Survey of reader preferences concerning the format of NASA langley-authored technical reports

The U.S. government technical report is a primary means by which the results of federally funded research and development (R&D) are transferred to the U.S. aerospace industry. However, little is known about this information product in terms of its actual use, importance, and value in the transfer of federally funded R&D. Little is also known about the intermediary-based system that is used to transfer the results of federally funded R&D to the U.S. aerospace industry. To help establish a body of knowledge, the U.S. government technical report is being investigated as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. In this article, we summarize the literature on the U.S. government technical report and present the results of a survey of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that solicited their opinions concerning the format of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)-authored technical reports. To learn more about the preferences of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the format of NASA LaRC-authored technical reports, we surveyed 133 report producers (i.e., authors) and 137 report users in March–April 1996. Questions covered such topics as: (a) the order in which report components are read; (b) components used to determine if a report would be read; (c) those components that could be deleted; (d) the placement of such components as the symbols list; (e) the desirability of a table of contents; (f) the format of reference citations; (g) column layout and right margin treatment; and (h) writing style in terms of person and voice. Mail (self-reported) surveys were used to collect the data. The response rates for report producers (i.e., authors) was 68% and for users, was 62%.     

Neuroimaging Studies of Reading Development and Reading Disability

Converging evidence from a number of neuroimaging studies, including our own, suggest that fluent word identification in reading is related to the functional integrity of two left hemisphere posterior systems: a temporo-parietal system and a ventral occipito-temporal system. These posterior systems are functionally disrupted in developmental dyslexia. Reading disabled, relative to nonimpaired, readers demonstrate heightened reliance on both inferior frontal and right hemisphere posterior regions, presumably in compensation for the LH posterior difficulties. We propose a neurobiological account suggesting that for normally developing readers the temporo-parietal system predominates at first, and is associated with aspects of processing critical in learning to integrate orthography with phonological and lexical-semantic features of printed words. The occipito-temporal system, by contrast, constitutes a fast, late-developing, word-identification system that underlies fluent word recognition in skilled readers.     

Evaluation of a specific test in cross-country skiing

Six Danish male cross-country skiers were studied during the end-of-summer and winter seasons. Their maximal oxygen uptake was measured while running on a treadmill and using a ski ergometer incorporating the double-poling technique. Maximal oxygen uptake during treadmill running and double-poling was correlated with performance, expressed as a ranking score during 10 ski races. The tests were undertaken in September, December and April. Upper body maximal oxygen uptake increased 5.8% from September to December, decreasing to 2.3% above the September level in April. Upper body work output (2 min at maximal intensity) increased 11.8% from September to December (P less than 0.05). The relationship between upper body and leg maximal oxygen uptake--the upper body/leg ratio--was 89.4% in September. In four skiers, both treadmill and upper body tests were undertaken on each test occasion. The upper body/leg ratio changed from 87.7% in September to 95.7% in December. In April, the ratio was 91.0%. The maximal oxygen uptake measured using the ski ergometer during double-poling was significantly correlated with performance (P less than 0.05). It is concluded that the upper body ski ergometer can be used in the evaluation of elite cross-country skiers.     

The industrial lot and its sampling implications

It is shown that wrong inferences are drawn from samples because of failure to understand what constitutes a lot and because of failure to verify the existence of a lot in the practically useful sense. Time-tried methods of making valid inferences from samples without increased cost are pointed out.