Review of the Lightning Strike Incident at Launch Complex 37 on July 27, 1967, and Comparison to a Gemini Lightning Strike

The Launch Complex 37 lightning strike of July 27, 1967, was reviewed and compared to a similar incident on the Gemini Program. Available data indicate little likelihood of damaging currents having been present in SA-204 Launch Vehicle or the ground equipment during the July 27th incident. Based on the results of subsystem and system testing after the strike, anticipated results of future testing, the six months elapsed time between the strike-and launch, and the fact that much of the critical airborne electrical/electronic equipment has been removed since the strike for other reasons, no new actions are considered necessary at this time in the Gemini case, significant failures occurred in both airborne and ground circuits. Due to the resultant semi, condlictor uncertainty, and the relatively' short time prior to planned launch, all critical airborne components containing semiconduetors were replaced, and a sophisticated data comparison task was implemented

Problematising the pursuit of progress in mathematics education

In this article, I use a Foucauldian poststructural analysis to examine productions of progress within key discursive spaces of mathematics education. These sites of production are educational policy, mathematics education research and case studies of primary school student-teachers in England. From my analysis, I show how progress governs what is possible in the classroom, as they become constructed around a measurable, linear temporality assumed in educational policy. This encourages comparison to and pursuit of the “normal” mathematical child, which in educational policy is produced as a functional automaton, whilst for much of mathematics education research is produced as the cognitive “natural” child. These over sanitised constructions result in confusion for student-teachers who struggle to take these impossible discourses on board

Finding First-Year Success in Extension: Navigating Stakeholder Needs and Institutional Expectations

Functioning within a defined administrative framework and meeting the needs of the stakeholders are essential in an Extension appointment. The first day of employment starts the promotion and tenure clock. It is the responsibility of the new Extension professional to take immediate steps to move forward with development of programming and application of the skill set that they bring to the job. Finding success in the first year of an Extension appointment revolves around understanding the expectations of the institution and the needs of the stakeholders. Once the institutional expectations and programming needs are understood, formulating a strategy that includes plans of work and logic models, measurement of outcomes and impacts, team building, professional development, peer mentoring, grant writing, and scholarship will provide a foundation for firstyear success in Extension. A willingness to follow a timely and systematic approach to meeting the expectations of the institution and stakeholders will provide for an efficient transition and relieve many of the stressors associated with a new appointment. This paper is based primarily on the author’s first year experience as an Extension faculty member and summarizes several best practices

Lies, defeasibility and morality-in-action : the interactional architecture of false claims in sales, telemarketing and debt collection work

Lying is known to be endemic in a range of business settings. However, to date studies have not analysed how lies surface, and are spontaneously managed, in ‘real time’ interaction. Drawing on video and audio recordings, in this paper we analyse how actors account for false claims produced in different settings, namely sales, telemarketing and debt collection. Drawing on resources from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, lies are conceptualised as products of interactional organization, rather than, say, products of the mind or motives of social actors. Our analysis reveals the centrality of ‘epistemics’ for understanding how people handle, and seek to neutralise, the moral risks associated with false claims. Potential accusations of ‘lying’ are shown to be defeasible in light of claims that the speaker has ‘discovered’, ‘noticed’ or ‘remembered’ some pertinent detail. We recover practices through which false claims are transformed, with varying degrees of success, from nefarious to innocent accountings. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for wider questions about the reproduction of work cultures that rely upon deceit

The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) Report 2006-7

The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) examines the levels of certain pollutants in selected wildlife species in Britain. It started in the 1960s to assess the impact of organochlorine pesticides on raptor populations, and the scheme is now the longest-running of its kind in the world. The aims of the PBMS are to monitor the levels of contaminants to determine how and why they vary between species and regions, how they are changing over time, and the risks they may have on individual birds and on their populations. Dead predatory birds are submitted to the PBMS by the public and by wildlife hospitals, veterinarian and zoological organisations. Eggs are collected, under licence, from a range of nests. The majority of these eggs are addled or deserted, although for some species, e.g. northern gannets, fresh egg are sampled. Second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) are potentially toxic to all mammals and birds, and predators that feed upon rodents are particularly likely to be exposed to these compounds. Since 1983 the PBMS has monitored SGAR residues in barn owls, while kestrels have been monitored since 2001. The proportion of barn owls which have one or more SGARs in their liver increased from less than 10% in the 1980s to approximately 40% in the early 2000s. However, there has been a small decrease in this percentage in the last few years. A higher proportion of kestrels have detectable residues of SGARs in their liver than barn owls with 60% of birds received in the years 2001 to 2006 having one or more SGAR in their liver. There is no evidence of a change over time in the proportion ok kestrels with detectable liver SGAR residues. Overall, the high incidence of exposure amongst monitored species remains of concern. Sparrowhawk livers are analysed for a range of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals. Sparrowhawks are studied because they have a wide distribution across the Britain and can be used as a sentinel species for the terrestrial environment. Following restrictions on its use as an agricultural pesticide, mercury concentrations have declined in sparrowhawks. However, despite PCBs being banned in 1981, there has not been any long-term change in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) liver concentrations in sparrowhawks during the period 1968-2006. In herons, used as a sentinel species for freshwater habitats, both PCB and mercury concentrations have declined. In 2006, mean PCB and mercury concentrations in both species were below those thought to have an adverse effect on individual birds. Pollutants, such as mercury and PCBs, can affect development and hatchability.. Therefore, the PBMS monitors the levels of contaminants in the eggs of a range of species including those of conservation concern such as golden eagle and the re-introduced white-tailed sea eagle. Other species that are monitored are the northern gannet, which are used as a monitor of the marine environment, and merlin that hunt in upland habitats. In general, and specifically in 2006, the residues measured in the eggs of golden eagle and gannets are below those thought to have an adverse effect on bird eggs, but some residues in individual merlin eggs were at concentrations associated with effects in other species. Few white-tailed see eagle eggs are received for analysis by the PBMS but a large proportion of those eggs that have been analysed, including the egg collected in 2006, have DDE, PCB and mercury concentrations above levels associated with adverse effects on bird embryos and the hatching success of eggs. Despite the withdrawal of PCBs from manufacturing over 20 years ago, the evidence for declining PCB concentrations in predatory birds is equivocal, with declines in liver or egg residues in some species but not in others. Mercury concentrations in most species have not significantly changed during the monitoring period

Does Eccentric Hamstring Training Improve Speed and Jump Performance in Team Sports: A Systematic Review

Eccentric strength is thought to be a key component of fitness for sports requiring rapid movements such as sprinting and jumping. As a result, eccentric training forms part of strength and conditioning programmes in these sports (Krommes et al., 2017, Biomed Central Research Notes, 10(1), 669). However, the association between improvements in eccentric strength and athletic performance remains unclear. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the effect of improvements in eccentric strength on sprint and jump performance. Online databases including SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed and ScienceDirect were searched (June 2017) with a date restriction (2007 – 2017) to obtain relevant articles. Search terms included eccentric hamstring training “AND” performance, speed, strength and jump performance. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to report the screening of articles. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) Scale was used to assess the methodological quality of each included article. A total of 8,613 articles were returned from the search. After screening the title and abstracts, 8,591 articles were excluded. Out of the remaining 25 articles, 17 were excluded after a review of full texts. A further 3 articles were identified from manually searching reference lists from which 1 was included. A total of 8 studies were included in the review. The studies included in this review were of poor methodological quality (PEDro 4.1/10). Overall, significant improvements were found in speed and jump performance for the eccentric training groups compared to the control groups. Only 2 of the studies measured strength pre and post intervention. There is weak evidence that eccentric training is effective in promoting improvements in speed and jump performance. Further high quality randomised controlled trials are needed to support the use of eccentric training to improve speed and jump performance

Self-reported sleep quality, weight status and depression in young adult twins and siblings

BACKGROUND: Research supporting relationships between sleep quality, weight, depression and anxiety has typically examined the relationships separately rather than simultaneously, potentially hampering insights into the characteristics of reported links. This study aimed to fill this gap in the research to provide further insight into the factors associated with sleep. METHODS: Data from wave 4 of the G1219 cohort were used in cross-sectional analyses. The sample comprised 1392 adult twins and siblings aged 18-27 years. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire which included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index as a measure of sleep quality, the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire as a measure of depression symptoms and the Revised Symptoms of Anxiety Scale as a measure of anxiety symptoms. Participants were asked to self-report general health and weight and height so researchers could derive weight status from measures of body mass index. RESULTS: An analysis of covariance including weight status, depression, anxiety and general health as predictors and sleep quality as the outcome revealed main effects of depression (F(3,1163) = 10.93, p < 0.001) and general health (F(4,1163) = 5.72, p < 0.001) only. CONCLUSIONS: A direct relationship between weight and sleep should not be assumed as it is possible that the relationship is at least in part accounted for by depression symptoms or general health. Depression symptoms and general health may also account for the association between sleep quality and anxiety symptoms in young adults