Campus Concierge: A Business Plan to Do College Better

Campus Concierge Inc. is a start-up company located in Fayetteville, Arkansas that provides academic support services to college students. Since 2013, the company has seen successful operations and is ready to expand. In this thesis, background research was performed to amend the business plan in order to better reflect the business model and highlight opportunities for growth. These opportunities include developing the brand image, increasing current operations, and extending branches to other locations. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate expansion options as well as funding opportunities that are feasible for the company and to deliver a tangible product Campus Concierge can use to acquire capital. Due to the sensitive nature of the financial content, information has been omitted from the public version. A full analysis has been provided to both Campus Concierge and the advisors on this project

Small and medium agility dogs alter their kinematics when the distance between hurdles differs

There is currently a lack of research examining the health and welfare implications for competitive agility dogs. The aim of this study was to examine if jump kinematics and apparent joint angles in medium (351 mm - 430 mm to the withers) and small (< 350 mm to the withers) agility dogs altered when distances between consecutive upright hurdles differ. Dogs ran a course of nine hurdles; three set at 3.6 m apart; three at 4 m apart and three at 5 m apart. Both medium (P=0.044) and small (P=0.006) dogs landed closer to the hurdle when consecutive hurdles were set at 3.6 m apart, with small dogs jumping slower at this distance (P=0.006). Results indicate that jump kinematics, but not apparent joint angles, alter when the spacing between hurdles differs. These findings may have implications for the health and welfare of agility dogs and should be used to inform future changes to rules and regulations

Depression and anxiety in prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence rates

ObjectivesTo systematically review the literature pertaining to the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with prostate cancer as a function of treatment stage.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.Participants4494 patients with prostate cancer from primary research investigations.Primary outcome measureThe prevalence of clinical depression and anxiety in patients with prostate cancer as a function of treatment stage.ResultsWe identified 27 full journal articles that met the inclusion criteria for entry into the meta-analysis resulting in a pooled sample size of 4494 patients. The meta-analysis of prevalence rates identified pretreatment, on-treatment and post-treatment depression prevalences of 17.27% (95% CI 15.06% to 19.72%), 14.70% (95% CI 11.92% to 17.99%) and 18.44% (95% CI 15.18% to 22.22%), respectively. Pretreatment, on-treatment and post-treatment anxiety prevalences were 27.04% (95% CI 24.26% to 30.01%), 15.09% (95% CI 12.15% to 18.60%) and 18.49% (95% CI 13.81% to 24.31%), respectively.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the prevalence of depression and anxiety in men with prostate cancer, across the treatment spectrum, is relatively high. In light of the growing emphasis placed on cancer survivorship, we consider that further research within this area is warranted to ensure that psychological distress in patients with prostate cancer is not underdiagnosed and undertreated

Seismic probes of solar interior magnetic structure

Sunspots are prominent manifestations of solar magnetoconvection and imaging their subsurface structure is an outstanding problem of wide physical importance. Travel times of seismic waves that propagate through these structures are typically used as inputs to inversions. Despite the presence of strongly anisotropic magnetic waveguides, these measurements have always been interpreted in terms of changes to isotropic wavespeeds and flow-advection related Doppler shifts. Here, we employ PDE-constrained optimization to determine the appropriate parameterization of the structural properties of the magnetic interior. Seven different wavespeeds fully characterize helioseismic wave propagation: the isotropic sound speed, a Doppler-shifting flow-advection velocity and an anisotropic magnetic velocity. The structure of magnetic media is sensed by magnetoacoustic slow and fast modes and Alfv\'{e}n waves, each of which propagates at a different wavespeed. We show that even in the case of weak magnetic fields, significant errors may be incurred if these anisotropies are not accounted for in inversions. Translation invariance is demonstrably lost. These developments render plausible the accurate seismic imaging of magnetoconvection in the Sun.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted Physical Review Letter

Reconstruction of Solar Subsurfaces by Local Helioseismology

Local helioseismology has opened new frontiers in our quest for understanding of the internal dynamics and dynamo on the Sun. Local helioseismology reconstructs subsurface structures and flows by extracting coherent signals of acoustic waves traveling through the interior and carrying information about subsurface perturbations and flows, from stochastic oscillations observed on the surface. The initial analysis of the subsurface flow maps reconstructed from the 5 years of SDO/HMI data by time-distance helioseismology reveals the great potential for studying and understanding of the dynamics of the quiet Sun and active regions, and the evolution with the solar cycle. In particular, our results show that the emergence and evolution of active regions are accompanied by multi-scale flow patterns, and that the meridional flows display the North-South asymmetry closely correlating with the magnetic activity. The latitudinal variations of the meridional circulation speed, which are probably related to the large-scale converging flows, are mostly confined in shallow subsurface layers. Therefore, these variations do not necessarily affect the magnetic flux transport. The North-South asymmetry is also pronounced in the variations of the differential rotation ("torsional oscillations"). The calculations of a proxy of the subsurface kinetic helicity density show that the helicity does not vary during the solar cycle, and that supergranulation is a likely source of the near-surface helicity.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, in "Cartography of the Sun and the Stars", Editors: Rozelot, Jean-Pierre, Neiner, Corali

The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on the Library Anxiety and Information Competency of Graduate Students

Many persons enrolling in graduate programs of study do so with varying levels of research skills. The lack of research skills often results in students experiencing some level of library anxiety, which occurs most often at the outset of a research assignment. The role of information literacy instruction is to provide students with the skills necessary to define the information need, understand the resources available to fill the need, understand the process for evaluating information, and understand what it means to use information in an ethical manner. This study explored the relationship between the library anxiety and the information literacy competencies of graduate students and the attitudes of the graduate faculty on the need for information literacy instruction

The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on the Library Anxiety and Information Competency of Graduate Students

Many persons enrolling in graduate programs of study do so with varying levels of research skills. The lack of research skills often results in students experiencing some level of library anxiety, which occurs most often at the outset of a research assignment. The role of information literacy instruction is to provide students with the skills necessary to define the information need, understand the resources available to fill the need, understand the process for evaluating information, and understand what it means to use information in an ethical manner. This study explored the relationship between the library anxiety and the information literacy competencies of graduate students and the attitudes of the graduate faculty on the need for information literacy instruction

Sensitivity Kernels for Flows in Time-Distance Helioseismology: Extension to Spherical Geometry

We extend an existing Born approximation method for calculating the linear sensitivity of helioseismic travel times to flows from Cartesian to spherical geometry. This development is necessary for using the Born approximation for inferring large-scale flows in the deep solar interior. In a first sanity check, we compare two $f-$mode kernels from our spherical method and from an existing Cartesian method. The horizontal and total integrals agree to within 0.3 %. As a second consistency test, we consider a uniformly rotating Sun and a travel distance of 42 degrees. The analytical travel-time difference agrees with the forward-modelled travel-time difference to within 2 %. In addition, we evaluate the impact of different choices of filter functions on the kernels for a meridional travel distance of 42 degrees. For all filters, the sensitivity is found to be distributed over a large fraction of the convection zone. We show that the kernels depend on the filter function employed in the data analysis process. If modes of higher harmonic degree ($90\lesssim l \lesssim 170$) are permitted, a noisy pattern of a spatial scale corresponding to $l\approx 260$ appears near the surface. When mainly low-degree modes are used ($l\lesssim70$), the sensitivity is concentrated in the deepest regions and it visually resembles a ray-path-like structure. Among the different low-degree filters used, we find the kernel for phase-speed filtered measurements to be best localized in depth.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ. v2: typo in arXiv author list correcte

Helioseismology of Pre-Emerging Active Regions II: Average Emergence Properties

We report on average subsurface properties of pre-emerging active regions as compared to areas where no active region emergence was detected. Helioseismic holography is applied to samples of the two populations (pre-emergence and without emergence), each sample having over 100 members, which were selected to minimize systematic bias, as described in Leka et al. We find that there are statistically significant signatures (i.e., difference in the means of more than a few standard errors) in the average subsurface flows and the apparent wave speed that precede the formation of an active region. The measurements here rule out spatially extended flows of more than about 15 m/s in the top 20 Mm below the photosphere over the course of the day preceding the start of visible emergence. These measurements place strong constraints on models of active region formation.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, ApJ (published