Overhauling of a Science Library Web Area

This article covers the revamp of a science library’s web area. The library’s web area contained outdated web pages, unused files, and an architecture that made it hard to maintain. All of these issues with the web area resulted in an examination and revamping of several aspects of all the files on the web area. Server statistics were used to determine the usage of the files in the library’s web area. Files containing textual information were categorized according to their topic and the usage of each topic area was examined to determine the distribution of usage amongst the topic areas. Files were also categorized according to file type in order to determine the distribution of various file types. The architecture of the web area was improved in order to make the files categorized into proper topic folders and thus easier to maintain. Files were moved as needed in order to fit into the new architecture. Unused web pages were integrated into other web pages or deleted entirely. Redirects were created for users that have used bookmarks or links to the old location. Web pages were all examined and appropriately revised in order to provide concise, up to date, and accurate information and links to information. The article ends with the future plans for the web area, including a regular schedule of maintenance

Mapping for the Masses: GIS Lite and Online Mapping Tools in Academic Libraries

Customized maps depicting complex social data are much more prevalent today than in the past. Not only in formal published outlets, interactive mapping tools make it easy to create and publish custom maps in both formal and more casual outlets such as social media. This article defines GIS Lite, describes three commercial products currently licensed by institutions, and discusses issues that arise from their varied functionality and license restrictions.Publisher allows immediate open acces

Voice control of the space shuttle video system

A pilot voice control system developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to test and evaluate the feasibility of controlling the shuttle TV cameras and monitors by voice commands utilizes a commercially available discrete word speech recognizer which can be trained to the individual utterances of each operator. Successful ground tests were conducted using a simulated full-scale space shuttle manipulator. The test configuration involved the berthing, maneuvering and deploying a simulated science payload in the shuttle bay. The handling task typically required 15 to 20 minutes and 60 to 80 commands to 4 TV cameras and 2 TV monitors. The best test runs show 96 to 100 percent voice recognition accuracy

Mapping the Kinematical Regimes of Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering

We construct a language for identifying kinematical regions of transversely differential semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering cross sections with particular underlying partonic pictures, especially in regions of moderate to low $Q$ where sensitivity to kinematical effects outside the usual very high energy limit becomes non-trivial. The partonic pictures map to power law expansions whose leading contributions ultimately lead to well-known QCD factorization theorems. We propose methods for estimating the consistency of any particular region of overall hadronic kinematics with the kinematics of a given underlying partonic picture. The basic setup of kinematics of semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering is also reviewed in some detail.Comment: 37 pages, 11 Figure

First Results from SPARO: Evidence for Large-Scale Toroidal Magnetic Fields in the Galactic Center

We have observed the linear polarization of 450 micron continuum emission from the Galactic center, using a new polarimetric detector system that is operated on a 2 m telescope at the South Pole. The resulting polarization map extends ~ 170 pc along the Galactic plane and ~ 30 pc in Galactic latitude, and thus covers a significant fraction of the central molecular zone. Our map shows that this region is permeated by large-scale toroidal magnetic fields. We consider our results together with radio observations that show evidence for poloidal fields in the Galactic center, and with Faraday rotation observations. We compare all of these observations with the predictions of a magnetodynamic model for the Galactic center that was proposed in order to explain the Galactic Center Radio Lobe as a magnetically driven gas outflow. We conclude that the observations are basically consistent with the model.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, submitted to ApJ Let

Can Self-Prediction Overcome Barriers to Hepatitis B Vaccination? A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a serious public health problem, due in part to low vaccination rates among high-risk adults, many of whom decline vaccination because of barriers such as perceived inconvenience or discomfort. This study evaluates the efficacy of a self-prediction intervention to increase HBV vaccination rates among high-risk adults. Method: Randomized controlled trial of 1,175 adults recruited from three sexually transmitted disease clinics in the United States over 28 months. Participants completed an audio-computer-assisted self-interview, which presented information about HBV infection and vaccination, and measured relevant beliefs, behaviors, and demographics. Half of participants were assigned randomly to a “self-prediction” intervention, asking them to predict their future acceptance of HBV vaccination. The main outcome measure was subsequent vaccination behavior. Other measures included perceived barriers to HBV vaccination, measured prior to the intervention. Results: There was a significant interaction between the intervention and vaccination barriers, indicating the effect of the intervention differed depending on perceived vaccination barriers. Among high-barriers patients, the intervention significantly increased vaccination acceptance. Among low-barriers patients, the intervention did not influence vaccination acceptance. Conclusions: The self-prediction intervention significantly increased vaccination acceptance among “high-barriers” patients, who typically have very low vaccination rates. This brief intervention could be a useful tool in increasing vaccine uptake among high-barriers patients

Instrument Performance in Kepler's First Months

The Kepler Mission relies on precise differential photometry to detect the 80 parts per million (ppm) signal from an Earth-Sun equivalent transit. Such precision requires superb instrument stability on time scales up to ~2 days and systematic error removal to better than 20 ppm. To this end, the spacecraft and photometer underwent 67 days of commissioning, which included several data sets taken to characterize the photometer performance. Because Kepler has no shutter, we took a series of dark images prior to the dust cover ejection, from which we measured the bias levels, dark current, and read noise. These basic detector properties are essentially unchanged from ground-based tests, indicating that the photometer is working as expected. Several image artifacts have proven more complex than when observed during ground testing, as a result of their interactions with starlight and the greater thermal stability in flight, which causes the temperature-dependent artifact variations to be on the timescales of transits. Because of Kepler's unprecedented sensitivity and stability, we have also seen several unexpected systematics that affect photometric precision. We are using the first 43 days of science data to characterize these effects and to develop detection and mitigation methods that will be implemented in the calibration pipeline. Based on early testing, we expect to attain Kepler's planned photometric precision over 80%-90% of the field of view.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, Astrophysical Journal Letters, accepte