CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Obesity in the U.S. is a problem that is beginning to grow large in our children‘s lives. The solution to this problem is centered in three areas; the help of the community, health education, and consumer education. The two main factors casing childhood obesity is eating high fat, high protein foods along with a serious sedentary lifestyle. Childhood obesity in the United State is a rising epidemic, a serious health crisis, and is steadily increasing because it seems that people refuse to change for the good of the nation. Since the last decade the percentage of children being obese has increased steadily. The cause of this is a poor nutrition and physical activity and the plan is to get back to how it used to be, if not better. Children in the U.S. are eating more processed foods at home and there is less physical activity and sports at school. While children are developing bad habits when they are young, they are likely to turn into an adult who is obese and has bad habits. This is a serious issue that needs the attentions of everyone, including government, researchers, media, schools, public health officials, and parents

COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT AMONG ATHLETE AND COACHES

This study examines how managers and coaches manage communication with athletes in team and individual sports. Communication is a process that requires a wide range of skills. We develop verbal and non-verbal communication in various ways. Communication is a critical element in the relationship between coaches and athletes in team and individual sports, and also between managers, referees, scorers, and other officials, yet there is little extant research in sport management that involves direct measures of Development Communication Management (DCM). In this study the researcher is looking for the process of communication which makes message interpretation more reliable. The researcher surveyed over 200 athletes and 14 head coaches in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) to find some foundations for DCM. To aid the development of communication management with team sports, individual sports, coaches, referees, scorers, and others to enhance the management performance of communication. We looked at ways in this study to increase and make progress in the DCM. The researcher found ways to improve the management of communication before, during and after the sport events. DCM needs to be organized inside the team, so the coaches and managers can communicate effectively with athletes, colleagues, referees, scorers and other officials. Data was collected using two questionnaires designed by the researcher – one for coaches and one for athletes -- that employed a 5.0 Likert scale. The researcher used MANOVA models to test for significant differences between coaches and athletes, between genders, team, and individual sports. The significance level was set at p^.05. This study found a significant difference between male and female athletes in terms of their use of special gestures or signs during games or competition. On average males were neutral to slightly in agreement regarding the use of special gestures or signs while females were in slight disagreement. With the results related to communication styles, on average female athletes indicated that visual communication is their fastest mode of communication. On the other hand, they indicate that they were in slight disagreement regarding the use of special gestures or signs. This apparent inconsistency was a potential opportunity for DCM. A natural recommendation is to increase the use of special signs and gestures for female athletes. The results from the present study indicate that there are marked differences in communication practices of coaches and athletes and between team and individual sports. The results suggest that to aid in the development of communication management within team sports, coaches and athletes should determine what the fastest mode of communication is. Rather than watching for a visual sign, an athlete may instead be listening for a verbal cue if their coach finds verbal communication to be faster than visual. In this way, the coaches and athletes can progress in DCM. Knowing the best time to communicate will lead to DCM as a coach or manager uses DCM whenever it is necessary and beneficial for the athletes to encourage and motivate the athlete to do their best during their event. There is a significant difference between team and individual athletes in terms of who they communicate with most frequently (p-value < .001). Athletes of team sports agreed that they communicate most with their coaches while athletes of individual sports agreed that they communicate most with their teammates (Turman, Paul; D 2008). However, there are no significant differences between male and female athletes in terms of who they communicate with the most. The researcher found that knowing the best communication development, style and timing between managers and coaches with athletes and officials in the WIAC can serve as a foundation for DCM principles and recommendations and can help promote the NCAA Division 3 conference

STUDY THE ROLE OF MASS SPORTS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN A HEALTHY EGYPTIAN SOCIETY

A healthy society is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The enjoyment of highest attainable standard of health in one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, political belief, economic or social condition‖ Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), 1946. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has provided a definition of development as "development of the people for the people by the people" (UNDP, 1993). Egypt has been long considered as one of the most attractive countries to visit because of its historical treasures. Egypt instituted several sport-for-all initiatives in its post-colonial modernization. These included a government sports council in the 1960s and the establishment of a Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) in 1999. The MYS oversees national parks and seaside areas as well as a large-scale fitness mobilization walk/jog events. A major goal of MYS was to develop and maintain youth centers in all of Egypt's metropolitan areas that would service young people's needs in mass sport and physical activities(e.g., basketball, soccer, volleyball).With Egyptian population up to 80 million there are projects related to sport- for- all, events, and or organized programs (cooperative or competitive ) for large groups , including the general population participating in clubs, on playing fields, in gymnasiums , community centers and community recreation programs around Egypt. These were enough for the future of mass sport participation in a great nation with a great history in sport. The International Sport Management Questionnaire (ISMQ), created by Waters (1996), in order to determine the status of sport development in Egypt it was necessary that the ISMQ be translated in to Arabic. This would ensure that Egyptian‘s mass sport and activities leaders- all of whom speak Arabic as their ―mother tongue‖- would have every opportunity to completely understand each of the 51 question as posed specifically for mass sport and activities (and its development) and answer with accuracy, confidence, and reliability. The translation of the ISMQ was carried out by Aly& Elmahdy who are associated with this present study, then distributed to 66 Egyptian mass sport and activities leaders at different youth centers, clubs, recreation departments, in 24 out of 26 cities in Egypt. Raters were asked to provide answers to closed- and open – ended questions (n=51) on the ISMQ, which ultimately resulted in scoring. (Maximum=33 points) of eight factor components: objectives, legislation, organization, implementation, physical resources, human resources, research and evaluation, and contribution to healthy nation building. Analysis of data was through descriptive statistics (frequency distribution using a histogram graph that shows the frequency distribution of variable to evaluate the mass sport and physical activities distribution). The results showed that Egyptians practice recreation, mass sports and physical activities as a tool to promote health and prevent disease. Running, soccer, and team sports are mostly practiced in the southern part of Egypt while in the north west of the country people mostly practice aquatic sports such as beach volleyball, swimming, surfing, speed boating , fishing ,rowing, scuba diving, sailing, etc. Because of population increases over the last decade facilities like parks, schools, clubs, beaches, water facilities, and youth centers are insufficient to meet the needs of the population. In addition, poor access to private clubs doesn‘t help Egypt‘s middle class to participate in mass sports programs and activities as long as those clubs have annual membership fees. Most of the facilities for mass sport and physical activities are located in the suburban areas cities such as Cairo, Alexandria, and Ismailia. Further south there are fewer mass sport programs and physical activities and opportunities for the Egyptian population

THE DIFFERENCES IN OBESITY RATING BETWEEN BMI AND SKIN FOLD TESTING

Obesity in the United States has grown and is becoming a deadly epidemic. Critics point out that BMI is not useful in the evaluation of health; while convenient; it is not an accurate indicator of true ―obesity.‖ BMI is not a direct measure of body composition, but it is rather an index related to height and weight. To evaluate the validity of body mass index (BMI) 13 college baseball players were used as a sample. We measured their BMI and compared this to their Skin Fold norms. The results showed that all the subjects were classified as overweight when using the BMI equation. On the other hand, the skin fold test results indicated only two baseball players were classified with a risk of obesity. Thus, BMI must be considered with other factors and should not be used as a sole measurement of obesity

Use of Phenols, Peroxidase and Polyphenoloxidase of Seed to Quantify Resistance of Cotton Genotypes to Damping-off Incited by Fusarium oxysporum

A greenhouse test was conducted in 2011 and 2012 growing seasons at Giza Agricultural Research Station to evaluate the reaction of six cotton genotypes to damping-off incited by Fusarium oxysporum. Damping-off incidence on the genotypes ranged from 70-88%. In general, the genotypes could be divided into highly susceptible, susceptible, and moderately susceptible. Data for damping-off incidence and level or activity of some biochemical components (phenols, peroxidase, and polyphenoloxidase) were entered into a computerized linear regression analysis. The analysis contrasted seven predictive models by using the biochemical components, singly or in combination, as biochemical predictors. It was evident that models nos. 2 and 6 were the best models for predicting incidence of damping-off. The superiority of these models was attributed to their high RІ values (0.748 and 0.902, respectively) and the significance of their F. values (P = 0.026 and P = 0.031, respectively). The results of the present study suggest that peroxidase alone or both peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase, which may or may not parts of damping-off resistance mechanisms, can be used as biochemical markers to predict resistance to damping-off incited by F. oxysporum

Students preferences for teaching and exam delivery modes in accounting education post COVID 19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a revolution in the delivery of modules in higher education. This paper aims to answer the research question: What are the preferences of undergraduate accounting and finance students regarding teaching delivery and exam modes following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown? Specifically, we focus on campus, online synchronous, and hybrid synchronous teaching delivery and exam modes. To address this research question, we conducted an online questionnaire surveying students at a U. K. university. Our data show that modules involving calculations, such as financial accounting, are preferred to be taught on campus, whereas theoretical modules like business law are preferred to be taught online. Additionally, the data reveal reasons for these preferences, including community learning, isolation, concentration, and access to recordings. This research contributes valuable insights into optimising accounting education. We advocate for flexibility in both teaching and exam delivery within accounting education, recognising the diverse needs of students

Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on diarrhea and average daily gain in pre-weaned dairy calves: A double-blind, block-randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

The objective of this clinical trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of zinc supplementation on diarrhea and average daily weight gain (ADG) in pre-weaned dairy calves. A total of 1,482 healthy Holstein heifer and bull calves from a large California dairy were enrolled at 24 to 48 hours of age until hutch exit at approximately 90 days of age. Calves were block-randomized by time to one of three treatments: 1) placebo, 2) zinc methionine (ZM), or 3) zinc sulfate (ZS) administered in milk once daily for 14 days. Serum total protein at enrollment and body weight at birth, treatment end, and hutch exit were measured. Fecal consistency was assessed daily for 28 days post-enrollment. For a random sample of 127 calves, serum zinc concentrations before and after treatment and a fecal antigen ELISA at diarrhea start and resolution for Escherichia coli K99, rotavirus, coronavirus, and Cryptosporidium parvum were performed. Linear regression showed that ZM-treated bull calves had 22 g increased ADG compared to placebo-treated bulls (P = 0.042). ZM-treated heifers had 9 g decreased ADG compared to placebo-treated heifers (P = 0.037), after adjusting for average birth weight. Sex-stratified models showed that high birth weight heifers treated with ZM gained more than placebo-treated heifers of the same birth weight, which suggests a dose-response effect rather than a true sex-specific effect of ZM on ADG. Cox regression showed that ZM and ZS-treated calves had a 14.7% (P = 0.015) and 13.9% (P = 0.022) reduced hazard of diarrhea, respectively, compared to placebo-treated calves. Calves supplemented for at least the first five days of diarrhea with ZM and ZS had a 21.4% (P = 0.027) and 13.0% (P = 0.040) increased hazard of cure from diarrhea, respectively, compared to placebo-treated calves. Logistic regression showed that the odds of microbiological cure at diarrhea resolution for rotavirus, C. parvum, or any single fecal pathogen was not different between treatment groups. Zinc supplementation delayed diarrhea and expedited diarrhea recovery in pre-weaned calves. Additionally, zinc improved weight gain differentially in bulls compared to heifers, indicating a research need for sex-specific dosing

Water use efficiency and maximizing profitability of grain sorghum production in the Texas Panhandle

The reduction in the availability of irrigation water and the increase in pumping costs resulting from the decline in the Ogallala Aquifer make good management decisions more critical for the survival of the farm firm and the success of the agricultural sector in the Texas Panhandle. Response functions for irrigation and percentage potential evapotranspiration (PET) in the production of grain sorghum are estimated. The response functions are transferred into value product functions and combined with an irrigation energy cost function to determine the profit maximizing irrigation strategy. Three management decision variables; total water available, the level of irrigation and the water to meet crop ET requirements are evaluated. Grain sorghum yield, natural precipitation, irrigation, soil moisture content, potential evapotranspiration, and percent potential evapotranspiration (PET) data, collected over the period from 1998 through 2007 by commercial producers participating in the AgriPartners program are used to estimate the response functions. Results indicate that the optimum level of irrigation increases as the price of sorghum increases and decreases as the price of natural gas increases.Grain sorghum, ET, maximizing profit, irrigation efficiency, input use optimization, water conservation, Ogallala Aquifer, Texas Panhandle., Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q12, Q15, Q25, Q32, and Q34,

The uncertain representation ranking framework for concept-based video retrieval

Concept based video retrieval often relies on imperfect and uncertain concept detectors. We propose a general ranking framework to define effective and robust ranking functions, through explicitly addressing detector uncertainty. It can cope with multiple concept-based representations per video segment and it allows the re-use of effective text retrieval functions which are defined on similar representations. The final ranking status value is a weighted combination of two components: the expected score of the possible scores, which represents the risk-neutral choice, and the scores’ standard deviation, which represents the risk or opportunity that the score for the actual representation is higher. The framework consistently improves the search performance in the shot retrieval task and the segment retrieval task over several baselines in five TRECVid collections and two collections which use simulated detectors of varying performance