Ion Anisotropy and High-Energy Variability of Large Solar Particle Events: A Comparative Study

We have made comparative studies of ion anisotropy and high-energy variability of solar energetic particle (SEP) events previously examined by the Solar, Heliospheric, and Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) Workshop campaign. We have found distinctly different characteristics of SEPs between two large "gradual" events having very similar solar progenitors (the 2002 April 21 and August 24 events). Since the scattering centers of SEPs are approximately frozen in the solar wind, we emphasize work in the solar-wind frame where SEPs tend to be isotropized, and small anisotropies are easier to detect. While in the August event no streaming reversal occurred, in the April event the field-aligned anisotropy of all heavy ions showed sign of streaming reversal. The difference in streaming reversal was consistent with the difference in the presence of the outer reflecting boundary. In the April event the magnetic mirror, which was located behind the interplanetary shock driven by the preceding coronal mass ejection (CME), could block the stream of SEPs, while in the August event SEPs escaped freely because of the absence of nearby boundary. The magnetic mirror was formed at the bottleneck of magnetic field lines draped around a flank of the preceding CME. In the previous SHINE event analysis the contrasting event durations and Fe/O ratios of the both events were explained as the interplay between shock geometry and seed population. Our new findings, however, indicate that event duration and time as well as spectral variation are also affected by the presence of a nearby reflecting boundary

Group B streptococcus cystitis presenting in a diabetic patient with a massive abdominopelvic abscess: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Streptococcus agalactiae or group B streptococcus is a Gram-positive pathogen that is typically associated with neonatal disease and infection in pregnant women. Group B streptococcus also causes invasive infections in non-pregnant adults including urinary tract infections. The spectrum of urinary tract infections caused by group B streptococcus includes cystitis, pyelonephritis, urosepsis and asymptomatic bacteriuria, which is particularly common among elderly individuals. A rare form of invasive group B streptococcus infection in adults is secondary abscess. Here, we present the first reported case of a patient who developed an unusual, massive abdominopelvic abscess secondary to acute group B streptococcus urinary tract infection. CASE PRESENTATION: A 46-year-old African-American woman presented to the University Emergency Department complaining of urinary tract infection symptoms and severe abdominal pain. Diagnostic imaging by transvaginal ultrasound and computed tomography revealed a massive peripherally-enhancing, low-attenuating fluid collection within her pelvis. The patient’s abdominopelvic abscess was drained by ultrasound-guided drainage and this yielded a septic aspirate that was culture positive for abundant S. agalactiae. A recent history of urinary tract infection symptoms in the patient suggested that her abscess developed secondary to cystitis. Complete resolution of the abscess as a favorable outcome was achieved in this case following surgical drainage and appropriate antimicrobial therapy. CONCLUSION: Acute bacterial urinary tract infection leading to an abdominopelvic abscess has not previously been reported in the literature. This case report defines a new disease etiology associated with acute streptococcal cystitis and it will be of interest in cases of urinary tract infections where there is an association with abdominal and/or pelvic pain. A brief review of the literature on unusual secondary abscesses due to group B streptococcus is provided alongside this case to highlight the clinical significance and prognoses of these rare infections. Finally, this case emphasizes the requirement to distinguish unusual etiologies of pyogenic abscesses in order to guide successful clinical management and to treat patients with antibiotics active against the causal organism

Business on Chain: A Comparative Case Study of Five Blockchain-Inspired Business Models

Blockchain technology, despite its origins as the underlying infrastructure for value transfer in the era of cryptocurrency, has been touted as the main disruptive force in modern businesses. Blockchain has the capacity to chronologically capture and store transactional data in a standardized and tamper-proof format that is transparent to all stakeholders involved in the transaction. This, in turn, has prompted companies to rethink preexisting business practices, thereby yielding a myriad of fascinating business models anchored in blockchain technology. In this study, we advance contemporary knowledge of business applications of blockchain by drawing on the theoretical lens of the digital business model and value configuration to decipher how pioneers in this space are leveraging blockchain to create and capture value. Through a comparative, multiple case study approach, we analyzed five companies in mainland China that have rolled out blockchain initiatives. From our case analyses, we derived a typology of five blockchain-inspired business models, each of which embodies a distinctive logic for market differentiation. For each business model, we offer insights into its value creation logic, its value capturing mechanism, and the challenges that could threaten its longer-term viability. Grounded in our findings, we discuss key implications for theory and practice

Sustainable Smart Transportation System: Through the Lens of a Smart City in an Emerging Country

Environmental and social sustainability continue to challenge urban development agendas, especially in emerging markets. Past literature on the topic of smart, sustainable cities has focused relatively less on developing countries – however, during the transient phase, such economies undergo several stages of development which this paper endeavors to investigate. The goal is to define key dimensions essential for evolving existing urban sites into a sustainable ecosystem. In this context, this study puts forward a framework consisting of five pillars: Scalability, Connection, Availability, Productivity, and Environment (SCAPE) to guide the implementation of sustainable cities in developing and tropical countries

Towards A Research Agenda on Digital Platform Disruption

Digital platforms are disruptive IT artifacts, because they facilitate the quick release of innovative platform derivatives from third parties. This study endeavors to unravel the disruptive potential, caused by distinct designs and configurations of digital platforms on market environments. We postulate that the disruptive potential of digital platforms is determined by the degree of alignment among the business, technology and platform profiles. Furthermore, we argue that the design and configuration of the aforementioned three elements dictates the extent to which open innovation is permitted. To shed light on the disruptive potential of digital platforms, we opted for digital payment platforms as our unit of analysis. Through interviews with experts and payment providers, we seek to gain an in-depth appreciation of how contemporary digital payment platforms are designed and configured to foster open innovation. We envision that this study bridges existing knowledge gaps between digital platform and open innovation literature

A Comparative Study of Centralized & Decentralized Digital Payment Providers

Digital platforms are disruptive information technology (IT) artifacts that erode conventional business logic associated with traditional market structures. This paper presents a framework for examining the disruptive potential of digital platforms whereby we postulate that the strategic interplay of governance regimes and platform layers is deterministic of whether disruptive derivatives are permitted to flourish. This framework has been employed in a comparative case study between centralized (i.e., PayPal) and decentralized (i.e., Coinkite) digital payment platforms to illustrate its applicability and yield propositions on the nature and impact of digital platform disruptions. Preliminary findings indicate that centralized digital platforms attempt to create unique configurals to obtain monopolistic power by tightly coupling platform layers, which are difficult to replicate. Conversely, decentralized digital platforms purposely decouple platform layers, to foster open innovation and accelerate market disruption. This paper therefore represents a first concrete step aimed at unravelling the disruptive potential of digital platforms

Dissolved heavy metals and water quality in the surface waters of rivers and drainages of the West Peninsular Malaysia

The dissolved concentrations of metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, Fe and Zn), temperature, total dissolved solids, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and conductivity were determined in the surface waters of 24 geographical sampling sites including city and urban drainages and rivers, from the west Peninsular Malaysia, collected in January to April 2005. From these sampling sites, the ranges (min-max) of dissolved metal concentrations (mg/L) were Cd: 0.001-0.055, Cu: 0.001-0.1773, Pb: 0.001-1.523, Ni: 0.001-0.246, Fe: 0.001-35.67 and Zn: 0.0001-0.609 while for the water quality are pH: 4.96-9.81, dissolved oxygen (0.39-7.26 mg/L), total dissolved solids (0.002-10.02 mg/L), salinity (0.00-8.93 ppt), conductivity (3.33-17423 μS/cm) and temperature (27.8-35.3�). Some sites with elevated dissolved concentrations of heavy metals and poor water quality indicated the anthropogenic inputs of industrial and urban wastes. Regular monitoring of water quality in all drainage waters is recommended

Comparison Between Path Lengths Traveled by Solar Electrons and Ions in Ground-Level Enhancement Events

We have examined the Wind/3DP/SST electron and Wind/EPACT/LEMT ion data to investigate the path length difference between solar electrons and ions in the ground-level enhancement (GLE) events in solar cycle 23. Assuming that the onset time of metric type II or decameter-hectometric (DH) type III radio bursts is the solar release time of non-relativistic electrons, we have found that within an error range of plus or minus 10% the deduced path length of low-energy (approximately 27 keV) electrons from their release site near the Sun to the 1 AU observer is consistent with the ion path length deduced by Reames from the onset time analysis. In addition, the solar longitude distribution and IMF topology of the GLE events examined are in favor of the coronal mass ejection-driven shock acceleration origin of observed non-relativistic electrons.We have also found an increase of electron path lengths with increasing electron energies. The increasing rate of path lengths is correlated with the pitch angle distribution (PAD) of peak electron intensities locally measured, with a higher rate corresponding to a broader PAD. The correlation indicates that the path length enhancement is due to the interplanetary scattering experienced by first arriving electrons. The observed path length consistency implies that the maximum stable time of magnetic flux tubes, along which particles transport, could reach 4.8 hr

Exploring Sources of Ineffectiveness in Multi-Level IT Use

There is a notable paucity of multi-level analyses of IT use in IS research. Often, analyses limited to a single level are problematic, as multi-level effects cannot be accounted for. For example, online communities, such as the one examined in this paper, build on network effects: they can provide more value to all members collectively whenever each individual member participates more actively. This example also highlights the importance of usage effectiveness – the rather commonsense, yet often explicitly unexamined, idea that IT systems are not used for their own sake, but to attain relevant goals. Given these challenges, we set out to explore what factors contribute to ineffectiveness in multi-level IT use in the context of an online community. Our initial analysis reveals two novel concepts – frictions and tensions – that could help researchers and practitioners in better understanding the obstacles to achieving effective multi-level IT use

Chinese and Korean Characters Engage the Same Visual Word Form Area in Proficient Early Chinese-Korean Bilinguals

A number of recent studies consistently show an area, known as the visual word form area (VWFA), in the left fusiform gyrus that is selectively responsive for visual words in alphabetic scripts as well as in logographic scripts, such as Chinese characters. However, given the large difference between Chinese characters and alphabetic scripts in terms of their orthographic rules, it is not clear at a fine spatial scale, whether Chinese characters engage the same VWFA in the occipito-temporal cortex as alphabetic scripts. We specifically compared Chinese with Korean script, with Korean script serving as a good example of alphabetic writing system, but matched to Chinese in the overall square shape. Sixteen proficient early Chinese-Korean bilinguals took part in the fMRI experiment. Four types of stimuli (Chinese characters, Korean characters, line drawings and unfamiliar Chinese faces) were presented in a block-design paradigm. By contrasting characters (Chinese or Korean) to faces, presumed VWFAs could be identified for both Chinese and Korean characters in the left occipito-temporal sulcus in each subject. The location of peak response point in these two VWFAs were essentially the same. Further analysis revealed a substantial overlap between the VWFA identified for Chinese and that for Korean. At the group level, there was no significant difference in amplitude of response to Chinese and Korean characters. Spatial patterns of response to Chinese and Korean are similar. In addition to confirming that there is an area in the left occipito-temporal cortex that selectively responds to scripts in both Korean and Chinese in early Chinese-Korean bilinguals, our results show that these two scripts engage essentially the same VWFA, even at the level of fine spatial patterns of activation across voxels. These results suggest that similar populations of neurons are engaged in processing the different scripts within the same VWFA in early bilinguals