Library Research for the 99%: Reaching Out to the Occupy Wall Street Movement

This article describes how librarians from three different universities in the greater New York area came together through the myMETRO Researchers Project to reach out to Occupy Wall Street. Using social media and free online tools to partner with Occupy’s environmental subgroup, the authors overcame proprietary roadblocks, copyright challenges, and distrust/skepticism to discover the authentic information needs of activists and compile an annotated bibliography of scholarly research on the real-world impacts of climate change. This successful collaboration is an example of how institutions can be used as contact points through which individuals can affect change on society, and how librarians can partner with local community groups to combat information poverty and digital divides and promote open access and knowledge-sharing

Accessible tourism futures: the world we dream to live in and the opportunities we hope to have

© 2015, Eleni Michopoulou, Simon Darcy, Ivor Ambrose and Dimitros Buhalis. PurposeAccessible tourism is evolving as a field of academic research and industry practice, set within a dynamic social context. The field is interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary. The purpose of this paper is to examine key concepts and global initiatives that will shape accessible tourism futures. Design/methodology/approachThree of the authors have extensive academic experience in the area and the fourth author is the Managing Director of the pre-eminent European Network for Accessible Tourism. In taking a limited Delphi approach to canvassing key areas likely to shape accessible tourism futures, the following concepts and policy initiatives were examined: motivations, dreams and aspirations of people with disability; demography; UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; destination competitiveness; universal design (UD); and the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. FindingsA discussion of each of the above areas was placed in context to accessible tourism futures and to contextualise the papers that were selected for the special issue. The latter part of the paper outlines the contribution of each empirical paper to the issue discussing the approach, findings and implications. Stakeholder collaboration was identified as the key common theme of the papers and the factor for developing accessible tourism solutions, recognising the value of the market and capitalising on it. A collaborative approach is required to recognise the complementary nature of the different paradigms; to re-shape and transform the future of the accessible tourism industry. To assist in the development of accessible tourism futures, UD principles should provide a foundation to enhance the future competitiveness of tourism destinations and organisations. Originality/valueThe paper’s examination of the concepts and global policy considerations provides a strong academic and practitioner foundation for considering accessible tourism futures. In doing so, accessible tourism futures are shown to be affected by key concepts related to core tourism considerations and major policy initiatives on accessibility and sustainability. Yet, accessible tourism futures also have the potential to create their own momentum and contribute unique learnings on the diversity of tourism markets that will shape tourism concepts and global policy initiatives in their own right

The LRL electron and proton spectrometer on NASA's Orbiting Geophysical Observatory 5/E/ /instrumentation and calibration/

Systems analysis of electron and proton spectrometer on OGO-

Three-month recovery from common negative physical, functional, and psychosocial effects among individuals infected with COVID-19: a single observational group repeated measure study

Purpose: We examined three-month recovery from common negative effects of COVID-19 infection on select physical, functional, and psychosocial parameters among infected individuals and their implications for rehabilitation programs. Methods: Twenty-one subjects participated in this study. Four standardized questionnaires were used to assess dyspnea, physical, and psychosocial variables in this study. The post-test survey was conducted 90 days following the pre-test survey. Wilcoxon-Signed Rank test and paired t-test were used to compare the variables data between pre- and post-testing time points. Results: Dyspnea scores decreased from (pre: 2 vs post:1, Z=-3.276, p=0.001, r=.50). Work performance scores increased from (pre: 42 ±25 vs post: 57 ±21, t(20) =-2.868, p=0.010, r=.62). Social functioning increased from (pre: 44 ±27 vs post: 60 ±24, t(20) =-3.525, p=0.002, r=.76) and pain scores from (pre: 42 ±30 vs post: 53 ±25, t(20) =-2.134, p=0.045, r=.46) also increased across the 90 days. Conclusions: Long-term symptoms after COVID-19 infection include ongoing physical, functional, and psychosocial deficits. While dyspnea decreased and work performance and social functioning increased, we observed a concomitant increase in pain scores over the 90-day measurement period. Long-term multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs should be designed to address the ongoing deficits among this population

Characterization of Knots and Links Arising From Site-specific Recombination on Twist Knots

We develop a model characterizing all possible knots and links arising from recombination starting with a twist knot substrate, extending previous work of Buck and Flapan. We show that all knot or link products fall into three well-understood families of knots and links, and prove that given a positive integer $n$, the number of product knots and links with minimal crossing number equal to $n$ grows proportionally to $n^5$. In the (common) case of twist knot substrates whose products have minimal crossing number one more than the substrate, we prove that the types of products are tightly prescribed. Finally, we give two simple examples to illustrate how this model can help determine previously uncharacterized experimental data.Comment: 32 pages, 7 tables, 27 figures, revised: figures re-arranged, and minor corrections. To appear in Journal of Physics

NASA Aerospace Flight Battery Program: Generic Safety, Handling and Qualification Guidelines for Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) Batteries; Availability of Source Materials for Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) Batteries; Maintaining Technical Communications Related to Aerospace Batteries (NASA Aerospace Battery Workshop)

This NASA Aerospace Flight Battery Systems Working Group was chartered within the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). The Battery Working Group was tasked to complete tasks and to propose proactive work to address battery related, agency-wide issues on an annual basis. In its first year of operation, this proactive program addressed various aspects of the validation and verification of aerospace battery systems for NASA missions. Studies were performed, issues were discussed and in many cases, test programs were executed to generate recommendations and guidelines to reduce risk associated with various aspects of implementing battery technology in the aerospace industry. This document contains Part 1 - Volume I: Generic Safety, Handling and Qualification Guidelines for Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) Batteries, Availability of Source Materials for Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) Batteries, and Maintaining Technical Communications Related to Aerospace Batteries (NASA Aerospace Battery Workshop)

A simple, biologically plausible feature detector for language acquisition

Language has a complex grammatical system we still have to understand computationally and biologically (Hauser et al., 2002; Yang, 2013). However, some evolutionarily ancient mechanisms have been repurposed for grammar (Dehaene & Cohen, 2007; Endress, Cahill, et al., 2009; Endress, Nespor, et al., 2009; Fitch, 2017) so that we can use insight from other taxa into possible circuit level mechanisms of grammar. Drawing upon recent evidence for the importance of disinhibitory circuits across taxa and brain regions (Chevalier & Deniau, 1990; Letzkus et al., 2015; Hangya et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2013; Goddard et al., 2014; Mysore & Knudsen, 2012; Koyama et al., 2016; Koyama & Pujala, 2018), I suggest a simple circuit that explains the acquisition of core grammatical rules used in 85% of the world’s languages (Rubino, 2013): grammatical rules based on sameness/difference relations. This circuit acts as a sameness-detector. Different items are suppressed through inhibition, but presenting two identical items leads to inhibition of inhibition. The items are thus propagated for further processing. This sameness-detector thus acts as a feature detector for a grammatical rule. I suggest that having a set of feature detectors for elementary grammatical rules might make language acquisition feasible based on relatively simple computational mechanisms

Moving the Needle Toward Fair Compensation in Pediatric Nephrology

Remuneration issues are a substantial threat to the long-term stability of the pediatric nephrology workforce. It is uncertain whether the pediatric nephrology workforce will meet the growing needs of children with kidney disease without a substantial overhaul of the current reimbursement policies. In contrast to adult nephrology, the majority of pediatric nephrologists practice in an academic setting affiliated with a university and/or children's hospital. The pediatric nephrology service line is crucial to maintaining the financial health and wellness of a comprehensive children's hospital. However, in the current fee-for-service system, the clinical care for children with kidney disease is neither sufficiently valued, nor appropriately compensated. Current compensation models derived from the relative value unit (RVU) system contribute to the structural biases inherent in the current inequitable payment system. The perceived negative financial compensation is a significant driver of waning trainee interest in the field which is one of the least attractive specialties for students, with a significant proportion of training spots going unfilled each year and relatively stagnant growth rate as compared to the other pediatric subspecialties. This article reviews the current state of financial compensation issues plaguing the pediatric nephrology subspecialty. We further outline strategies for pediatric nephrologists, hospital administrators, and policy-makers to improve the landscape of financial reimbursement to pediatric subspecialists. A physician compensation model is proposed which aligns clinical activity with alternate metrics for current non-RVU producing activities that harmonizes hospital and personal mission statements