ARIA Glossary

In ARIA we use standardized terms to refer to aspects of the workflow.

(Scientific) Review:
The scientific peer-review of a submitted proposal
(Technical) Evaluation:
The assessment of technical feasibility / availability of resources by the service providers
(Access) Feedback:
Reflection on the outcomes of the access immediately after it has taken place. This is performed by both the visiting user, and by the service provider.
Moderator:
Selects reviewers, oversees the scientific review and chooses to accept/reject a proposal informed by the scientific review. Also provides a point of contact for the applicant about their proposal.
Service/Technology:
The service offered to users displayed to them in the catalogue. A service/technology can refer to one machine/method or multiple machines/methods (e.g. a pipeline or a group of related machines) used to provide the service.
Service/Technology type:
Thematic grouping of similar service/technologies.
Machine/Method:
A physical machine or a method used to provide the service/technology.
Procedure:
The type of task performed by a machine/method e.g. Imaging, data analysis.
Access (/Visit):
The use of a service/technology by a user. Access may be remote i.e. a user sends in a sample to be analysed, or physical (sometimes referred to as a visit) i.e. a user travels to another institute to use a machine in that institute.
Unit of access:
A standardised measure of access (usually days) which is connected to an associated cost (Access cost).
User cost:
 
Cost of consumables and travel/accommodation for the applicant to visit.
Access cost: 
Real cost of the access being offered to users and is the User cost plus cost of support personnel and administration to deliver the access service.
Facility cost: 
Cost of the infrastructure provided which includes the Access cost plus the cost of maintaining and running the facility.
Service Provider / Service Operator:
Those persons listed as administrators of a service/technology.
Centre:
The organisation which is home to machines/methods. In the case of Instruct it is one of our Instruct centres (called ‘nodes’ in other RI).