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For many sex workers, accessing and maintaining housing is one of the central reasons for engaging in sex work. Simultaneously, one of the most stringent barriers to accessible and affordable housing is the stigma and discrimination against sex work as a livelihood. This paper explores the relationship between barriers to accessing housing for sex workers and the systems that hold the barriers in place. This paper is based on qualitative research conducted by Ocean State Advocacy's research team. Using quantitative analysis of 100 surveys and qualitative analysis of 35 interviews conducted with sex workers living in Rhode Island, this paper discusses the ways housing improves the physical health, mental health, and overall wellbeing of sex workers. By including sex workers and centering their human rights in movements around housing equity and access, sex workers' needs are prioritized while increasing understanding of stigma and systemic disenfranchisement within the field of housing justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opioid epidemic has renewed debate about how to structure laws, agency policies and hospital protocols for mandatory reporting of illicit substances during pregnancy. This paper analyzes the ethics of Rhode Island's approach to mandatory reporting - in particular, reporting of positive maternal and newborn drug tests at time of delivery. Given that state intervention is generally perceived by pregnant people as punitive and threatening to their family, we consider how four elements often used to justify punitive action by the state - retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation (societal protection) - apply to Rhode Island's policy and approach to prenatal substance use. In addition, the paper considers the equity implications of Rhode Island's approach. It concludes that, given the potential for the policy to do more harm than good, investment of resources would be better spent on clinical and community services that support substance using parents and their newborns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence of flooding and environmental contamination heightens the potential for mobility and transfer of toxic substances. Spatial analytic platforms can help identify the risks of toxic substance release during flooding, but these platforms are not integrated with one another, making data sharing difficult across platforms. Using the Toxics Mobility Inventory for the State of Rhode Island, this paper presents a method which integrates Toxicological Prioritization Index outputs across multiple data visualization platforms. The workflow presented creates an accessible interface for residents and policy makers to monitor the spatial conditions related to toxic substances during floods to better target solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) is promoted as a "humane" alternative to lethal methods for population control of feral domestic cats (Felis catus). This paper explores feedbacks between feral domestic cats, coyotes (Canis latrans), raccoons (Procyon lotor), and skunks (Mephitis mephitis) at a TNR feral cat colony in Rhode Island, USA. A total of 12,272 photographs from a motion-activated camera were analyzed. Cat population size and visitation frequency of wildlife were estimated during three different feeding regimes. Abundant food on the ground was associated with increased wildlife visits, while elevated or limited food was associated with decreased wildlife visits. During the two-year study period, the population of cats dropped from 17 to 12 individuals and the cats appeared to have short life spans, which could have been due to predation by coyotes. Our results suggest that wildlife confluence and predation risks can be influenced by feeding regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the course, "Designing Education for Better Prisoner and Community Health," which provided students with the knowledge, skills and resources needed to build real-world health education materials for persons who are criminal justice involved. Design/methodology/approach: A multiphase engaged scholarship course was designed and implemented through the Brown University School of Public Health in Rhode Island, USA. Findings: Students collaborated closely with instructors, subject matter experts and affected community members to develop highly tailored health education projects across six topic areas. The structure and outcomes of the paper are described with the hope that other instructors and institutions might replicate components of the model. Originality/value: Engaged scholarship in public health can provide students with rich, collaborative learning experiences, and when executed effectively, these endeavors can provide underserved communities with robust and informed health education interventions and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using ethnographic data from Providence County, Rhode Island, this paper explores yoga as a bodywork practice that is part of everyday health and wellbeing routines in middle class households. In this context, participants define their bodywork practices as individual activities that answer health and wellbeing needs, but notably discuss bodywork in terms of their everyday social experience. Along with other bodywork activities, yoga emerges as a shared social practice that links participants to their partners, children, and other intimates, facilitating a sense of togetherness by allowing time and space for autonomy. By giving atmospheric and sensory attention to the ethnographic data, the paper further reveals how domestic intimacy is cultivated via the generation of bodily heat and positive energies and that yoga may tacitly facilitate such atmospheres. In this way, yoga can help households meet an American need for self-development and autonomy while still facilitating a far more enduring human need for intimate connection. Ultimately yoga is characterized as a pragmatic bodywork practice that blends self-development and social intimacy through shared energetic encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will discuss the issues faced by the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS) in deciding how to handle the conservation and restoration needs of a very large and damaged work in their collection, and describe the innovative solution they came up with. The RIHS faced the decision of how to approach possible restoration of an 1812 painted drop scene or theater curtain, which had been conserved in the 1980s but was by now in need of cleaning and perhaps further restoration, to help celebrate the organization's bicentennial in 2022. They had to decide what the limits of traditional restoration were for their object, if this restoration might significantly affect the integrity of the work, and whether the considerable cost of traditional restoration was too prohibitive for a smaller institution. In considering these questions the RIHS came to the conclusion that an alternative method of restoring a work such as theirs was needed, a method that would allow an institution to create a digital file of the work, and to "restore" it using a combination of photo-editing tools and traditional painting methods. Digital photo-editing on its own would not have been sufficient to produce an organic, realistic restoration of the work, and using this hybrid digital approach, which did not alter the original object in any way, was the ideal solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Paper highlights instrumentation and monitoring of the first US offshore wind farm. • Modal parameters of the OWT are reported over one year of continuous monitoring. • Modal parameters show correlation with operational and environmental conditions. • The side-to-side modal properties are generally stable with little variability. • The fore-aft modal properties vary significantly with wind speed and turbine operation. This paper presents the variation of identified modal parameters of an offshore wind turbine (OWT) over one year of continuous monitoring. The considered OWT is a Haliade 150–6 MW GE turbine on a jacket substructure at the Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island, U.S. The turbine was instrumented with a monitoring system including accelerometers, strain gauges, inclinometers, and a data acquisition system with automatic data transfer to cloud storage. Continuous vibration measurements of the OWT have been collected over one year from April 2021 to April 2022. An automated output-only operational modal identification approach is developed to extract modal parameters of the OWT over this one-year period using windows of 10-min data. The identified modal parameters of the first few vibration modes show variability and correlation with several ambient and operational conditions. It is observed that the identified natural frequencies and damping ratios of the first side-to-side (SS) mode are stable over time and have very small variation, but those of the first fore-aft (FA) mode show significant variability. The second FA/SS modes can only be identified with reasonable accuracy when the turbine is in idle condition. Similar to the first FA/SS modes, the second FA mode has larger variability in frequencies and damping ratios than the second SS mode because of the aerodynamics effects. The system identification results over one full year verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach for long-term monitoring of this OWT and serve as the reference database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyses the experiences of the Boston Manufacturing Company (BMC) as it planned and developed its mill seat in Waltham, Massachusetts between 1813 and 1850. Based on the vision of Francis C. Lowell, the experiences of previous mill experiments in Connecticut and Rhode Island and the innovations of on-site managers, its physical planning significantly informed the development of future mill cities in New England. In essence, the BMC served as a transitional experiment linking what came to be called the Rhode Island and Lowell Systems of mill development. While many of the elements of the BMC have been previously researched, there is a gap concerning how the BMC, working with Waltham's civic leaders, implemented its plans in a climate of mutual harmony, respect and support to the point that the BMC continued to expand with minimal government interference and Waltham's quality of life steadily improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year, the annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) brings together a broad representation of the many active subfields of plasma physics and enjoys an audience that is equally diverse. The meeting was well attended and largely went as planned despite the interventions of hurricane Sandy which caused the city of Providence to shut-down during the first day of the conference. The meeting began on Monday morning with a review of the physics of cosmic rays, 2012 being the 100th year since their discovery, which illustrated the central importance of plasma physics to astrophysical problems. Subsequent reviews covered the importance of tokamak plasma boundaries, progress towards ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and magnetized plasma turbulence. The Maxwell prize address, by Professor Liu Chen, covered the field of nonlinear Alfvén wave physics. Tutorial lectures were presented on the verification of gyrokinetics, new capabilities in laboratory astrophysics, magnetic flux compression, and tokamak plasma start-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides and overview on the research, which seeks to establish a link between mind and machine that can turn thought into movement, by John Donoghue, a neuroscientist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and his colleagues. The researchers show that an implant, known as brain-computer interface, can bridge the gap between brain and movement for a quadriplegic patient. Brain signals were monitored and after acquiring consistent positive results, the researchers decoded the signals into computer language that is now used as brain of prosthetic hand.

Ports are a cornerstone of the local, state, and national economy, especially for coastal cities. However, ports face growing economic challenges that require infrastructure financing, and a relevant avenue of securing funds is through government assistance via bond issues. We examine voter support for the public financing of port infrastructure investments using a 2016 referendum in Rhode Island. Through our multiple regression voting model, we find strong evidence that public spending on ports in Rhode Island was more of a bipartisan issue compared to other public financing efforts on the ballot. Additionally, neighborhoods with a larger minority presence and those with higher median per capita income were more likely to support port development. In contrast, areas with a higher homeowner population and those communities farther from ports were less likely to support port spending. As a key novelty to our paper, we use our voting model results to forecast how a hypothetical port infrastructure bond might fare in other states, and find that regardless of socioeconomic and political differences, all coastal states in the US would be expected to pass a port referendum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the time trend coefficients in the temperatures in 48 US states using monthly data from January 1895 to December 2017, as well as in their anomalies with respect to the base period 1901–2000. For this purpose, we use techniques based on fractional integration, which is a more general approach than the standard methods used in the literature based on integer differentiation. The results indicate that with the exception of 10 states, in the remaining 38, the temperature anomalies have increased across time, with the increase being higher than the one expected under the other more standard approaches. The highest increases correspond to New Jersey and Rhode Island, with an increase of approximately 2.9°C over the last 100 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the launch of Rhode Island's online medical marijuana card registration system by the Rhode Island Department of Health, replacing the previous paper-based system and offering a user-friendly portal for registration, renewals, and updates.

In recent years, there has been a surge in the number of global health programs directed by academic institutions. Global health programs take many forms, focusing on different curricular goals such as knowledge attainment of endemic diseases, community service projects, and improved foreign-language skills. This is an expository paper describing the origins and evolution of the medical exchange program between Rhode Island Hospital and Hospital Regional Universitario José María Cabral y Báez. The exchange program is unique because it is trainee- driven and has strived to maintain a bilateral educational exchange over the past 15 years. Future goals for the program include further developing a research curriculum for both institutions and creating a longitudinal relationship with a community-based state-funded clinic in Santiago, Dominican Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public unions have enjoyed a strong presence for half a century. Despite political disagreement about the value of public unionism, the organizations have persisted and rather steadily maintained, even as private unions dropped off dramatically. But now, in the second decade of the twenty-first century, and somewhat suddenly, the very existence of public unions is threatened by attempts at wholesale elimination. What changes prompted such finality? The more acute change is macroeconomic in nature. Public fiscs are struggling to remain balanced during a decline in economic conditions. Given that union salaries and benefits consume a large portion of government budgets--particularly at the municipal level--they have been a natural target of reform. But there is a more chronic change as well. The strategies public unions use to maintain parameters of success, such as enrollment and compensation, have eroded over time the confidence some have in their positions and very nature. The erosion is at minimum an impediment to the goodwill necessary to productive negotiation and at most an impediment to existence. The literature thus far focuses on mere analyses of the effects of bargaining laws. It shows what one would expect, namely that laws designed to benefit unions do in fact benefit unions. But nonspecific analyses of raw statutes tell very little of the story behind the erosion of confidence expressed by political groups. More important are the outcomes sought through judicial interpretation of these laws and the processes by which outcomes are sought. This paper explains such an outcome and process sought by public unions, namely to have judges rule that salaries and benefits can only go up where the right to strike is proscribed. This position has contributed to confidence erosion because it sounds at the margins of democratic means and substance. There are two reasons for this. First, it utilizes the judiciary and quasi-judicial fora to read additional broadly applicable restrictions into procedural legislation that is on its face complete. Second, it ties the hands of elected officials on a matter according to which they are evaluated primarily. The position is not without justification, but there are more democratic means available to public unions to effect the desired result. For example, in the case of teachers, unions exert great influence over school committee elections via financial prowess and a deep membership electorate. They are thus able to express their will on contract negotiations through the electoral process. They need not resort to the judiciary for contractual outcomes. A case study of this litigation-election dynamic is presented. It is set in Rhode Island. There, a teachers' union took the litigation position and lost, but then saw the replacement of all but one member of the school committee with whom it disagreed about a reduction in salaries and benefits at the time of its contract renewal in 2008 in the depths of recession. Malfunctions in democratic processes are at times subtle. But subtlety does not limit the scope of consequence. This paper traces the potential origin of one such malfunction and points to a solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the demise of the Crompton Company, which filed for bankruptcy in October 1984, causing 2,450 workers in five states to lose their jobs. Crompton was founded in 1807 in Providence, Rhode Island and when it went out of business it was the oldest textile firm in the country, having been in continuous operation for 178 years. Despite its history, scholars have overlooked Crompton, partly because most work on deindustrialization has concentrated on heavy manufacturing industries, especially steel and automobiles. I argue that Crompton's demise throws much light on the broader decline of the American textile and apparel industry, which has lost over two million jobs since the mid-1970s, and shows that textiles deserve a more central place in the literature. Using company papers, this study shows that imports played the central role in causing Crompton's decline, although there were also other problems, including the strong dollar, declining exports, and a reluctance to diversify, which contributed to it. The paper also explores broader trends, including the earlier flight of the industry from New England to the South and the industry's unsuccessful campaign to pass import-restriction legislation, a fight in which Crompton's managers were very involved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

African immigrants in the United States may experience barriers to health-care access and effectiveness. This mixed-methods study used paper-based surveys of people (N=101) in the target population from Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia, recruited through convenience and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 3 clergy members who pastor churches with large Nigerian, Ghanaian, and Liberian populations, respectively; and five physicians and a clinical pharmacist who serve African immigrants. Results : Length of stay in the United States was associated with the health status of refugee children. Undocumented immigration status was associated with lack of health insurance. Cardiovascular diseases, uterine fibroids and stress-related disorders were the most prevalent reported conditions. Regardless of English fluency, many immigrants are unfamiliar with medical terminology. Conclusion: African immigrants in the state of Rhode Island need more health education and resources to navigate the US health-care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 11th International Conference on Health Policy Statistics (ICHPS) conference was successfully held from October 7 to 9, 2015, in Providence, Rhode Island, espousing the theme 'Statistical Science at the Forefront of Health Policy Research'. Authors of research presented at ICHPS 2015, in both posters and talks, were invited to submit their completed papers in two special issues of Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology. In addition, the issues feature interviews with the winners of the American Statistical Association's Health Policy Statistics Section of the Long-Term Excellence and Mid-career Awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the Rhode Island Tobacco Control Enhancement Project (TCEP), a state-university-community technical assistance system. TCEP was developed under the auspices of the Rhode Island Department of Health's Tobacco Control program and was designed to build capacity among nine community-based organizations to mount comprehensive tobacco control interventions in five diverse communities within the state. This paper: (1) provides a description of community mobilization ; (2) presents a logic model for planning and decision making used by state-university-community partners; (3) describes training, technical assistance services and implementation; and, (4) describes the evaluation and program improvement activities used to support on-going project development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One in seven people living with HIV in the USA passes through a prison or jail each year, and almost all will return to the community. Discharge planning and transitional programs are critical but challenging elements in ensuring continuity of care, maintaining treatment outcomes achieved in prison, and preventing further viral transmission. This paper describes facilitators and challenges of in-prison care, transitional interventions, and access to and continuity of care in the community in Rhode Island and North Carolina based on qualitative data gathered as part of the mixed-methods Link Into Care Study of prisoners and releasees with HIV. We conducted 65 interviews with correctional and community-based providers and administrators and analyzed the transcripts using NVivo 10 to identify major themes. Facilitators of effective transitional systems in both states included the following: health providers affiliated with academic institutions or other entities independent of the corrections department; organizational philosophy emphasizing a patient-centered, personal, and holistic approach; strong leadership with effective 'champions'; a team approach with coordination, collaboration and integration throughout the system, mutual respect and learning between corrections and health providers, staff dedicated to transitional services, and effective communication and information sharing among providers; comprehensive transitional activities and services including HIV, mental health and substance use services in prisons, timely and comprehensive discharge planning with specific linkages/appointments, supplies of medications on release, access to benefits and entitlements, case management and proactive follow-up on missed appointments; and releasees' commitment to transitional plans. These elements were generally present in both study states but their absence, which also sometimes occurred, represent ongoing challenges to success. The qualitative findings on the facilitators and challenges of the transitional systems were similar in the two states despite differences in context, demographics of target population, and system organization. Recommendations for improved transitional systems follow from the analysis of the facilitators and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Rhode Island admiralty documents and papers. In 1703, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were constituted one district, and the Rhode Island court was held by a deputy appointed by the judge in Boston. The Vice Admiralty papers start in 1727, run with tantalizing gaps to 1772, and are most complete for 1740-52. After 1752, the papers are extremely fragmentary. With the Revolution and the establishment of a state court of admiralty, the records begin again, and for the period 1776-83 they are substantially complete. In a sense, therefore, the Rhode Island papers complement those of New York, since the latter, in the Vice Admiralty period, are most full for 1754-74, and in the state court run from 1784 to 1788.

Health care transitions are often dangerous for older patients. Interviews with older adults about their health care moves in Rhode Island (RI) were conducted to develop an Internal Medicine (IM) curriculum designed to provide IM interns with insights about the impact of transitions on patients. This paper describes some ways patients talk about their transitional experiences. Following pilot interviews, 10 nursing home residents were interviewed about their care transitions, conversations with physicians, and advice to doctors beginning their careers. The interviews were analyzed to identify themes. Patients described multiple moves, often did not know what to expect, appreciated help from a family member and desired effective communications with physicians. Learning about patient experiences may help new physicians appreciate the experiences of transitions on patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the technical feasibility and economic viability of a solar thermal power plant using parabolic trough collectors in Greece. The power plant is to be installed in the island of Rhodes and its power output will be 8.55 MW. Power plant simulation is carried out using TRNSYS software (STEC library) and economic issues of the project such as initial cost of investment, operation and maintenance (O&M) and energy costs will be analyzed. It was found that for the particular investment, considering a 75% of initial investment cost loan (with a 10-year period), the payback period will be approximately 13 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper presents a multi-method research project to develop a conceptual framework for measuring outcomes in studies of osteoporotic kyphosis. The research involved literature research and qualitative interviews among clinicians who treat patients with kyphosis and among patients with the condition. Introduction: Kyphosis due to at least one vertebral compression fracture is prevalent among osteoporotic patients, resulting in well-documented symptoms and impact on functioning and well-being. A three-part study led to development of a conceptual measurement framework for comprehensive assessment of symptoms, impact, and treatment benefit for kyphosis. Methods: A literature-based disease model (DM) was developed and tested with physicians ( n = 10) and patients ( n = 10), and FDA guidelines were used to develop a final disease model and a conceptual framework. Results: The DM included signs, symptoms, causes/triggers, exacerbations, and functional status associated with kyphosis. The DM was largely confirmed, but physicians and patients added several concepts related to impact on functioning, and some concepts were not confirmed and removed from the DM. Conclusions: This study confirms the need for more comprehensive assessment of health outcomes in kyphosis, as most current studies omit key concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conference was organized by the American Dance in Education Organization, in co-operation with the Congress on Research in Dance, Rhode Island Dance Alliance and Rhode Island Alliance for Arts Education. The conference aim was 'to honor the legacy of dance and dancers past, as seen in the light of the present while building bridges to the future'. During the 3-day conference over 120 sessions were offered, including masterclasses, academic papers, workshops and performances. Inevitably, with the size of such an event, several sessions were scheduled at the same time. The 400 delegates and presenters fell into three general categories-school teachers, teachers in private dance studios, and university lecturers, the latter including many from colleges offering dance education programmes (i.e. teacher training). Generally, papers and workshops were aimed at one specific category but the sessions attracting delegates from all three categories were the well-attended masterclasses-taught by Bill Evans (contemporary dance), James Penrod (ballet) Michelle Bach-Coulibaly (African Dance) and Thom Cobb (character)-and the performances. The final performance was a celebration of dance in Rhode Island, with several companies and artists presenting their work. Again, it was very varied ranging from a Tap Dogs inspired number to a reconstruction of Ruth St Denis's 'Sonata Pathetique,' from a contemporary, humorous piece by Heidi Henderson to a Polynesian folk dance and from staged ballroom dance to a dynamic trio inaptly titled 'Sketches From Life,' by James Brown.

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) has been leading an Ocean Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) aimed at zoning the state's coastal waters to accommodate offshore wind farm developments. In previous SAMP related work, the authors had considered the wind farm siting issue as an optimization problem between wind resources and technological constraints. In the present analysis, the additional constraints on wind farm siting of ecosystem services 'cost', in particular ecological and social services, are explored in an ecosystem-based management (EBM) conceptual framework. An ecological typology of the coastal area is developed on the basis of ecological variables, using spatial multivariate principal component and cluster analyses. Then, the sensitivity of the resulting ecological subregions to wind farm impact is assessed through the construction of ecological services impact indexes. A fishery service index is used to assess the fisheries services constraints. Ecosystem services constraints are combined with the technological cost and the wind resources to provide a wind farm siting index (WiFSI), which can be used as a tool to identify optimal areas for wind farm siting. In the paper, the authors develop the conceptual approach and present its application to the SAMP area as a case study. The technological cost is based on wind turbines with lattice jacket support structures, as currently proposed in Rhode Island waters, and the WiFSI method is used to identify optimal potential wind farm sites in coastal and offshore Rhode Island waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hospital Association of Rhode Island, in conjunction with the Rhode Island Cancer Registry, received funding for a special project to improve the validity and reliability of race and ethnicity data in hospital inpatient records. In the past year, five hospitals participated in a pilot to improve race/ethnicity data collection. This paper provides an overview of the design and initial implementation of the pilot, and reports on early feedback. Given that the Affordable Care Act strengthens federal data collection efforts, with a new standard issued which adds granularity, these policies can renew efforts to record more accurate and detailed race and ethnicity data. Improved race and ethnicity data will increase our understanding of the health needs of different racial and ethnic groups and health disparities between groups. Better data improves understanding, increases the likelihood of effective actions to address and monitor disparities, and ensure that every American has the opportunity to live the healthiest life possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) was introduced as a heuristic systems level model to help bridge the gap between research and practice (Wandersman et al., in Am J Commun Psychol 41:171-181, ). This model describes three interacting systems with distinct functions that (1) distill knowledge to develop innovations; (2) provide supportive training and technical assistance for dissemination to; (3) a prevention delivery system responsible for implementation in the field. The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a major prevention innovation launched by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The SPF offers a structured, sequential, data-driven approach that explicitly targets environmental conditions in the community and aims for change in substance use and problems at the population level. This paper describes how the ISF was applied to the challenges of implementing the SPF in 14 Rhode Island communities, with a focus on the development of a new Training and Technical Assistance Resources Center to support SPF efforts. More specifically, we (1) describe each of the three ISF interacting systems as they evolved in Rhode Island; (2) articulate the lines of communication between the three systems; and (3) examine selected evaluation data to understand relationships between training and technical assistance and SPF implementation and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A marine spatial planning approach was used to locate possible sites for offshore wind development in Rhode Island. In connection with the Rhode Island ocean special area management plan, a technology development index was developed by Spaulding et al. (2010) to quantify the technical challenges of a particular site relative to its potential power production. A component of this index is the technology type (TT) factor, which quantifies the relative cost of a structure/foundation system as a function of environmental loading, water depth, and soil conditions. This paper presents the development of TT factors for jacket type support structures that is proposed for supporting the offshore wind turbines in Rhode Island Sound. TT factors were calculated by the total weight of the jacket and piles for a given water depth and soil conditions normalized by the weight of a reference structure. Jacket structure weights were determined by a frequency driven finite element analysis using the program ANSYS. The structure was subjected to hydrodynamic and quasi-static turbine loads from 50-year extreme wind and the 100-year extreme wave loading in Rhode Island Sound to determine the ultimate stresses in the structural members. Pile foundation weights were determined from an analysis of the axial capacity and the lateral capacity using commercially available pile design software. Jacket and foundation weights were calculated for water depth ranging from 30 m to 60 m and for three representative soil types. These analyses resulted in a Technology Type factor that varies with water depth according to a 2nd order polynomial, and also with soil type. The results were compared to the weights of two existing jacket structures in Europe and found to be in agreement with the upper bound estimate derived from this study. The Technology Type factor derived in this study was also in good agreement with the published actual cost (normalized) of jacket type foundations used in the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integrated mapping approach using high-resolution side-scan sonar, surface sediment grab samples, digital aerial and orthophotography, and underwater video imagery was used to map Holocene sediment cover and Late Wisconsinan glacial outcrop in two shallow embayments in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, U.S.A. The use of side-scan sonar to characterize the seafloor has become common in a variety of different marine environments. Challenges remain in classifying side-scan or other acoustic data into a naming convention that is useful to scientists and managers. We characterize the benthic geologic habitats of these areas utilizing a flexible naming convention that combines information about geologic processes, morphologic form, particle size, biota, and anthropogenic impacts. Benthic geologic habitats were separated into three habitat groups (depositional environments) (estuarine bayfloor, estuarine cove, and estuarine marginal habitats), and further divided on the basis of morphologic form, surface sediment texture, geologic features, biologic characteristics, and anthropogenic impacts. There is a general trend of decreasing grain size with increasing distance from the open water of Narragansett Bay; however, the types and distribution of facies is complicated, and this work adds to the developing sedimentary models of estuaries. The methods outlined in this paper have been successfully applied in other estuarine, lagoon, and shoreface environments, providing a concise method of imaging and characterizing benthic geologic habitats on the seabed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to effectively study, manage, conserve, and sustain shallow-subtidal ecosystems, a spatial inventory of the basic resources and habitats is essential. Because of the complexities of shallow-subtidal substrates, benthic communities, geology, geomorphology, and water column attributes, few standard protocols are fully articulated and tested that describe the mapping and inventory processes and accompanying interpretations. In this paper, we describe a systematic approach to map Rhode Island's shallow-subtidal coastal lagoon ecosystems, by using, integrating, and reconciling multiple data sets to identify the geology, soils, biological communities, and environments that, collectively, define each shallow-subtidal habitat. We constructed maps for these lagoons via a deliberate, step by step approach. Acoustics and geostatistical modeling were used to create a bathymetric map. These data were analyzed to identify submerged landforms and geologic boundaries. Geologic interpretations were verified with video and grab samples. Soils were sampled, characterized, and mapped within the context of the landscape and geologic boundaries. Biological components and distributions were investigated using acoustics, grab samples, video, and sediment profile images. Data sets were cross-referenced and ground-truthed to test for inconsistencies. Maps and geospatial data, with Federal (eographic Data Committee (FGDC I-compliant metadata, were finalized after reconciling data set inconsistencies and made available on the Internet. These data allow for classification in the revised Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS). With these maps, we explored potential relationships among and between physical and biological parameters. In some cases, we discovered a clear match between habitat measures; in others, however, relationships were more difficult to distinguish and require further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stated preference surveys often give minimal attention to distinctions between intermediate and final ecosystem services, leading to the potential for welfare estimates that overlook, misrepresent or double count associated values. This paper illustrates potential mechanisms through which multimetric indexes of the type developed in the ecological literature, here an index of biotic integrity, can be used within stated preference survey scenarios to both improve the validity of survey responses and provide otherwise unavailable information on willingness to pay for intermediate and final ecosystem services. We illustrate the approach using a choice experiment application to the restoration of migratory fish in a Rhode Island watershed. Where assumptions of the model hold, results can allow transparent disentanglement and estimation of marginal values for both intermediate and final ecosystem services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

For over forty years, Newport, Rhode Island has sought to preserve much of the city's historic architecture through a local preservation by-law. The work of the Newport Historic District Commission, comprised of volunteer residents appointed by the local city council, has dominated die city's historic preservation values and approach. Not uncommon to many preservation efforts, the emphasis has been almost exclusively on aesthetic rather than contextual values, and has resulted in local practice and preferences that often overlook the associative significance of local historic and cultural resources. This paper seeks to examine the genesis and impact of this approach to historic preservation efforts in Newport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: Most Americans do not meet physical activity recommendations. Statewide campaigns can effectively increase activity levels. Reported herein are physical activity outcomes from Shape Up Rhode Island (SURI) 2007, a statewide campaign to increase steps through team-based competition. Given the importance of social networks in behavior change, this paper focused on the effects of team and team characteristics on activity outcomes. Method: For 16weeks, 5333 adults comprising 652 teams wore pedometers and reported their steps online. Results: Participants’ daily steps increased from 7029(3915) at baseline to 9393(5976) at SURI end (p <0.001). There was a significant intraclass correlation for step change among team members (ICC=0.09); thus, an individual''s change in steps was influenced by what team they were on. Moreover, baseline team characteristics predicted individual step change; being on a more active team was associated with greater increases in activity for individual members (p <0.001), whereas being on a team with a broad range of steps was associated with smaller changes in activity for individual members (p =0.02). Conclusion: These findings are the first to suggest that team members influence individual activity outcomes in team-based statewide campaigns. Future research should explore ways to use social network factors to enhance team-based physical activity programs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Primary care is viewed both as the solution to better health care in the United States and as a threatened institution, beset by poor payment and difficult working conditions. Rhode Island has taken a direct approach to making primary care more effective for patients and more attractive for physicians. In 2009 the state's Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner developed "system affordability priorities" for Rhode Island's commercial insurers, including a directive to almost double the portion of their medical expenses devoted to primary care. Initial plans of those insurers to meet those expectations are now being implemented; this paper describes those plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to examine the impacts of global climate change on Rhode Island's coastal ecosystems. Average annual air temperature in Rhode Island has increased by 1.7 °C since 1880, water temperatures of Narragansett Bay have increased by 1.2 °C since 1950, precipitation increased 27% between 1895 and 1999, and sea level rose 0.13 m between 1931 and 2007. We can already see the effects of these climatic changes on the Narragansett Bay ecosystem, including ecological changes in the Bay's food web from phytoplankton and zooplankton to fish, e.g., changes in phenology of seasonal phytoplankton blooms and dominant fish species (e.g., Pseudopleuronectes americanus [Winter Flounder]). These climatic changes have increased freshwater inputs and the concomitant pollutant loads into the Bay. Rising sea level has contributed to ongoing erosion of the coast and has put waterfront homes at increased risk. It is imperative to continue monitoring these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not yet completely understood how on-site costs for infrastructures in residential developments vary with lot size and how developers respond to this relationship. Utilizing data from public records of costs for constructing twenty-eight subdivisions in South Kingstown, RI, this paper examines how developers' on-site costs per lot for sewer and water services and roads vary with lot size. Contrary to previous results, this study finds that these on-site costs per lot can decrease as lot sizes increase. The literature on decision making by developers suggests that this cost relationship can be advantageous to small satisficing developers, leading them to prefer larger lots. To encourage small developers to build denser developments on smaller lots, local governments should consider incurring the upfront costs of certain on-site infrastructures and be reimbursed by developers when the lots are sold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores each kind of transaction recorded in account books by Abigail Robinson, a single woman from a Newport, Rhode Island merchant family at the turn of the nineteenth century. Her account books represented the mundane tasks of domestic life as monetary transactions. With each stroke of her pen, she linked the ways and concerns of the market with the women's work performed by her and by the women she employed, corresponded with, and cared for. It explores account books-hiring servants, buying imported goods for family and friends, stewarding young relatives, and investing in paper securities--to illuminate the complex ways in which emotion, social obligation, and economic calculation intersected.

The research reported in this paper examined the role of welfare reform in increasing the availability of entry-level workers to meet the rising demand for long-term care employees. Findings from national and statewide evaluations of welfare programs show mixed results in the extent to which beneficiaries could be shifted from welfare caseloads to the ranks of the paraprofessional labor force. Analysis ofa welfare-to-work program in Rhode Island demonstrates the potential for recruiting welfare recipients to long-term care employment. It also shows the need for resources, supportive services, case management, and enhanced training to counteract the "work-first" philosophy of welfare reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents updates and information on initiatives and projects that are related to history as of November 1, 2001. Information on the submission of papers for the annual meeting of the Western Association of Women Historians; Applications for the fellowships offered by the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island; Information on the conference to be held by Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.

This paper presents a reprint of the article Deaths Among Taxpayers and Non-Taxpayers, Income Tax, Providence, 1865, by Charles V. Chapin, which appeared in the 1924 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The adjusted death rate was higher among the non-taxpayers in every group of diseases except two; namely, certain general diseases represented by few deaths and the puerperal diseases. It is probably fairly indicative to use the children under one year of age as a base and according to this method the death rate for the puerperal diseases is 16.4 per 1,000 children among the taxpayers and 12.2 among the non-taxpayers. Opportunities for fecal contamination were in 1865 enormously greater among the poor and there was no municipal water supply. Pulmonary tuberculosis has always been a disease of poverty. Among the non-taxpayers, of the 34 deaths from diseases of the nervous system, under twenty years, it is probable that the large majority were due to some form of meningitis or encephalitis. There is very little difference between the two groups in the small number of deaths from genito-urinary diseases. Mortality attributed to old age is more than four times as great among non-taxpayers as among the taxpayers. Another point of interest is the relative prevalence of the so-called degenerative diseases of advancing years.

The earliest computer-aided hypertext systems were built in the 1960s, and (unlike some of the most popular later systems) fully integrated it with their hypertext functionality. Brown University's FRESS was the first hypertext system to run on commercial hardware and OS. It actually handled complex documents better than non-hypertext systems, and so was used as a publishing system as well as a collaborative hypertext environment for teaching, research, and development. FRESS had considerable support for document structuring and markup, affording separation of structure from formatting and hypertext semantics. It also provided a variety of coordinated views and a very powerful conditional-structure and view-specification mechanisms that suited it for many tasks still considered hard today: dynamic document assembly, structured information retrieval, and on-the-fly customization of even very large documents for the user, display device, and context. This paper gives an overview of FRESS's design approach especially with regard to its treatment of markup and structure; discusses some ways that document structures differ from other familiar information structures; and argues that a sophisticated model of document structure is necessary to realize fully the potential of hypertext. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the supremacy of the town in Rhode Island. In Rhode Island everything is done by the towns and nothing by the counties. The only county officers are the clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Common Pleas, who has the custody of the papers of these courts when they meet in the different counties; the sheriff of the county, whose writ, however, runs throughout the state; and the keeper of the county jail, who, in other than Providence County, is the sheriff of the county.

This paper presents a personal look at the changing world of long-term nursing care in one facility over the course of a 38-year nursing career. The paper reviews the ways the role of "nurse" has evolved and expanded due to changes in patient populations, industry standards, and technology advancement. Though the job has changed dramatically over the decades, the most integral parts of successful nursing remain the same: Connection to patients and their families, and a commitment to quality care and patient well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction notice is to the article "Paper Session C5: Bio-behavioral Research Investigating the Association between Substance Use and Insufficient Sleep among U.S. High School Students: Evidence from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System" which was published in the March/April issue.

The article offers information on the paper "Rhode Island Health Plans' Performance Report (2007)" established by the Health Care Accessibility and Quality Assurance Act in Rhode Island to provide information about health plan performance. The paper depicts that the commercial health insurance market of the state is still focused on Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and on United Healthcare of New England Inc. It is stated that most Rhode Islanders have limited choice of carrier due to the small number of health plans in the state and the marker dominance of Blue Cross.

Hatchability is affected by a variety of factors. Eggshell quality plays very important role among these factors. In this work we analysed eggshell quality, hatchability and embryonic mortality of pure chicken breeds New Hampshire, Oravka, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red and Sussex Light. Hatchability was significantly lower (P>0.05) in Sussex Light in comparison with New Hampshire. The eggshell quality for Sussex Light was significantly decreased (P>0.05) in eggshell thickness (398.73 vs. 356.07 μm) and eggshell percentage compared with New Hampshire (10.36 vs. 8.79 %). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on research papers related to restoration of coastal and marine communities. The paper "Redesigning Man-made Structures to Restore Natural Flows,"published in the "Journal of Soil and Water Conservation," examines the effects of artificial water constrictions and to improve water quality in Gooseneck Cove, Rhode Island. The paper "Effects of Stressors on Invasive and Halophytic Plants of New England Salt Marshes: A Framework for Predicting Response to Tidal Restoration," by R.A. Konsiky and D.M. Burdick discusses the transplantation of three native salt marsh species and three invasive species to the New England coast to measure their growth and survival when paired competitively and under high, middle and low levels of flooding and salinity. The paper "The Link Between Hydrology and Restoration of Tidal Marshes in the New York/New Jersey Estuary," by F.A. Montalto and T.S. Steenhuis summarizes the hydrology and function of tidal marshes in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Two plenary sessions featuring big names in the digital world will highlight a conference program focusing on Managing and Enhancing Information: Cultures and Conflicts, at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, from November 12-17, in Providence, Rhode Island. The first of the two plenary sessions is Sunday, November 14, when J.C. Hen, principal of Joystick Nation and a noted journalist and lecturer, will discuss the application of complex systems and game design to products, services and learning systems. The second plenary session at the 2004 Annual Meeting features keynoter Tim Berners-Lee, widely regarded as the inventor of the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee currently serves as director of the World Wide Web Consortium. While the two general sessions provide a great deal of sizzle and substance to the meeting, the real meat and potatoes is contained in the six dozen or so contributed paper and panel sessions covering virtually every aspect of information science. These sessions have been sorted into seven major tracks: disciplinary issues, digital libraries, user behavior, system design. information organization, knowledge management and use, and resources and services.