Kenneth Chiacchia

• PhD
• Deputy Operations Officer at Mountaineer Area Rescue Group & Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center

While the effective sweep width (W) method appears to provide accurate, objective probability of detection (POD) for search planning, the need for an extensive library of locally relevant W values poses an obstacle to adoption. To investigate means for shortening such data acquisition, we conducted a roughly third-scale sweep width exercise in Bell...

Effective sweep width (W) promises objective probability of detection (POD) values for guiding missing-person search efforts. However, methods for measuring W produce large uncertainties. Also, models for generating POD from W have not been validated for ground-based search. The authors applied least-square fits of POD data collected in the field f...

Introduction: "Critical separation" is a simple method for spacing searchers intended to produce a predictable probability of detection (POD). A more precise method, based on effective sweep width (W), has been adopted only slowly. Accurate PODs are critical in planning priorities in future operational periods. Therefore, it would be useful to kno...

We sought to obtain the first effective sweep widths (ESWs) ever measured for an air-scent search dog unit to compare their performance to historical data from human searchers and to initially test the validity of atmospheric convection as a limiting factor in air-scent search. We used GPS tracks and waypoints to measure lateral hit and miss distan...

Standard-of-practice search management requires that the probability of detection (POD) be determined for each search resource after a task. To calculate the POD, a detection index (W) is obtained by field experiments. Because of the complexities of the land environment, search planners need a way to estimate the value of W without conducting forma...

Although lost-person search managers try to direct search efforts quantitatively, it has historically been difficult to quantify the efficacy of search efforts accurately. The effective-sweep-width (ESW) methodology represents an avenue for accomplishing this goal but has not yet been widely disseminated among practitioners. We obtained ESW values...

The disulfide structure of the insulin receptor was probed using dithiothreitol and [3H]-N-ethylmaleimide to reduce purified human placental receptor and label the cysteine residues. After protein quantitation, the amount of radioactivity in both the alpha and beta subunits was counted for each of the three species generated: native dimer, reduced...

Elements of the quaternary structure of the native and dithiothreitol- (DTT) reduced rat adipocyte insulin receptor have been elucidated by vectorial probing and subunit cross-linking. The charged reducing agents glutathione and beta-mercaptoethylamine were used to reduce the class I disulfides of the receptor in intact adipocytes, demonstrating th...

The technique of vectorial labeling has been used to study the orientation of the rat and chicken receptors for asialo- and agalactoglycoproteins in hepatocyte membranes. The membrane-impermeant enzyme lactoperoxidase was used to radioiodinate the outer surfaces of intact cells and endocytic vesicles, as well as both sides of total microsomal membr...