/journalists --1127 business education --1130 introverts iconoclasts --1134 computer enthusiasts financial professionals...in a background forum while other activities would take place, it would make this source invaluable. The availability of a two-way system is

Future In-Space Operations (FISO): A Working Group and Community Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Thronson, Harley; Lester, Dan

2013-01-01

Long-duration human capabilities beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), either in support of or as an alternative to lunar surface operations, have been assessed at least since the late 1960s. Over the next few months, we will present short histories of concepts for long-duration, free-space human habitation beyond LEO from the end of the Apollo program to the Decadal Planning Team (DPT)/NASA Exploration Team (NExT), which was active in 1999 2000 (see Forging a vision: NASA s Decadal Planning Team and the origins of the Vision for Space Exploration , The Space Review, December 19, 2005). Here we summarize the brief existence of the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group in 2005 2006 and its successor, a telecon-based colloquium series, which we co-moderate.

Hearts, Minds, and the Library's Physical Space

Science.gov (United States)

Huwe, Terence K.

2010-01-01

The digital era has revolutionized society's perception of space. Even so, against this backdrop, the struggle to preserve and enhance library space is a battle for the hearts and minds of the communities. It is ongoing, and it will never end. In this article, the author explores two characteristics of successful drives to revitalize physical…

Building a world-wide open source community around a software framework: progress, dos, and don'ts

Science.gov (United States)

Ibsen, Jorge; Antognini, Jonathan; Avarias, Jorge; Caproni, Alessandro; Fuessling, Matthias; Gimenez, Guillermo; Verma, Khushbu; Mora, Matias; Schwarz, Joseph; Staig, Tomás.

2016-08-01

As we all know too well, building up a collaborative community around a software infrastructure is not easy. Besides recruiting enthusiasts to work as part of it, mostly for free, to succeed you also need to overcome a number of technical, sociological, and, to our surprise, some political hurdles. The ALMA Common Software (ACS) was developed at ESO and partner institutions over the course of more than 10 years. While it was mainly intended for the ALMA Observatory, it was early on thought as a generic distributed control framework. ACS has been periodically released to the public through an LGPL license, which encouraged around a dozen non-ALMA institutions to make use of ACS for both industrial and educational applications. In recent years, the Cherenkov Telescope Array and the LLAMA Observatory have also decided to adopt the framework for their own control systems. The aim of the "ACS Community" is to support independent initiatives in making use of the ACS framework and to further contribute to its development. The Community provides access to a growing network of volunteers eager to develop ACS in areas that are not necessarily in ALMA's interests, and/or were not within the original system scope. Current examples are: support for additional OS platforms, extension of supported hardware interfaces, a public code repository and a build farm. The ACS Community makes use of existing collaborations with Chilean and Brazilian universities, reaching out to promising engineers in the making. At the same time, projects actively using ACS have committed valuable resources to assist the Community's work. Well established training programs like the ACS Workshops are also being continued through the Community's work. This paper aims to give a detailed account of the ongoing (second) journey towards establishing a world-wide open source collaboration around ACS. The ACS Community is growing into a horizontal partnership across a decentralized and diversified group of

Evaluating public space pedestrian accessibility: a GIS approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morar, T.; Bertolini, L.; Radoslav, R.

2013-01-01

Public spaces are sources of quality of life in neighborhoods. Seeking to help professionals and municipalities assess how well a public space can be used by the community it serves, this paper presents a GIS-based methodology for evaluating its pedestrian accessibility. The Romanian city of

Ups and downs of space tourism development in 60 years from moon register to spaceshiptwo CRASH

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Yi-Wei; Chern, Jeng-Shing

2016-10-01

In human imagination, dreams and expectations, the sequence of ;space tourism; has most likely been Moon tourism, Earth orbital tourism and then suborbital tourism. But the sequence in actual development is the reverse: first Earth suborbital tourism, then orbital tourism, and finally Moon tourism. In 1954, three years before the successful launch of the first human artificial satellite, the world's oldest travel company, Thomas Cook in Britain, initiated the ;Moon Register.; Enthusiasts could sign an option for a commercial trip to the Moon and the company guaranteed to provide tickets at the earliest possible date. Sixty years later on 31st October 2014, the first SpaceShip Two (SS2) of Virgin Galactic developed for commercial suborbital space tourism (SST) and scientific research crashed at the Mojave Desert in California during test flight. Although the first privately paid space tourist had traveled to the International Space Station in 2001, this was only for millionaires and not the general public. In 2004, although SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X prize and shed the first light on SST, the commercial SST operations originally planned to be realized in 2008 are now long overdue. The SS2 has been just one of the reusable suborbital launch vehicles developed for SST and other purposes, with others including the Lynx, Spaceplane and Dream Chaser. However a tragedy in which the SS2 crashed and caused the sacrifice of one senior test pilot alerted tourists that the long overdue of SST might still be a few years away. The purposes of this paper are to review and discuss the ups and downs of space tourism development in the 60 years from 1954 to 2014, and to look forward to get more clear future from the unveiling of second SS2 on 19th February 2016 and the continuous development of Lynx Mark I. However in any case, there are still many constraints including economy.

zO-Ol

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The demand for space and the cost of establishing and maintaining a ... With the enthusiastic support of the authorities of Frank Anthony Public School, the Little Angels ... important benefit for inspiring students in the pursuit of science and in ...

Area Students Get a Call from Orbiting Space Shuttle Discovery

OpenAIRE

Naval Postgraduate School Public Affairs Office

2010-01-01

More than 1,000 students, parents and members of the NPS community packed King Auditorium Saturday morning where they received a call from the Space Shuttle Discovery orbiting more than 200 miles into space — part of the NPS Centennial’s Education Downlink STS-131, Teaching from Space event.

The Online Classroom: A Thorough Depiction of Distance Learning Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

McKenna, Kelly

2018-01-01

This study investigated the online higher education learning space of a doctoral program offered at a distance. It explored the learning space, the stakeholders, utilization, and creators of the space. Developing a successful online classroom experience that incorporates an engaging environment and dynamic community setting conducive to learning…

Tri-Space Framework for Understanding MNC Behaviour and Strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rana, Mohammad Bakhtiar

2015-01-01

This paper presents a framework called ‘Tri-Space’ that comprises three overlapping social spaces, indicating three different concepts: institution and business systems, civil society, and transnational communities. Tri-space framework broadens the horizon of understanding of how MNCs behave...

INFINITY at NASA Stennis Space Center

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Flags are planted on the roof of the new INFINITY at NASA Stennis Space Center facility under construction just west of the Mississippi Welcome Center at exit 2 on Interstate 10. Stennis and community leaders celebrated the 'topping out' of the new science center Nov. 17, marking a construction milestone for the center. The 72,000-square-foot science and education center will feature space and Earth galleries to showcase the science that underpins the missions of the agencies at Stennis Space Center. The center is targeted to open in 2012.

Accessibility patterns and community integration among previously homeless adults: a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Dara V; Gopal, Sucharita; Helfrich, Christine A

2014-11-01

Although a desired rehabilitation goal, research continues to document that community integration significantly lags behind housing stability success rates for people of a variety of ages who used to be homeless. While accessibility to resources is an environmental factor that may promote or impede integration activity, there has been little empirical investigation into the impact of proximity of community features on resource use and integration. Using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach, the current study examines how accessibility or proximity to community features in Boston, United States related to the types of locations used and the size of an individual's "activity space," or spatial presence in the community. Significant findings include an inverse relationship between activity space size and proximity to the number and type of community features in one's immediate area. Specifically, larger activity spaces were associated with neighborhoods with less community features, and smaller activity spaces corresponded with greater availability of resources within one's immediate area. Activity space size also varied, however, based on proximity to different types of resources, namely transportation and health care. Greater community function, or the ability to navigate and use community resources, was associated with better accessibility and feeling part of the community. Finally, proximity to a greater number of individual identified preferred community features was associated with better social integration. The current study suggests the ongoing challenges of successful integration may vary not just based on accessibility to, but relative importance of, specific community features and affinity with one's surroundings. Community integration researchers and housing providers may need to attend to the meaning attached to resources, not just presence or use in the community. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Infusing Outdoor Field Experiences into the Secondary Biology Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Ginny

1984-01-01

To offer students biological field experiences, teachers should use their own basic skills, be enthusiastic motivators, participate in community programs/courses/workshops to acquire additional skills/knowledge for outdoor biological education, plan outdoor excursions with safety considerations in mind, and use available resources for classroom…

Esprit de Place: Maintaining and Designing Library Buildings To Provide Transcendent Spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Demas, Sam; Scherer, Jeffrey A.

2002-01-01

Discusses library buildings and their role in building community. Reviews current design trends, including reading and study spaces; collaborative workspaces; technology-free zones; archives and special collections; cultural events spaces; age-specific spaces; shared spaces; natural light and landscapes; and interior design trends. (LRW)

The 2017 Space Resources Roundtable and New Space Resources Graduate Program at Colorado School of Mines

Science.gov (United States)

Abbud-Madrid, A.

2017-10-01

For eighteen years, SRR has brought together interested individuals from the space exploration community, the mining and minerals industries, and the financial sector to discuss issues related to the ISRU of lunar, asteroidal, and martian resources.

Using and Experiencing the Academic Library: A Multisite Observational Study of Space and Place

Science.gov (United States)

May, Francine; Swabey, Alice

2015-01-01

This study examines how students are using academic library spaces and the role these spaces are playing in the campus community. Data were collected on five campuses (two community colleges, two undergraduate universities, and one technical institute) via observational seating sweeps and questionnaires. The study found remarkably similar usage…

Perspectives on the Viable Mobile Virtual Community for Telemedicine

OpenAIRE

van 't Klooster, J.W.J.R.; Pawar, P.; van Beijnum, Bernhard J.F.; Dulawan, Chariz; Hermens, Hermanus J.

2010-01-01

A virtual community is an electronically supported social network: it can be seen as a group of people who have regular social interaction, independent of time and space, because of a common interest such as a problem, task, or feeling exchange (Eysenbach, Powell, Englesakis, Rizo, & Stern, 2004; Rheingold, 1993). When independence of time and space is achieved through the use of mobile devices and wireless communication technologies, such a virtual community is called a Mobile Virtual Commun...

Space Product Development: Bringing the Benefits of Space Down to Earth

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Rosalie W.; Tygielski, Andrew; Gabris, Edward A.

1997-01-01

The newly developed microgravity Research Program Office was created to consolidate and integrate NASA's microgravity research efforts, comprised of the microgravity Science and Applications Program and Space Product Development Program. This resulted in an integrated agency program serving the science and industrial research communities, providing leadership, management, direction and overview of all agency microgravity research activities. This paper provides an overview of NASA's microgravity Research Program, with particular emphasis on the Space Product Development Program activities, the potential economic impact and quality of life improvements resulting from this research, and future plans for commercial microgravity research in space. The goal of the Space Product Development Program is to facilitate the use of space for commercial products and services. The unique attributes of space are exploited to conduct industry driven research in the areas of crystallography, bio-systems, agriculture, electronic and non-electronic materials. Industry uses the knowledge gained from focused space research to create new products and processes, to gain economic competitive advantages, to create new jobs and improve the quality of life on earth. The objectives of the program are implemented through NASA's Commercial Space Centers, non-profit consortia of industry, academia and government, that provide the mechanism for communication and technical expert exchange between NASA and industry. Over 200 commercial research activities have been conducted by the Commercial Space Centers and their industrial affiliates over the last four and one-half years during Space Shuttle mission, as well as sounding rocket flights. The results of this research will have a significant impact on competitive products, jobs and quality of life improvements.

Reconsidering the Geddesian Concepts of Community and Space through the Paradigm of Smart Cities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiara Garau

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The 100th anniversary of Geddes’ book “Cities in Evolution” has just passed, and the authors of this paper present a contribution towards understanding “how” Geddes might address the paradigm of the “smart city”. Geddesian concepts have greatly revolutionized the design and building of modern cities around the world. As a botanist and a scientist, Geddes incorporated the concept of the appearance of gardens when designing towns. His success in pioneering the planning of his city of residence in Scotland inspired further involvement in designing towns and the renovation of old structures and buildings. His concepts regarding the planning and development of towns and cities have created a foundation of interest in research, professionalism, and educational development. This study analyses the concepts of space, communities, and smart cities, and repositions Geddesian ideas in contemporary learning strategies in relation to the wider political spectrum associated with the paradigm of smart cities. The authors explore the relevance of his thoughts and perspectives in the current design environment geared towards the creation of smart cities. The study also evaluates the challenges of developing smart cities in relation to Patrick Geddes’s ideas.

SPace weather applications in a technology-dependent society

Science.gov (United States)

Ngwira, C. M.

2017-12-01

Space weather can adversely key technology assets, such as, high-voltage electric power transmission grids, oil and gas pipelines, and communications systems that are critical to national security and economy. However, the term of "space weather" is not well known in our society. This presentation will introduce key concepts related to the space weather problem and show how space weather impacts our everyday life. The goal is to promote awareness among the general public. Also, this presentation will highlight how space weather is being used to promote STEM education for community college students through the NASA internship program.

Realistic Goals and Processes for Future Space Astronomy Portfolio Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Morse, Jon

2015-08-01

It is generally recognized that international participation and coordination is highly valuable for maximizing the scientific impact of modern space science facilities, as well as for cost-sharing reasons. Indeed, all large space science missions, and most medium and small missions, are international, even if one country or space agency has a clear leadership role and bears most of the development costs. International coordination is a necessary aspect of future mission planning, but how that coordination is done remains debatable. I propose that the community's scientific vision is generally homogeneous enough to permit international coordination of decadal-scale strategic science goals. However, the timing and budget allocation/funding mechanisms of individual countries and/or space agencies are too disparate for effective long-term strategic portfolio planning via a single international process. Rather, I argue that coordinated space mission portfolio planning is a natural consequence of international collaboration on individual strategic missions. I review the process and outcomes of the U.S. 2010 decadal survey in astronomy & astrophysics from the perspective of a government official who helped craft the survey charter and transmitted guidance to the scientific community on behalf of a sponsoring agency (NASA), while continuing to manage the current portfolio that involved ongoing negotiations with other space agencies. I analyze the difficulties associated with projecting long-term budgets, obtaining realistic mission costs (including the additional cost burdens of international partnerships), and developing new (possibly transformational) technologies. Finally, I remark on the future role that privately funded space science missions can have in accomplishing international science community goals.

Challenges and strategies for improving pediatric immunizations in New Jersey.

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, Robert; Paul, Sindy M; Palley, Robert

2004-01-01

Only through committed, comprehensive, and enthusiastic participation can this public health concern be resolved. The collaboration initiated through the CARE program and the Child Health Statewide Leadership Council is only the first step. Solving the problem will require the efforts of the entire New Jersey community.

Marie Stopes International Child Spacing Clinics in Malawi

African Journals Online (AJOL)

programme, male involvement has the following basic aspects: Initiation of dialogue on child spacing within the ... that men feel that child spacing is also their concern and service providers feel men are not outsiders. ... pioneering work of Marie Stopes in caring for women in the poor communities of London by extending the ...

The Neglected Educative Function of Public Space on Preadolescent Development

Science.gov (United States)

Giardiello, Mauro

2017-01-01

The crisis of public spaces implies a closure to the private sphere and, as a consequence, the inanity of the education processes. Space privatization involves the supremacy of the "?????" (house) on the "a???a" (public space), so that the house assumes the role of an enclosed community. The effect of this closure is a…

Islamic representation and urban space in Banda Aceh: Linking the social and spatial

Science.gov (United States)

Istiqamah; Herlily

2018-03-01

Post conflict and tsunami; the city of Banda Aceh is experiencing a massive development as an effort to represent an Islamic city. Some strategic points have been chosen by the municipality to build architectural objects that are considered to represent Islam in the urban space. The issue of such representational practice is the development of neglecting the activities of local communities as users of urban public spaces. The purpose of this design study is to provide an alternative to the urban design of Banda Aceh to represent Islam that is not moving from physical development but by involving community activities. Establish and rediscover the relationship between Islam and urban life in Banda Aceh. This design study uses mental maps of 50 inhabitants of Banda Aceh city of various ages who live in 10 villages around the city center. We use mental maps as a tool to read the daily activities of the community and determine the familiar urban territory with the community. The results of this study will be used to form a Muslim community and present community activities to represent Islam in the urban space.

Public Spaces - Coexistence and Participation

Science.gov (United States)

Stasiak, Anna; Wojtowicz-Jankowska, Dorota

2017-10-01

The paper is an attempt to answer two questions: (1) how to develop positive social relations and citizenship among residents of cities in Poland and (2) how suitable shaping of public space affects the activation and integration of local residents. The specificity of the postwar process of urbanization in Poland - a country traditionally agricultural - was its political dimension (forced “nationalisation” of agriculture and industrialization of the country) ignoring the socio-cultural determinants and consequences of this process resulting in disappearance of traditional social bonds. According to forecasts, the number of urban dwellers is expected to grow by the year 2050 and increase up to 70 percent of the population. Such a rapid urban sprawl was not accompanied by appropriate social policies; the result was a low level of social organization and of a sense of citizenship. There are various attempts to change this situation. One of them is the development of a system of urban public spaces, according to the needs and preferences of residents (i.e. promotion of physical activity in public areas, introducing elements of art to the common external space, encouraging users to contribute to their surroundings and introducing the appearance of temporary, often cyclical, attractions). Regular interactions between people in public spaces are conducive to developing positive social relationships. Quality and development of the local community is dependent on the quality of space in which it is built. For this reason, attention has been paid to the factors influencing the perception of public space, i.e. geographical and natural conditions, cultural and architectural (arrangement, the availability and condition of these spaces). In the article, the examples of different types of Polish public spaces are described - permanent and temporal recreational spaces (including summer activities and winter attractions). Attempt has also been made to give an answer to the

Courts and open spaces in the Late Helladic III Argolid

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Siennicka, Malgorzata

2015-01-01

While space remains a neglected subject in research on Mycenaean settlements, archaeological and ethnographical studies devoted to social meaning of places and areas used by the inhabitants of the prehistoric and other communities increase in number. This paper aims to review the use and signific......While space remains a neglected subject in research on Mycenaean settlements, archaeological and ethnographical studies devoted to social meaning of places and areas used by the inhabitants of the prehistoric and other communities increase in number. This paper aims to review the use...... and significance of courts and other open spaces in the Mycenaean settlements in the Argolid during the Palatial and Post-Palatial periods (c. 15th–11th centuries BC). Various categories of areas, like courts, open spaces and open-air areas are discussed, with an emphasis on their functions and status. Courts...

Telling her story: narrating a Japanese lesbian community.

Science.gov (United States)

Welker, James

2010-01-01

This article explores queer Japanese women's narratives of their own histories and the history of the "Japanese lesbian community," which has been constructed as a space outside the heterosexual mainstream, a space where queer women can find at least temporary refuge. It begins with the acknowledgment that the evolution and the shape of the community, along with the identities of the women who comprise it, are shifting and contested. This article specifically looks at the long history of the lesbian bar scene as well as more recent history of lesbian dance parties; the early role of lesbian feminism and activism; lesbian community-based and commercial publications, paying special attention to the critical role translation has played in Japanese lesbian discourse and the construction of multiple lesbian identities; and, finally, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride events and film festivals, through which the larger LGBT community has been gaining increasing visibility. This article argues that while some of the building blocks of the community are borrowed, from the "West" as well as from the Japanese gay community, there has also been creative translation, adaptation, and resistance to these imports. The resulting Japanese lesbian community is a complex and local construct, an innovative bricolage firmly sited in Japan.

Interplay Wellbeing Framework: Community Perspectives on Working Together for Effective Service Delivery in Remote Aboriginal Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva McRae-Williams

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Access to effective services and programs is necessary to improve wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote Australia. Without genuine participation of Aboriginal community members in the design, governance, and delivery of services, desired service delivery outcomes are rarely achieved. Using a "shared space" model, Aboriginal communities, governments, and scientists came together to design and develop the Interplay Wellbeing Framework. This Framework brings together stories and numbers (or qualitative and quantitative data to represent community values for the purpose of informing program and policy agendas. This article unpacks what community members saw as making a service work well and why. The domains of empowerment and community functioning are discussed and their relationship to effective service delivery demonstrated.

Sacred space and the healing journey.

Science.gov (United States)

Alt, Paul L

2017-07-01

Sacred space and spirituality have long been used to heal the mind, body, and spirit. This article illuminates the origins of sacred space and its role as a healing environment from the first human construct, the burial mound, to the 5th Century BCE Greek healing city of Epidaurus. It then examines the role of spirituality as one of the necessary human institutions for a healthy society, according to the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico. The conclusion then surveys three contemporary healing environments' architecture, the Department of Veteran Affairs Healing Environment Design Guideline (VAHEDG), and how these sacred spaces mend individual and community ailments.

The Temporal Association Between Executive Function and Life-Space Mobility in Old Age.

Science.gov (United States)

Poranen-Clark, Taina; von Bonsdorff, Mikaela B; Rantakokko, Merja; Portegijs, Erja; Eronen, Johanna; Pynnönen, Katja; Eriksson, Johan G; Viljanen, Anne; Rantanen, Taina

2018-05-09

Life-space mobility, an indicator of community mobility, describes person's movements in terms of the distance from home, the frequency of movement, and the need of assistance for movement. Executive function (EF) is a higher-order cognitive function that supervises motor control and plays a key role in a person's ability to function independently. Cognitive impairment often co-occurs with restricted life-space mobility; however, the direction of the longitudinal associations between EF and life-space mobility is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal associations between EF and life-space mobility among community-dwelling older people. One hundred eight community-dwelling persons aged 76 to 91 years participated in the 2 year follow-up study. EF was measured with the Trail Making Test. The Life-Space Assessment (range 0-120, higher scores indicate more mobility) was used to assess life-space mobility. Cross-lagged model design was used to examine longitudinal relationship between EF and life-space mobility. The model was adjusted for age and gender. Average age of participants at baseline was 82.2 (SD 4.1) years and 59% were women. Better EF at baseline predicted higher life-space mobility at follow-up (path coefficient = 3.81, 95% confidential interval; 0.84, 6.78, p = .012), whereas baseline life-space mobility did not predict EF at follow-up. EF was a determinant of life-space mobility. Supporting EF may enhance maintaining independence and active participation in old age.

Las Cumbres Observatory Partners With Local Museums In “Experience The Eclipse” Community Program

Science.gov (United States)

Greenstreet, Sarah; Seale, Sandy; Rivera, Javier; Skinner, Ron

2017-10-01

Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) in Goleta, California, together with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH) and the Wolf Museum of Exploration & Innovation (MOXI) put together a community program called “Experience the Eclipse” for the month of August.The greater Santa Barbara community includes over 200,000 people and the city is known for its vibrant cultural life. Events featuring science, physics, and astronomy are very popular. In 2016, Javier Rivera, the Astronomy Program Manager of the SBMNH, and Ron Skinner, the Director of Education at MOXI, met with LCO to discuss planning a month of activities to educate the public about the Great American Eclipse. The vision was to capitalize on the strength of each organization and to share information and events.The events included daily planetarium shows and open houses at the observatory of the SBMNH. All three organizations gave parties at public venues with presentations by astronomers. Together the group purchased 6,000 pairs of eclipse viewer glasses and they shared the responsibility of distributing these to local schools and community groups. A master calendar of the events was published in local press outlets and a document describing the eclipse and safe viewing practices was distributed widely. Preparation of these materials was a joint effort among the three institutions.“Experience the Eclipse” was a great success. The open houses at SBMNH were well attended and all public events sold out very quickly. On August 21, the SBMNH presented a live feed of the eclipse taken from their own observatory.We will present photos and videos from these events, along with data on the attendance and quotes from enthusiastic participants.

The Techniques of Participatory Design for Inclusive Public Space Provision in Kampung Kota of Surakarta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.H Kusumaningdyah

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The technique of participatory design is essential for the future development knowledge of architecture to inform the improvement of architectural education and practice in Asia. Therefore to provide of inclusive public spaces for the community, this research article presents a field study of the usage of community participation design method in design and planning to provide inclusive public spaces within the kampung (settlements in Surakarta, Indonesia. Surakarta has a problem to provide inclusive public space for its dense organic-informal kampung’s for the vulnerable populations such as children. Multi dimensional complexities of the kampung’s often challenge the notion of public space provision. Community participation approach arises as one of the preferred alternative methods to solve the problems with its basic community-based foundation. This research chose Sangkrah and Gandekan sub-districts as research locations both of the areas represent kampung’s characteristics and inhabited by many children population. Steps toward the goal of the study are; (1 field observation of the implementation of a community participation design through participatory place making project, and (2 examining typology assessment perspective, and (3 clarify participation techniques. This research used: (1 descriptive analysis for the project implementation, and (2 qualitative analysis for examining community’s perspectives. Through this multi-perspective analysis, this research presents the an alternative framework for implementing techniques community participation methods in design and planning to provide inclusive public spaces especially for children in Indonesia and other developing countries.

Space Rescue

Science.gov (United States)

Muratore, John F.

2007-01-01

Space Rescue has been a topic of speculation for a wide community of people for decades. Astronauts, aerospace engineers, diplomats, medical and rescue professionals, inventors and science fiction writers have all speculated on this problem. Martin Caidin's 1964 novel Marooned dealt with the problems of rescuing a crew stranded in low earth orbit. Legend at the Johnson Space Center says that Caidin's portrayal of a Russian attempt to save the American crew played a pivotal role in convincing the Russians to join the real joint Apollo-Soyuz mission. Space Rescue has been a staple in science fiction television and movies portrayed in programs such as Star Trek, Stargate-SG1 and Space 1999 and movies such as Mission To Mars and Red Planet. As dramatic and as difficult as rescue appears in fictional accounts, in the real world it has even greater drama and greater difficulty. Space rescue is still in its infancy as a discipline and the purpose of this chapter is to describe the issues associated with space rescue and the work done so far in this field. For the purposes of this chapter, the term space rescue will refer to any system which allows for rescue or escape of personnel from situations which endanger human life in a spaceflight operation. This will span the period from crew ingress prior to flight through crew egress postlanding. For the purposes of this chapter, the term primary system will refer to the spacecraft system that a crew is either attempting to escape from or from which an attempt is being made to rescue the crew.

Transition of Japanese commercial space: What has been lost from the commercial space?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fujioka Tatsuma

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper compares the types of two commercial spaces in modern Japan, shopping mall and “traditional” shopping district called Shotengai, from the viewpoint of commercial space as the third space in the city. Particularly in the discourse of commercial spaces in Japan, "shopping district" has been portrayed tied to nostalgia. Therefore, the transition of commercial space is always accompanied by a discourse of the" Lost." However, there is no unified opinion about what's been lost in the process of this transition in fact. In this paper, we extract the social category by considering focus on discourse for both places. As a specific object I use to target the research papers and journal articles in Japan. Because these documents are discussed by distinct main thesis and based on specific data, I adopt these materials. After extraction of social category, through the comparison of the two discourses, I reveal what kind of nature is the "Lost" at the commercial spaces as the third place in the city. I also discuss how this change is related the changes in Japanese social relationship and community.

Second Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Dollman, Thomas (Compiler)

1988-01-01

The proceedings of the conference are presented. This second conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications brings together a diversity of scientific and engineering work and is intended to provide an opportunity for those who employ AI methods in space applications to identify common goals and to discuss issues of general interest in the AI community.

Rising above Decline: Some Uses of Surplus Space.

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Dale E.

In many communities new arrangements of surplus school space have been made that facilitate use of the space by the people of the districts, encourage government agencies to anticipate and support social transitions where they are necessary, and allow school districts to improve the quality of their programs. This paper is a survey of some of…

Space Station Integrated Kinetic Launcher for Orbital Payload Systems (SSIKLOPS) - Cyclops

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, James P.; Lamb, Craig R.; Ballard, Perry G.

2013-01-01

Access to space for satellites in the 50-100 kg class is a challenge for the small satellite community. Rideshare opportunities are limited and costly, and the small sat must adhere to the primary payloads schedule and launch needs. Launching as an auxiliary payload on an Expendable Launch Vehicle presents many technical, environmental, and logistical challenges to the small satellite community. To assist the community in mitigating these challenges and in order to provide the community with greater access to space for 50-100 kg satellites, the NASA International Space Station (ISS) and Engineering communities in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Program (STP) is developing a dedicated 50-100 kg class ISS small satellite deployment system. The system, known as Cyclops, will utilize NASA's ISS resupply vehicles to launch small sats to the ISS in a controlled pressurized environment in soft stow bags. The satellites will then be processed through the ISS pressurized environment by the astronaut crew allowing satellite system diagnostics prior to orbit insertion. Orbit insertion is achieved through use of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Experiment Module Robotic Airlock (JEM Airlock) and one of the ISS Robotic Arms. Cyclops' initial satellite deployment demonstration of DOD STP's SpinSat and UT/TAMU's Lonestar satellites will be toward the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014. Cyclops will be housed on-board the ISS and used throughout its lifetime. The anatomy of Cyclops, its concept of operations for satellite deployment, and its satellite interfaces and requirements will be addressed further in this paper.

The Sea is Not an Empty Space

Science.gov (United States)

Satiawan, P. R.

2017-07-01

This research departs from a unique phenomenon, where Indonesian local people, fisherman, in Sapeken sub-district, Sumenep regency, together are able to divide the sea space based on the existence of resources in it with local intelligence inherited from generation to generation. Fisherman in Sapeken sub-district have the spatial intelligence to identify the existence of a sea space called premises “Takat” and “Timpusu”. Those spaces however cannot be seen with the eye and merely as an empty space, until the community giving meaning and signing to the space and create the strong perceptual map that prove that the sea is not an empty space. In order to have such a rigorous finding, the researcher using phenomenology methodology that allowed researcher to explore more about the phenomenon.

The Initial Nine Space Settlements

Science.gov (United States)

Gale, Anita E.; Edwards, Richard P.

2003-01-01

The co-authors describe a chronology of space infrastructure development illustrating how each element of infrastructure enables development of subsequent more ambitious infrastructure. This is likened to the ``Southern California freeway phenomenon'', wherein a new freeway built in a remote area promotes establishment of gas stations, restaurants, hotels, housing, and eventually entire new communities. The chronology includes new launch vehicles, inter-orbit vehicles, multiple LEO space stations, lunar mining, on-orbit manufacturing, tourist destinations, and supporting technologies required to make it all happen. The space settlements encompassed by the chronology are in Earth orbit (L5 and L4), on the lunar surface, in Mars orbit, on the Martian surface, and in the asteroid belt. Each space settlement is justified with a business rationale for construction. This paper is based on materials developed for Space Settlement Design Competitions that enable high school students to experience the technical and management challenges of working on an industry proposal team.

Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS): a modular open standards approach for high performance interconnects for space

Science.gov (United States)

Collier, Charles Patrick

2017-04-01

The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) effort is a Government-Industry collaboration effort to define a set of standards for interconnects between space system components with the goal of cost effectively removing bandwidth as a constraint for future space systems. The NGSIS team has selected the ANSI/VITA 65 OpenVPXTM standard family for the physical baseline. The RapidIO protocol has been selected as the basis for the digital data transport. The NGSIS standards are developed to provide sufficient flexibility to enable users to implement a variety of system configurations, while meeting goals for interoperability and robustness for space. The NGSIS approach and effort represents a radical departure from past approaches to achieve a Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA) for space systems and serves as an exemplar for the civil, commercial, and military Space communities as well as a broader high reliability terrestrial market.

New solar irradiances for use in space research

Science.gov (United States)

Tobiska, W.; Bouwer, D.; Jones, A.

Space environment research applications require solar irradiances in a variety of time scales and spectral formats We describe the development of research grade modeled solar irradiances using four models and systems that are also used for space weather operations The four models systems include SOLAR2000 S2K SOLARFLARE SFLR APEX and IDAR which are used by Space Environment Technologies SET to provide solar irradiances from the soft X-rays through the visible spectrum SFLR uses the GOES 0 1--0 8 nm X-rays in combination with a Mewe model subroutine to provide 0 1--30 0 nm irradiances at 0 1 nm spectral resolution at 1 minute time resolution and in a 6-hour XUV--EUV spectral solar flare evolution forecast with a 7 minute latency and a 2 minute cadence These irradiances have been calibrated with the SORCE XPS observations and we report on the inclusion of these irradiances in the S2K model There are additional developments with S2K that we discuss particularly the method by which S2K is emerging as a hybrid model empirical plus physics-based and real-time data integration platform Numerous new solar indices have been recently developed for the operations community and we describe their inclusion in S2K The APEX system is a real-time data retrieval system developed under contract to the University of Southern California Space Sciences Center SSC to provide SOHO SEM data processing and distribution SSC provides the updated SEM data to the research community and SET provides the operational data to the space operations community We

Space Ethics and Protection of the Space Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Mark

2002-01-01

The construction of the International Space Station in low Earth orbit and the formulation of plans to search for life on Mars - one day by means of manned missions - indicate that mankind is intent on making the space environment part of its domain. Publicity surrounding space tourism, in-space `burials' and the sale of lunar `real estate' suggests that, some time in the 21st century, the space environment will become an extraterrestrial extension of our current business and domestic environment. This prompts the question of our collective attitude towards the space environment and the degree to which we should regulate its use and protect it for future generations. What, indeed, are the ethical considerations of space exploration and development? Ethics can be defined as "the philosophical study of the moral value of human conduct, and of the rules or principles that ought to govern it". More practically, it represents "an approved code of behaviour" adopted, for example, by a group or profession. If a set of ethics is to be developed for space, it is important that what we refer to as the `space community', or `space profession', is intimately involved. Indeed, if it is not, the profession risks having the job done for it, for example by politicians and members of the general public, who for their own reasons may wish to place restrictions on space development, or ban it altogether. The terrestrial nuclear power industry, for example, has already suffered this fate, while widespread ignorance of the subject has led to a moratorium on the use of RTGs in spacecraft. However, there is a danger in the discussion of ethics that consideration is confined to the philosophical aspects, thus excusing those involved from providing practical solutions to the problems that emerge. The fact that mankind has already affected, and arguably damaged, the space environment transports the discussion beyond the philosophical realm. This paper offers a pragmatic analysis of one

Community Art as a Medium for Future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragan Ćalović

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this article we will examine the possibilities of strengthening local communities through art. Art is seen as a powerful force able to bring visions to local community members and to initiate their involvement in social reconstruction. We will analyse the perspectives of development of local urban places into local cultural spaces. For such development, cooperation between artists and urban residents is recognised as highly important. Different art projects can inspire local community members to build stronger connections and help them to define visions of better society. Cooperation in artistic work can gather community members and inspire them to involve in political decision-making process. It also can improve their ability to state program of society development in a more democratic, more inclusive manner. Role of art and alternative education, we consider as crucial in initiating social actions that are able to truly reconstruct local communities, to redefine a status and to change perception of marginalised social places and to inspire those who live in the same neighbourhood to cooperate and fight for common interest. For this reason, we will analyse perspectives of development approaches in which art and alternative education can come together to create changes. Creation of new cultural space needs development of alternative education, that can encourage community members to overcome old prejudices, and it also needs inclusive arts practices, that can help people to connect each others and to find their vision of betterness. Through art and alternative education they may doscover their power to recreate reality and to change the situation that oppresses them. Instead to “integrate” or “incorporate” into the society that multiply injustice, alienation, and separation, they may perceive that they are members of a community, so they are able to engage themselves to participate in its recreation. If we make efforts to reimagine

Group Activities for Math Enthusiasts

Science.gov (United States)

Holdener, J.; Milnikel, R.

2016-01-01

In this article we present three group activities designed for math students: a balloon-twisting workshop, a group proof of the irrationality of p, and a game of Math Bingo. These activities have been particularly successful in building enthusiasm for mathematics and camaraderie among math faculty and students at Kenyon College.

Space Biology in the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Halstead, Thora W.; Krauss, Robert W.

1990-01-01

Space Biology is poised to make significant contributions to science in the next century. A carefully crafted, but largely ground-based, program in the United States has evolved major questions that require answers through experiments in space. Science, scientists, and the new long-term spacecrafts designed by NASA will be available for the first time to mount a serious Space Biology effort. The scientific challenge is of such importance that success will provide countless benefits to biologically dependent areas such as medicine, food, and commerce in the decades ahead. The international community is rapidly expanding its role in this field. The United States should generate the resources that will allow progress in Space Biology to match the recognized progress made in aeronautics and the other space sciences.

Fifth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Odell, Steve L. (Compiler)

1990-01-01

The Fifth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications brings together diverse technical and scientific work in order to help those who employ AI methods in space applications to identify common goals and to address issues of general interest in the AI community. Topics include the following: automation for Space Station; intelligent control, testing, and fault diagnosis; robotics and vision; planning and scheduling; simulation, modeling, and tutoring; development tools and automatic programming; knowledge representation and acquisition; and knowledge base/data base integration.

Exploring Third Space in a Dual-Language Setting: Opportunities and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Fitts, Shanan

2009-01-01

This study examined the ways that 5th graders and their teachers constructed third spaces in bilingual and bicultural communities of practice in a dual-language school. Students and teachers used students' funds of knowledge to connect with and transform academic tasks and discourses and to create third spaces. In transformational third spaces,…

Department of Defense Space Program: An Executive Overview for FY 1998-2003

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1997-01-01

.... Many occupy the full attention of dedicated experts across the space community as we look to a new century in which space products and services are increasingly integrated into our daily lives...

Coordinating the Atlantis Grand Opening Event

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Abigail Allaine

2013-01-01

While working as the marketing intern for Kennedy Space Center's (KSC) Center Planning and Development Directorate (CPD), I was given the opportunity not only to learn new skills and expand my work experience under the powerful influence of NASA, but I also was given the opportunity to prove that I am an individual capable of contributing to the KSC team. My main responsibility while working in CPD was to organize and run a booth that represented the entire directorate at the Grand Opening of the Shuttle Atlantis exhibit during the weekend of June 28-30. This event was important for CPD because as a Directorate that markets KSC's facilities, technical capabilities and technologies to potential partners, it is important to attend all events and use them to gain an understanding of our audience. Although we catered mostly to the general public during this event, it was still important to reach out to the larger space enthusiast community and let them know about KSC's future plans to become a multi-user spaceport and that teclmology is still being developed.

An exploration of fetish social networks and communities

OpenAIRE

Fay, Damien; Haddadi, Hamed; Seto, Michael C.; Wang, Han; Kling, Christoph Carl

2015-01-01

Online Social Networks (OSNs) provide a venue for virtual interactions and relationships between individuals. In some communities, OSNs also facilitate arranging online meetings and relationships. FetLife, the worlds largest anonymous social network for the BDSM, fetish and kink communities, provides a unique example of an OSN that serves as an interaction space, community organizing tool, and sexual market. In this paper, we present a first look at the characteristics of European members of ...

Bridging the Worlds of Entertainment and Space - One Element of the Space Generation Foundation

Science.gov (United States)

Hildago, L.

2002-01-01

Programme on Space Applications, SGSabstracts@unsgac.org/fax +1(281)244-7478 The Space Generation Foundation, founder of ISU, is the current home for Space Rocks!, Yuri's Night, and other space projects focused on education, outreach, and sustainable development worldwide. One particular area of success in 2001/2002 has been the involvement of the entertainment community in space events. Yuri's Night brought together musicians, DJs, artists, and the public to celebrate space. Space Rocks will do the same on a much larger scale, employing film, theatre, poetry, music, art, advertising firms, and other unconventional media to communicate space to the public. We will present about the aims and future plans of the Foundation. The Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications has as its main focus Space education and outreach. Since the Space Generation Forum in 1999, successful global education and outreach projects have been implemented by young people around the world. These and new ideas are being further developed at the Space Generation Summit (SGS), an event at World Space Congress (WSC) that will unite international students and young professionals to develop a youth vision and strategy for the peaceful uses of space. SGS, endorsed by the United Nations, will take place from October 11-13th, during which the 200 delegates will discuss ongoing youth space activities, particularly those stemming from the UNISPACE- III/SGF and taken forward by the Space Generation Advisory Council. Delegates will address a variety of topics with the goal of devising new recommendations according to the theme, 'Accelerating Our Pace in Space'. The material presented here and in other technical sessions throughout WSC includes the results of these discussions.

Space-Time and Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Field, F.; Goodbun, J.; Watson, V.

Architects have a role to play in interplanetary space that has barely yet been explored. The architectural community is largely unaware of this new territory, for which there is still no agreed method of practice. There is moreover a general confusion, in scientific and related fields, over what architects might actually do there today. Current extra-planetary designs generally fail to explore the dynamic and relational nature of space-time, and often reduce human habitation to a purely functional problem. This is compounded by a crisis over the representation (drawing) of space-time. The present work returns to first principles of architecture in order to realign them with current socio-economic and technological trends surrounding the space industry. What emerges is simultaneously the basis for an ecological space architecture, and the representational strategies necessary to draw it. We explore this approach through a work of design-based research that describes the construction of Ocean; a huge body of water formed by the collision of two asteroids at the Translunar Lagrange Point (L2), that would serve as a site for colonisation, and as a resource to fuel future missions. Ocean is an experimental model for extra-planetary space design and its representation, within the autonomous discipline of architecture.

Community readiness for adolescents’ overweight and obesity prevention is low in urban South Africa: a case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Pradeilles

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background South Africa is undergoing epidemiological and nutrition transitions with associated increases in the incidence of overweight, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. With the emergence of the nutrition transition in South Africa, there is an urgent need for interventions to prevent overweight and obesity in children and adolescents as risk factors for chronic diseases in adolescence may track throughout later life. This research explored the potential for faith-based organisations (FBOs to be used as community organisations for overweight and obesity prevention interventions in adolescents by assessing the readiness of religious leaders to engage in such interventions. Methods Surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs were conducted with 51 religious leaders in Johannesburg and Soweto. The Community Readiness Model (CRM survey was chosen to determine the stage of readiness of this community regarding overweight and obesity prevention. Six different dimensions were assessed in the CRM (community efforts, knowledge of efforts, leadership, community climate, knowledge of the issue, resources. The surveys were scored according to the CRM protocol. The survey data were supplemented with findings from FGDs. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the FGDs. Results The mean community readiness score was 2.57 ± 0.76 which equates with the “denial/resistance stage”. The mean readiness score for resources was the highest of all the dimensions (3.77 ± 0.28, followed by knowledge of the issue (3.20 ± 0.51. The lowest score was seen for community knowledge of efforts (1.77 ± 1.50, followed by community climate (2.00 ± 0.64. FGDs helped interpret the CRM scores. FGDs showed that religious leaders were enthusiastic and recognised that their role was not limited solely to spiritual guidance and mentoring, but also to physical well-being. Conclusions Religious leaders recognised that they act as role models

Handbook of space security policies, applications and programs

CERN Document Server

Hays, Peter; Robinson, Jana; Moura, Denis; Giannopapa, Christina

2015-01-01

Space Security involves the use of space (in particular communication, navigation, earth observation, and electronic intelligence satellites) for military and security purposes on earth and also the maintenance of space (in particular the earth orbits) as safe and secure areas for conducting peaceful activities. The two aspects can be summarized as "space for security on earth" and “the safeguarding of space for peaceful endeavors.” The Handbook will provide a sophisticated, cutting-edge resource on the space security policy portfolio and the associated assets, assisting fellow members of the global space community and other interested policy-making and academic audiences in keeping abreast of the current and future directions of this vital dimension of international space policy. The debate on coordinated space security measures, including relevant 'Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures,' remains at a relatively early stage of development. The book offers a comprehensive description of the variou...

Moving Toward Space Internetworking via DTN: Its Operational Challenges, Benefits, and Management

Science.gov (United States)

Barkley, Erik; Burleigh, Scott; Gladden, Roy; Malhotra, Shan; Shames, Peter

2010-01-01

The international space community has begun to recognize that the established model for management of communications with spacecraft - commanded data transmission over individual pair-wise contacts - is operationally unwieldy and will not scale in support of increasingly complex and sophisticated missions such as NASA's Constellation project. Accordingly, the international Inter-Agency Operations Advisory Group (IOAG) ichartered a Space Internetworking Strategy Group (SISG), which released its initial recommendations in a November 2008 report. The report includes a recommendation that the space flight community adopt Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) to address the problem of interoperability and communication scaling, especially in mission environments where there are multiple spacecraft operating in concert. This paper explores some of the issues that must be addressed in implementing, deploying, and operating DTN as part of a multi-mission, multi-agency space internetwork as well as benefits and future operational scenarios afforded by DTN-based space internetworking.

Strategies for broadening public involvement in space developments

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Philip R.

1992-01-01

There is widespread public interest in and goodwill toward the space program. For NASA's plans for the next 25 years to be achieved, this public reservoir of support needs to be tapped and channeled. NASA endeavors have to reach out beyond the scientific, technological, and aerospace communities to foster wider participation in space exploration and exploitation. To broaden NASA support and spread out the financing of space activities, recommendations for consideration are offered in the area of economics, political, institutional, international, and managerial areas.

Is there an association between spatial access to parks/green space and childhood overweight/obesity in Calgary, Canada?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Potestio Melissa L

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The recent increase in childhood obesity is expected to add significantly to the prevalence of chronic diseases. We used multivariate multilevel analysis to examine associations between parks/green space and childhood overweight/obesity across communities in Calgary, Canada, a city characterized by intensified urban sprawl and high car use. Methods Body Mass Index was calculated from measured height and weight data obtained from 6,772 children (mean age = 4.95 years attending public health clinics for pre-school vaccinations. Each child's home postal code was geocoded using ESRI ArcGIS 9.2. We examined four measures of spatial access to parks/green space (based on Geographic Information Systems: 1 the number of parks/green spaces per 10,000 residents, 2 the area of parks/green space as a proportion of the total area within a community, 3 average distance to a park/green space, and 4 the proportion of parks/green space service area as a proportion of the total area within a community. Analyses were adjusted for dissemination area median family income (as a proxy for an individual child's family income community-level education, and community-level proportion of visible minorities. Results In general, parks/green space at the community level was not associated with overweight/obesity in Calgary, with the exception of a marginally significant effect whereby a moderate number of parks/green spaces per 10,000 residents was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity. This effect was non-significant in adjusted analyses. Conclusion Our null findings may reflect the popularity of car travel in Calgary, Canada and suggest that the role built environment characteristics play in explaining health outcomes may differ depending on the type of urban environment being studied.

Local community, mobility and belonging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Anja; Arp Fallov, Mia; Knudsen, Lisbeth B.

2011-01-01

,recent developments in the understandings of mobility and local communities,and presents different theoretical views on local belonging.These questions highlight the necessity to discuss and investigate two overall narratives in social theory about the connection between space and social relations.Namely,1...

Expanding Public Outreach: The Solar System Ambassadors Program

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, K.

2001-12-01

The Solar System Ambassadors Program is a public outreach program designed to work with motivated volunteers across the nation. These competitively selected volunteers organize and conduct public events that communicate exciting discoveries and plans in Solar System research, exploration and technology through non-traditional forums. In 2001, 206 Ambassadors from almost all 50 states bring the excitement of space to the public. Ambassadors are space enthusiasts, who come from all walks of life. Last year, Ambassadors conducted almost 600 events that reached more than one-half million people in communities across the United States. The Solar System Ambassadors Program is sponsored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a lead research and development center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Participating JPL organizations include Cassini, Galileo, STARDUST, Outer Planets mission, Genesis, Ulysses, Voyager, Mars missions, Discovery missions NEAR and Deep Impact, Deep Space Network, Solar System Exploration Forum and the Education and Public Outreach Office. Each Ambassador participates in on-line (web-based) training sessions that provide interaction with NASA scientists, engineers and project team members. As such, each Ambassador's experience with the space program becomes personalized. Training sessions provide Ambassadors with general background on each mission and educate them concerning specific mission milestones, such as launches, planetary flybys, first image returns, arrivals, and ongoing key discoveries. Additionally, projects provide limited supplies of materials, online resource links and information. Integrating volunteers across the country in a public-engagement program helps optimize project funding set aside for education and outreach purposes, establishing a nationwide network of regional contacts. At the same time

NASA and Public Libraries: Enhancing STEM Literacy in Underserved Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Dusenbery, P.; LaConte, K.; Harold, J. B.; Randall, C.

2016-12-01

NASA research programs are helping humanity understand the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars, and planets, and defining the conditions necessary to support life beyond Earth. The Space Science Institute's (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) was recently funded by NASA`s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to develop and implement a project called NASA@ My Library: A National Earth and Space Science Initiative That Connects NASA, Public Libraries and Their Communities. As places that offer their services for free, public libraries have become the "public square" by providing a place where members of a community can gather for information, educational programming, and policy discussions. Libraries are developing new ways to engage their patrons in STEM learning, and NCIL's STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) has been supporting their efforts for the last eight years, including through a vibrant community of practice that serves both librarians and STEM professionals. Project stakeholders include public library staff, state libraries, the earth and space science education community at NASA, subject matter experts, and informal science educators. The project will leverage high-impact SMD and library events to catalyze partnerships through dissemination of SMD assets and professional development. It will also develop frameworks for public libraries to increase STEM interest pathways in their communities (with supports for reaching underserved audiences). This presentation will summarize the key activities and expected outcomes of the 5-year project.

Urban Space as the Commons - New Modes for Urban Space Management

Science.gov (United States)

Ondrejicka, Vladimir; Finka, Maros; Husar, Milan; Jamecny, Lubomir

2017-12-01

The significant growing of urban population, globalization of social-ecological systems, fuzzification of spatial structures, the diversity of actors in spatial development, their power and interest in using the resources including space, especially in high-density urban areas. Spatial development is connected with a high concentration of economic activities and population in urban systems. In many cases very rapid processes of urbanization and suburbanization approach natural spatial/territorial limits, such as carrying capacity of land, transport and infrastructural systems, absorption capacities of recipients and others [1]. Growing shortage of space and problems in their accessibility (physical, functional, etc.) leads to growing tension and conflicts among the actors/users of urban spaces and represent the initial phase of space deprivations processes. There is a parallel with “tragedy of commons” as defined by Hardin [2] and was reinterpreted by many other academics and researchers. Urban space can be clearly interpreted as the commons or commons good for their community of users and relevant actors, so innovative governance modes overlapping defined “tragedy of commons” representing a possible approach for a new concept of urban public spaces management. This paper presents a possible new approach to the management of urban spaces reflecting the current challenges in spatial development based on the theory of commons and innovative governance modes. The new approach is built on innovations in institutional regimes, the algorithm of decision-making and economic expression and interpretation of quality of the space. The theory of the commons as the base source for this approach has been broadly proved in practice and Elinor Ostrom as the author of this theory [3-5] was awarded by Nobel Prize in 2009.

Space Interferometry Science Working Group

Science.gov (United States)

Ridgway, Stephen T.

1992-12-01

Decisions taken by the astronomy and astrophysics survey committee and the interferometry panel which lead to the formation of the Space Interferometry Science Working Group (SISWG) are outlined. The SISWG was formed by the NASA astrophysics division to provide scientific and technical input from the community in planning for space interferometry and in support of an Astrometric Interferometry Mission (AIM). The AIM program hopes to measure the positions of astronomical objects with a precision of a few millionths of an arcsecond. The SISWG science and technical teams are described and the outcomes of its first meeting are given.

Fulltext PDF

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

of the organising committee can be found in this issue. PNLD 2004 brought together leading researchers from across the world and the ener- getic and active nonlinear dynamics community of India. The success of this conference was due to the enthusiastic participation and support of this collective, which has or- ganised ...

100 Years of Attempts to Transform Physics Education

Science.gov (United States)

Otero, Valerie K.; Meltzer, David E.

2016-01-01

As far back as the late 1800s, U.S. physics teachers expressed many of the same ideas about physics education reform that are advocated today. However, several popular reform efforts eventually failed to have wide impact, despite strong and enthusiastic support within the physics education community. Broad-scale implementation of improved…

Transformed Science: Overcoming Barriers of Inequality and Mistrust to Pursue the Agenda of Underrepresented Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, Renee

Educational programs created to provide opportunities for all, in reality often reflect social inequalities. Such is the case for Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR) Projects. PPSR projects have been proposed as an effective way to engage more diverse audiences in science, yet the demographics of PPSR participants do not correspond with the demographic makeup of the United States. The field of PPSR as a whole has struggled to recruit low SES and underrepresented populations to participate in project research efforts. This research study explores factors, which may be affecting an underrepresented community's willingness to engage in scientific research and provides advice from PPSR project leaders in the field, who have been able to engage underrepresented communities in scientific research, on how to overcome these barriers. Finally the study investigates the theoretical construct of a Third Space within a PPSR project. The research-based recommendations for PPSR projects desiring to initiate and sustain research partnerships with underrepresented communities well align with the theoretical construct of a Third Space. This study examines a specific scientific research partnership between an underrepresented community and scientific researchers to examine if and to what extent a Third Space was created. Using qualitative methods to understand interactions and processes involved in initiating and sustaining a scientific research partnership, this study provides advice on how PPSR research partnerships can engage underrepresented communities in scientific research. Study results show inequality and mistrust of powerful institutions stood as participation barriers for underrepresented community members. Despite these barriers PPSR project leaders recommend barriers can be confronted by open dialogue with communities about the abuse and alienation they have faced, by signaling respect for the community, and by entering the community through someone the

Planning a new type of cultural community space in Goyang City, Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jeonghye; Kim, Saehoon

2017-12-01

Between March and June 2017, Seoul National University Graduate School of Environment Studies and Goyang City organized a course titled ‘Environment Design and Planning’. At the beginning stage of the project, even though the Unified Korean Silicon Vally Project was initiated, our team members in the class decide to reconsider whether a large redevelopment project aimed at attracting tourists is actually a desirable goal for the residents or not. What would be truly needed for space users living in the area? How should we preserve and maintain the existing meaningful space? Meanwhile, we come up with the Gyeongui Railroad, which passes through Goyang and Ilsan. It was a railway line that shared memories of the past, the daily lives of the residents, and the joys and sorrows of them. Among the railways, ‘Baek-Ma Station’ was the place which was filled with the memories of the people who spent their youth in the city in the 1980s. The station is currently not in use, because this place is abandoned and empty. We wished to make this space more accessible for the residents and also to create a place that would give an opportunity to the resident's social comeback. The space could be activated again with the revival of local cultural activities. And we hope the residents will be able to create new memories of 2017 in this space.

75 FR 32186 - Task Force on Community Preventive Services

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-07

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Task Force on Community Preventive Services Name: Task Force on Community Preventive Services meeting. Times and Dates: 8... by space available. Purpose: The mission of the Task Force is to develop and publish the Guide to...

75 FR 4402 - Task Force on Community Preventive Services

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Task Force on Community Preventive Services Name: Task Force on Community Preventive Services meeting. Times and Dates: 8..., limited only by space available. Purpose: The mission of the Task Force is to develop and publish the...

76 FR 744 - Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-06

... landowners; (5) Recreational benefits, such as hiking, hunting and fishing; and (6) Public access. Community...) Recreational benefits, such as hiking, hunting and fishing; and (vi) Public access. (2) Extent and nature of... recreation, environmental and economic benefits, and forest-based educational programs, and to protect...

Telementoring Physics: University-Community After-school Collaborations and the Mediation of the Formal/Informal Divide

Science.gov (United States)

Lecusay, Robert A.

For several decades improvement of science education has been a major concern of policy makers concerned that the U.S. is a "nation at risk" owing to the dearth of students pursing careers in science. Recent policy proposals have argued that provision of broadband digital connectivity to organizations in the informal sector would increase the reach of the formal, academic sector to raise the overall level of science literacy in the country. This dissertation reports on a longitudinal study of a physics telementoring activity jointly run by a university-community collaborative at a community learning center. The activity implemented a digital infrastructure that exceeds the technical and social-institutional arrangements promoted by policy makers. In addition to broadband internet access (for tele-conferencing between students at the community center and physicists at a university), supplemented by digital software designed to promote physics education, the activity included the presence of a collaborating researcher/tutor at the community learning center to coordinate and document the instructional activities. The current research revealed a fundamental contradiction between the logic, goals, and practices of the physics instructors, and the corresponding logic, goals, and practices of the participants at the community learning center. This contradiction revolves around a contrast between the physicists' formal, logocentric ways of understanding expressed in the ability to explain the scientific rules underlying physical phenomena and the informal, pragmatic orientation of the youth and adults at the learning center. The observations in this dissertation should remind techno-enthusiasts, especially in the arena of public education policy, that there are no turnkey solutions in "distance" science education. Technically "connecting" people is not equivalent to creating conditions that expand opportunities to learn and a functioning socio-technical system that

Information exchange in virtual communities: a typology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gary Burnett

2000-01-01

Full Text Available While there is wide agreement that virtual communities - and other phenomena utilizing CMC technologies - have the capability to provide both interpersonal and informational interactions, the degree to which they can be seen as specifically information-oriented social spaces has been open to some question. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical work that emphasizes an environmental model of human information behaviour, a foundation is developed for a model of information exchange in virtual communities, and a typology of the varieties of information behaviour to be found in virtual communities is proposed. This typology will provide a mechanism for assessing the characteristics of virtual communities in terms of their support for information exchange, and has the potential to enhance our understanding of virtual communities as information environments.

Academic Training: Deep Space Telescopes

CERN Multimedia

Françoise Benz

2006-01-01

2005-2006 ACADEMIC TRAINING PROGRAMME LECTURE SERIES 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 February from 11:00 to 12:00 - Council Chamber on 20, 21, 23, 24 February, TH Auditorium, bldg 4 - 3-006, on 22 February Deep Space Telescopes G. BIGNAMI / CNRS, Toulouse, F & Univ. di Pavia, I The short series of seminars will address results and aims of current and future space astrophysics as the cultural framework for the development of deep space telescopes. It will then present such new tools, as they are currently available to, or imagined by, the scientific community, in the context of the science plans of ESA and of all major world space agencies. Ground-based astronomy, in the 400 years since Galileo's telescope, has given us a profound phenomenological comprehension of our Universe, but has traditionally been limited to the narrow band(s) to which our terrestrial atmosphere is transparent. Celestial objects, however, do not care about our limitations, and distribute most of the information about their physics thro...

Accommodating life sciences on the Space Station

Science.gov (United States)

Arno, Roger D.

1987-01-01

The NASA Ames Research Center Biological Research Project (BRP) is responsible for identifying and accommodating high priority life science activities, utilizing nonhuman specimens, on the Space Station and is charged to bridge the gap between the science community and the Space Station Program. This paper discusses the approaches taken by the BRP in accomodating these research objectives to constraints imposed by the Space Station System, while maintaining a user-friendly environment. Consideration is given to the particular research disciplines which are given priority, the science objectives in each of these disciplines, the functions and activities required by these objectives, the research equipment, and the equipment suits. Life sciences programs planned by the Space Station participating partners (USA, Europe, Japan, and Canada) are compared.

Surviving space flight: case study on MELiSSA's CIII nitrifying compartment

Science.gov (United States)

Ilgrande, Chiara; Lasseur, Christophe; Mastroleo, Felice; Paille, Christel; Leys, Natalie; Morozova, Julia; Ilyin, Vyacheslav; Clauwaert, Peter; Christiaens, Marlies E. R.; Lindeboom, Ralph E. F.; Vlaeminck, Siegfried; Prat, Delphine; Arroyo, Jose M. C.; Conincx, Ilse; Van Hoey, Olivier; Roume, Hugo; Udert, Kai; Sas, Benedikt

2016-07-01

Space synthetic biology offers key opportunities for long-term space missions. Planets mining, terraformation, space medicine and Life Support technologies would all benefit from an integrative biological approach. However, space is a harsh environment for life: microgravity, temperature, UV and cosmic radiation can affect the health and functionality of microorganisms and plants, possibly preventing the optimal performance of the systems. The European Space Agency's Life Support System (MELiSSA) has been developed as a model for future long term Space missions and Space habitation. MELiSSA is a 5 compartment artificial ecosystem with microorganisms and higher, that aims at completely recycling gas, liquid and solid waste. In this study, the survival and functional activity after Lower Earth Orbit conditions of microbial nitrogen conversions, relevant for MELiSSA's CIII compartment, was tested. Synthetic communities containing Nitrosomonas europeae, Nitrosomonas ureae, Nitrobacter winogradskyi, Nitrospira moscoviensis and Cupriavidus pinatubonensis were exposed to the Lower Earth Orbit conditions of the International Space Station (ISS) for 7 days. Nitrosomonas europeae, Nitrobacter winogradskyi, Cupriavidus pinatubonensis, and three mixed communities (a urine nitrification sludge, a sludge containing aerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria and anammox bacteria (OLAND), and an aquaculture sludge containing ammonia oxidizing archaea) were exposed to Lower Earth Orbit conditions for 44 days. Survival after both space flights was demonstrated because nitritation, nitratation, denitrification and anammox activity could be restored at a rate comparable to ground storage conditions. Our results validate the potential survival feasibility and suggest future space applications for N-related microorganisms.

Creating Spaces to Support Transgender Youth

Science.gov (United States)

McGuire, Jenifer K.; Conover-Williams, Meredith

2010-01-01

This article explores the opportunity to create spaces within the family, school, and community that specifically promote the well-being of transgender adolescents and young adults. When social contexts are supportive, transgender youth report significantly less risk. Supportive home and school environments have been linked to better outcomes…

Innovation in Deep Space Habitat Interior Design: Lessons Learned From Small Space Design in Terrestrial Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Matthew A.; Toups, Larry

2014-01-01

Increased public awareness of carbon footprints, crowding in urban areas, and rising housing costs have spawned a 'small house movement' in the housing industry. Members of this movement desire small, yet highly functional residences which are both affordable and sensitive to consumer comfort standards. In order to create comfortable, minimum-volume interiors, recent advances have been made in furniture design and approaches to interior layout that improve both space utilization and encourage multi-functional design for small homes, apartments, naval, and recreational vehicles. Design efforts in this evolving niche of terrestrial architecture can provide useful insights leading to innovation and efficiency in the design of space habitats for future human space exploration missions. This paper highlights many of the cross-cutting architectural solutions used in small space design which are applicable to the spacecraft interior design problem. Specific solutions discussed include reconfigurable, multi-purpose spaces; collapsible or transformable furniture; multi-purpose accommodations; efficient, space saving appliances; stowable and mobile workstations; and the miniaturization of electronics and computing hardware. For each of these design features, descriptions of how they save interior volume or mitigate other small space issues such as confinement stress or crowding are discussed. Finally, recommendations are provided to provide guidance for future designs and identify potential collaborations with the small spaces design community.

Singosaren As Interactive Space In Kotagede Tourism Destination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panjaitan Irwin

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The development of the area for tourism purposes should have good sensitivity related to the product to consumption aspects, where the interaction between the local community is seen as the supply (insider produce the products, which can then be consumed by the visitor as demand (outsider. Such sensitivity can be seen in the space between the private realm and the public sphere called the interface space. Development of the area for tourism, will enhance the touristsaccessibility in exploring its uniqueness as a tourist attraction. Accessible tourist attractions can improve the degree of permeability, which can also affect the degree of privacy of local communities. Singosaren as an area that will be designed as part of the united Kotagede tourist destinations, Yogyakarta, should consider the influence of tourism activities on a daily basis of the community. Permeability study in the area with mapping method, is expected to connect local potency to the circulation pattern in the interface, by finding the street corridor that needs to be anticipated, to maintain the sustainability of tourism activities in Singosaren area.

NASA's Contribution to Global Space Geodesy Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Bosworth, John M.

1999-01-01

The NASA Space Geodesy program continues to be a major provider of space geodetic data for the international earth science community. NASA operates high performance Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Global Positioning System (GPS) ground receivers at well over 30 locations around the world and works in close cooperation with space geodetic observatories around the world. NASA has also always been at the forefront in the quest for technical improvement and innovation in the space geodesy technologies to make them even more productive, accurate and economical. This presentation will highlight the current status of NASA's networks; the plans for partnerships with international groups in the southern hemisphere to improve the geographic distribution of space geodesy sites and the status of the technological improvements in SLR and VLBI that will support the new scientific thrusts proposed by interdisciplinary earth scientists. In addition, the expanding role of the NASA Space geodesy data archive, the CDDIS will be described.

Space Transportation Materials and Structures Technology Workshop. Volume 2: Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cazier, F.W. Jr.; Gardner, J.E.

1993-02-01

The Space Transportation Materials and Structures Technology Workshop was held on September 23-26, 1991, in Newport News, Virginia. The workshop, sponsored by the NASA Office of Space Flight and the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, was held to provide a forum for communication within the space materials and structures technology developer and user communities. Workshop participants were organized into a Vehicle Technology Requirements session and three working panels: Materials and Structures Technologies for Vehicle Systems, Propulsion Systems, and Entry Systems. Separate abstracts have been prepared for papers in this report

Redesigning Space for Interdisciplinary Connections: The Puget Sound Science Center

Science.gov (United States)

DeMarais, Alyce; Narum, Jeanne L.; Wolfson, Adele J.

2013-01-01

Mindful design of learning spaces can provide an avenue for supporting student engagement in STEM subjects. Thoughtful planning and wide participation in the design process were key in shaping new and renovated spaces for the STEM community at the University of Puget Sound. The finished project incorporated Puget Sound's mission and goals as well…

Professional Learning in Unlikely Spaces: Social Media and Virtual Communities as Professional Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen P. King

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this case study, results demonstrate that an individual’s use of social media as professional learning spans understanding, networking, professional identity development, and transformative learning. Specifically, virtual online communities facilitated through social media provide professional networks, social relationships and learning beyond the scope of the individual’s usual experience. Case study method reveals strategies, extent, and impact of learning providing insight into this phenomenon. The significance of the research includes purposefully facilitating professional learning through informal learning contexts, including social media and online communities beyond technology-centric fields. Discussion and recommendations include using social media and virtual communities as instructional strategies for graduate studies and continued learning beyond formal education.

The Future of Ground Magnetometer Arrays in Support of Space Weather Monitoring and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Engebretson, Mark; Zesta, Eftyhia

2017-11-01

A community workshop was held in Greenbelt, Maryland, on 5-6 May 2016 to discuss recommendations for the future of ground magnetometer array research in space physics. The community reviewed findings contained in the 2016 Geospace Portfolio Review of the Geospace Section of the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Science of the National Science Foundation and discussed the present state of ground magnetometer arrays and possible pathways for a more optimal, robust, and effective organization and scientific use of these ground arrays. This paper summarizes the report of that workshop to the National Science Foundation (Engebretson & Zesta, as well as conclusions from two follow-up meetings. It describes the current state of U.S.-funded ground magnetometer arrays and summarizes community recommendations for changes in both organizational and funding structures. It also outlines a variety of new and/or augmented regional and global data products and visualizations that can be facilitated by increased collaboration among arrays. Such products will enhance the value of ground-based magnetometer data to the community's effort for understanding of Earth's space environment and space weather effects.

Disruptive Space Technology

OpenAIRE

Benson, Jim

2004-01-01

In 1997 "The Innovator’s Dilemma" by Clayton M. Christensen became a popular book in the small satellite and launch vehicle communities. But like the weather, every one talks about “Disruptive Technology” but few do anything about it. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, people were looking for “Paradigm Shifts,” and since the resurrection of Donald Rumsfeld, a recent watchword has been “Transformational Technology.” But today’s buzzword is now “Responsive Space Systems.”

Space, geophysical research related to Latin America - Part 2

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, Blanca; Shea, M. A.

2016-11-01

For the last 25 years, every two to three years the Conferencia Latinoamericana de Geofísica Espacial (COLAGE) is held in one of the Latin American countries for the purpose of promoting scientific exchange among scientists of the region and to encourage continued research that is unique to this area of the world. At the more recent conference, the community realized that many individuals both within and outside Latin America have contributed greatly to the understanding of the space sciences in this area of the world. It was therefore decided to assemble a Special Issue Space and Geophysical Physics related to Latin America, presenting recent results and where submissions would be accepted from the world wide community of scientists involved in research appropriate to Latin America. Because of the large number of submissions, these papers have been printed in two separate issues. The first issue was published in Advances in Space Research, Vol. 57, number 6 and contained 15 papers. This is the second issue and contains 25 additional papers. These papers show the wide variety of research, both theoretical and applied, that is currently being developed or related to space and geophysical sciences in the Sub-Continent.

L’esperienza delle Community Forests in Inghilterra

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Colangelo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Community Forests can be described as multi-purpose forests that are close to people and that deliver environmental, social and economic benefits. Community Forests involve local communities in the planning, design, management and use of trees, woodland and associated green-spaces. In England, Community Forests are a national programme of environmental regeneration reaching half of the England’s population, enhancing the countryside around major towns and cities, creating beautiful landscapes, rich in wildlife with associated opportunities for recreation and education. Overall, Community Forests cover an area of over four hundred and fifty thousand hectares in England: one of the largest environmental initiatives in Europe. After twenty years, the great involvement of people shows the importance of this new strategy for environmental planning and management. 

OpportunitiesandPerceptionofSpaceProgramsintheDevelopingCountries

Science.gov (United States)

Abubakar, B.

2007-05-01

Although the space program as a whole is a true reflection of the level of achievement in human history in the field of Science and Technology, but it is also important to note that there are numbers of communities and societies on this earth that are ignorant about this great achievement, hence leading to the continuous diverting of Potential Astronomers, Aerospace Engineers and Astrologist to other disciplines, thereby undermining the development of the space program over time. It was in view of the above that this research was conducted and came up with the under listed Suggestions/Recommendations:- (1) The European Space Agency (ESA), National Aeronautic Space Agency (NASA) and the Russian Space Agency, should be organising and sponsoring public enlightenment conferences, seminars and workshops towards creating awareness and attracting Potential Astronomers and other Space Scientist mostly in the developing countries into the space program. (2) Esteemed organisations in space programs like NASA, ESA and others should be awarding scholarships to potential space scientist that lacks the financial capability to pursue studies in the field of space science from the developing countries. (3) The European Space Agency, National Aeronautic Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency, should open their offices for the development of the space program in the third world countries. I believe that if the above suggestions/recommendations are adopted and implemented it will lead to the development of the space program in general, otherwise the rate at which potential Astronomers, Aerospace Engineers and Astrologists will be diverting into other disciplines will ever remain on the increase. Thanks for listening.

Online personal ads: community and sex, virtually.

Science.gov (United States)

Gudelunas, David

2005-01-01

This study samples 200 personal advertisements from the online gay and lesbian global Web portal PlanetOut. This data, along with survey responses completed by advertisers included in the sample, are used to frame a discussion on the use of online gay and lesbian spaces and communities. Despite interacting in a global space, data showed that advertisers remained aware of their local identities. Differences between advertisers were most notable between gender and whether they logged on in a small or large town. Advertisers were interested in interacting locally, eager to move from online to offline communication, often-times not overly concerned with maintaining anonymity, and not interested in toying with multiple identities. Users of PlanetOut personals largely did not consider themselves part of a virtual gay and lesbian community even when they recognized the existence of a local geographically-based gay and lesbian community. However, the dynamic nature of online personal advertisements did allow for a new type of interactive advertisement that does differ from previous print forums.

Space station operations task force. Panel 3 report: User development and integration

Science.gov (United States)

1987-01-01

The User Development and Integration Panel of the Space Station Operations Task Force was chartered to develop concepts relating to the operations of the Space Station manned base and the platforms, user accommodation and integration activities. The needs of the user community are addressed in the context with the mature operations phase of the Space Station. Issues addressed include space station pricing options, marketing strategies, payload selection and resource allocation options, and manifesting techniques.

The Human-Canine Bond: Closer than Family Ties?

Science.gov (United States)

Barker, Sandra B.; Barker, Randolph T.

1988-01-01

Used Family Life Space Diagram to compare relationship between human family members with the human-canine relationship. Subjects were 29 dog enthusiasts, 66 typical pet owners, and 27 elementary school students with dogs. Results suggest that individuals may perceive their relationship with their pet dog as being as close as their relationship…

The Space Place: Multifarious Merchandise for Omnifarious Folks

Science.gov (United States)

Leon, N. J.; Fisher, D. K.

2002-12-01

"The Space Place" is a coordinated NASA educational outreach program that seeks to reach a diverse and under-served audience, including minorities, girls, inner city children, and those living in rural areas. This audience also includes the more than 27 million Americans who, according to the 2000 census, speak Spanish as their first language. The Space Place began in 1998 with a child-oriented Web site (http://spaceplace.nasa.gov) presenting simple "make and do" activities and fun facts related to the technology validation space missions of NASA's New Millennium Program. The Web site is now sponsored by over 30 space science and Earth observing missions. And it is now also available in Spanish. Having materials available on the internet, however, does not guarantee that everyone in the target audience will have access to them. So, The Space Place went on to create a suite of products and a network of partnerships that would allow more direct and diverse ways to communicate. Thus was invented Club Space Place. Club Space Place works through two different types of partnerships: national and local. The products provided: quarterly guides for original Club Space Place group activities, plus NASA space and Earth science and technology bulletin board display materials. The first of the national organizations participating in Club Space Place was Boys and Girls Clubs of America. With 3100 chapters and 3.3 million members ages 6-18, 67% of whom are minorities, BGCA has been able to distribute the quarterly Space Place activity guides electronically via its Web sites to all chapters that have internet access and by hardcopy to those that don't. Other national organizations that receive the activity guides include YWCA, 21st Century Learning Centers, and Civil Air Patrol. Local community partners include about 240 museums, libraries, planetariums, zoos, and aquariums, largely in small cities, towns, and rural areas, with a combined annual visitorship of 26 million. These

Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Odell, Stephen L. (Compiler); Denton, Judith S. (Compiler); Vereen, Mary (Compiler)

1988-01-01

Proceedings of a conference held in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 15-16, 1988. The Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications brings together diverse technical and scientific work in order to help those who employ AI methods in space applications to identify common goals and to address issues of general interest in the AI community. Topics include the following: space applications of expert systems in fault diagnostics, in telemetry monitoring and data collection, in design and systems integration; and in planning and scheduling; knowledge representation, capture, verification, and management; robotics and vision; adaptive learning; and automatic programming.

Local Cultural Heritage Sites and Spatial Planning for the Bantik Ethnic Community in Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Egam, P. P.

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The course of a city’s development has an effect on both spatial and social aspects, and this situation affects ethnic communities. As a result of recent urban developments, the cultural values of a community that are embedded in living arrangements have been disturbed, thus obscuring, or even hiding, the rich cultural heritage therein. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the spatial characteristics of local neighborhoods based on a wealth of cultural heritage objects. This research focuses on the physical cultural heritage of the Bantik settlement in Malalayang. The spatial characteristics of cultural heritage objects are analyzed, based on physical and other characteristics. The results indicate that, although the Bantik ethnic community in Malalayang, Indonesia, has physical cultural heritage sites, it is unable to effectively develop these as significant cultural spaces because of the physical separation of their locations, the declining meaning of these sites to the community, and the lack of support from indigenous organizations. Distance is not the only determinant of the optimization of cultural space. Planning for cultural spaces involves three zones: 1 a promotion zone, 2 a core zone, and 3 a buffer zone. The greatest potential for developing a cultural space is in the vicinity of Minanga Road and the Niopo Stone, with the physical object reinforcement of similar sites. To improve cultural space, it is not enough to only rely on the existence of a physical object, it is necessary to create a close relationship between the object and the community with the support of indigenous organizations.

Red de comunidades de aprendizaje, un espacio para la formación de formadores/ Learning network community, a space for the formation of teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Iván Ríos Rivera

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Cuando se habla de ambientes de aprendizaje se acude a un concepto muy necesitado para el desarrollo de la educación de hoy. Este, no se ha abordado, de manera detenida y profunda cuando se incorpora en los discursos de las TIC. Por ello se presenta en una de las materializaciones más promisorias del momento, llamada las comunidades de aprendizaje, además, pueden ser pensadas como espacios de formación de formadores dónde se propician muchas de las transformaciones requeridas en los docentes para la educación del nuevo mileno. El texto parte de la idea de formar a un maestro para contrarrestar el impacto de la escuela paralela a través de la creación de un “ecosistema comunicativo”, se relaciona la noción de ambiente de aprendizaje, en cada uno de sus componentes, Ambiente y aprendizaje, con el concepto de Redes de aprendizaje y comunidades de aprendizaje, para finalmente, ilustrar el modelo de red de comunidades de aprendizaje vivido desde la experiencia del proyecto REDES (MEN-UPB. When it is talked about learning environments, it is referred a much needed concept to the development of the nowadays education. This concept has not been treated in a deep and consciously way, when it has been incorporated to the speeches about the Information and communication technology (ICT. That is why is presented in one of the most hopefully materialization: the learning community, this could be also thought as a formation space for educators, a space where are favored many of the required transformation of the new millennium teachers. This article begins with the idea of educate a teacher, to counter the parallel school impact through the creation of a “communicative ecosystem”, then it is related the notion of learning environment, in each one of its components: environment and learning, with the concept of learning network and learning community. This article finishes with the illustration of the learning community network model

Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Community (IPKC): Self-Determination in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Waterman, Stephanie J.; Harrison, Irvin D.

2017-01-01

Special interest groups (SIGs) offer spaces for interests that may not be supported or adequately addressed by the larger organization. NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) calls its SIGs "knowledge communities." This article describes the ways the members of the Indigenous Peoples knowledge community (IPKC)…

Making Space, Making Place: Digital Togetherness and the Redefinition of Migrant Identities Online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Marino

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Immigrants have played a fundamental role in shaping the life and form of urban public spaces for generations. Their efforts, as many scholars have observed, mostly aimed at creating places of comfort in new and sometimes hostile receiving countries. In recent years, the combined contribution of the built environment and screen-based experiences have shaped migrants’ sense of community and belonging, thus making the concept of online community central to ideas about space and public life. Drawing upon a 3-year online ethnography, the article discusses to what extent new media constitute spaces of digital togetherness , where diasporic experiences and transnational identities are constructed and negotiated. It presents a transnational model of creative media consumption, which helps give insight as to how diasporas and ethnic minorities contribute to the transformation of public space in the Digital Age.

Trait plasticity in species interactions: a driving force of community dynamics.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berg, M.P.; Ellers, J.

2010-01-01

Evolutionary community ecology is an emerging field of study that includes evolutionary principles such as individual trait variation and plasticity of traits to provide a more mechanistic insight as to how species diversity is maintained and community processes are shaped across time and space. In

International learning communities for global and localcitizenship

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hana Cervinkova

2011-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper, I describe our ongoing international project in engaged educationalethnography and participatory action research with young adults and consider itsrelevance for a discussion on the community-building role of adult education in aglobalized context. I use the example of our case study to suggest that adult educatorscan generate viable communities by creating learning spaces that nurture criticalconsciousness, a sense of agency, participation and social solidarity amonginternationally and culturally diverse young adult learners. Furthermore, I argue thatparticipation in international learning communities formed through this educationalprocess can potentially help young adults become locally and globally engaged citizens.International learning communities for global citizenship thus present a proposition forconceptualizing the vital role of adult community education in supporting democraticglobal and local citizenship in a world defined in terms of cross-cultural and longdistanceencounters in the formation of culture.

The Future of Astrometry in Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonella Vallenari

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This contribution focuses on the importance of astrometry and on its future developments. Over the centuries astrometry has greatly contributed to the advance of the knowledge of the Universe. Nowadays a major breakthrough is on the way due to astrometric sky surveys from space. ESA space missions Hipparcos first and then Gaia point out the outstanding contribution that space astrometry can provide to our knowledge in many fields of astrophysics, going from the Milky Way formation and evolution, to stellar astrophysics, extra-galactic astrophysics, and fundamental physics. We briefly outline the properties of Gaia first and second data release, and the accuracies expected end-of-mission. The next big advance in space astrometry would be either to improve the astrometric accuracy of one order of magnitude, or to move to a different wavelength domain. While both options have the potential to bring us in a new era of discovery, they have to face enormous issues. We summarize the future directions in space astrometry that are proposed or under investigation by the scientific community, their main challenges and the expected outcome.

NASA's astrophysics archives at the National Space Science Data Center

Science.gov (United States)

Vansteenberg, M. E.

1992-01-01

NASA maintains an archive facility for Astronomical Science data collected from NASA's missions at the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at Goddard Space Flight Center. This archive was created to insure the science data collected by NASA would be preserved and useable in the future by the science community. Through 25 years of operation there are many lessons learned, from data collection procedures, archive preservation methods, and distribution to the community. This document presents some of these more important lessons, for example: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) in system development. Also addressed are some of the myths of archiving, such as 'scientists always know everything about everything', or 'it cannot possibly be that hard, after all simple data tech's do it'. There are indeed good reasons that a proper archive capability is needed by the astronomical community, the important question is how to use the existing expertise as well as the new innovative ideas to do the best job archiving this valuable science data.

Humans in Space: Summarizing the Medico-Biological Results of the Space Shuttle Program

Science.gov (United States)

Risin, Diana; Stepaniak, P. C.; Grounds, D. J.

2011-01-01

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight that opened the era of Humans in Space we also commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) which was triumphantly completed by the flight of STS-135 on July 21, 2011. These were great milestones in the history of Human Space Exploration. Many important questions regarding the ability of humans to adapt and function in space were answered for the past 50 years and many lessons have been learned. Significant contribution to answering these questions was made by the SSP. To ensure the availability of the Shuttle Program experiences to the international space community NASA has made a decision to summarize the medico-biological results of the SSP in a fundamental edition that is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011 beginning 2012. The goal of this edition is to define the normal responses of the major physiological systems to short-duration space flights and provide a comprehensive source of information for planning, ensuring successful operational activities and for management of potential medical problems that might arise during future long-term space missions. The book includes the following sections: 1. History of Shuttle Biomedical Research and Operations; 2. Medical Operations Overview Systems, Monitoring, and Care; 3. Biomedical Research Overview; 4. System-specific Adaptations/Responses, Issues, and Countermeasures; 5. Multisystem Issues and Countermeasures. In addition, selected operational documents will be presented in the appendices. The chapters are written by well-recognized experts in appropriate fields, peer reviewed, and edited by physicians and scientists with extensive expertise in space medical operations and space-related biomedical research. As Space Exploration continues the major question whether humans are capable of adapting to long term presence and adequate functioning in space habitats remains to be answered We expect that the comprehensive review of

Pursuing an Ethical, Socially Just Classroom: Searching for Community Psychology Pedagogy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lichty, Lauren F; Palamaro-Munsell, Eylin

2017-12-01

Discussions of community psychology (CP) ethics often examine how we might best uphold CP values in community-based practice. However, for many community psychologists in faculty positions, our main domain of practice is the undergraduate classroom. Teaching is essential to the growth and sustainability of our field as prospective students tend to discover CP during their undergraduate studies. University-based work is also a key site of CP practice. Universities are contested spaces where interlocking forms of oppression manifest in many ways, including teaching (e.g., what is taught, how, by whom, to whom). CP values compel us to treat our classrooms as more than just information transmission spaces; just as there is no value-neutral research, there is no value-neutral course content or classroom practice. This first-person narrative explores ethical issues that arise when we put CP values, specifically social justice, respect for diversity, participation, and wellness, in conversation with pedagogical best practices and course content in higher education. It presents interrelated ethical dilemmas and the authors' conflicted responses. We conclude with a four-part call to the field for dedicated scholarly spaces and supports focused on the development and study of undergraduate CP pedagogy. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

SpacePy - a Python-based library of tools for the space sciences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morley, Steven K.; Welling, Daniel T.; Koller, Josef; Larsen, Brian A.; Henderson, Michael G.

2010-01-01

Space science deals with the bodies within the solar system and the interplanetary medium; the primary focus is on atmospheres and above - at Earth the short timescale variation in the the geomagnetic field, the Van Allen radiation belts and the deposition of energy into the upper atmosphere are key areas of investigation. SpacePy is a package for Python, targeted at the space sciences, that aims to make basic data analysis, modeling and visualization easier. It builds on the capabilities of the well-known NumPy and MatPlotLib packages. Publication quality output direct from analyses is emphasized. The SpacePy project seeks to promote accurate and open research standards by providing an open environment for code development. In the space physics community there has long been a significant reliance on proprietary languages that restrict free transfer of data and reproducibility of results. By providing a comprehensive, open-source library of widely used analysis and visualization tools in a free, modern and intuitive language, we hope that this reliance will be diminished. SpacePy includes implementations of widely used empirical models, statistical techniques used frequently in space science (e.g. superposed epoch analysis), and interfaces to advanced tools such as electron drift shell calculations for radiation belt studies. SpacePy also provides analysis and visualization tools for components of the Space Weather Modeling Framework - currently this only includes the BATS-R-US 3-D magnetohydrodynamic model and the RAM ring current model - including streamline tracing in vector fields. Further development is currently underway. External libraries, which include well-known magnetic field models, high-precision time conversions and coordinate transformations are wrapped for access from Python using SWIG and f2py. The rest of the tools have been implemented directly in Python. The provision of open-source tools to perform common tasks will provide openness in the

The LAM space active optics facility

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, C.; Ferrari, M.; Hugot, E.; Escolle, C.; Bonnefois, A.; Bernot, M.; Bret-Dibat, T.; Carlavan, M.; Falzon, F.; Fusco, T.; Laubier, D.; Liotard, A.; Michau, V.; Mugnier, L.

2017-11-01

The next generation of large lightweight space telescopes will require the use of active optics systems to enhance the performance and increase the spatial resolution. Since almost 10 years now, LAM, CNES, THALES and ONERA conjugate their experience and efforts for the development of space active optics through the validation of key technological building blocks: correcting devices, metrology components and control strategies. This article presents the work done so far on active correcting mirrors and wave front sensing, as well as all the facilities implemented. The last part of this paper focuses on the merging of the MADRAS and RASCASSE test-set up. This unique combination will provide to the active optics community an automated, flexible and versatile facility able to feed and characterise space active optics components.

California Community Colleges Parking Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

McIntyre, Chuck

In 1990, a representative sample of 25 California community colleges was contacted by telephone to determine their parking policies and practices. The colleges were sampled on the basis of location and size. Study findings included the following: (1) 17 of the colleges reported that they had insufficient numbers of on-campus parking spaces; (2)…

Space Architecture: The Role, Work and Aptitude

Science.gov (United States)

Griffin, Brand

2014-01-01

Space architecture has been an emerging discipline for at least 40 years. Has it arrived? Is space architecture a legitimate vocation or an avocation? If it leads to a job, what do employers want? In 2002, NASA Headquarters created a management position for a space architect whose job was to "lead the development of strategic architectures and identify high level requirements for systems that will accomplish the Nation's space exploration vision." This is a good job description with responsibility at the right level in NASA, but unfortunately, the office was discontinued two years later. Even though there is no accredited academic program or professional licensing for space architecture, there is a community of practitioners. They are civil servants, contractors and academicians supporting International Space Station and space exploration programs. In various ways, space architects currently contribute to human spaceflight, but there is a way for the discipline to be more effective in developing solutions to large scale complex problems. This paper organizes contributions from engineers, architects and psychologists into recommendations on the role of space architects in the organization, the process of creating and selecting options, and intrinsic personality traits including why they must have a high tolerance for ambiguity.

GOES-R Space Weather Data: Achieving User Ready Products

Science.gov (United States)

Rowland, W. F.; Tilton, M.; Redmon, R. J.; Goodman, S. J.; Comerford, M.

2017-12-01

Forecasters and the science community will rely on improved Space Weather products from the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R Series) for decades to come. Many issues must be successfully addressed in order to produce useful products. The instruments themselves and their basic scientific measurements (Level 1b data, i.e. L1b) must be calibrated and validated. Algorithms must be created to transform L1b into the specific environmental parameters that are of interest to forecasters and the community (Level 2+, i.e. L2+). In the case of Space Weather data, because the L2+ products are not generated within the core GOES-R Ground Segment, a separate system had to be developed in order to implement the L2+ products. Finally, the products must be made available to real time and retrospective users, as well as preserved for future generations. We give an overview of the path to production of the GOES-R Space Weather products, and the role of the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) in this process.

CASH 2021: Commercial access and space habitation

Science.gov (United States)

Aldrin, Andrew; Amara, Adam; Aris, Lodewijk; Baierl, Nida; Beatty, Patrick; Beaulieu, Catherine; Behnke, Torsten; Castegini, Roberta; Chauhan, Amitabh; Cojanis, Philip; Dayawansa, Pelawa; Diop, Marie; Eito, Kinya; Engle, Steve; Ferretti, Stefano; Gassama, Hamet; Genova, Bojana; Goulding, Colin; Janjua, Jameel; Jansaeng, Thidarat; Jousset, Frédéric; Kopik, Anatoly; Laurin, Catherine; Leggatt, Jason; Li, Hengnian; Mezzadri, Monica; Miura, Amane; Nolet, Simon; Ogami, Satoshi; Patry, Johanne; Patten, Laryssa; Payerne, Cyril; Peer, Guy; Prampolini, Marco; Rheaume, Caroline; Saary, Joan; Spehar, Daniela; Sufi, Atiya; Sun, Baosheng; Thompson, J. Barry; Thomson, Ward; Trautner, Roland; Tursunmuratov, Murat; Venet, Vrata; Wilems, Elizabeth; Wilson, Helen; Wittwer, Karl; Wokke, Frank; Wu, Yansheng; Zhou, Shaobin; Zilioli, Ilaria

2002-07-01

Issues about commercialization of space have been a growing concern in the past decade for the space community. This paper focuses on the work from a team of 51 students attending the Summer Session Program of the International Space University in Bremen, Germany. CASH 2021 (Commercial Access and Space Habitation) documents a plan that identifies commercial opportunities for space utilization that will extend human presence in space, and will chart the way forward for the next 20 years. The group selected four commercial sectors that show the most promise for the future: tourism, entertainment, space system service, assembly and debris removal, and research and development/production. The content of this document presents the results of their research. Historical activities in each of the commercial sectors are reviewed along with the current market situation. To provide a coherent background for future commercialization possibilities a scenario has been developed. This scenario includes a postulated upon ideal future and includes social, political and economic factors that may affect the space industry over the timeline of the study. The study also presents a roadmap, within the limited optimistic scenario developed, for the successful commercialization of space leading to future human presence in space. A broad range of commercially viable opportunities, not only within the current limits of the International Space Station, but also among the many new developments that are expected by 2021 are discussed.

Developing a Fault Management Guidebook for Nasa's Deep Space Robotic Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Fesq, Lorraine M.; Jacome, Raquel Weitl

2015-01-01

NASA designs and builds systems that achieve incredibly ambitious goals, as evidenced by the Curiosity rover traversing on Mars, the highly complex International Space Station orbiting our Earth, and the compelling plans for capturing, retrieving and redirecting an asteroid into a lunar orbit to create a nearby a target to be investigated by astronauts. In order to accomplish these feats, the missions must be imbued with sufficient knowledge and capability not only to realize the goals, but also to identify and respond to off-nominal conditions. Fault Management (FM) is the discipline of establishing how a system will respond to preserve its ability to function even in the presence of faults. In 2012, NASA released a draft FM Handbook in an attempt to coalesce the field by establishing a unified terminology and a common process for designing FM mechanisms. However, FM approaches are very diverse across NASA, especially between the different mission types such as Earth orbiters, launch vehicles, deep space robotic vehicles and human spaceflight missions, and the authors were challenged to capture and represent all of these views. The authors recognized that a necessary precursor step is for each sub-community to codify its FM policies, practices and approaches in individual, focused guidebooks. Then, the sub-communities can look across NASA to better understand the different ways off-nominal conditions are addressed, and to seek commonality or at least an understanding of the multitude of FM approaches. This paper describes the development of the "Deep Space Robotic Fault Management Guidebook," which is intended to be the first of NASA's FM guidebooks. Its purpose is to be a field-guide for FM practitioners working on deep space robotic missions, as well as a planning tool for project managers. Publication of this Deep Space Robotic FM Guidebook is expected in early 2015. The guidebook will be posted on NASA's Engineering Network on the FM Community of Practice

Your Face(book) and MySpace: Let's Hook Up

Science.gov (United States)

Gay, P. L.; Foster, T.

2008-06-01

In the public social network venues of MySpace and Facebook, individuals of all ages and nationalities look for like-minded online denizens with whom they can build relationships. Through social networking sites, it is possible for EPO programs to bring together diverse individuals to laugh, learn, and socialize around pet projects and favorite topics. Astronomy is popular among these people, with over 5000 members of the MySpace community listing ``astronomy'' as an interest. By building interesting MySpace and Facebook profiles for your programs, you can plug into the intellectual and social hunger of these individuals. In this workshop, we will discuss the tricks for creating an interesting profile, how to hide such weirdnesses as age and zodiacal sign, and the proper netiquette for nurturing large friends lists and building large communities. Specific emphasis will be given to using Facebook to build one-on-one relationships with program volunteers and students, and how to use MySpace as a way to distribute program announcements to large populations. We will also address the issues of contacting minors, and coping with stalkers and crazies. Come learn how to reach people who already want to learn and love the cosmos, and are just waiting to hear what you have to share.

3D natural emulation design approach to virtual communities

OpenAIRE

DiPaola, Steve

2010-01-01

The design goal for OnLive’s Internet-based Virtual Community system was to develop avatars and virtual communities where the participants sense a tele-presence – that they are really there in the virtual space with other people. This collective sense of "being-there" does not happen over the phone or with teleconferencing; it is a new and emerging phenomenon, unique to 3D virtual communities. While this group presence paradigm is a simple idea, the design and technical issues needed to begin...

Free-Operant Field Experiences: Differentially Reinforcing Successive Approximations to Behavior Analysis through a ShaperSpace

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Lee L.; Andrews, Alonzo; Rivera, Christopher J.; Davis, Don

2016-01-01

Over the past few years an increasing number of schools and community organizations have developed transformative learning spaces referred to as "MakerSpaces" for research and training purposes. MakerSpaces are organizations in which members sharing similar interests in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) gather to work on…

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Green Space Quality and Accessibility-Evidence from a Southern European City.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffimann, Elaine; Barros, Henrique; Ribeiro, Ana Isabel

2017-08-15

Background : The provision of green spaces is an important health promotion strategy to encourage physical activity and to improve population health. Green space provision has to be based on the principle of equity. This study investigated the presence of socioeconomic inequalities in geographic accessibility and quality of green spaces across Porto neighbourhoods (Portugal). Methods : Accessibility was evaluated using a Geographic Information System and all the green spaces were audited using the Public Open Space Tool. Kendall's tau-b correlation coefficients and ordinal regression were used to test whether socioeconomic differences in green space quality and accessibility were statistically significant. Results : Although the majority of the neighbourhoods had an accessible green space, mean distance to green space increased with neighbourhood deprivation. Additionally, green spaces in the more deprived neighbourhoods presented significantly more safety concerns, signs of damage, lack of equipment to engage in active leisure activities, and had significantly less amenities such as seating, toilets, cafés, etc. Conclusions : Residents from low socioeconomic positions seem to suffer from a double jeopardy; they lack both individual and community resources. Our results have important planning implications and might contribute to understanding why deprived communities have lower physical activity levels and poorer health.

Joint Space Forces in Theater: Coordination is No Longer Sufficient

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Livergood, Brian K

2007-01-01

.... The explosive growth of and demand for joint space capabilities have outstripped the joint community's ability to provide unifying doctrine and a command and control structure to meet the demands...

Active Space Debris Removal System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriele GUERRA

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Since the start of the space era, more than 5000 launches have been carried out, each carrying satellites for many disparate uses, such as Earth observation or communication. Thus, the space environment has become congested and the problem of space debris is now generating some concerns in the space community due to our long-lived belief that “space is big”. In the last few years, solutions to this problem have been proposed, one of those is Active Space Debris Removal: this method will reduce the increasing debris growth and permit future sustainable space activities. The main idea of the method proposed below is a drag augmentation system: use a system capable of putting an expanded foam on a debris which will increase the area-to-mass ratio to increase the natural atmospheric drag and solar pressure. The drag augmentation system proposed here requires a docking system; the debris will be pushed to its release height and then, after un-docking, an uncontrolled re-entry takes place ending with a burn up of the object and the foam in the atmosphere within a given time frame. The method requires an efficient way to change the orbit between two debris. The present paper analyses such a system in combination with an Electric Propulsion system, and emphasizes the choice of using two satellites to remove five effective rockets bodies debris within a year.

Space of solitude in culture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnieszka Małgorzata Kulig

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In my article I suggest looking at the phenomenon of solitude in culture not only as an opportunity to study an intimate and individual experience, to which numerous descriptions refer. I would rather consider whether possessing knowledge about this experience we acquire competencies regarding the culture in which this solitude has occurred. The discourse of melancholy, for which the space of solitude and confrontation with the ultimate has been the natural environment, supports me in describing the space of solitude in culture. For the purposes of reflection, I initiate my own definition of solitude as a space between life and death. That space allows the individual to feel the energy of life and the presence of death, even in such moments of human life (youth when the individual is not fully aware of their role in society, and is in the process of crystallizing their identity. In this case, solitude as a space between would be a state of suspension, which, however, prepares for active, independent life in the community. In this article, I refer to the postulate of the German culture researcher Thomas Macho in order to treat the experience of solitude as a context, an opportunity to practise techniques of culture, as well as to heterotopic space as defined by Michel Foucault.

Space and commodity-based society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gvozden Vladimir

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The space is privileged in the commodity-based society. It is well known that the economic space in the 19th and 20th centuries rapidly managed to subordinate all other areas 'conveying and instilling in them their own meanings and goals' (G. Milatović. A new form of space that qualifies commodity society was created, marked by dualities: openness-closeness, private-public, sameness-difference. This paper is an attempt to criticize the usual analysis of the categories of commodity-space, linked to the ambivalent role of the state as a guarantor of the functioning of the commodity-based society, as well as its controlling instance. The increasing delocalisation of the political changes the nature of the space in the commodity-based society. Privileged areas are produced that create an illusion of protection of consumers (shopping malls, gated communities, theme parks, video surveillance, while at the same time social differentiation and identification are produced through the symbolic order of commodities and a sense of inclusion or exclusion from that order. At the same time, the examples of tourism and selling places demonstrate that such a commodity-space unusually easy reconciles sameness and difference. It entails uniformity to help achieve the fluctuation of goods, while insisting on the local as different, especially in terms of the role of particularity in the global trade.

Context-Aware Community Construction in Proximity-Based Mobile Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Yu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Sensor-equipped mobile devices have allowed users to participate in various social networking services. We focus on proximity-based mobile social networking environments where users can share information obtained from different places via their mobile devices when they are in proximity. Since people are more likely to share information if they can benefit from the sharing or if they think the information is of interest to others, there might exist community structures where users who share information more often are grouped together. Communities in proximity-based mobile networks represent social groups where connections are built when people are in proximity. We consider information influence (i.e., specify who shares information with whom as the connection and the space and time related to the shared information as the contexts. To model the potential information influences, we construct an influence graph by integrating the space and time contexts into the proximity-based contacts of mobile users. Further, we propose a two-phase strategy to detect and track context-aware communities based on the influence graph and show how the context-aware community structure improves the performance of two types of mobile social applications.

Cellphones in Classrooms Land Teachers on Online Video Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Honawar, Vaishali

2007-01-01

Videos of teachers that students taped in secrecy are all over online sites like YouTube and MySpace. Angry teachers, enthusiastic teachers, teachers clowning around, singing, and even dancing are captured, usually with camera phones, for the whole world to see. Some students go so far as to create elaborately edited videos, shot over several…

Problematizing the Relationship between Rural Small Schools and Communities: Implications for Youth Lives

Science.gov (United States)

Cuervo, Hernán

2014-01-01

Small schools are often the hub of many rural communities. In the school space, a multiplicity of social, economic and political relationships are sustained, which enhance the vitality of the community. As such, the relationship between small schools and communities is often presented as a powerful one; however, too often as a harmonious, natural…

Evaluating abundance and trends in a Hawaiian avian community using state-space analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Camp, Richard J.; Brinck, Kevin W.; Gorresen, P.M.; Paxton, Eben H.

2016-01-01

Estimating population abundances and patterns of change over time are important in both ecology and conservation. Trend assessment typically entails fitting a regression to a time series of abundances to estimate population trajectory. However, changes in abundance estimates from year-to-year across time are due to both true variation in population size (process variation) and variation due to imperfect sampling and model fit. State-space models are a relatively new method that can be used to partition the error components and quantify trends based only on process variation. We compare a state-space modelling approach with a more traditional linear regression approach to assess trends in uncorrected raw counts and detection-corrected abundance estimates of forest birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Hawai‘i. Most species demonstrated similar trends using either method. In general, evidence for trends using state-space models was less strong than for linear regression, as measured by estimates of precision. However, while the state-space models may sacrifice precision, the expectation is that these estimates provide a better representation of the real world biological processes of interest because they are partitioning process variation (environmental and demographic variation) and observation variation (sampling and model variation). The state-space approach also provides annual estimates of abundance which can be used by managers to set conservation strategies, and can be linked to factors that vary by year, such as climate, to better understand processes that drive population trends.

From Commons to Classroom: The Evolution of Learning Spaces in Academic Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Karasic, Victoria

2016-01-01

Over the past two decades, academic library spaces have evolved to meet the changing teaching and learning needs of diverse campus communities. The Information Commons combines the physical and virtual in an informal library space, whereas the recent Active Learning Classroom creates a more formal setting for collaboration. As scholarship has…

EMERGENCE OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES AS MEANS OF COMMUNICATION: A Case Study On Virtual Health Care Communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehpare Tokay ARGAN

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Today, like in all areas, the Internet has had an important effect in the area of health as well. With the development of the Internet many new and different applications have developed and one of the most important of these are probably virtual communities. Virtual communities, which are used as a tool for providing information and word of mouth communication, have become a widely used marketing tool in the area of healthcare services in recent years. A virtual community is a group that does not depend on space and time to maintain ties or participation in the group whose members share the same interest and to maintain closeness, that is based on internet communications and whose membership is based on free will. In these kinds of communities whose services are provided on a membership basis, health services of various kinds are offered to the members. In virtual communities, virtual interactive communications established between the members can be an important determining factor when choosing a product, service or doctor.

Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallett, Jonathan; Brown, Graham; Maycock, Bruce; Langdon, Patricia

2007-01-01

This article is a case study of an Internet chat room outreach project in Perth, Western Australia. The CyberReach project sought to adapt current peer based health promotion outreach, training and supervision frameworks to an online outreach setting in a way that was effective and supported by the online community. It targeted marginalised groups to trial the provision of online mental and sexual health promotion incorporating a participatory action research model into its development and implementation. Three 6-week trial periods were conducted and significant changes were made in response to changes in the online environment and to improve sustainability and effectiveness of the protocols. Four themes arose from CyberReach's experience: online group processes are unique due to the creation of extensive personal networks and occurrence of disclosure without face-to-face contact across potentially large geographic barriers; flexibility is required to adapt to technological changes and online community flux; enforcing boundaries and delineating peer education from therapeutic support can be challenging when only using text-based communication; and Internet outreach can be time intensive with small returns in actual community engagement and constant technological up-skilling of staff may be required. Based on the project's experiences we offer the following recommendations when planning similar Internet outreach strategies: Funding and planning groups need to be aware that the Internet environment is constantly changing and planning and funding arrangements need to reflect a capacity to remain flexible; Programs need to be firmly connected to the communities they are outreaching therefore a peer-based education component is strongly encouraged; Careful consideration should be taken regarding data collection so that the environment and the individuals within are respected; Further research needs to be conducted to understand the styles and approaches of different

Low Functional β-Diversity Despite High Taxonomic β-Diversity among Tropical Estuarine Fish Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Villéger, Sébastien; Miranda, Julia Ramos; Hernandez, Domingo Flores; Mouillot, David

2012-01-01

The concept of β-diversity, defined as dissimilarity among communities, has been widely used to investigate biodiversity patterns and community assembly rules. However, in ecosystems with high taxonomic β-diversity, due to marked environmental gradients, the level of functional β-diversity among communities is largely overlooked while it may reveal processes shaping community structure. Here, decomposing biodiversity indices into α (local) and γ (regional) components, we estimated taxonomic and functional β-diversity among tropical estuarine fish communities, through space and time. We found extremely low functional β-diversity values among fish communities (diversities, α and γ functional diversities were very close to the minimal value. These patterns were caused by two dominant functional groups which maintained a similar functional structure over space and time, despite the strong dissimilarity in taxonomic structure along environmental gradients. Our findings suggest that taxonomic and functional β-diversity deserve to be quantified simultaneously since these two facets can show contrasting patterns and the differences can in turn shed light on community assembly rules. PMID:22792395

Setting Priorities for Space Research: Opportunities and Imperatives

Science.gov (United States)

Dutton, John A.; Abelson, Philip H.; Beckwith, Steven V. W.; Bishop, William P.; Byerly, Radford, Jr.; Crowe, Lawson; Dews, Peter; Garriott, Owen K.; Lunine, Jonathan; Macauley, Molly K.

1992-01-01

This report represents the first phase of a study by a task group convened by the Space Studies Board to ascertain whether it should attempt to develop a methodology for recommending priorities among the various initiatives in space research (that is, scientific activities concerned with phenomena in space or utilizing observations from space). The report argues that such priority statements by the space research community are both necessary and desirable and would contribute to the formulation and implementation of public policy. The report advocates the establishment of priorities to enhance effective management of the nation's scientific research program in space. It argues that scientific objectives and purposes should determine how and under what circumstances scientific research should be done. The report does not take a position on the controversy between advocates of manned space exploration and those who favor the exclusive use of unmanned space vehicles. Nor does the report address questions about the value or appropriateness of Space Station Freedom or proposals to establish a permanent manned Moon base or to undertake a manned mission to Mars. These issues lie beyond the charge to the task group.

Potential refractory alloy requirements for space nuclear power applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, R.H. Jr.

1984-01-01

In reviewing design requirements for refractory alloys for space nuclear applications, several key points are identified. First, the successful utilization of refractory alloys is considered an enabling requirement for the successful deployment of high efficiency, lightweight, and small space nuclear systems. Second, the recapture of refractory alloy nuclear technology developed in the 1960s and early 1970s appears to be a pacing activity in the successful utilization of refractory alloys. Third, the successful application of refractory alloys for space nuclear applications will present a significant challenge to both the materials and the systems design communities

Motivating and Facilitating Advancements in Space Weather Real-Time Data Availability: Factors, Data, and Access Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Pankratz, C. K.; Baker, D. N.; Jaynes, A. N.; Elkington, S. R.; Baltzer, T.; Sanchez, F.

2017-12-01

Society's growing reliance on complex and highly interconnected technological systems makes us increasingly vulnerable to the effects of space weather events - maybe more than for any other natural hazard. An extreme solar storm today could conceivably impact hundreds of the more than 1400 operating Earth satellites. Such an extreme storm could cause collapse of the electrical grid on continental scales. The effects on navigation, communication, and remote sensing of our home planet could be devastating to our social functioning. Thus, it is imperative that the scientific community address the question of just how severe events might become. At least as importantly, it is crucial that policy makers and public safety officials be informed by the facts on what might happen during extreme conditions. This requires essentially real-time alerts, warnings, and also forecasts of severe space weather events, which in turn demands measurements, models, and associated data products to be available via the most effective data discovery and access methods possible. Similarly, advancement in the fundamental scientific understanding of space weather processes is also vital, requiring that researchers have convenient and effective access to a wide variety of data sets and models from multiple sources. The space weather research community, as with many scientific communities, must access data from dispersed and often uncoordinated data repositories to acquire the data necessary for the analysis and modeling efforts that advance our understanding of solar influences and space physics on the Earth's environment. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), as a leading institution in both producing data products and advancing the state of scientific understanding of space weather processes, is well positioned to address many of these issues. In this presentation, we will outline the motivating factors for effective space weather data access, summarize the various data

NASA Space Biology Plant Research for 2010-2020

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, H. G.; Tomko, D. L.; Porterfield, D. M.

2012-01-01

The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) recently published "Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era" (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record id=13048), and NASA completed a Space Biology Science Plan to develop a strategy for implementing its recommendations ( http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/library/esmd documents.html). The most important recommendations of the NRC report on plant biology in space were that NASA should: (1) investigate the roles of microbial-plant systems in long-term bioregenerative life support systems, and (2) establish a robust spaceflight program of research analyzing plant growth and physiological responses to the multiple stimuli encountered in spaceflight environments. These efforts should take advantage of recently emerged analytical technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and apply modern cellular and molecular approaches in the development of a vigorous flight-based and ground-based research program. This talk will describe NASA's strategy and plans for implementing these NRC Plant Space Biology recommendations. New research capabilities for Plant Biology, optimized by providing state-of-the-art automated technology and analytical techniques to maximize scientific return, will be described. Flight experiments will use the most appropriate platform to achieve science results (e.g., ISS, free flyers, sub-orbital flights) and NASA will work closely with its international partners and other U.S. agencies to achieve its objectives. One of NASA's highest priorities in Space Biology is the development research capabilities for use on the International Space Station and other flight platforms for studying multiple generations of large plants. NASA will issue recurring NASA Research Announcements (NRAs) that include a rapid turn-around model to more fully engage the biology community in designing experiments to respond to the NRC recommendations. In doing so, NASA

Urbanization reduces and homogenizes trait diversity in stream macroinvertebrate communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnum, Thomas R; Weller, Donald E; Williams, Meghan

2017-12-01

More than one-half of the world's population lives in urban areas, so quantifying the effects of urbanization on ecological communities is important for understanding whether anthropogenic stressors homogenize communities across environmental and climatic gradients. We examined the relationship of impervious surface coverage (a marker of urbanization) and the structure of stream macroinvertebrate communities across the state of Maryland and within each of Maryland's three ecoregions: Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Appalachian, which differ in stream geomorphology and community composition. We considered three levels of trait organization: individual traits, unique combinations of traits, and community metrics (functional richness, functional evenness, and functional divergence) and three levels of impervious surface coverage (low [10%]). The prevalence of an individual trait differed very little between low impervious surface and high impervious surface sites. The arrangement of trait combinations in community trait space for each ecoregion differed when impervious surface coverage was low, but the arrangement became more similar among ecoregions as impervious surface coverage increased. Furthermore, trait combinations that occurred only at low or medium impervious surface coverage were clustered in a subset of the community trait space, indicating that impervious surface affected the presence of only a subset of trait combinations. Functional richness declined with increasing impervious surface, providing evidence for environmental filtering. Community metrics that include abundance were also sensitive to increasing impervious surface coverage: functional divergence decreased while functional evenness increased. These changes demonstrate that increasing impervious surface coverage homogenizes the trait diversity of macroinvertebrate communities in streams, despite differences in initial community composition and stream geomorphology among ecoregions. Community

Criteria for Public Open Space Enhancement to Achieve Social Interaction: a Review Paper

Science.gov (United States)

Salih, S. A.; Ismail, S.

2017-12-01

A This paper presents a various literatures, studies, transcripts and papers aiming to provide an overview of some theories and existing research on the significance of natural environments and green open spaces to achieve social interaction and outdoor recreation. The main objective of the paper is to identify the factors that affecting social interaction in green open spaces, through proving that an appropriate open spaces is important to enhance social interaction and community. This study employs (qualitative) summarizing content analysis method which mainly focused on collect and summarizing of documentation such as transcripts, articles, papers, and books from more than 25 source, regarding the importance of public open spaces for the community. The summarizing content analysis of this paper is the fundament for a qualitative oriented procedure of text interpretation used to analyse the information gathered. Results of this study confirms that sound social interaction need an appropriate physical space including criteria of: design, activities, access and linkage, administration and maintenance, place attachment and users’ characteristics, also previous studies in this area have a health perspective with measures of physical activity of open spaces in general.

Social networks and performance in distributed learning communities

OpenAIRE

Cadima, Rita; Ojeda Rodríguez, Jordi; Monguet Fierro, José María

2012-01-01

Social networks play an essential role in learning environments as a key channel for knowledge sharing and students' support. In distributed learning communities, knowledge sharing does not occur as spontaneously as when a working group shares the same physical space; knowledge sharing depends even more on student informal connections. In this study we analyse two distributed learning communities' social networks in order to understand how characteristics of the social structure can enhance s...

Whose commons are mobilities spaces?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Freudendal-Pedersen, Malene

2015-01-01

for cyclists and cycling to be given greater consideration in broader societal understandings of the common good. I argue that this is in fact not the case. Rather the specific project identities that are nurtured by Copenhagen’s cycling community inhibit it from advocating publicly or aggressively...... for a vision of the common good that gives cyclists greater and more protected access to the city’s mobility spaces...

Concept and Method of Asset-Based Community Development Planning: A Case Study on Minlecun Community in Chongqing’s Yuzhong District

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Huang; Ling; Liu; Yang; Xu; Jianfeng

2015-01-01

With the transformation of the Chinese economy from an extensive growth to intensive development, city development is also gradually turning from incremental construction to stock management. Community, as a basic unit of human settlements, is an important platform to build and improve the social governance capability. In 2013, Shiyoulu Jiedao Offi ce of Yuzhong District led the 1st urban community development planning, which was a milestone of Chongqing’s city regeneration and governance innovation. This paper focuses on two key issues: how to understand the community values and make the community development planning based on the above, and how to integrate with the local forces so that the community development planning can be integrated into the action plan. Combined with the practice of Minlecun Community Development Planning, using the concept of asset-based community development, a comprehensive survey is conducted on community assets(including three aspects of physical, human, and social capital), and a community comprehensive planning strategy is formulated which covers two parts: the optimization of community spaces and the upgrading of community governance. The paper explores the local-based community planning theories and methods from such aspects as value attitude, public participation, role transformation of urban planners, and others.

Maneuvering the Role as a Community College Artist-Educator: Scholarship Assessed

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, John R.; Murray, John P.

2009-01-01

This study examined how Texas community college artist-educators balance artistic productivity with their teaching responsibilities. The 98 survey respondents represented 76.6% of a stratified random sample of the full-time instructors in visual arts departments within the 50 Texas public community college districts. Access to studio space and…

A Study of Factors Influencing the Virtual Brand Communities Participation in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Chia, Chin Hwa

2015-01-01

The form of Virtual Community in the space of internet has resulted in a new dimension of communication among people. Virtual communities can be utilized by businesses as a medium to help them in their growth and increase performance levels. Virtual communities have evolved into virtual brand communities where members share the same interest and objective, provide guidance, feedback and comments to the other members. This has become an opportunity for the marketers to build a closer and stabl...

Preserving the Near-Earth Space Environment with Green Engineering and Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Nicholas L.

2009-01-01

Green engineering and operations are essential to preserving the near-Earth space environment for future generations. The U.S. and the international aerospace community have been proactive in addressing the threat of the increasing orbital debris population and the risks to people and property from reentering debris. NASA has led this activity first by devoting resources to thoroughly understand the technical issues and then by developing effective and acceptable policies and guidelines. NASA also worked closely with the international community to ensure that the US aerospace industry was not placed at an economic disadvantage. In the long term, the removal of large orbital debris will be essential to the sustainability of space operations.

The chinese space program as the image instrument of the great China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Lemus Delgado

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the Chinese space program and how the bureaucratic elite acts to convert China as a leading nation in international arena. This article assumes that, beyond the scientific advances that space exploration has in multiple fields of knowledge, the support to the space program depicts a way to project a positive image of China. This image is a China rising in the international community. The author discusses how space missions and the discourse around the space program strengthen national pride. Thus, China’s space program projects the image of a Greater China. The article concludes that the space program shows that China is modernizing rapidly and is able to be a world power.

SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND RESIDENTIAL SPACE: CONTEXTUALIZING NEW URBANISM WITHIN A BROADER THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamad Kashef

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This study engages the planning and urban design literature as well as social theory to develop a nuanced understanding of issues related to neighborhood form and sense of community. The study analyzes the meaning of community from economic, social, and cultural perspectives. It contextualizes the New Urbanism use of physical design as a subtext for community within a broader theoretical context. The study revisits the New Urbanism design principle regarding the interface between the private and public realm and its relationship to the idea of place and social attachment. While questioning the relevance of the New Urbanism planning agenda to U.S. metropolitan formations, the study discussions underline the value of its design formula for the social life of residential neighborhoods. The multidisciplinary approach of this study unravels some of the confusion over sociospatial dialectics in general, and community and built environment in particular. It opens the door for further cross-disciplinary research aimed at understanding and potentially optimizing the relationship between people and their built environments.

Evaluating energy, health and carbon co-benefits from improved domestic space heating: A randomised community trial

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Preval, Nick; Chapman, Ralph; Pierse, Nevil; Howden-Chapman, Philippa

2010-01-01

In order to value the costs and benefits associated with improved space heating we analysed the Housing, Heating and Health Study, a randomised community trial involving installation of energy efficient and healthy heaters (heat pump, wood pellet burner or flued gas heater) in homes with basic insulation and poor heating, occupied by households which included a child with asthma. We compared the initial purchase and installation cost of heaters with changes in the number of visits to health professionals, time off work/school, caregiving, and pharmaceutical use for household members and changes in total household energy use and carbon emissions following the intervention. We used two scenarios to analyse the results over the predicted 12-year life-span of the heaters. The targeted approach (Scenario A - assuming high rates of household asthma throughout the period of analysis) produced enough health-related benefits to offset the cost of the heaters, and when total energy use and carbon emission savings were included in the analysis the ratio of benefits to costs was 1.09:1. The untargeted approach (Scenario B - assuming typical New Zealand asthma rates throughout the period of analysis) had a ratio of total benefits to costs of 0.31:1.

Evaluating energy, health and carbon co-benefits from improved domestic space heating. A randomised community trial

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Preval, Nick; Pierse, Nevil; Howden-Chapman, Philippa [He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, University of Otago, Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington South (New Zealand); Chapman, Ralph [School of Geography, Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140 (New Zealand)

2010-08-15

In order to value the costs and benefits associated with improved space heating we analysed the Housing, Heating and Health Study, a randomised community trial involving installation of energy efficient and healthy heaters (heat pump, wood pellet burner or flued gas heater) in homes with basic insulation and poor heating, occupied by households which included a child with asthma. We compared the initial purchase and installation cost of heaters with changes in the number of visits to health professionals, time off work/school, caregiving, and pharmaceutical use for household members and changes in total household energy use and carbon emissions following the intervention. We used two scenarios to analyse the results over the predicted 12-year life-span of the heaters. The targeted approach (Scenario A - assuming high rates of household asthma throughout the period of analysis) produced enough health-related benefits to offset the cost of the heaters, and when total energy use and carbon emission savings were included in the analysis the ratio of benefits to costs was 1.09:1. The untargeted approach (Scenario B - assuming typical New Zealand asthma rates throughout the period of analysis) had a ratio of total benefits to costs of 0.31:1. (author)

Evaluating energy, health and carbon co-benefits from improved domestic space heating: A randomised community trial

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Preval, Nick [He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, University of Otago, Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington South (New Zealand); Chapman, Ralph, E-mail: Ralph.chapman@vuw.ac.n [School of Geography, Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140 (New Zealand); Pierse, Nevil; Howden-Chapman, Philippa [He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, University of Otago, Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington South (New Zealand)

2010-08-15

In order to value the costs and benefits associated with improved space heating we analysed the Housing, Heating and Health Study, a randomised community trial involving installation of energy efficient and healthy heaters (heat pump, wood pellet burner or flued gas heater) in homes with basic insulation and poor heating, occupied by households which included a child with asthma. We compared the initial purchase and installation cost of heaters with changes in the number of visits to health professionals, time off work/school, caregiving, and pharmaceutical use for household members and changes in total household energy use and carbon emissions following the intervention. We used two scenarios to analyse the results over the predicted 12-year life-span of the heaters. The targeted approach (Scenario A - assuming high rates of household asthma throughout the period of analysis) produced enough health-related benefits to offset the cost of the heaters, and when total energy use and carbon emission savings were included in the analysis the ratio of benefits to costs was 1.09:1. The untargeted approach (Scenario B - assuming typical New Zealand asthma rates throughout the period of analysis) had a ratio of total benefits to costs of 0.31:1.

Online epistemic communities: theoretical and methodological directions for understanding knowledge co-elaboration in new digital spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Détienne, Françoise; Barcellini, Flore; Baker, Michael; Burkhardt, Jean-Marie; Fréard, Dominique

2012-01-01

This paper presents, illustrates and discusses a generic framework for studying knowledge co-elaboration in online epistemic communities ("OECs"). Our approach is characterised by: considering knowledge co-elaboration as a design activity; distinguishing discussion and production spaces in OECs; characterising participation via the notion of role; fine-grained analyses of meaning, content and communicative functions in interactions. On this basis, three key issues for ergonomics research on OECs are discussed and illustrated by results from our previous studies on OSS and Wikipedia. One issue concerns the interrelation between design (task) and regulation. Whereas design task-oriented activity is distributed among participants, we illustrate that OCEs function with specialised emerging roles of group regulation. However, the task-oriented activity also functions at an interpersonal level, as an interplay of knowledge-based discussion with negotiation of competencies. Another issue concerns the foci of activity on the (designed) knowledge object. Based on a generic task model, we illustrate asymmetry and distinctiveness in tasks' foci of participants. The last issue concerns how design-use mediation is ensured by specific forms of mediation roles in OECs. Finally we discuss the degree of generality of our framework and draw some perspectives for extending our framework to other OECs.

Managing Space System Faults: Coalescing NASA's Views

Science.gov (United States)

Muirhead, Brian; Fesq, Lorraine

2012-01-01

Managing faults and their resultant failures is a fundamental and critical part of developing and operating aerospace systems. Yet, recent studies have shown that the engineering "discipline" required to manage faults is not widely recognized nor evenly practiced within the NASA community. Attempts to simply name this discipline in recent years has been fraught with controversy among members of the Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM), Fault Management (FM), Fault Protection (FP), Hazard Analysis (HA), and Aborts communities. Approaches to managing space system faults typically are unique to each organization, with little commonality in the architectures, processes and practices across the industry.

Fundamentals of Space Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Clément, Gilles

2005-03-01

A total of more than 240 human space flights have been completed to date, involving about 450 astronauts from various countries, for a combined total presence in space of more than 70 years. The seventh long-duration expedition crew is currently in residence aboard the International Space Station, continuing a permanent presence in space that began in October 2000. During that time, investigations have been conducted on both humans and animal models to study the bone demineralization and muscle deconditioning, space motion sickness, the causes and possible treatment of postflight orthostatic intolerance, the changes in immune function, crew and crew-ground interactions, and the medical issues of living in a space environment, such as the effects of radiation or the risk of developing kidney stones. Some results of these investigations have led to fundamental discoveries about the adaptation of the human body to the space environment. Gilles Clément has been active in this research. This readable text presents the findings from the life science experiments conducted during and after space missions. Topics discussed in this book include: adaptation of sensory-motor, cardio-vascular, bone, and muscle systems to the microgravity of spaceflight; psychological and sociological issues of living in a confined, isolated, and stressful environment; operational space medicine, such as crew selection, training and in-flight health monitoring, countermeasures and support; results of space biology experiments on individual cells, plants, and animal models; and the impact of long-duration missions such as the human mission to Mars. The author also provides a detailed description of how to fly a space experiment, based on his own experience with research projects conducted onboard Salyut-7, Mir, Spacelab, and the Space Shuttle. Now is the time to look at the future of human spaceflight and what comes next. The future human exploration of Mars captures the imagination of both the

Life science research objectives and representative experiments for the space station

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Catherine C. (Editor); Arno, Roger D. (Editor); Mains, Richard (Editor)

1989-01-01

A workshop was convened to develop hypothetical experiments to be used as a baseline for space station designer and equipment specifiers to ensure responsiveness to the users, the life science community. Sixty-five intra- and extramural scientists were asked to describe scientific rationales, science objectives, and give brief representative experiment descriptions compatible with expected space station accommodations, capabilities, and performance envelopes. Experiment descriptions include hypothesis, subject types, approach, equipment requirements, and space station support requirements. The 171 experiments are divided into 14 disciplines.

Mingling, observing, and lingering: everyday public spaces and their implications for well-being and social relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cattell, Vicky; Dines, Nick; Gesler, Wil; Curtis, Sarah

2008-09-01

The rejuvenation of public spaces is a key policy concern in the UK. Drawing on a wide literature and on qualitative research located in a multi-ethnic area of East London, this paper explores their relationship to well-being and social relations. It demonstrates that ordinary spaces are a significant resource for both individuals and communities. The beneficial properties of public spaces are not reducible to natural or aesthetic criteria, however. Social interaction in spaces can provide relief from daily routines, sustenance for people's sense of community, opportunities for sustaining bonding ties or making bridges, and can influence tolerance and raise people's spirits. They also possess subjective meanings that accumulate over time and can contribute to meeting diverse needs. Different users of public spaces attain a sense of well- being for different reasons: the paper calls for policy approaches in which the social and therapeutic properties of a range of everyday spaces are more widely recognised and nurtured.

Multifractal characteristics of NDVI maps in space and time in the Community of Madrid (Spain)

Science.gov (United States)

Sotoca, Juan J. Martin; Saa-Requejo, Antonio; Grau, Juan B.; Tarquis, Ana M.

2015-04-01

Satellite information has contributed to improve our understanding of the spatial variability of hydro-climatic and ecological processes. Vegetation activity is tightly coupled with climate, hydro-ecological fluxes, and terrain dynamics in river basins at a wide range of space-time scales (Scheuring and Riedi, 1994). Indices of vegetation activity are constructed using satellite information of reflectance of the relevant spectral bands which enhance the contribution of vegetation being Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) widely used. How can we study such a complex system? Multifractals and fractals are related techniques mainly used in physics to characterize the scaling behaviour of a system; they differ in that fractals look at the geometry of presence/absence patterns, while multifractals look at the arrangement of quantities such as population or biomass densities (Saravia et al., 2012). Scaling laws are an emergent general feature of ecological systems; they reflect constraints in their organization that can provide tracks about the underlying mechanisms (Solé and Bascompte, 2006). In this work, we have applied these techniques to study the spatial pattern through one year of NDVI maps. A rectangular area that includes the Community of Madrid and part of the surroundings, consisting of 300 x 280 pixels with a resolution of 500 x 500 m2 has been selected and monthly NDVI maps analyzed using the multifractal spectrum and the map of singularities (Cheng and Agterberg, 1996). The results show a cyclical pattern in the multifractal behaviour and singularity points related to river basin networks (Martín-Sotoca, 2014). References Cheng, Q. and Agterberg, F.P. (1996). Multifractal modeling and spatial statistics. Math. Geol. Vol 28, 1-16. Martín-Sotoca, J.J. (2014) Estructura Espacial de la Sequía en Pastos y sus Aplicaciones en el Seguro Agrario. Master Thesis, UPM (In Spanish). Saravia LA, Giorgi A, Momo F.: Multifractal growth in periphyton

Multiple Minority Stress and LGBT Community Resilience among Sexual Minority Men.

Science.gov (United States)

McConnell, Elizabeth A; Janulis, Patrick; Phillips, Gregory; Truong, Roky; Birkett, Michelle

2018-03-01

Minority stress theory has widespread research support in explaining health disparities experienced by sexual and gender minorities. However, less is known about how minority stress impacts multiply marginalized groups, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of color (LGBT POC). Also, although research has documented resilience in the face of minority stress at the individual level, research is needed that examines macro-level processes such as community resilience (Meyer, 2015). In the current study, we integrate minority stress theory and intersectionality theory to examine multiple minority stress (i.e., racial/ethnic stigma in LGBT spaces and LGBT stigma in one's neighborhood) and community resilience (i.e., connection to LGBT community) among sexual minority men of different racial/ethnic groups who use a geosocial networking application for meeting sexual partners. Results showed that Black sexual minority men reported the highest levels of racial/ethnic stigma in LGBT spaces and White sexual minority men reported the lowest levels, with Asian and Hispanic/Latino men falling in between. Consistent with minority stress theory, racial/ethnic stigma in LGBT spaces and LGBT stigma in one's neighborhood were associated with greater stress for sexual minority men of all racial/ethnic groups. However, connection to LGBT community played more central role in mediating the relationship between stigma and stress for White than POC sexual minority men. Results suggest that minority stress and community resilience processes may differ for White and POC sexual minority men. Potential processes driving these differences and implications for minority stress theory are discussed.

Towards a National Space Weather Predictive Capability

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, N. J.; Ryschkewitsch, M. G.; Merkin, V. G.; Stephens, G. K.; Gjerloev, J. W.; Barnes, R. J.; Anderson, B. J.; Paxton, L. J.; Ukhorskiy, A. Y.; Kelly, M. A.; Berger, T. E.; Bonadonna, L. C. M. F.; Hesse, M.; Sharma, S.

2015-12-01

National needs in the area of space weather informational and predictive tools are growing rapidly. Adverse conditions in the space environment can cause disruption of satellite operations, communications, navigation, and electric power distribution grids, leading to a variety of socio-economic losses and impacts on our security. Future space exploration and most modern human endeavors will require major advances in physical understanding and improved transition of space research to operations. At present, only a small fraction of the latest research and development results from NASA, NOAA, NSF and DoD investments are being used to improve space weather forecasting and to develop operational tools. The power of modern research and space weather model development needs to be better utilized to enable comprehensive, timely, and accurate operational space weather tools. The mere production of space weather information is not sufficient to address the needs of those who are affected by space weather. A coordinated effort is required to support research-to-applications transition efforts and to develop the tools required those who rely on this information. In this presentation we will review the space weather system developed for the Van Allen Probes mission, together with other datasets, tools and models that have resulted from research by scientists at JHU/APL. We will look at how these, and results from future missions such as Solar Probe Plus, could be applied to support space weather applications in coordination with other community assets and capabilities.

Outcome Mapping Virtual Learning Community - Phase III | IDRC ...

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

Indeed, the OMLC affirmed its position as a vibrant community of practice ... a virtual space (www.outcomemapping.ca), and online interaction will be the key driver. ... communication technology (ICT) on social and human development is new ...

Predicting Space Weather: Challenges for Research and Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, H. J.; Onsager, T. G.; Rutledge, R.; Viereck, R. A.; Kunches, J.

2013-12-01

Society's growing dependence on technologies and infrastructure susceptible to the consequences of space weather has given rise to increased attention at the highest levels of government as well as inspired the need for both research and improved space weather services. In part, for these reasons, the number one goal of the recent National Research Council report on a Decadal Strategy for Solar and Space Physics is to 'Determine the origins of the Sun's activity and predict the variations in the space environment.' Prediction of conditions in our space environment is clearly a challenge for both research and operations, and we require the near-term development and validation of models that have sufficient accuracy and lead time to be useful to those impacted by space weather. In this presentation, we will provide new scientific results of space weather conditions that have challenged space weather forecasters, and identify specific areas of research that can lead to improved capabilities. In addition, we will examine examples of customer impacts and requirements as well as the challenges to the operations community to establish metrics that enable the selection and transition of models and observations that can provide the greatest economic and societal benefit.

Urban Space Explorer: A Visual Analytics System for Urban Planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Karduni, Alireza; Cho, Isaac; Wessel, Ginette; Ribarsky, William; Sauda, Eric; Dou, Wenwen

2017-01-01

Understanding people's behavior is fundamental to many planning professions (including transportation, community development, economic development, and urban design) that rely on data about frequently traveled routes, places, and social and cultural practices. Based on the results of a practitioner survey, the authors designed Urban Space Explorer, a visual analytics system that utilizes mobile social media to enable interactive exploration of public-space-related activity along spatial, temporal, and semantic dimensions.

Preliminary Data for Space Grade Spectralon® BRDF Targets & Standards

OpenAIRE

Durell, Chris; Wilks, Dylan; Kinkaid, Jeff

2014-01-01

Spectralon is an extremely stable, near-perfect lambertian reflecting diffuser and calibration standard material that has been used by national labs, space, aerospace and commercial sectors for over two decades. New uncertainty targets of 2% on-orbit absolute validation in the Earth Observing Systems community have challenged the industry to improve is characterization and knowledge of almost every aspect of radiometric performance (space and ground). Assuming “near perfect” reflectance and...

Integrative Review of the Intersection of Green Space and Neighborhood Violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Mancus, Gibran C; Campbell, Jacquelyn

2018-03-01

To systematically analyze evidence about the impact of green space on the perception and actual safety of residents of urban neighborhoods. Systematic review of green space and violence based on Broome review criteria. One landmark study prompted the initial hand search and identification of search terms. Twenty-three quantitative, five qualitative, and two mixed-methods studies were found in the urban planning, public health, medical, and psychological literature that met the following criteria: analyzed green space and violence as factors in the perception of safety as an outcome measure, including action taken by being outside for recreation, exercise, or self-report in the survey. Findings were inconsistent regarding the direct relationship between perception of safety and green space when using recreation and exercise as a proxy for perception of safety. Findings regarding perception of safety in surveys were limited but indicated a positive correlation with green space. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that the perception of safety is supported by quality, accessibility, and aesthetic dimensions of neighborhood green space, and the perception of safety is often unrelated to actual crime rates. The science for understanding mechanisms between green space and violence as part of environmental health has been insufficiently developed and requires further study. Environmental health, including green space, is central to health promotion, and understanding is key to preventing the epidemic of violence. This article provides a summary of research related to green space, violence in communities, perception of safety, and violent crime in those communities. It identifies gaps in our knowledge where future research is needed. Nurses have the opportunity to lead the development, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based interventions and policies addressing the inequality of quality and quantity of green space in the built and natural environment and

Growing Physics and Astronomy Public Outreach in Montreal

Science.gov (United States)

Simard, Gabrielle; Lepo, Kelly

2017-01-01

AstroMcGill was founded in 2011 by an enthusiastic group of undergraduate students, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. It serves as the education and public outreach (EPO) branch of the astronomy group within the Physics Department at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Over the last five years, AstroMcGill has grown from organizing sporadic visits in a couple primary schools to running a successful inquiry-based outreach programme for grade 4-6 students, the McGill Space Explorers. During the same time span, the attendance at public AstroNight lectures ramped up from attracting a few dozen people to over 500 people each month. We will highlight the recent successes of the programme and our best guesses for the reasons behind this success. We will also discuss the challenges of working in a bilingual city as we juggle our majority anglophone volunteers, a mandatory french science curriculum for primary school children and the (somewhat) overlapping English- and French-speaking communities in the city.

Spatial and temporal variation of archaeal, bacterial and fungal communities in agricultural soils

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Cassia Pereira e Silva, Michele; Franco Dias, Armando Cavalcante; van Elsas, Jan Dirk; Salles, Joana Falcao

2012-01-01

Background: Soil microbial communities are in constant change at many different temporal and spatial scales. However, the importance of these changes to the turnover of the soil microbial communities has been rarely studied simultaneously in space and time. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this

Transforming Child and Youth Mental Health Care via Innovative Technological Solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pepler, Antonio; Boydell, Katherine M; Teshima, John; Volpe, Tiziana; Braunberger, Peter G; Minden, Debbie

2011-01-01

Live interactive videoconferencing and other technologies offer innovative opportunities for effective delivery of specialized child and adolescent mental health services. In this article, an example of a comprehensive telepsychiatry program is presented to highlight a variety of capacity-building initiatives that are responsive to community needs and cultures; these initiatives are allowing children, youth and caregivers to access otherwise-distant specialist services within their home communities. Committed, enthusiastic champions, adequate funding and infrastructure, creativity and a positive attitude represent key elements in the adaptation of this demonstrated user-friendly modality.

Promoting physical activity through the shared use of school recreational spaces: a policy statement from the American Heart Association.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Deborah R; Spengler, John O; Frost, Natasha; Evenson, Kelly R; Vincent, Jeffrey M; Whitsel, Laurie

2014-09-01

Most Americans are not sufficiently physically active, even though regular physical activity improves health and reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. Those living in rural, non-White, and lower-income communities often have insufficient access to places to be active, which can contribute to their lower level of physical activity. The shared use of school recreational facilities can provide safe and affordable places for communities. Studies suggest that challenges to shared use include additional cost, liability protection, communication among constituencies interested in sharing space, and decision-making about scheduling and space allocation. This American Heart Association policy statement has provided recommendations for federal, state, and local decision-makers to support and expand opportunities for physical activity in communities through the shared use of school spaces.

Investigation of role of cultural spaces to promote level of quality of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Culture is the root of all changes in past and modern communities, which is the foundation and base of civilization of the people of each country. ... and (84.2%) created effects of cultural spaces to fill leisure times of youth, and (84.5%) spatial diversity to attract different age groups by (making space multipurpose) and ...

South Dakota Space Grant Consortium: Balancing Indigenous Earth System and Space Science with Western/Contemporary Science

Science.gov (United States)

Bolman, J.; Nall, J.

2005-05-01

The South Dakota Space Grant Consortium (SDSGC) was established March 1, 1991 by a NASA Capability Enhancement Grant. Since that time SDSGC has worked to provide earth system and space science education, outreach and services to all students across South Dakota. South Dakota has nine tribes and five Tribal Colleges. This has presented a tremendous opportunity to develop sustainable equitable partnerships and collaborations. SDSGC believes strongly in developing programs and activities that highlight and reinforce the balance of Indigenous science and ways of knowing with current findings in Western/Contemporary Science. This blending of science and culture creates a learning community where individuals especially students, can gain confidence and pride in their unique skills and abilities. Universities are also witnessing the accomplishments and achievements of students who are able to experience a tribal environment and then carry that experience to a college/university/workplace and significantly increase the learning achievement of all. The presentation will highlight current Tribal College and Tribal Community partnerships with the Rosebud Sioux Reservation (Sinte Gleska University), Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Oglala Lakota College), Standing Rock Sioux Reservation (Sitting Bull College) and Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation (Si Tanka) amongst others. Programs and activities to be explained during the presentation include but not limited to: NASA Workforce Native Connections, Scientific Knowledge for Indian Learning and Leadership (SKILL), NSF "Bridges to Success" Summer Research Program, NSF "Fire Ecology" Summer Research Experience, as well as geospatial and space science programs for students and general community members. The presentation will also cover the current initiatives underway through NASA Workforce Development. These include: partnering with the Annual He Sapa Wacipi (Black Hills Pow Wow - attendance of 14,000 Natives) to host Native Space

COMPLEXITY OF ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS (THE CASE OF MARINE CILIATE COMMUNITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.V. Burkovsky

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The paper analyzes the seasonal and long-term dynamics of marine interstitial ciliates communities as a result of the processes of system self-organization (of increasing complexity in constantly fluctuating environment. The traits of simple structure of ciliate community include substantial variability in the composition (even in case of stable environment and the lack of sustainable combinations of species. The mechanism of the current state maintenance is the lack of energy supply in certain periods or in specific loci of space, as well as large amplitude and unpredictable fluctuations of environmental factors. An indication of the community’s complexity is availability of stable combinations of species in time and space. The mechanisms of formation of stable species combinations are a constant flow of external energy, optimal values and stability of environmental factors (including repeatability of seasonal cycles and the use of space resources by species according the principle of complementarity of ecological niches.

Coordinating Communities and Building Governance in the Development of Schematic and Semantic Standards: the Key to Solving Global Earth and Space Science Challenges in the 21st Century.

Science.gov (United States)

Wyborn, L. A.

2007-12-01

The Information Age in Science is being driven partly by the data deluge as exponentially growing volumes of data are being generated by research. Such large volumes of data cannot be effectively processed by humans and efficient and timely processing by computers requires development of specific machine readable formats. Further, as key challenges in earth and space sciences, such as climate change, hazard prediction and sustainable development resources require a cross disciplinary approach, data from various domains will need to be integrated from globally distributed sources also via machine to machine formats. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the existing standards can be very domain specific and most existing data transfer formats require human intervention. Where groups from different communities do try combine data across the domain/discipline boundaries much time is spent reformatting and reorganizing the data and it is conservatively estimated that this can take 80% of a project's time and resources. Four different types of standards are required for machine to machine interaction: systems, syntactic, schematic and semantic. Standards at the systems (WMS, WFS, etc) and at the syntactic level (GML, Observation and Measurement, SensorML) are being developed through international standards bodies such as ISO, OGC, W3C, IEEE etc. In contrast standards at the schematic level (e.g., GeoSciML, LandslidesML, WaterML, QuakeML) and at the semantic level (ie ontologies and vocabularies) are currently developing rapidly, in a very uncoordinated way and with little governance. As the size of the community that can machine read each others data depends on the size of the community that has developed the schematic or semantic standards, it is essential that to achieve global integration of earth and space science data, the required standards need to be developed through international collaboration using accepted standard proceedures. Once developed the

The impact of crime and the fear thereof on the nature and use of public space in the capital city of South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karina Landman

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Levels of insecurity, crime and inequality remain very high in Brazilian and South African cities. Consequently, wealthier residents retreat to protected common spaces behind walls and fences. As a result, there has been a growth of many quasi-public spaces in shopping malls and gated communities. This raises questions regarding the change of public space and the impact of crime and the fear thereof on the use of these spaces. The discussion shows how the form and function of different spaces in the capital city of South Africa, Pretoria, have changed in various parts of the city through neglect, revitalization and privatization and how this have shaped the experience of users in relation to crime and the fear thereof. The paper argues for a more nuanced reading of the transformation of public space. Firstly, it recognizes that in rapidly changing cities of transitional countries there may still be a need for different types of public spaces, including those in gated communities. Secondly, although safety is a major concern among users of public space, it does not imply that gated communities offers the only solution to safe public space. Therefore, alternatives approaches should be considered.

Aligning physical learning spaces with the curriculum: AMEE Guide No. 107.

Science.gov (United States)

Nordquist, Jonas; Sundberg, Kristina; Laing, Andrew

2016-08-01

This Guide explores emerging issues on the alignment of learning spaces with the changing curriculum in medical education. As technology and new teaching methods have altered the nature of learning in medical education, it is necessary to re-think how physical learning spaces are aligned with the curriculum. The better alignment of learning spaces with the curriculum depends on more directly engaged leadership from faculty and the community of medical education for briefing the requirements for the design of all kinds of learning spaces. However, there is a lack of precedent and well-established processes as to how new kinds of learning spaces should be programmed. Such programmes are essential aspects of optimizing the intended experience of the curriculum. Faculty and the learning community need better tools and instruments to support their leadership role in briefing and programming. A Guide to critical concepts for exploring the alignment of curriculum and learning spaces is provided. The idea of a networked learning landscape is introduced as a way of assessing and evaluating the alignment of physical spaces to the emerging curriculum. The concept is used to explore how technology has widened the range of spaces and places in which learning happens as well as enabling new styles of learning. The networked learning landscaped is explored through four different scales within which learning is accommodated: the classroom, the building, the campus, and the city. High-level guidance on the process of briefing for the networked learning landscape is provided, to take into account the wider scale of learning spaces and the impact of technology. Key to a successful measurement process is argued to be the involvement of relevant academic stakeholders who can identify the strategic direction and purpose for the design of the learning environments in relation to the emerging demands of the curriculum.

Characterizing Space Weather Effects in the Post-DMSP Era

Science.gov (United States)

Groves, K. M.

2015-12-01

Space weather generally refers to heliophysical phenomena or events that produce a negative impact on manmade systems. While many space weather events originate with impulsive disturbances on the sun, others result from complex internal interactions in the ionosphere-thermosphere system. The reliance of mankind on satellite-based services continues to increase rapidly, yet the global capacity for sensing space weather in the ionosphere seems headed towards decline. A number of recent ionospheric-focused space-based missions are either presently, or soon-to-be, no longer available, and the end of the multi-decade Defense Meteorological Satellite Program is now in sight. The challenge facing the space weather community is how to maintain or increase sensing capabilities in an operational environment constrained by a decreasing numbers of sensors. The upcoming launch of COSMIC-2 in 2016/2018 represents the most significant new capability planned for the future. GNSS RO data has some benefit for background ionospheric models, particularly over regions where ground-based GNSS TEC measurements are unavailable, but the space weather community has a dire need to leverage such missions for far more knowledge of the ionosphere, and specifically for information related to space weather impacts. Meanwhile, the number of ground-based GNSS sensors worldwide has increased substantially, yet progress instrumenting some vastly undersampled regions, such as Africa, remains slow. In fact, the recent loss of support for many existing ground stations in such areas under the former Scintillation Network Decision Aid (SCINDA) program may actually result in a decrease in such sensing sites over the next 1-2 years, abruptly reversing a positive trend established over the last decade. Here we present potential solutions to the challenges these developments pose to the space weather enterprise. Specific topics include modeling advances required to detect and accurately characterize

Learning in Discussion Forums: An Analysis of Knowledge Construction in a Gaming Affinity Space

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Don; Marone, Vittorio

2016-01-01

In the learning sciences and game studies communities, there has been an increasing interest in the potential of game-related "paratexts" and "surrounds" in supporting learning, such as online discussion forums and gaming affinity spaces. While there have been studies identifying how learning occurs in such communities, little…

Natural woodland vegetation and plant species richness of the urban open spaces in Gauteng, South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C.H. Grobler

2002-01-01

Full Text Available It is estimated that approximately 60 % of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2025. In Gauteng, the most densely populated province in South Africa, the natural open spaces are continually under threat from development. Vegetation is the most physical representation of the environment on which all animals are ultimately dependent. In order to evaluate an areas potential for development or conservation it is necessary to make a thorough inventory of the plant communities and their associated habitats. A survey of the natural woodlands was undertaken as part of a project describing the vegetation of the natural open spaces within the Gauteng region. Relevés were compiled in 73 stratified random sample plots in selected open spaces within the study area. A TWINSPAN classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, indicated six woodland communities that can be grouped into two major woodland communities. A classification and description of these communities as well as their species richness are presented. The results indicate that there are still patches of well-preserved natural vegetation within the study area and contribute to the limited knowledge that presently exists for the vegetation of the area.

COMESEP: bridging the gap between the SEP, CME, and terrestrial effects scientific communities

Science.gov (United States)

Crosby, Norma; Veronig, Astrid; Rodriguez, Luciano; Vrsnak, Bojan; Vennerstrøm, Susanne; Malandraki, Olga; Dalla, Silvia; Srivastava, Nandita

2016-04-01

In the past there has been a tendency for the geomagnetic storm and solar energetic particle (SEP) communities to work in parallel rather than to apply a cross-disciplinary work approach specifically in regard to space weather forecasting. To provide more awareness on the existing links between these communities, as well as further bridge this gap, the three-year EU FP7 COMESEP (COronal Mass Ejections and Solar Energetic Particles: forecasting the space weather impact) project emphasized cross-collaboration between the SEP, coronal mass ejection, and terrestrial effects scientific communities. COMESEP went from basic solar-terrestrial physics research to space weather operations by developing, validating and implementing multi-purpose tools into an operational 24/7 alert service. Launched in November 2013, the COMESEP alert system provides space weather stakeholders geomagnetic storm alerts ("Event based" and "Next 24 hours") and SEP (proton) storm alerts (E > 10 MeV and E > 60 MeV) without human intervention based on the COMESEP definition of risk. COMESEP alerts and forecasts are freely available on the COMESEP alert website (http://www.comesep.eu/alert), as well as disseminated by e-mail to registered users. Acknowledgement: This work has received funding from the European Commission FP7 Project COMESEP (263252).

Inclusive Innovation in Biohacker Spaces: The Role of Systems and Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeremy de Beer

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In this article, we examine the development of biohacker spaces and their impact on innovation systems through the lens of inclusive innovation. Examining issues associated with people, activities, outcomes, and governance, we observe that biohacker spaces offer an alternative approach to biotechnological research outside the orthodox walls of academia, industry, and government. We explain that harnessing the full innovative potential of these spaces depends on flexible legal and regulatory systems, including appropriate biosafety regulations and intellectual property policies and practices, and organic, community-based social and financial networking.

Racialized Spaces in Teacher Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Place-Based Identities in Roche Bois, Mauritius

Science.gov (United States)

Wiehe, Elsa M.

2013-01-01

This eleven-month ethnographic study puts critical discourse analysis in dialogue with postmodern conceptualizations of space and place to explore how eight educators talk about space and in the process, produce racialized spaces in Roche Bois, Mauritius. The macro-historical context of racialization of this urban marginalized community informs…

Technology Applications that Support Space Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Edward M.; Holderman, Mark L.

2011-01-01

Several enabling technologies have been identified that would provide significant benefits for future space exploration. In-Space demonstrations should be chosen so that these technologies will have a timely opportunity to improve efficiencies and reduce risks for future spaceflight. An early window exists to conduct ground and flight demonstrations that make use of existing assets that were developed for the Space Shuttle and the Constellation programs. The work could be mostly performed using residual program civil servants, existing facilities and current commercial launch capabilities. Partnering these abilities with the emerging commercial sector, along with other government agencies, academia and with international partners would provide an affordable and timely approach to get the launch costs down for these payloads, while increasing the derived benefits to a larger community. There is a wide scope of varied technologies that are being considered to help future space exploration. However, the cost and schedule would be prohibitive to demonstrate all these in the near term. Determining which technologies would yield the best return in meeting our future space needs is critical to building an achievable Space Architecture that allows exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit. The best mix of technologies is clearly to be based on our future needs, but also must take into account the availability of existing assets and supporting partners. Selecting those technologies that have complimentary applications will provide the most knowledge, with reasonable cost, for future use The plan is to develop those applications that not only mature the technology but actually perform a useful task or mission. These might include such functions as satellite servicing, a propulsion stage, processing lunar regolith, generating and transmitting solar power, cryogenic fluid transfer and storage and artificial gravity. Applications have been selected for assessment for future

HUBBLE VISION: A Planetarium Show About Hubble Space Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Carolyn Collins

1995-05-01

In 1991, a planetarium show called "Hubble: Report From Orbit" outlining the current achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope was produced by the independent planetarium production company Loch Ness Productions, for distribution to facilities around the world. The program was subsequently converted to video. In 1994, that program was updated and re-produced under the name "Hubble Vision" and offered to the planetarium community. It is periodically updated and remains a sought-after and valuable resource within the community. This paper describes the production of the program, and the role of the astronomical community in the show's production (and subsequent updates). The paper is accompanied by a video presentation of Hubble Vision.

Cultivating social learning spaces at an urban Johannesburg university student residence

OpenAIRE

Agherdien, Najma

2015-01-01

Ph.D. (Education) This case study investigated the conceptualisation and implementation of social learning spaces (SLS) in a University of Johannesburg student residence. The literature base I drew on included ideas, concepts and constructs associated with learning communities [where the terms ‘SLS’ and ‘learning communities’ (LCs) are often used interchangeably], Wenger’s communities of practice, the First Year Experience (FYE), university student residence life and transformation in high...

Modular Power Standard for Space Explorations Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Oeftering, Richard C.; Gardner, Brent G.

2016-01-01

Future human space exploration will most likely be composed of assemblies of multiple modular spacecraft elements with interconnected electrical power systems. An electrical system composed of a standardized set modular building blocks provides significant development, integration, and operational cost advantages. The modular approach can also provide the flexibility to configure power systems to meet the mission needs. A primary goal of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Modular Power System (AMPS) project is to establish a Modular Power Standard that is needed to realize these benefits. This paper is intended to give the space exploration community a "first look" at the evolving Modular Power Standard and invite their comments and technical contributions.

Space based microlensing planet searches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tisserand Patrick

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The discovery of extra-solar planets is arguably the most exciting development in astrophysics during the past 15 years, rivalled only by the detection of dark energy. Two projects unite the communities of exoplanet scientists and cosmologists: the proposed ESA M class mission EUCLID and the large space mission WFIRST, top ranked by the Astronomy 2010 Decadal Survey report. The later states that: “Space-based microlensing is the optimal approach to providing a true statistical census of planetary systems in the Galaxy, over a range of likely semi-major axes”. They also add: “This census, combined with that made by the Kepler mission, will determine how common Earth-like planets are over a wide range of orbital parameters”. We will present a status report of the results obtained by microlensing on exoplanets and the new objectives of the next generation of ground based wide field imager networks. We will finally discuss the fantastic prospect offered by space based microlensing at the horizon 2020–2025.

Community Knowledge Sharing and Co-Production of Water Services: Two Cases of Community Aqueduct Associations in Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valeria Llano-Arias

2015-06-01

These new forms of citizenship based on claims of sovereignty over natural, common goods are gradually transforming Colombian democratic space. The article draws on debates around active citizenship, deepening democracy, and participatory communication approaches to explain the aims of community organisations and the mechanisms by which they are self-organising and managing water at the local level.

Mainstream Issues of Education and Public Awareness of Space Activities and Sciences among universities and Scientific Institutes.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Balbir

This paper is an effort to study and analyze several constraints and issues of space technology and education that organizations other than governmental organizations face in awareness program. In recent years, advancements in technologies have made it possible for Volunteer and Technical Communities, non-government organizations, private agencies and academic research institutions to provide increasing support to space education management and emphasis on response efforts. Important cornerstones of this effort and support are the possibility to access and take advantage of satellite imagery as well as the use of other space-based technologies such as telecommunications satellites and global navigation satellite systems included in main curriculum plus the implementation of programs for use of high class sophisticated technologies used by industries to the students and researchers of non-space faring nations. The authors recognize the importance of such new methodologies for education and public Awareness. This paper demonstrates many hurdles universities and scientific institutions face including lack of access in terms of financial and technical resources for better support. A new model for coordinated private sector partnership in response to space sciences and education has been discussed. In depth analysis and techniques need to connect these pioneering communities with the space industry as well as the space governmental agencies, with special emphasis on financial constraints. The paper mandates its role to promote the use of space-based information; its established networks bringing together national institutions responsible for these space based activities, as well as other end users, and space solution experts; and its technical foundation, particularly in the area of information technologies. To help building a tighter cooperation and further understanding among all these communities, paper delivers an intensive report and solutions for future

Community Digital Library Requirements for the Southern California Earthquake Center Community Modeling Environment (SCEC/CME)

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, R.; Faerman, M.; Minster, J.; Day, S. M.; Ely, G.

2003-12-01

A community digital library provides support for ingestion, organization, description, preservation, and access of digital entities. The technologies that traditionally provide these capabilities are digital libraries (ingestion, organization, description), persistent archives (preservation) and data grids (access). We present a design for the SCEC community digital library that incorporates aspects of all three systems. Multiple groups have created integrated environments that sustain large-scale scientific data collections. By examining these projects, the following stages of implementation can be identified: \\begin{itemize} Definition of semantic terms to associate with relevant information. This includes definition of uniform content descriptors to describe physical quantities relevant to the scientific discipline, and creation of concept spaces to define how the uniform content descriptors are logically related. Organization of digital entities into logical collections that make it simple to browse and manage related material. Definition of services that are used to access and manipulate material in the collection. Creation of a preservation environment for the long-term management of the collection. Each community is faced with heterogeneity that is introduced when data is distributed across multiple sites, or when multiple sets of collection semantics are used, and or when multiple scientific sub-disciplines are federated. We will present the relevant standards that simplify the implementation of the SCEC community library, the resource requirements for different types of data sets that drive the implementation, and the digital library processes that the SCEC community library will support. The SCEC community library can be viewed as the set of processing steps that are required to build the appropriate SCEC reference data sets (SCEC approved encoding format, SCEC approved descriptive metadata, SCEC approved collection organization, and SCEC managed storage

Planetary Space Weather Services for the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

André, Nicolas; Grande, Manuel

2016-04-01

Under Horizon 2020, the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI) will include an entirely new Virtual Access Service, WP5 VA1 "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) that will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to spacecraft that voyage through it. VA1 will make five entirely new 'toolkits' accessible to the research community and to industrial partners planning for space missions: a general planetary space weather toolkit, as well as three toolkits dedicated to the following key planetary environments: Mars (in support ExoMars), comets (building on the expected success of the ESA Rosetta mission), and outer planets (in preparation for the ESA JUICE mission to be launched in 2022). This will give the European planetary science community new methods, interfaces, functionalities and/or plugins dedicated to planetary space weather in the tools and models available within the partner institutes. It will also create a novel event-diary toolkit aiming at predicting and detecting planetary events like meteor showers and impacts. A variety of tools (in the form of web applications, standalone software, or numerical models in various degrees of implementation) are available for tracing propagation of planetary and/or solar events through the Solar System and modelling the response of the planetary environment (surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres) to those events. But these tools were not originally designed for planetary event prediction and space weather applications. So WP10 JRA4 "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) will provide the additional research and tailoring required to apply them for these purposes. The overall objectives of this Joint Research Aactivities will be to review, test, improve and adapt methods and tools available within the partner institutes in order to make prototype planetary event and space weather services operational in

Promoting young participation from the community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Vecina-Merchante

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the beginning of a socioeducational experience with young people, which has the aim to enhance its role in the community, boosting the youth group to be this same who organize and manage their leisure and free time. The initiative is based on a previous study, the Community Monograph, prepared from a Participatory Research and Community programming and diagnostics, whose conclusions community challenges that must be addressed from its protagonists are raised; one of these lines involves young people as an alienated group of the context in which they live, an urban space that gradually has increasingly become a place for leisure and tourism consumption, being part of the resident population and their needs daily outside this process of gentrification. The initiative is part of the Intercultural Community Intervention Project (ICI driven by the Obra Social "la Caixa", managed in Palma (Balearic Islands by the GREC partnership and cooperation of the City Council. This is one of the 39 territories in Spain in which the project is implemented. Its general objectives are to promote conviviality, social cohesion, promoting local development and improve the living conditions of the population.  

Improvements in Space Geodesy Data Discovery at the CDDIS

Science.gov (United States)

Noll, C.; Pollack, N.; Michael, P.

2011-01-01

The Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) supports data archiving and distribution activities for the space geodesy and geodynamics community. The main objectives of the system are to store space geodesy and geodynamics related data products in a central data bank. to maintain information about the archival of these data, and to disseminate these data and information in a timely manner to a global scientific research community. The archive consists of GNSS, laser ranging, VLBI, and DORIS data sets and products derived from these data. The CDDIS is one of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) distributed data centers; EOSDIS data centers serve a diverse user community and arc tasked to provide facilities to search and access science data and products. Several activities are currently under development at the CDDIS to aid users in data discovery, both within the current community and beyond. The CDDIS is cooperating in the development of Geodetic Seamless Archive Centers (GSAC) with colleagues at UNAVCO and SIO. TIle activity will provide web services to facilitate data discovery within and across participating archives. In addition, the CDDIS is currently implementing modifications to the metadata extracted from incoming data and product files pushed to its archive. These enhancements will permit information about COOlS archive holdings to be made available through other data portals such as Earth Observing System (EOS) Clearinghouse (ECHO) and integration into the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) portal.

Assured Mission Support Space Architecture (AMSSA) study

Science.gov (United States)

Hamon, Rob

1993-01-01

The assured mission support space architecture (AMSSA) study was conducted with the overall goal of developing a long-term requirements-driven integrated space architecture to provide responsive and sustained space support to the combatant commands. Although derivation of an architecture was the focus of the study, there are three significant products from the effort. The first is a philosophy that defines the necessary attributes for the development and operation of space systems to ensure an integrated, interoperable architecture that, by design, provides a high degree of combat utility. The second is the architecture itself; based on an interoperable system-of-systems strategy, it reflects a long-range goal for space that will evolve as user requirements adapt to a changing world environment. The third product is the framework of a process that, when fully developed, will provide essential information to key decision makers for space systems acquisition in order to achieve the AMSSA goal. It is a categorical imperative that military space planners develop space systems that will act as true force multipliers. AMSSA provides the philosophy, process, and architecture that, when integrated with the DOD requirements and acquisition procedures, can yield an assured mission support capability from space to the combatant commanders. An important feature of the AMSSA initiative is the participation by every organization that has a role or interest in space systems development and operation. With continued community involvement, the concept of the AMSSA will become a reality. In summary, AMSSA offers a better way to think about space (philosophy) that can lead to the effective utilization of limited resources (process) with an infrastructure designed to meet the future space needs (architecture) of our combat forces.

Campaign 9 of the K2 Mission: Observational Parameters, Scientific Drivers, and Community Involvement for a Simultaneous Space- and Ground-based Microlensing Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Calen B.; Poleski, Radoslaw; Penny, Matthew; Street, Rachel A.; Bennett, David P.; Hogg, David W.; Gaudi, B. Scott; Zhu, W.; Barclay, T.; Barentsen, G.;

Nearest Neighbor Search in the Metric Space of a Complex Network for Community Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suman Saha

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to bridge the gap between two important research directions: (1 nearest neighbor search, which is a fundamental computational tool for large data analysis; and (2 complex network analysis, which deals with large real graphs but is generally studied via graph theoretic analysis or spectral analysis. In this article, we have studied the nearest neighbor search problem in a complex network by the development of a suitable notion of nearness. The computation of efficient nearest neighbor search among the nodes of a complex network using the metric tree and locality sensitive hashing (LSH are also studied and experimented. For evaluation of the proposed nearest neighbor search in a complex network, we applied it to a network community detection problem. Experiments are performed to verify the usefulness of nearness measures for the complex networks, the role of metric tree and LSH to compute fast and approximate node nearness and the the efficiency of community detection using nearest neighbor search. We observed that nearest neighbor between network nodes is a very efficient tool to explore better the community structure of the real networks. Several efficient approximation schemes are very useful for large networks, which hardly made any degradation of results, whereas they save lot of computational times, and nearest neighbor based community detection approach is very competitive in terms of efficiency and time.

Environmental and spatial drivers of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic characteristics of bat communities in human-modified landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Fagan, Matthew E.; Willig, Michael R.

2016-01-01

Background Assembly of species into communities following human disturbance (e.g., deforestation, fragmentation) may be governed by spatial (e.g., dispersal) or environmental (e.g., niche partitioning) mechanisms. Variation partitioning has been used to broadly disentangle spatial and environmental mechanisms, and approaches utilizing functional and phylogenetic characteristics of communities have been implemented to determine the relative importance of particular environmental (or niche-based) mechanisms. Nonetheless, few studies have integrated these quantitative approaches to comprehensively assess the relative importance of particular structuring processes. Methods We employed a novel variation partitioning approach to evaluate the relative importance of particular spatial and environmental drivers of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic aspects of bat communities in a human-modified landscape in Costa Rica. Specifically, we estimated the amount of variation in species composition (taxonomic structure) and in two aspects of functional and phylogenetic structure (i.e., composition and dispersion) along a forest loss and fragmentation gradient that are uniquely explained by landscape characteristics (i.e., environment) or space to assess the importance of competing mechanisms. Results The unique effects of space on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic structure were consistently small. In contrast, landscape characteristics (i.e., environment) played an appreciable role in structuring bat communities. Spatially-structured landscape characteristics explained 84% of the variation in functional or phylogenetic dispersion, and the unique effects of landscape characteristics significantly explained 14% of the variation in species composition. Furthermore, variation in bat community structure was primarily due to differences in dispersion of species within functional or phylogenetic space along the gradient, rather than due to differences in functional or

Environmental and spatial drivers of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic characteristics of bat communities in human-modified landscapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Cisneros, Laura M; Fagan, Matthew E; Willig, Michael R

2016-01-01

Assembly of species into communities following human disturbance (e.g., deforestation, fragmentation) may be governed by spatial (e.g., dispersal) or environmental (e.g., niche partitioning) mechanisms. Variation partitioning has been used to broadly disentangle spatial and environmental mechanisms, and approaches utilizing functional and phylogenetic characteristics of communities have been implemented to determine the relative importance of particular environmental (or niche-based) mechanisms. Nonetheless, few studies have integrated these quantitative approaches to comprehensively assess the relative importance of particular structuring processes. We employed a novel variation partitioning approach to evaluate the relative importance of particular spatial and environmental drivers of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic aspects of bat communities in a human-modified landscape in Costa Rica. Specifically, we estimated the amount of variation in species composition (taxonomic structure) and in two aspects of functional and phylogenetic structure (i.e., composition and dispersion) along a forest loss and fragmentation gradient that are uniquely explained by landscape characteristics (i.e., environment) or space to assess the importance of competing mechanisms. The unique effects of space on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic structure were consistently small. In contrast, landscape characteristics (i.e., environment) played an appreciable role in structuring bat communities. Spatially-structured landscape characteristics explained 84% of the variation in functional or phylogenetic dispersion, and the unique effects of landscape characteristics significantly explained 14% of the variation in species composition. Furthermore, variation in bat community structure was primarily due to differences in dispersion of species within functional or phylogenetic space along the gradient, rather than due to differences in functional or phylogenetic composition. Variation

12th Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion. Conference on Alternative Power from Space (APFS),Conference on Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technologies and Applications (A-DTTA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohamed, S.E.

1995-01-01

These proceedings represent papers presented at the 12th symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The symposium theme was ''commercialization and technology transfer''. The topics discussed include: wireless power transmission, solar power from space next generation spacecraft, space power electronics and power management, flight testing of components, manufacturing and processing of materials, nuclear propulsion, reactors and shielding and many others of interest to the scientific community representing industry, government and academic institutions. There were 163 papers presented at the conference and 60 have been abstracted for the Energy Science and Technology database

Communicating space weather to policymakers and the wider public

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Bárbara

2014-05-01

As a natural hazard, space weather has the potential to affect space- and ground-based technological systems and cause harm to human health. As such, it is important to properly communicate this topic to policymakers and the general public alike, informing them (without being unnecessarily alarmist) about the potential impact of space-weather phenomena and how these can be monitored and mitigated. On the other hand, space weather is related to interesting phenomena on the Sun such as coronal-mass ejections, and incorporates one of the most beautiful displays in the Earth and its nearby space environment: aurora. These exciting and fascinating aspects of space weather should be cultivated when communicating this topic to the wider public, particularly to younger audiences. Researchers have a key role to play in communicating space weather to both policymakers and the wider public. Space scientists should have an active role in informing policy decisions on space-weather monitoring and forecasting, for example. And they can exercise their communication skills by talking about space weather to school children and the public in general. This presentation will focus on ways to communicate space weather to wider audiences, particularly policymakers. It will also address the role researchers can play in this activity to help bridge the gap between the space science community and the public.

Uses, benefits and challenges of using rural community telecentres ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Levi Manda

train staff in customer care. Key words: ... Telecentres also provide space for rural community members to .... card reader and a receipt printer to a full service telecentre that offers ... telecentres is a good development since telecentres target the.

Space Weather Outreach: Connection to STEM Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Dusenbery, P. B.

2008-12-01

Many scientists are studying the Sun-Earth system and attempting to provide timely, accurate, and reliable space environment observations and forecasts. Research programs and missions serve as an ideal focal point for creating educational content, making this an ideal time to inform the public about the importance and value of space weather research. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the Space Science Institute (SSI) is developing a comprehensive Space Weather Outreach program to reach students, educators, and other members of the public, and share with them the exciting discoveries from this important scientific discipline. The Space Weather Outreach program has the following five components: (1) the Space Weather Center Website that includes online educational games; (2) Small Exhibits for Libraries, Shopping Malls, and Science Centers; (3) After-School Programs; (4) Professional Development Workshops for Educators, and (5) an innovative Evaluation and Education Research project. Its overarching goal is to inspire, engage, and educate a broad spectrum of the public and make strategic and innovative connections between informal and K-12 education communities. An important factor in the success of this program will be its alignment with STEM standards especially those related to science and mathematics. This presentation will describe the Space Weather Outreach program and how standards are being used in the development of each of its components.

Relaxation in x-space magnetic particle imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Croft, Laura R; Goodwill, Patrick W; Conolly, Steven M

2012-12-01

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a new imaging modality that noninvasively images the spatial distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIOs). MPI has demonstrated high contrast and zero attenuation with depth, and MPI promises superior safety compared to current angiography methods, X-ray, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging angiography. Nanoparticle relaxation can delay the SPIO magnetization, and in this work we investigate the open problem of the role relaxation plays in MPI scanning and its effect on the image. We begin by amending the x-space theory of MPI to include nanoparticle relaxation effects. We then validate the amended theory with experiments from a Berkeley x-space relaxometer and a Berkeley x-space projection MPI scanner. Our theory and experimental data indicate that relaxation reduces SNR and asymmetrically blurs the image in the scanning direction. While relaxation effects can have deleterious effects on the MPI scan, we show theoretically and experimentally that x-space reconstruction remains robust in the presence of relaxation. Furthermore, the role of relaxation in x-space theory provides guidance as we develop methods to minimize relaxation-induced blurring. This will be an important future area of research for the MPI community.

Worms to astronauts: Canadian Space Agency approach to life sciences in support of exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Buckley, Nicole; Johnson-Green, Perry; Lefebvre, Luc

As the pace of human exploration of space is accelerated, the need to address the challenges of long-duration human missions becomes imperative. Working with limited resources, we must determine the most effective way to meet this challenge. A great deal of science management centres on "applied" versus "basic" research as the cornerstone of a program. We have chosen to largely ignore such a labeling of science and concentrate on quality, as determined by peer review, as the primary criterion for science selection. Space Life Sciences is a very young science and access to space continues to be difficult. Because we have few opportunities for conducting science, and space life science is very challenging, we are comfortable maintaining a very high bar for selection. In order to ensure adequate depth to our community we have elected to concentrate our efforts. Working in concert with members of the community, we have identified specific areas of focus that are chosen by their importance in space, but also according to Canada's strength in the terrestrial counterpart of the research. It is hoped that through a balanced but highly competitive program with the emphasis on quality, Canadian scientists can contribute to making space a safer, more welcoming place for our astronauts.

Online Communities: The Case of Immigrants in Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Panaretou, Ioannis; Karousos, Nikos; Kostopoulos, Ioannis; Foteinou, Georgia-Barbara; Pavlidis, Giorgos

Immigrants in Greece are an increasing population, very often threatened by poverty and social exclusion. At the same time Greek government has no formal policy concerning their assimilation in Greek society and this situation generates multiple problems in both immigrants and native population. In this work we suggest that new technology can alleviate these effects and we present specific tools and methodologies adopted by ANCE, in order to support online communities and specifically immigrant communities in Greece. This approach has the potential to support immigrant communities' in terms of the organization of personal data, communication, and provision of a working space for dedicated use. The Information System's operational features are also presented, along with other characteristics and state-of-the-art features in order to propose a general direction to the design of online communities' mechanisms.

SERVIR: Connecting Space to Village

Science.gov (United States)

Limaye, Ashutosh S.; Flores Cordova, Africa Ixmucan

2018-01-01

From space, we can view our planet in new ways. SERVIR empowers people in developing countries to use that view for gaining knowledge and insights about their environments and adaptation to a changing climate. We work with regional decision-makers to foster use of Earth observation satellite data, GIS, and predictive models for addressing water and land use, natural disasters, agricultural problems, biodiversity, and more. These tools can improve the lives, livelihoods, safety, and future of people in communities around the world.

Парадоксы навигационной карты (модели звёздного неба для дальних космических путешествий

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Литвинчук Н. И.

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The man penetrates deeper into the mysteries of matter, space and time in the evolutionary development. He has only started the practical development of near space, but he already begins to travel into its depth in his dreams. One of the attributes of long-duration space travel is navigation charts (models of the Universe considering an exact arrangement of cosmic bodies and their gravitationalfields in space. For drawing up of such charts of the starry sky from the Earth it is necessary to consider a number of paradoxes which arise at the present system understanding of the Universe, such as its virtuality realities of the Big Bang, maximum flying speed, etc. Today we can fly away to the star worlds, which have not already been, and on the way to meet the worlds which have not been visible from the Earth yet. In the starry sky we see the story of stars removed from us for light years. Flight to these objects is the movement from their stories to reality.Training of their crews and staff will be not less important problem by the spaceship. Firstly, they will be trained on the Earth and then only in the flying using a simple self-improved system of training relevant staff.Today scientists and researchers did a huge groundwork in the field of space and the mass movement of enthusiasts has already started the implementation. It is pleasant, that the number of such enthusiasts already leads to practical qualitative changes, and it becomes the fact: different kind of space travel which is fast approaching reality.

An Online Partner for Holocaust Remembrance Education: Students Approaching the Yahoo! Answers Community

Science.gov (United States)

Lazar, Alon; Litvak Hirsch, Tal

2015-01-01

Holocaust education has gained increased importance in recent decades and attention has latterly been directed to the role of the Internet within the field. Of major importance within the virtual space are Question and Answer communities. We investigated the interactions taking place within the Yahoo! Answers community following questions posted…

Examining the impact of a school-based fruit and vegetable co-op in the Hispanic community through documentary photography.

Science.gov (United States)

Alcazar, Lani; Raber, Margaret; Lopez, Kimberly; Markham, Christine; Sharma, Shreela

2017-09-01

Hispanic families are at elevated risk for certain diet related illnesses including obesity and diabetes. Brighter Bites is a 16-week school-based program that delivers produce and nutrition education to high-need areas. The purpose of this study was to explore the adoption of Brighter Bites healthy eating strategies in low-income Spanish-speaking families as well as barriers to the sustainability of improved dietary behaviors using Photovoice. Two researchers worked with a predominately Hispanic, low-income public school to conduct the project. Spanish speaking parents participating in Brighter Bites were recruited and five mothers completed the study. Participants developed research questions, took documentary photos, attended group analysis sessions, and organized a community event. Photos from participants were gathered at two time points: i) during the Brighter Bites produce distributions, and ii) when the distributions were no longer in session. Participants organized resulting photos into themes during discussion groups that proceeded each photo-taking period. Themes that emerged during the produce distribution period included: cost savings, increased variety and accessibility of fresh produce, and ability to practice healthy eating. Themes that emerged when the weekly produce distributions were no longer in session included: increased costs, lack of variety, the continued effect of Brighter Bites, and innovative ways to cook with produce. Overall, participants were enthusiastic about the benefits they experienced with the program, but noted hardships in accessing nutritious food without the produce distributions in session. Innovative approaches are needed to create sustainable pathways to healthful food access after community nutrition interventions are complete. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Catalyzing community action within a national campaign: VERB community and national partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Bretthauer-Mueller, Rosemary; Berkowitz, Judy M; Thomas, Melonie; McCarthy, Susan; Green, Lula Anna; Melancon, Heidi; Courtney, Anita H; Bryant, Carol A; Dodge, Kristin

2008-06-01

The VERB campaign used a social marketing approach to deliver its message through the mass media, school and community promotions, and partnerships to encourage children aged 9-13 years (tweens) to be physically active every day. This paper presents the VERB campaign's community and national partnership strategy, highlights three successful partnerships, and discusses challenges associated with the efforts. The national advertising generated awareness of and affinity for the product's brand and motivated the primary audience to seek out the product. The campaign's national and community partners were engaged to facilitate a product-distribution channel. The campaign developed a three-pronged partnership strategy to integrate the promotion with the placement of the campaign's product (physical activity): (1) reframe the way physical activity is positioned and delivered; (2) connect the brand to the point-of-purchase; and (3) refer (or drive) the audience to the action outlets, opportunities, places, spaces and programs to purchase the product. The VERB campaign provided partners with marketing training and resources to assist them as they leveraged tweens' brand awareness and supported regular physical activity among tweens. The method of technical assistance and the types of marketing tools were provided in relationship to four characteristics of the partner: (1) partner's network, (2) leaders and champions in the network, (3) partner's financial resources for community campaigns; and (4) partner's understanding of the marketing mindset. Coordinated, collaborative, and strong mass-media and community-based interventions within a national social marketing campaign can sustain the immediate effects of such campaigns.

Building a design community for sustainable homes through configuration and open innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thuesen, Christian Langhoff; Jespersen, Kristina Risom

2009-01-01

. Furthermore will an idea space collect and rate ideas from the users. Through a combination of technical and user driven innovation the design community will act as a learning tool for the users and producers and thereby facilitate the development of a market for sustainable homes.......This paper presents a development project which aims to create a market place for sustainable homes – around a design community where the uses and producers collectively can develop new energy efficient solutions and thereby reduce the emmisson of CO2. The core functionality of the design community...... is a configurator where the users based on the produceres templates can design their own home at a selected address visualizing and estimating the energy consumption, total cost, CO2 emission etc. All the designs will be collected and rated in a design space creating transparency over the market and technologies...

Global Space Weather Observational Network: Challenges and China's Contribution

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, C.

2017-12-01

To understand space weather physical processes and predict space weather accurately, global space-borne and ground-based space weather observational network, making simultaneous observations from the Sun to geo-space (magnetosphere, ionosphere and atmosphere), plays an essential role. In this talk, we will present the advances of the Chinese space weather science missions, including the ASO-S (Advanced Space-borne Solar Observatory), MIT (Magnetosphere - Ionosphere- Thermosphere Coupling Exploration), and the ESA-China joint space weather science mission SMILE (Solar wind - Magnetosphere - Ionosphere Link Explore), a new mission to image the magnetosphere. Compared to satellites, ground-based monitors are cheap, convenient, and provide continuous real-time data. We will also introduce the Chinese Meridian Project (CMP), a ground-based program fully utilizing the geographic location of the Chinese landmass to monitor the geo-space environment. CMP is just one arm of a larger program that Chinese scientists are proposing to the international community. The International Meridian Circle Program (IMCP) for space weather hopes to connect chains of ground-based monitors at the longitudinal meridians 120 deg E and 60 deg W. IMCP takes advantage of the fact that these meridians already have the most monitors of any on Earth, with monitors in Russia, Australia, Brazil, the United States, Canada, and other countries. This data will greatly enhance the ability of scientists to monitor and predict the space weather worldwide.

Invited spaces and informal practices in participatory community forest management in India

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nandigama, S.

2013-01-01

This chapter shows how the formal participation of men and women in a community-based forest management project shapes and is shaped by informal practices. The gender analysis is based on an ethnographic case study of a village in Andhra Pradesh, India. It aims to contribute to a better

Workshop Report on Space Weather Risks and Society

Science.gov (United States)

Langhoff, Stephanie R.; Straume, Tore

2012-01-01

As technological innovations produce new capabilities, complexities, and interdependencies, our susceptibility to the societal impacts of space weather increase. There is real concern in the scientific community that our infrastructure would be at significant risk if a major geomagnetic storm should occur. To discuss the societal impacts of space weather, we brought together an interdisciplinary group of subject matter experts and societal stakeholders to participate in a workshop entitled Space Weather Risks and Society. The workshop was held at Ames Research Center (ARC) on 15-16 October 2011. The workshop was co-sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC), the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA), and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL, part of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council STFC). The workshop is part of a series of informal weekend workshops hosted by Center Director Pete Worden.

Paradoxes of Social Networking in a Structured Web 2.0 Language Learning Community

Science.gov (United States)

Loiseau, Mathieu; Zourou, Katerina

2012-01-01

This paper critically inquires into social networking as a set of mechanisms and associated practices developed in a structured Web 2.0 language learning community. This type of community can be roughly described as learning spaces featuring (more or less) structured language learning resources displaying at least some notions of language learning…

Professor José Miguel Barea (1942-2018): a tribute to an inspiring scientist.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffries, Peter

2018-06-07

The mycorrhiza and, more generally, soil microbiology research communities recently have lost one of their most ardent scientists. José Miguel Barea was a world leader of arbuscular mycorrhiza research and pioneered the establishment of such studies in Spain and Latin American. He was a prolific publisher, enthusiastic teacher of many graduate students and a genial host to visitors of his beloved Granada. He will be missed wherever mycorrhizasts gather.

A New Exhibition in Microcosm

CERN Document Server

2000-01-01

Sebastien Pelletier explains states of matter to an enthusiastic group of youngsters during the opening of a new exhibition in Microcosm last week. The Fun with Physics workshop will be offered to all 13-14 year olds in school groups visiting CERN this year. The new Microcosm contents have been developed in collaboration with the local teaching community, and cover particles and the forces that act between them.

The International Space of the Danish Testing Community in the Interwar Years

Science.gov (United States)

Ydesen, Christian

2012-01-01

The focus of this article is to draw attention to the presence and importance of travelling ideas, knowledge, and practices in Danish history of educational testing. The article introduces and employs a spatial methodological approach in relation to the connections between the international testing community and the emerging Danish practice of…

Public open space for disaster mitigation in Tangerang housing estates

Science.gov (United States)

Winandari, M. I. R.

2018-01-01

Public open space in housing estates plays an important role particularly in disaster mitigation. In some housing, there are indications of shape and use of space changes post-handover to local government. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between public open space condition and management related to disaster mitigation in Tangerang housing estates. Multiple case study method is used to analyse of 2 housing cases. Aspects of access and boundaries were used to evaluate the cases. The results showed that gated community housing type should have more than 1 access to facilitate evacuation by considering the farthest unit to the housing gate. This is necessary to provide open spaces that are easily accessible from all units as the first evacuation site during and post disaster.

Augmenting the Funding Sources for Space Science and the ASTRO-1 Space Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Morse, Jon

2015-08-01

The BoldlyGo Institute was formed in 2013 to augment the planned space science portfolio through philanthropically funded robotic space missions, similar to how some U.S. medical institutes and ground-based telescopes are funded. I introduce BoldlyGo's two current projects: the SCIM mission to Mars and the ASTRO-1 space telescope. In particular, ASTRO-1 is a 1.8-meter off-axis (unobscured) ultraviolet-visible space observatory to be located in a Lagrange point or heliocentric orbit with a wide-field panchromatic camera, medium- and high-resolution spectrograph, and high-contrast imaging coronagraph and/or an accompanying starshade/occulter. It is intended for the post-Hubble Space Telescope era in the 2020s, enabling unique measurements of a broad range of celestial targets, while providing vital complementary capabilities to other ground- and space-based facilities such as the JWST, ALMA, WFIRST-AFTA, LSST, TESS, Euclid, and PLATO. The ASTRO-1 architecture simultaneously wields great scientific power while being technically viable and affordable. A wide variety of scientific programs can be accomplished, addressing topics across space astronomy, astrophysics, fundamental physics, and solar system science, as well as being technologically informative to future large-aperture programs. ASTRO-1 is intended to be a new-generation research facility serving a broad national and international community, as well as a vessel for impactful public engagement. Traditional institutional partnerships and consortia, such as are common with private ground-based observatories, may play a role in the support and governance of ASTRO-1; we are currently engaging interested international organizations. In addition to our planned open guest observer program and accessible data archive, we intend to provide a mechanism whereby individual scientists can buy in to a fraction of the gauranteed observing time. Our next step in ASTRO-1 development is to form the ASTRO-1 Requirements Team

Microbial Observatory (ISS-MO): Molecular characterization of Bacillus issensis sp. nov. isolated from various quarters of the International Space Station

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — As part of an ongoing effort to catalogue microbial communities inhabiting the International Space Station (ISS) crew-associated environmental samples were collected...

Learning in/through Everyday Resistance: A Cultural-Historical Perspective on Community Resources and Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Pacheco, Mariana

2012-01-01

This essay addresses the value of leveraging the unique learning, thinking, and knowledge students develop in home-community spaces for school curriculum. The author explores "everyday resistance" to highlight a particular set of enacted political actions and practices in which students, families, and communities participate to negotiate the…

Urban violence and displacement, gender, and community ties ...

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

2017-10-20

Oct 20, 2017 ... SAIC experts explored poverty, violence, and inequality in 40 cities across Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The 15 research ... Urban violence and displacement, gender, and community ties. October 20 ... in urban spaces. Return to main page: Solutions to make cities safe and inclusive.

Community Report and Recommendations from International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG)

Science.gov (United States)

Foing, Bernard H.

2016-07-01

The International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) was established in April 1995 at a meeting in Hamburg, Germany. As established in its charter, this working group reports to COSPAR and is charged with developing an international strategy for the exploration of the Moon. It discusses coordination between missions, and a road map for future international lunar exploration and utilisation. It fosters information exchange or potential and real future lunar robotic and human missions, as well as for new scientific and exploration information about the Moon. We refer to COSPAR and ILEWG ICEUM and lunar conferences and declarations [1-18], present the GLUC/ICEUM11 declaration and give a report on ongoing relevant ILEWG community activities. ILEWG supported community forums, ILEWG EuroMoonMars field campaigns and technology validation activities, as well as Young Lunar Explorers events, and activities with broad stakeholders. We discuss how lunar missions SMART-1, Kaguya, Chang'E1&2, Chandrayaan-1, LCROSS, LRO, GRAIL, LADEE, Chang'E3 and upcoming missions contribute to lunar exploration objectives & roadmap towards the Moon Village. GLUC/ICEUM11 declaration: "467 International Lunar Explorers, registered delegates from 26 countries, assembled at GLUC Global Lunar Conference including the 11th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon (ICEUM11) in Beijing. The conference engaged scientists, engineers, enthusiast explorers, agencies and organisations in the discussion of recent results and activities and the review of plans for exploration. Space agencies representatives gave the latest reports on their current lunar activities and programmes. GLUC-ICEUM11 was a truly historical meeting that demonstrated the world-wide interest in lunar exploration, discovery, and science. More than 400 abstracts were accepted for oral and poster presentations in the technical sessions, organised in 32 sessions within 4 symposia: Science and Exploration; Technology

Space Weather: Where Is The Beef?

Science.gov (United States)

Koskinen, H. E. J.

Space weather has become a highly fashionable topic in solar-terrestrial physics. It is perhaps the best tool to popularise the field and it has contributed significantly to the dialogue between solar, magnetospheric, and ionospheric scientist, and also to mu- tual understanding between science and engineering communities. While these are laudable achievements, it is important for the integrity of scientific space weather re- search to recognise the central open questions in the physics of space weather and the progress toward solving them. We still lack sufficient understanding of the solar physics to be able to tell in advance when and where a solar eruption will take place and whether it will turn to a geoeffective event. There is much to do to understand ac- celeration of solar energetic particles and propagation of solar mass ejecta toward the Earth. After more than 40 years of research scientific discussion of energy and plasma transfer through the magnetopause still deals mostly with qualitative issues and the rapid acceleration processes in the magnetosphere are not yet explained in a satisfac- tory way. Also the coupling to the ionosphere and from there to the strong induction effects on ground is another complex of research problems. For space weather science the beef is in the investigation of these and related topics, not in marketing half-useful space weather products to hesitant customers.

Opportunities and challenges for public libraries to enhance community resilience.

Science.gov (United States)

Veil, Shari R; Bishop, Bradley Wade

2014-04-01

This study bridges a gap between public library and emergency management policy versus practice by examining the role of public libraries in the community resource network for disaster recovery. Specifically, this study identifies the opportunities and challenges for public libraries to fulfill their role as a FEMA-designated essential community organization and enhance community resilience. The results indicate there are several opportunities for libraries to enhance community resilience by offering technology resources and assistance; providing office, meeting, and community living room space; serving as the last redundant communication channel and a repository for community information and disaster narratives; and adapting or expanding services already offered to meet the changing needs of the community. However, libraries also face challenges in enhancing community resilience, including the temptation to overcommit library capacity and staff capability beyond the library mission and a lack of long-term disaster plans and collaboration with emergency managers and government officials. Implications for library and emergency management practice and crisis research are discussed. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

Ocean acidification affects competition for space: projections of community structure using cellular automata.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Sophie J; Allesina, Stefano; Pfister, Catherine A

2016-03-16

Historical ecological datasets from a coastal marine community of crustose coralline algae (CCA) enabled the documentation of ecological changes in this community over 30 years in the Northeast Pacific. Data on competitive interactions obtained from field surveys showed concordance between the 1980s and 2013, yet also revealed a reduction in how strongly species interact. Here, we extend these empirical findings with a cellular automaton model to forecast ecological dynamics. Our model suggests the emergence of a new dominant competitor in a global change scenario, with a reduced role of herbivory pressure, or trophic control, in regulating competition among CCA. Ocean acidification, due to its energetic demands, may now instead play this role in mediating competitive interactions and thereby promote species diversity within this guild. © 2016 The Author(s).

Calling Taikong a strategy report and study of China's future space science missions

CERN Document Server

Wu, Ji

2017-01-01

This book describes the status quo of space science in China, details the scientific questions to be addressed by the Chinese space science community in 2016-2030, and proposes key strategic goals, space science programs and missions, the roadmap and implementation approaches. Further, it explores the supporting technologies needed and provides an outlook of space science beyond the year 2030. “Taikong” means “outer space” in Chinese, and space science is one of the most important areas China plans to develop in the near future. This book is authored by Ji Wu, a leader of China's space science program, together with National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a leading institute responsible for planning and managing most of China’s space science missions. It also embodies the viewpoints shared by many space scientists and experts on future space science development. Through this book, general readers and researchers alike will gain essential insights into the current developments an...

G+ COMMUNITY: MEASURING TEACHERS’ READINESS AND ACCEPTANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohd Faisal Farish Ishak

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to explore teachers’ acceptance and readiness in using the cloud-based community as a platform for professional collaboration related to their teaching and learning. Familiarity with certain social networking platforms has made the preferable collaboration among teachers only limited to using Facebook, WhatsApp or Telegram. However, with time and space constraints in schools, some of the sharing sessions could not be done effectively most of the time. The study focuses on teachers’ acceptance and readiness of having their community in the cloud when they were introduced to the platform during a Continuous Professional Development (CPD course. A total number of 61 teachers used Google Community named as ‘Contemporary Children’s Literature (CCL 2016’ as a platform for their Professional Learning Community (PLC during the course. Descriptive analysis was done using Google Sheets and the findings show that these teachers are receptive towards Google Community in terms of its engagement level, usefulness as well as ease of use. The introduction to Google Community has created a new pathway for their collaboration especially for teaching and learning purposes. In a nutshell, their acceptance towards the cloud-based community indicates that, given the right training channel, teachers are positive and opened to utilising and integrating the cloud-based technology in their current teaching practice.

Participation in design between public sector and local communities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bødker, Susanne; Zander, Pär-Ola

2015-01-01

This paper discusses three cases where design was carried out at the intersection between public sector and citizen communities. Based on three dominant traditions meeting there–public (municipal) decision-making, Web 2.0 and participatory design–we identify challenges and solutions regarding......-win situations, rather than to maximize participation; to work with motivation for long-term projects across municipality and communities; to identify and work with early movers, and not just representative citizens; and to create space for local municipal agencies to develop bottom-up technological solutions...

White Paper – Use of LEU for a Space Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poston, David Irvin [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Mcclure, Patrick Ray [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-08-11

Historically space reactors flown or designed for the U.S. and Russia used Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) for fuel. HEU almost always produces a small and lighter reactor. Since mass increases launch costs or decreases science payloads, HEU was the natural choice. However in today’s environment, the proliferation of HEU has become a major concern for the U.S. government and hence a policy issue. In addition, launch costs are being reduced as the space community moves toward commercial launch vehicles. HEU also carries a heavy security cost to process, test, transport and launch. Together these issues have called for a re-investigation into space reactors the use Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel.

Space station pressurized laboratory safety guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Mcgonigal, Les

1990-01-01

Before technical safety guidelines and requirements are established, a common understanding of their origin and importance must be shared between Space Station Program Management, the User Community, and the Safety organizations involved. Safety guidelines and requirements are driven by the nature of the experiments, and the degree of crew interaction. Hazard identification; development of technical safety requirements; operating procedures and constraints; provision of training and education; conduct of reviews and evaluations; and emergency preplanning are briefly discussed.

FOILFEST :community enabled security.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moore, Judy Hennessey; Johnson, Curtis Martin; Whitley, John B.; Drayer, Darryl Donald; Cummings, John C., Jr. (.,; .)

2005-09-01

The Advanced Concepts Group of Sandia National Laboratories hosted a workshop, ''FOILFest: Community Enabled Security'', on July 18-21, 2005, in Albuquerque, NM. This was a far-reaching look into the future of physical protection consisting of a series of structured brainstorming sessions focused on preventing and foiling attacks on public places and soft targets such as airports, shopping malls, hotels, and public events. These facilities are difficult to protect using traditional security devices since they could easily be pushed out of business through the addition of arduous and expensive security measures. The idea behind this Fest was to explore how the public, which is vital to the function of these institutions, can be leveraged as part of a physical protection system. The workshop considered procedures, space design, and approaches for building community through technology. The workshop explored ways to make the ''good guys'' in public places feel safe and be vigilant while making potential perpetrators of harm feel exposed and convinced that they will not succeed. Participants in the Fest included operators of public places, social scientists, technology experts, representatives of government agencies including DHS and the intelligence community, writers and media experts. Many innovative ideas were explored during the fest with most of the time spent on airports, including consideration of the local airport, the Albuquerque Sunport. Some provocative ideas included: (1) sniffers installed in passage areas like revolving door, escalators, (2) a ''jumbotron'' showing current camera shots in the public space, (3) transparent portal screeners allowing viewing of the screening, (4) a layered open/funnel/open/funnel design where open spaces are used to encourage a sense of ''communitas'' and take advantage of citizen ''sensing'' and funnels are technological

Filling gaps and expanding spaces – voices of student teachers on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Filling gaps and expanding spaces – voices of student teachers on their ... as part of a broader project – FIRE (Fourth-year Initiative for Research in Education), ... We wanted to determine how we could complement a community of practice ...

Discover Space Weather and Sun's Superpowers: Using CCMC's innovative tools and applications

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, A. M. M.; Maddox, M. M.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Chulaki, A.; Rastaetter, L.; Mullinix, R.; Weigand, C.; Boblitt, J.; Taktakishvili, A.; MacNeice, P. J.; Pulkkinen, A. A.; Pembroke, A. D.; Mays, M. L.; Zheng, Y.; Shim, J. S.

2015-12-01

Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) has developed a comprehensive set of tools and applications that are directly applicable to space weather and space science education. These tools, some of which were developed by our student interns, are capable of serving a wide range of student audiences, from middle school to postgraduate research. They include a web-based point of access to sophisticated space physics models and visualizations, and a powerful space weather information dissemination system, available on the web and as a mobile app. In this demonstration, we will use CCMC's innovative tools to engage the audience in real-time space weather analysis and forecasting and will share some of our interns' hands-on experiences while being trained as junior space weather forecasters. The main portals to CCMC's educational material are ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov and iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov

Social Networks and Performance in Distributed Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Cadima, Rita; Ojeda, Jordi; Monguet, Josep M.

2012-01-01

Social networks play an essential role in learning environments as a key channel for knowledge sharing and students' support. In distributed learning communities, knowledge sharing does not occur as spontaneously as when a working group shares the same physical space; knowledge sharing depends even more on student informal connections. In this…

The internet, virtual communities and threats to confidentiality ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)