Quantifying The Impact Of Temperature And Wind On NFL Passing And Rushing Performance

This paper utilizes NFL game data from the 2002-2013 seasons in an investigation into the effects of temperature and wind on NFL passing and rushing performance. There are three separate analyses: (1) the general effects of weather on performance and the advantages/ disadvantages of playing at home with respect to weather, (2) a comparison of how teams respond to weather when at home vs. on the road, and (3) an examination of the effect of transitioning weather conditions on visitor performance. Teams tended to have inferior passing success in low temperatures and consequently supplant passing attempts with rushing attempts in those conditions. The results suggest that teams perform better at home and that visiting teams are more sensitive to extreme weather conditions. The results also indicate that visiting teams playing in significantly colder conditions than their home stadium are the most vulnerable to inclement weather

The Diamond, April 22, 1999

Front Page: Benefit to be Held for James Klaver; Sister College President Visits Dordt News: Repertory Theatre Takes Romeo and Juliet on Tour; Ag Day Returns to Dordt; Dordt Excels in Modern Arab League; Leadership Conference Helps Students to Serve Opinion: Please: At Least Show Up... ; Role-Playing Christ; Opinionated Me Zircon Arts: Seniors Display Results of Four Years\u27 Work; Students Perform Student-Written One-Acts; More Purple Martin Poetry Contest Winners Sports: Defenders Battle Opponents, Weather; Bad Weather Not Spoiling Team\u27s Play; Tracksters Beat Weather; Tennis Suffers Tough Losses World Commentary: When Will the Bombing Stop?; Our Problem with White Supremacy; Closing Remarks from World Commentary Staffhttps://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/dordt_diamond/1183/thumbnail.jp

The Diamond, April 22, 1999

Front Page: Benefit to be Held for James Klaver; Sister College President Visits Dordt News: Repertory Theatre Takes Romeo and Juliet on Tour; Ag Day Returns to Dordt; Dordt Excels in Modern Arab League; Leadership Conference Helps Students to Serve Opinion: Please: At Least Show Up... ; Role-Playing Christ; Opinionated Me Zircon Arts: Seniors Display Results of Four Years\u27 Work; Students Perform Student-Written One-Acts; More Purple Martin Poetry Contest Winners Sports: Defenders Battle Opponents, Weather; Bad Weather Not Spoiling Team\u27s Play; Tracksters Beat Weather; Tennis Suffers Tough Losses World Commentary: When Will the Bombing Stop?; Our Problem with White Supremacy; Closing Remarks from World Commentary Staffhttps://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/dordt_diamond/1183/thumbnail.jp

Let\u27s get real: are today\u27s children playing with nature? Do the educational aspirations of the nature play movement emerge within children\u27s neighbourhood play?

The Irish Neighbourhood Play Research Project was a large scale research project which included almost 1700 participant families and 240 communities throughout Ireland. It used parental surveys and naturalistic observation to secure data on how children in modern Ireland aged 0-15 are spending their free time. An all-island approach was taken incorporating cities, towns and rural areas across a variety of socio-economic groupings. Interesting findings arose from the data relating to the choices that children are making within their free time. This paper focuses on the choices they are making within their engagement with nature and natural materials. Data on the children’s nature choices will be presented and discussed through a child development lens. The positive and negative implications for both learning and development are raised. This leads us to interesting questions about the role of nature within child development and learning. As an international nature play movement gains ground in raising awareness about the importance of nature based learning and its linkages with educational structure and pedagogy, this research into children’s nature choices is timely ©IATED (2016). Reproduced in Research Online with permission

The influences of opportunity. Differences in children\u27s play choices across diverse communities in Ireland

This paper presents findings from The Irish Neighbourhood Play Project; a research study initiated by IT Sligo and Early Childhood Ireland in 2012. The focus of this paper is on the data section which highlights children’s play choices and opportunities across socio-economic communities. The study incorporated almost 1800 families across 240 communities. Data was collected within disadvantaged communities, middle class communities and affluent communities. Where and what children are playing was investigated. The choices children and families make within play have a direct effect on the developing brain of the young child (Acar & Torquati, 2015). This, in turn, affects school performance and engagement. Choices however, are often framed by opportunities; opportunities are framed by government policy and investment in community facilities as well as socio-cultural norms. The data from this project shows that children across socio-economic divides are engaging in dramatically different play, experiences and activities. Key differences also emerged in relation to how children in diverse communities are engaging with technology. The differences across multiple themes are startling and offer insights into the breadth of childhood experience across the Island of Ireland. ©IATED (2017). Reproduced in Research Online with permission

The critical decade: extreme weather

When extreme weather events occur the Climate Commission is consistently asked questions about the link to climate change. This report unpacks our current knowledge about different types of extreme weather events: extreme temperatures, rainfall, drought, bushfires, storm surges, cyclones and storms.   Download key facts from the report. Download summary table of the report. Download quick facts for each state: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Australian Captial Territiory, Northern Territiory.   1. Climate change is already increasing the intensity and frequency of many extreme weather events, adversely affecting Australians. Extreme events occur naturally and weather records are broken from time to time. However, climate change is influencing these events and record-breaking weather is becoming more common around the world. Some Australian examples include: Heat: Extreme heat is increasing across Australia. There will still be record cold events, but hot records are now happening three times more often than cold records. Bushfire weather: Extreme fire weather has increased in many parts of Australia, including southern NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and parts of South Australia, over the last 30 years. Rainfall: Heavy rainfall has increased globally. Over the last three years Australia’s east coast has experienced several very heavy rainfall events, fuelled by record-high surface water temperatures in the adjacent seas. Drought: A long-term drying trend is affecting the southwest corner of Western Australia, which has experienced a 15% drop in rainfall since the mid-1970s. Sea-level rise: Sea level has already risen 20 cm. This means that storm surges ride on sea levels that are higher than they were a century ago, increasing the risk of flooding along Australia’s socially, economically and environmentally important coastlines. 2. Climate change is making many extreme events worse in terms of their impacts on people, property, communities and the environment. This highlights the need to take rapid, effective action on climate change.  It is crucial that communities, emergency services, health and medical services and other authorities prepare for the increases that are already occurring in the severity and frequency of many types of extreme weather. The southeast of Australia, including many of our largest population centres, stands out as being at increased risk from many extreme weather events – heatwaves, bushfires, heavy rainfall and sea-level rise. Key food-growing regions across the southeast and the southwest are likely to experience more drought in the future. Some of Australia’s iconic ecosystems are threatened by climate change. Over the past three decades the Great Barrier Reef has suffered repeated bleaching events from underwater heatwaves. The freshwater wetlands of Kakadu National Park are at risk from saltwater intrusion due to rising sea level. 3. The climate system has shifted, and is continuing to shift, changing the conditions for all weather, including extreme weather events.  Levels of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels have increased by around 40% since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, causing the Earth’s surface to warm significantly. All weather events are now occurring in global climate system that is warmer and moister than it was 50 years ago. This has loaded the dice towards more frequent and more severe extreme weather events. 4. There is a high risk that extreme weather events like heatwaves, heavy rainfall, bushfires and cyclones will become even more intense in Australia over the coming decades.  There is little doubt that over the next few decades changes in these extreme events will increase the risks of adverse consequences to human health, agriculture, infrastructure and the environment. Stabilising the climate is like turning around a battleship – it cannot be done immediately given its momentum. When danger is ahead you must start turning the wheel now. Any delay means that it is more and more difficult to avert the future danger. The climate system has strong momentum for further warming over the next few decades because of the greenhouse gases that have already been emitted, and those that will be emitted in future. This means that it is highly likely that extreme weather events will become even more severe in Australia over that period. 5. Only strong preventive action now and in the coming years can stabilise the climate and halt the trend of increasing extreme weather for our children and grandchildren.  Averting danger requires strong preventative action. How quickly and deeply we reduce greenhouse gas emissions will greatly influence the severity of extreme events in the future. The world is already moving to tackle climate change.  Ninety countries, representing 90% of global emissions, are committed to reducing their emissions and have programs in place to achieve this. As the 15th largest emitter in the world, Australia has an important role to play. Much more substantial action will be required if we are to stabilise the climate by the second half of the century. Globally emissions must be cut rapidly and deeply to nearly zero by 2050, with Australia playing its part. The decisions we make this decade will largely determine the severity of climate change and its influence on extreme events that our grandchildren will experience. This is the critical decade to get on with the job

Development of Modular Outdoor Furniture Product Using Lightweight Concrete for Public Parks in Surabaya

The development of public parks into green city facilities in Surabaya has triggered the need of outdoor furniture designs that can resist the tropical wet and dry weather conditions while also having a certain mobility to support flexible park arrangement. However, present furniture designs made of concrete material are generally heavy and immovable. Flexible designs are needed for various activities that can take place at the same time such as sitting and playing, and to support changes in arrangement to keep the green open spaces attractive from time to time. This research develops the idea of a modular outdoor furniture design using cellular lightweight concrete (CLC) as the main material as a result from observing its resistance towards weather change and its relative light weight. It starts with analysis of problems, formulation of design concept, creation of design alternatives, selection of design, calculation of mouldings, adaptation of design to the mouldings and production of a scaled mock-up using CLC. Findings of this research reveal that the modular design along with the CLC material used not only support the flexibility of change in function and arrangement but also make these furniture resistant to the hot and humid weather of Surabaya