1,540 research outputs found
A study of the impact of a community building workshop on the sense of community of First United Methodist Church of Alexander City, Alabama
https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1653/thumbnail.jp
Use of Rounded Base Turns in General Aviation Traffic Patterns: A Quantitative Analysis
Prevention of in-flight loss of control (I-LOC) in General Aviation (GA) continues to be identified as a most-wanted safety improvement by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with emphasis on low-altitude maneuvering. A possible technique to mitigate I-LOC is modification of the rectangular traffic pattern used by aircraft arriving and maneuvering within the airspace around an airport. The rectangular pattern is used to align the aircraft with the runway for landing and consists of a ābase legā in which two 90-degree directional changes are accomplished. A ārounded-baseā could instead be conducted, consisting of a constant 180- degree turn, potentially resulting in lower angles-of-attack (AOA), thereby keeping the aircraft further from the critical AOA at which I-LOC may occur. Using flight data monitoring equipment, a comparative statistical analysis was conducted between the rectangular method and rounded base method to evaluate variables that influence AOA and determine if the rounded-base method provides an increased level of safety. Results suggest that the rounded base method does allow for lower bank angles, lower pitch attitudes, lower vertical speeds, and more consistent indicated airspeeds throughout the maneuver. Additionally, the rounded-base method considerably reduces the likelihood of runway overshoot during the turn to final
Technical and Regulatory Factors of Adopting Electric Training Aircraft in a Collegiate Aviation Setting
Electric-powered aircraft have entered the market. The arrival of the Pipistrel Velis Electro and other developmental efforts by companies such as Bye Aerospace, Piper, and eViation, have signaled to the aviation community that more electric-powered aircraft can be expected in the coming years. But how useful are they for training pilots in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Part 141 collegiate aviation environment? To identify candidate flight courses and lessons, the authors examine flight hour distributions of a one-year window of invoiced flights (N = 52,728), including flight hour data cut-points at 60 minutes (n = 6,050) and 90 minutes (n = 25,439). The data distribution suggests that approximately 11.5% of the candidate flights would fall within a 60-minute expected flight duration, whereas 48% of flights would fall within a 90-minute flight duration. These calculations provide realistic targets for designed minimum flight duration (plus the inclusion of required FAA reserve) in order to be determined a feasible trainer in many high-volume FAA Part 141 training environments. Detailed course-level analysis suggests the Instrument Flight Instructor (CFII) flight course as a potential launch point for electric flight due to the relatively lower flight hour per lesson. In addition to minimum flight duration, other feasibility questions are included in this analysis, such as regulatory requirements, battery duration, aircraft turnaround time, multiple charge-discharge cycles per day, environmental factors, airport charging infrastructure, and maintenance factors. Additional research will benefit this developing area of electric aircraft in flight training environments
Bone Morphogenetic Protein-9 Is a Potent Chondrogenic and Morphogenic Factor for Articular Cartilage Chondroprogenitors
Articular cartilage contains a subpopulation of tissue-specific progenitors that are an ideal cell type for cell therapies and generating neo-cartilage for tissue engineering applications. However, it is unclear whether the standard chondrogenic medium employing transforming growth factor-Ī² (TGFĪ²) isoforms is optimal to differentiate these cells. We therefore used pellet culture to screen progenitors from immature bovine articular cartilage with a number of chondrogenic factors and discovered that bone morphogenetic factor-9 (BMP9) precociously induces their differentiation. This difference was apparent with toluidine blue staining and confirmed by biochemical and transcriptional analyses with BMP9 treated progenitors exhibiting 11-fold and 5-fold greater aggrecan and collagen type II gene expression than TGFĪ²1 treated progenitors. Quantitative gene expression analysis over 14 days highlighted the rapid and phased nature of BMP9 induced chondrogenesis with sequential activation of aggrecan then collagen type II, and negligible collagen type X gene expression. The extracellular matrix of TGFĪ²1treated progenitors analysed using atomic force microscopy was fibrillar and stiff whist BMP9-induced matrix of cells more compliant and correspondingly less fibrillar. Polarised light microscopy revealed an annular pattern of collagen fibril deposition typified by TGFĪ²1 treated pellets, whereas BMP9 treated pellets displayed a birefringence pattern that was more anisotropic. Remarkably, differentiated immature chondrocytes incubated as high-density cultures in vitro with BMP9 generated a pronounced anisotropic organisation of collagen fibrils indistinguishable from mature adult articular cartilage, with cells in deeper zones arranged in columnar fashion. This contrasted with cells grown with TGFĪ²1 where a concentric pattern of collagen fibrils was visualised within tissue pellets. In summary, BMP9 is a potent chondrogenic factor for articular cartilage progenitors and is also capable of inducing morphogenesis of adult-like cartilage, a highly desirable attribute for in vitro tissue-engineered cartilage
Paediatric distal radial fracture manipulation: Multicentre analysis of process times
Background: Children with simple radial fractures requiring manipulation are conventionally admitted for manipulation under general anaesthesia. On the assumption that children (and their parents) wish to spend as little time in hospital as possible, a study was undertaken to explore the experience of children with distal radial fractures admitted for general anaesthesia. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of the time taken from arrival at the emergency department (ED) to general anaesthesia and the time taken from arrival at the ED to hospital discharge in three centres in south-west England: the Bristol Children's Hospital, Derriford (Plymouth) Hospital and the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. Results: The median wait for general anaesthesia was >8 h and the median wait from ED admission to discharge was >21 h. This compares with a typical arrival to discharge time for paediatric procedural sedation of 4-5 h in the ED of the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. Conclusions: Given the assumption that children (and their parents) wish to spend as little time in hospital as possible, there appears to be a role for procedural sedation in the ED for this group of children, with a significantly reduced turnaround time anticipated
Perception of academic learning environments and perceived impact on articulation of employability; a mixed methods study
This study reports on the findings of a mixed methods study that was undertaken to
establish student perceptions of academic learning environments and the perceived
impact of these on their articulation of employability skills. This was so student
perspectives on employability could be used to inform reflection on pedagogic practices for
their educators in higher education. Using a purposive sample of 250 students based in a
recently modernised Sciences Complex Building in a Higher Education Institution (HEI),
the study was cross sectional and descriptive by design. The social learning spaces
researched were perceived by participants to provide optimal academic learning
environments for their development of knowledge, skills and professionalism through
certain signature pedagogies as they progressed through their programmes of study.
Students also expressed the view that their acquisition of functional skills were significantly
more important than any personal attributes/characteristics that they brought to
programmes. What also mattered was whether the importance of certain graduate skills to
the workplace had been made explicit to them so that they could see the relevance of their
studies to practice. In defining āgraduatenessā, in employability terms the research
Hayes et al. Perception of academic learning environments and perceived impact on articulation of employability skills
Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 10: November 2016 2
concluded that it was necessary to consider how it was shaped by the context of delivery
of subject disciplines, stages of academic progression, and the use of social learning
spaces, as they all had a significant impact on the perceptions students held about their
potential employability upon completion of their academic programmes.
Keywords: learning environments; employability; signature pedagogies; situated
cognition; problem based learning
Against Reduction
Provocative, hopeful essays imagine a future that is not reduced to algorithms. What is human flourishing in an age of machine intelligence, when many claim that the world's most complex problems can be reduced to narrow technical questions? Does more computing make us more intelligent, or simply more computationally powerful? We need not always resist reduction; our ability to simplify helps us interpret complicated situations. The trick is to know when and how to do so. Against Reduction offers a collection of provocative and illuminating essays that consider different ways of recognizing and addressing the reduction in our approach to artificial intelligence, and ultimately to ourselves. Inspired by a widely read manifesto by Joi Ito that called for embracing the diversity and irreducibility of the world, these essays offer persuasive and compelling variations on resisting reduction. Among other things, the writers draw on Indigenous epistemology to argue for an extended ācircle of relationshipsā that includes the nonhuman and robotic; cast āSnow Whiteā as a tale of AI featuring a smart mirror; point out the cisnormativity of security protocol algorithms; map the interconnecting networks of so-called noncommunicable disease; and consider the limits of moral mathematics. Taken together, they show that we should push back against some of the reduction around us and do whatever is in our power to work toward broader solutions
Institutions and social structures
This paper clarifies the terms "institutions" and "social structures" and related terms "rules", "conventions", "norms", "values" and "customs". Part one explores the similarities between institutions and social structures whilst the second and third parts explore differences. Part two considers institutions, rules, habits or habitus and habituation, whilst part three critically reflects on three common conceptions of social structures. The conclusion comments upon reflexive deliberation via the internal conversation. Ā© The Executive Management Committee/Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2008
Quantifying the impact of social mobilisation in rural Bangladesh : donors, civil society and 'the road not taken'
As part of a general trend toward a reduced role for the state, international donors
have increasingly encouraged development NGOs to take up a service delivery
function. In Bangladesh, this has induced NGOs to shift their core activities away
from social mobilisation to a focus on providing microfinance services, although
many organisations also promote education, health and other social services.
NGOs are credited with some of Bangladeshās remarkable progress on poverty
reduction, human development indicators and the Millennium Development Goals.
However, social inequalities persist, and the quality of governance is extremely low.
This paper reports on the impact of an NGO, Nijera Kori (NK), in rural Bangladesh
on its membersā democratic knowledge, practice and engagement. Unique among
its peers, NKās work with the landless poor prioritises rights, social mobilisation
and solidarity over more individualistic forms of democratic participation. The
study carried out a survey of randomly selected members of NK, along with a
randomly selected ācontrol groupā from the same socioeconomic background of
the NK membership. Statistical analysis of the data confirms much higher levels of
political awareness and participation among NK members. More surprisingly,
given that NK does not distribute microfinance, NK membership was also
associated with a number of material impacts, including more diverse household
diets, a higher likelihood of asset ownership and higher levels of economic activity
relative to non-members. Levels of ātrustā in local power structures and public
institutions were significantly lower amongst NK members compared to nonmembers,
challenging some of the dominant assumptions about the positive
correlation between social trust and political participation. We propose that NKās
intensive focus on education, information-sharing and social mobilisation instils a
level of political consciousness in members that qualifies trust in public institutions,
with implications for enhanced democratic accountability and an alternative civil
society approach to improving democratic citizenship.
Keywords: citizenship; working poor; economic rights; civil society
Self-reported psychopathy and aggression motivation: A role for emotions?
The current study examined the psychopathy-aggression relationship by considering different forms of aggression, including aggressive motivation. Emotions were explored as useful in understanding any emerging relationship, notably those consistent with detachment and sensitivity/poor regulation. In three studies, involving non-offending samples (Study one: n = 150, 47 men, 103 women; Study two: n = 442, 314 men, 123 women, five not disclosed; Study three: n = 200, 100 men and 100 women), it was predicted that higher levels of psychopathy would be associated with reports of higher overall, proactive and reactive aggression, and that the association would be moderated by emotion. Specifically, it was predicted that emotion regulation difficulties would associate with higher levels of reactive but not proactive aggression, and that proactive aggression would involve a lack of emotion. Findings generally supported the predictions. The role of emotion-regulation difficulties as a mediator between psychopathy and reactive aggression, and greater emotional detachment as a mediator between psychopathy and proactive aggression was demonstrated. The results demonstrate importance for the components of psychopathy and different aspects of emotion for the psychopathy-aggression link. Directions for future research and some implications for practice are outlined
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