LEVERAGING NEUROIMAGING BIOMARKERS TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

For this study, Dr. Michelle Birkett and her research team (herein referred to as the “Subcontractor”) shall collaborate with the University of Indiana (herein referred to as the “Prime”) and shall be responsible for the following scope of work: Development of a New Network Canvas Interface The Subcontractor will develop and implement a new interface, based on the specification provided by the Prime, within the Network Canvas software suite, an NIH-funded digital social network data capture tool co-directed by Site PI/Co-I Dr. Michelle Birkett. Implementation will consist of the new interface being available within the ‘Interviewer’ software, and being configurable within the ‘Architect’ software. The new interface will combine the functionality of an edge generator and edge interpreter, and will allow a research participant to systematically indicate the level of closeness between every pair of alters within their network. This interface will be developed following the design principles of the Network Canvas suite. Upon completion, the Subcontractor will provide the Prime with versions of Interviewer and Architect that include this new interface, and may also choose to publish this new interface in public versions of the software. The Subcontractor will retain copyright over the code created for this interface, and may choose to publish this code as part of the open-source public repositories for the Network Canvas project. The Subcontractor shall collaborate with the research team at the Prime throughout the course of interface development, holding regular meetings to update on progress and solicit feedback. Feedback from the Prime within scope of the feature will be incorporated to meet the needs of the study, except where such feedback is deemed to be technically infeasible or impractical by the Subcontractor. The Subcontractor will perform quality assurance activities and testing to ensure the final feature is research ready and can be integrated into the existing data collection instrument of the Prime already programmed in Network Canvas. Technical Training To support the use of the new interface, the Subcontractor will work closely with the Prime to provide technical guidance on survey implementation and interface configuration for the project over the course of the subcontract. A member of Site PI Dr. Birkett’s team will meet with the Prime study coordinator periodically to address questions related to modifying and administering the study protocol in Network Canvas. Dissemination As the Network Canvas software is NIH-funded, any manuscripts which result from the survey instrument programmed in the tool would cite the Network Canvas Software or acknowledge the NIH grant (R01DA042711) which supported the development of the tool.