The Language of League: Making Sense of Multimodal Meaning in Twitch Live Streams

Though there has been a good deal of research on digital discourse and online gaming, there has been relatively little research on 1) the social structure of specific groups within the large online gaming community, 2) the multimodal structure of the online gaming live stream, and 3) the impact that these structures have on the final communicative event. One noteworthy component of the social characteristics of online streams is the streamer gender and size of the stream’s audience. In addition, one difference that sets the live stream apart from other online communications is its intense technological complexity. This study then, will examine both of these social and technological characteristics, in an effort to understand how the participants themselves influence language use and how that language use is further impacted by the availability of multiple mediums, each of which houses multiple modes for communication. The data for this study consists of a corpus of 32,397 messages posted in the public chat area of 12 League of Legends live streamers, collected between July and September of 2019. Once collected, however, there was no prior convention in place for organizing and transcribed the data for analytical purposes. Therefore, this study also examines multiple transcription vi protocols and outlines the model developed by Graham and Arendall for an online gaming digital corpus. For this study, I take an interactional approach to explore the communicative strategies employed by participants in a complex multimedium-based multimodal event. Using quantitative analysis, I examine patterns of communicative strategies as related to streamer gender and stream size (participant population). In addition, I examine the qualitative characteristics of those patterns, as well as the influences that multiple available mediums and modes have on those patterns. The results of this analysis indicate that both social and technological characteristics of the live stream heavily impact the communicative strategies employed by participants and is often tailored to the specific needs of each community, especially where the use of graphic images is concerned. These results have implications for the further study of online gaming, live streams, and visual communications within multimediumbased multimodal events

MolProbity: all-atom structure validation for macromolecular crystallography

MolProbity structure validation will diagnose most local errors in macromolecular crystal structures and help to guide their correction

MolProbity: all-atom contacts and structure validation for proteins and nucleic acids

MolProbity is a general-purpose web server offering quality validation for 3D structures of proteins, nucleic acids and complexes. It provides detailed all-atom contact analysis of any steric problems within the molecules as well as updated dihedral-angle diagnostics, and it can calculate and display the H-bond and van der Waals contacts in the interfaces between components. An integral step in the process is the addition and full optimization of all hydrogen atoms, both polar and nonpolar. New analysis functions have been added for RNA, for interfaces, and for NMR ensembles. Additionally, both the web site and major component programs have been rewritten to improve speed, convenience, clarity and integration with other resources. MolProbity results are reported in multiple forms: as overall numeric scores, as lists or charts of local problems, as downloadable PDB and graphics files, and most notably as informative, manipulable 3D kinemage graphics shown online in the KiNG viewer. This service is available free to all users at http://molprobity.biochem.duke.edu

Autofix for backward-fit sidechains: using MolProbity and real-space refinement to put misfits in their place

Misfit sidechains in protein crystal structures are a stumbling block in using those structures to direct further scientific inference. Problems due to surface disorder and poor electron density are very difficult to address, but a large class of systematic errors are quite common even in well-ordered regions, resulting in sidechains fit backwards into local density in predictable ways. The MolProbity web site is effective at diagnosing such errors, and can perform reliable automated correction of a few special cases such as 180° flips of Asn or Gln sidechain amides, using all-atom contacts and H-bond networks. However, most at-risk residues involve tetrahedral geometry, and their valid correction requires rigorous evaluation of sidechain movement and sometimes backbone shift. The current work extends the benefits of robust automated correction to more sidechain types. The Autofix method identifies candidate systematic, flipped-over errors in Leu, Thr, Val, and Arg using MolProbity quality statistics, proposes a corrected position using real-space refinement with rotamer selection in Coot, and accepts or rejects the correction based on improvement in MolProbity criteria and on χ angle change. Criteria are chosen conservatively, after examining many individual results, to ensure valid correction. To test this method, Autofix was run and analyzed for 945 representative PDB files and on the 50S ribosomal subunit of file 1YHQ. Over 40% of Leu, Val, and Thr outliers and 15% of Arg outliers were successfully corrected, resulting in a total of 3,679 corrected sidechains, or 4 per structure on average. Summary Sentences: A common class of misfit sidechains in protein crystal structures is due to systematic errors that place the sidechain backwards into the local electron density. A fully automated method called “Autofix” identifies such errors for Leu, Val, Thr, and Arg and corrects over one third of them, using MolProbity validation criteria and Coot real-space refinement of rotamers

X-ray structures of novel intermediates in the thymidylate synthase models for chemical mechanism and conformational change

The catalytic mechanism of thymidylate synthase (TS) was investigated using X-ray crystallography: four structures that yield new information about the early stages of TS action are reported. TS catalyzes the production of thymidylate (TMP), one of the four nucleotide bases of DNA, from the substrate, deoxyuridylate and cofactor, methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTF). Knowledge about the TS mechanism is important for both the medical and basic sciences. TS is the sole de novo source of TMP and it is thus a target for anti-proliferative drugs aimed at addressing cancer and other diseases marked by rapidly dividing cells. To aid this effort, past research on TS has developed two models to explain how TS works. A detailed, sequential chemical mechanism explains the methylene and hydride transfers from one cofactor to the substrate. And, a two state, dynamical model explains the conformational change that TS undergoes during its catalytic cycle. Combining these two models will lead to a fuller understanding of protein structure, function, and dynamics interrelationships. Two of the new structures contain cofactor in a heretofore unseen state, bound in the active site with its imidazolidine ring intact. Finding that this is an allowed enzyme-cofactor state indicates that ring opening and formation of the highly reactive iminium cation may occur relatively late in the methylene transfer, after preparation of the substrate; and, the reaction may perhaps be concerted. Further, details of these two structures show that protonation of the correct imidazolidine ring nitrogen (N10) may be selected by the geometry and environment imposed on the bent cofactor by TS. N5, the "wrong" ring nitrogen, is blocked and in a hydrophobic environment, while N10 is rehybridized to sp3 and its lone pair (nascent hydrogen) is pointed into an aqueous cavity trapped within the enzyme. A proposal coming from this dissertation is for a combination of the two models describing TS catalysis. The chemical mechanism model and the conformational change model both describe the same phenomena and these models should be connected and combined into one larger model to further increase our knowledge of the connections between structure, dynamics and function. The four structures reported here begin that connection process

Decision Making of Chief Executives in Relation to Strategic Issues: An Empirical Study of the Impact of Industry Stability and Industry Complexity Upon the Complexity of Decision Making Behavior of Chief Executives of Manufacturing Firms in the Southeastern United States

Recent studies on the organizational level of strategy have concluded that environmental factors have a significant impact on the strategic decision processes of organizations, and that the contingent nature of this relationship has implications for the performance of firms operating under various industry conditions. In addition, studies on individual decision making have shown that characteristics of the decision task affect the type of decision making behavior utilized by the individual. This study integrates these two bodies of literature in examining the decision making behavior of chief executives in relation to the strategic issues which face their organizations. The sample used in the study consisted of thirty-two interviews with chief executives of publicly-held manufacturing firms in the southeastern United States. In conjunction, secondary data were gathered on the firms and the industries in which they operated. Two sets of hypotheses were formulated. The first set dealt with the impact of complexity of the industry, stability of the industry, and number of alternatives generated upon the complexity of decision making behavior of the chief executive. The second set of hypotheses focused on the relationship between complexity of decision making and economic performance of the firm, and incorporated, as contingent variables, industry complexity and industry stability. The data analysis consisted of Pearson product-moment correlation, multiple regression, hierarchical analysis, and partial correlation. The results suggest that there is a relationship between the complexity of decision making behavior of chief executives and the number of alternatives generated to address a given strategic issue. Subsequent analysis indicated that the size of the organization may affect the chief executive’s perception of the stability of the industry and also, some degree of “conservatism” may have been operating in the search for additional alternative solutions. In conclusion, this study implies that: (a) there is a tendency for chief executives to use some type of simplifying process when addressing a complex strategic issue; (b) it is possible that, in some cases, the chief executive may not be selecting the best solution for the organization; and (c) potential alternative solutions are not always actively searched out

The Integrative Potential Of The Division For Student Affairs: An Exploration Of Conflict Resolution Modes In An Institution Of Higher Education

The integrative potential of the division for student affairs was investigated in this study using as the basis for assessment the six determinants for effective integrative units delineated by Lawrence and Lorsch. A review of related literature indicated that three of five of the determinants were at least partially, if not substantially, met by the division for student affairs. Student affairs was found neither to have influence based upon competence within higher education institutions nor operate within a setting of high total organization influence. Analysis of the data indicated that confrontation was not the primary mode of conflict resolution utilized in the southwestern multiversity studied, but rather, the compromise mode was ranked first by upper- and middle-level managers. The sixth determinant, then, was not met. It appeared that since three of the determinants were met and three not met, the potential for student affairs acting as an integrative unit was limited. Other data gathered through questionnaires, interviews, and factor analysis in this investigation suggested that there was a wide disparity between the modes of conflict resolution actually used on campus and those perceived as desirable in handling disagreements. It was shown that the modes were viewed differently in the higher education setting studied than in business or public school settings. An inquiry into certain personal and positional variables evidenced that they had little influence upon the modes used or considered most desirable

Anxiety and Decision Making

In this project we are assessing the relationship between low self-esteem, anxiety, and risk avoidant behaviors. Anxiety will be measured using a BART Task and different scenarios will be given