The Effects of Kettlebell Training on Aerobic Capacity

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a kettlebell training program on aerobic capacity. Seventeen female NCAA Division I collegiate soccer players (age 19.7 +1.0 years, height 166.1 +6.4 cm, weight 64.2 +8.2 kg) completed a graded exercise test to determine maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). Participants were placed into a kettlebell intervention (KB) group (n = 9) or a circuit weight training control (CWT) group (n = 8). Participants in the KB group completed a kettlebell snatch test to determine individual snatch repetitions. Both groups trained 3 days per week for 4 weeks in addition to their off-season strength and conditioning program. The KB group performed the 15:15 MVO2 protocol (20 min of kettlebell snatching with a 15 s work-to- rest ratio). The CWT group performed multiple free weight and dynamic body weight exercises as part of a continuous circuit program for 20 min. The 15:15 MVO2 protocol significantly increased VO2max in the KB group. The average increase was 2.3 ml*kg*-1min-1, or approximately a 6% gain. There was no significant change in VO2max in the CWT control group. Thus, the 4-week 15:15 MVO2 kettlebell protocol, using high intensity kettlebell snatches, significantly improved aerobic capacity in female intercollegiate soccer players

Baraminological Analysis of Devonian and Carboniferous Tetrapodomorphs

According to evolutionary theory, the origin of tetrapods (or limbed vertebrates) from a fish-like ancestor during the Devonian Period was one of the major events in the history of life. Devonian sediments have yielded several families of tetrapod-like fishes, including the elpistostegids which range from the Givetian to Frasnian of the Middle to Upper Devonian and are regarded as close to the evolutionary ancestry of tetrapods. Two of the best-known ‘early’ tetrapods are Ichthyostega and Acanthostega, first described from fossil material discovered in the Famennian (uppermost Upper Devonian) sediments of East Greenland. These taxa (and others subsequently described) display mosaic combinations of fish-like and tetrapod-like characters, along with some unique traits (such as polydactyly) not found in more ‘derived’ tetrapods. Creationists have claimed that these organisms are not evolutionary intermediates, but were rather the inhabitants of aquatic environments associated with a pre-Flood floating forest biome, with morphologically intermediate traits that equipped them for life in an environment that was itself intermediate between the sea and the land. This paper evaluates the baraminic status of a range of Devonian and Carboniferous fishes and tetrapods using the techniques of statistical baraminology. Baraminic distance correlation (BDC) and three-dimensional multidimensional scaling (MDS) are applied to six previously published character-taxon matrices. The results reveal little evidence of continuity, and significant evidence of discontinuity, between the elpistostegids and tetrapods such as Ichthyostega and Acanthostega, consistent with the creationist claim of separate ancestry. However, further work will be required to elucidate the baraminic relationships within these presumably apobaraminic groups

Perinatal maternal life events and psychotic experiences in children at twelve years in a birth cohort study

Background: International studies indicate that the median prevalence of psychotic experiences in children is 7%. It has been proposed that environmental stress during pregnancy may affect the neurodevelopment of the foetus and lead to a vulnerability in the child to later stressors and psychopathology.Aim: In this study we explore the relationship between environmental stress during pregnancy and psychotic experiences in children in the general population at 12 years.Methods: We analysed a birth cohort of 5038 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Environmental stress was measured as life event exposure. Data on life events were collected on women during their pregnancy, whilst psychotic experiences in the offspring were assessed at age 12.Results: There was a weak association between maternal exposure to life events and psychotic experiences at twelve years (crude OR 1.10 95% CI 1.02–1.18) per quartile of life event score. This association was not reduced after adjustment for socio-economic status, family history of schizophrenia, maternal education or birth weight but after adjustment for maternal anxiety and depression and smoking in early pregnancy there was no longer any evidence for an association (OR 1.01 95% CI 0.93–1.10).Conclusion: This study provides some evidence to suggest that stressful life events may affect child psychotic experiences through effects on maternal psychopathology, and possibly physiology, during pregnancy

ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL PRACTICES TO OPTIMIZE THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THREE MICROGREEN SPECIES

The recent popularity of edible microgreens (young seedlings of vegetable and herbs harvested shortly after emergence of the first true leaf) has resulted in increased interest of greenhouse growers to cultivate them for local markets. Their cultivation in hoop-houses, greenhouses and indoor production vertical farms (plant factories), permit growers control over growth parameters. This in turn allows growers to influence crop yield, morphology, days to harvest (DTH) and secondary metabolites, which hold perceived health benefits with consumers. Recommendations for their germination and growth parameters vary widely by seed supplier leaving growers to determine their own ideal cultural practices best suited for their operation. The use of horticultural lighting systems to hasten growth and promote the development of aromatic compounds in microgreens has also received little attention in the published literature. Therefore, it was the objective of this study to quantify the effects of four common cultural practices, four daily light integrals (DLI) and four carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations on the growth, morphology, DTH and secondary metabolite production of three microgreen species: arugula (Eruca sativa L.), mizuna (Brassica rapa L. var. japonica) and mustard [Brassica. juncea (L.) Czern. ‘Garnet Giant’]. We began by evaluating four seed densities (1.1, 1.65, 2.2, 2.75 and 3.3 seeds•cm-2); five fertilizer concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150 or 200 mg N•L-1); four substrate depths (1.8, 3.3, 4.3 and 5.8 cm); and four air temperatures (14, 16, 20 and 22 °C) on fresh weight (FW), fresh weight per plant (FWPP), dry weight (DW), plant height and DTH. FW and FWPP were influenced in equal but opposite quadratic fashions as seed density increased from 1.1 to 3.3 seeds•cm-2 where total FW increased while FWPP decreased. FW increased in a quadratic fashion as both fertilizer concentration and substrate depth increased from 0 to 200 mg N•L-1 and 1.8 to 5.8 cm. DTH decreased linearly as air temperatures increased from 14 to 22 °C. After parameters were established for optimal cultural practices, we sought to quantify the effects of four DLI and four CO2 levels on the growth, morphology and secondary metabolite content of microgreens. Four levels of DLI (3, 6, 9 and 12 mol•m-2•d-1) by four levels of CO2 (400, 600, 800 and 1000 ppm) were evaluated under a full factorial design. FW increased linearly for mizuna and mustard as DLI and CO2 increased from 3 to 12 mol•m-2•d-1 and 400 to 1000 ppm. Arugula FW increased in a quadratic fashion as DLI increased from 3 to 12 mol•m-2•d-1 and linearly as CO2 increased from 400 to 1000 ppm. Dry weight increased linearly for all species as DLI and CO2 increased from 3 to 12 mol•m-2•d-1 and 400 to 1000 ppm. For mizuna and mustard, DTH decreased in a quadratic fashion while arugula DTH decreased linearly as DLI increased from 3 to 12 mol•m-2•d-1 with no observed influence from CO2. Total phenolics and total flavonoids increased linearly as DLI increased from 3 to 12 mol•m-2•d-1 where the effect of DLI on phenolic content was dependent on the CO2 level. The results of these studies can help growers determine optimal cultural practices to maximize yields, minimize production time and achieve a target crop size based on individual market demand. In addition, results can help growers conclude what combination of DLI and CO2 can achieve maximum yields at the lowest lighting energy input. Growers can then determine the importance of achieving maximum phenolic and flavonoid compounds and adjust light and CO2 as needed

The foundations of statistical physics: entropy, irreversibility, and inference

Statistical physics aims to describe properties of macroscale systems in terms of distributions of their microscale agents. Its central tool is the maximization of entropy, a variational principle. We review the history of this principle, first considered as a law of nature, more recently as a procedure for inference in model-making. And while equilibria (EQ) have long been grounded in the principle of Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt), until recently no equally foundational generative principle has been known for non-equilibria (NEQ). We review evidence that the variational principle for NEQ is Maximum Caliber. It entails maximizing \textit{path entropies}, not \textit{state entropies}. We also describe the role of entropy in characterizing irreversibility, and describe the relationship between MaxCal and other prominent approaches to NEQ physics, including Stochastic Thermodynamics (ST), Large Deviations Theory (LDT), Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory (MFT), and non-extensive entropies.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure

Using multivariate statistical tools to evaluate dioxin/furan congener profiles and inform policy decisions

Multivariate statistical methods (collectively referred to as chemometrics) are a valuable means of reducing the variability and complexity of large data sets. When incorporated with data visualization tools such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), the output of these chemometric methods can be presented in a manner that is both intuitive and more readily usable for informing policy decisions. We have used these chemometric methods and visualization tools to evaluate the distributions of, and contributions from, various dioxin/furan congener profiles in sediments at three embayments in Puget Sound. One of these embayments was Budd Inlet, which is located in the south Sound area and is bordered by the city of Olympia, WA to the south. The dioxin/furan congener data set for Budd Inlet is among the largest in Puget Sound. Chemometric analysis of this data set revealed a pattern of three unique dioxin/furan endmembers (congener profiles), contributing nearly 98 percent of the total variance across the Inlet. The three profiles were correlated to the following upland sources: 1) hog fuel boiler emissions, 2) pentachlorophenol from historical wood treatment, and 3) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The percent contribution of these endmembers to each sediment sample was mapped spatially using GIS, demonstrating the distribution of each source and the general increasing or decreasing gradient of each source moving north out of Budd Inlet. The results from this analysis is an important component in determining the appropriate data set for calculating background values, which is key to identifying and cleaning up contaminated sediment sites