Exchanges between residents and tourism development

This qualitative study focused on utilizing a combination of social exchange and power theories to wxplain exchange that occurt between residents of Langkawi and tourism development on the island. The guiding question for this inquiry was "what role does power play in social exchanges that occur between residents and tourism development?" Findings revealed that social exchanges is useful in examining residents' attitudes towards tourism as residents indeed based their attitudes on the evaluation of the returns that they receive from the exchanges. More importantly, the findings indicated that residents' general values, their dependence on tourism, and their ability and willingness to adapt moderated the influence of power on residents' evaluation of tourism impacts

Schedule Risks Due to Delays in Advanced Technology Development

This paper discusses a methodology and modeling capability that probabilistically evaluates the likelihood and impacts of delays in advanced technology development prior to the start of design, development, test, and evaluation (DDT&E) of complex space systems. The challenges of understanding and modeling advanced technology development considerations are first outlined, followed by a discussion of the problem in the context of lunar surface architecture analysis. The current and planned methodologies to address the problem are then presented along with sample analyses and results. The methodology discussed herein provides decision-makers a thorough understanding of the schedule impacts resulting from the inclusion of various enabling advanced technology assumptions within system design

Dimensionality of Carbon Nanomaterials Determines the Binding and Dynamics of Amyloidogenic Peptides: Multiscale Theoretical Simulations

Experimental studies have demonstrated that nanoparticles can affect the rate of protein self-assembly, possibly interfering with the development of protein misfolding diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and prion disease caused by aggregation and fibril formation of amyloid-prone proteins. We employ classical molecular dynamics simulations and large-scale density functional theory calculations to investigate the effects of nanomaterials on the structure, dynamics and binding of an amyloidogenic peptide apoC-II(60-70). We show that the binding affinity of this peptide to carbonaceous nanomaterials such as C60, nanotubes and graphene decreases with increasing nanoparticle curvature. Strong binding is facilitated by the large contact area available for π-stacking between the aromatic residues of the peptide and the extended surfaces of graphene and the nanotube. The highly curved fullerene surface exhibits reduced efficiency for π-stacking but promotes increased peptide dynamics. We postulate that the increase in conformational dynamics of the amyloid peptide can be unfavorable for the formation of fibril competent structures. In contrast, extended fibril forming peptide conformations are promoted by the nanotube and graphene surfaces which can provide a template for fibril-growth

The RSNA Abdominal Traumatic Injury CT (RATIC) Dataset

The RSNA Abdominal Traumatic Injury CT (RATIC) dataset is the largest publicly available collection of adult abdominal CT studies annotated for traumatic injuries. This dataset includes 4,274 studies from 23 institutions across 14 countries. The dataset is freely available for non-commercial use via Kaggle at https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/rsna-2023-abdominal-trauma-detection. Created for the RSNA 2023 Abdominal Trauma Detection competition, the dataset encourages the development of advanced machine learning models for detecting abdominal injuries on CT scans. The dataset encompasses detection and classification of traumatic injuries across multiple organs, including the liver, spleen, kidneys, bowel, and mesentery. Annotations were created by expert radiologists from the American Society of Emergency Radiology (ASER) and Society of Abdominal Radiology (SAR). The dataset is annotated at multiple levels, including the presence of injuries in three solid organs with injury grading, image-level annotations for active extravasations and bowel injury, and voxelwise segmentations of each of the potentially injured organs. With the release of this dataset, we hope to facilitate research and development in machine learning and abdominal trauma that can lead to improved patient care and outcomes.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures, 3 table

The RSNA Abdominal Traumatic Injury CT (RATIC) Dataset.

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A preliminary study on the population and habitat of saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) in Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara

Abstract The information on the population size and habitat condition of the Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) in East Nusa Tenggara is unavailable. The present paper discusses preliminary data on population and habitat characteristics of the Saltwater crocodile in three conservation areas in Timor island, namely Teluk Kupang Marine Nature Tourism Park, Menipo Nature Tourism Park, and Maubesi Mangrove Forest Nature Reserve. Spotlight surveys and vegetation analyses were carried out in each location. The crocodile encounter rate was calculated as individuals detected per km surveyed. The encounter rates in Teluk Kupang, Menipo, and Maubesi were 0.3 crocodiles/km, 0.4 crocodiles/km, and 0.6 crocodiles/km, respectively. Hatchlings, juveniles, and adult saltwater crocodiles were found in Maubesi, and only hatchlings were found in Menipo. Hatchlings were found in paddy fields, and adults were found in mangroves, estuaries, and rivers. Mangrove densities in Teluk Kupang, Menipo, and Maubesi were 127 trees/ha, 124 trees/ha, and 186 trees/ha, respectively. These are the first systematic surveys in the areas studied, and additional work is needed to characterize the population and habitat of the saltwater crocodile in East Nusa Tenggara.</jats:p