Philanthropy's Awareness Deficit

Engaged Americans show limited knowledge of foundations and struggle to identify their impact on communities or issues they care about, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive. But there is a silver lining: they still express positive feelings towards foundations and their social value. Read about these and other survey findings in this Philanthropy Awareness Initiative Digest

System enhancements of Mesoscale Analysis and Space Sensor (MASS) computer system

The interactive information processing for the mesoscale analysis and space sensor (MASS) program is reported. The development and implementation of new spaceborne remote sensing technology to observe and measure atmospheric processes is described. The space measurements and conventional observational data are processed together to gain an improved understanding of the mesoscale structure and dynamical evolution of the atmosphere relative to cloud development and precipitation processes. A Research Computer System consisting of three primary computers was developed (HP-1000F, Perkin-Elmer 3250, and Harris/6) which provides a wide range of capabilities for processing and displaying interactively large volumes of remote sensing data. The development of a MASS data base management and analysis system on the HP-1000F computer and extending these capabilities by integration with the Perkin-Elmer and Harris/6 computers using the MSFC's Apple III microcomputer workstations is described. The objectives are: to design hardware enhancements for computer integration and to provide data conversion and transfer between machines

Digital processing of mesoscale analysis and space sensor data

The mesoscale analysis and space sensor (MASS) data management and analysis system on the research computer system is presented. The MASS data base management and analysis system was implemented on the research computer system which provides a wide range of capabilities for processing and displaying large volumes of conventional and satellite derived meteorological data. The research computer system consists of three primary computers (HP-1000F, Harris/6, and Perkin-Elmer 3250), each of which performs a specific function according to its unique capabilities. The overall tasks performed concerning the software, data base management and display capabilities of the research computer system in terms of providing a very effective interactive research tool for the digital processing of mesoscale analysis and space sensor data is described

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Congressional Priorities

Presents survey results on healthcare experts' support for implementing the 2010 health reform, including the individual mandate, health insurance exchanges, and Medicaid expansion; incentivizing care coordination; and expanding cost-containment pilots

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Priorities for the Obama Administration

Presents results of a survey of experts on priorities in healthcare reform and related economic stimulus for the Barack Obama administration, including new regulations, employer financing of coverage, and an insurance exchange with a public option

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Slowing the Growth of Health Care Costs

Presents results of a survey of experts on the need to slow U.S. healthcare spending growth and on support for cost-reduction strategies, including payment reform and creating a center for comparative effectiveness, as proposed by the Obama administratio

Pulse of Equality: A Snapshot of U.S. Perspectives on Gay and Transgender People and Policies

Presents survey findings on attitudes toward and beliefs about gays and lesbians, as well as policies including legal recognition of gay couples, adoption qualification, and anti-discrimination laws, by gender, age, race/ethnicity, and religion

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Payment System Reform

Presents results of a survey of healthcare experts on the adequacy of the current fee-for-service payment system, reform options, strategies to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and changes to Medicare. Analyzes opinion leaders' responses by sector

Hardware-accelerated interactive data visualization for neuroscience in Python.

Large datasets are becoming more and more common in science, particularly in neuroscience where experimental techniques are rapidly evolving. Obtaining interpretable results from raw data can sometimes be done automatically; however, there are numerous situations where there is a need, at all processing stages, to visualize the data in an interactive way. This enables the scientist to gain intuition, discover unexpected patterns, and find guidance about subsequent analysis steps. Existing visualization tools mostly focus on static publication-quality figures and do not support interactive visualization of large datasets. While working on Python software for visualization of neurophysiological data, we developed techniques to leverage the computational power of modern graphics cards for high-performance interactive data visualization. We were able to achieve very high performance despite the interpreted and dynamic nature of Python, by using state-of-the-art, fast libraries such as NumPy, PyOpenGL, and PyTables. We present applications of these methods to visualization of neurophysiological data. We believe our tools will be useful in a broad range of domains, in neuroscience and beyond, where there is an increasing need for scalable and fast interactive visualization