Organizational and Funding Options for Markup Vocabulary Creation and Maintenance

There are many ways to create a markup vocabulary and many forums in which it can be done. Creating and maintaining markup vocabularies requires significant ongoing volunteer time and effort, significant funding, or both. In light of this, it often makes sense for a multi-institution group to undertake the creation and management process, particularly when interchange is a goal. The community has examples of this consensus model, such as the TEI (which was created by a grant-supported project and is maintained by a consortium created for the purpose) and the STS (which was originally a derivative of JATS, further developed by ISO, and then donated to NISO for the establishment of consensus and for maintenance). Selection of an organizational home and source of funding can have marked effects on vocabularies. The organizational structure affects representation, who has a voice in the process, intellectual property concerns (e.g., patents, copyrights, other standards), and decision making policies. Costs involved in creating and maintaining markup vocabularies begin at conception and continue through development into maintenance and promotion. These costs include editing, hosting, publishing and distribution, and management of the standards process. Real-world examples of the organization and funding of successful markup vocabularies will provide patterns others may find useful.

Long-Term Network Performance: Function of Pavement Management System Maintenance Selection Policy

Most road agencies operate under a scenario in which the maintenance need exceeds the available maintenance funds. In this environment pavement managers are forced to select maintenance and rehabilitation actions on the basis of a defined methodology. This is typically done through a ranking process or through modern optimization routines. In the ranking process the maintenance priority of a road is determined on the basis of the importance and condition of the road. Projects with a high priority rating are carried out first, and projects are then carried out until the available funds are depleted. The more sophisticated pavement management systems use optimization routines that allow for interproject trade-offs when generating a maintenance plan. The importance of the choice of maintenance selection methodology for the long-term network condition is described. Data from an actual road network were used and were subjected to various ranking and optimization functions. This included policies such as fix worst first, use priority index, maximize asset value, minimize transportation costs, and the traditional maximization of area under a condition curve approach. The outcome was evaluated in terms of network condition, network asset value, overall transportation costs, and road user cost. It is shown that the maintenance policy should be compatible with agencies’ long-term maintenance objectives.

LRP = IN (5PS/3ST) = SD/GTP a Formula for Staff Development for Programming for Gifted and Talented Students

Excellence in the education of the gifted student demands an equally excellent education of the teachers of the gifted and of the supporting educational community. A long-range program of staff development must be an integral part of any process of program development and maintenance. In this change-agentry model, staff development activities are viewed within a framework of three program stages: awareness, implementation, and maintenance. Selection of inservice activities appropriate to each stage are based on the developmental theories of Bloom (cognitive) and Krathwohl (affective) and on Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model for gifted students.