Impact of Home Field Advantage: Analyzed Across Three Professional Sports

We examined the impact of home-field advantage in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. We defined home-field advantage as winning more than 50% of the home games. Additionally, we took into consideration how season length could act as a moderator and influence the impact of home-field advantage. We collected data from the 2015 NBA and MLB seasons and the 2015 and 2016 NFL seasons to determine statistical significance. In total, we got data from 4,141 games to analyze. We found that there is statistical significance that the home team has a better chance of winning than the away team across the NFL, NBA, and MLB. We also found that season length has a significant impact on home team winning percentage

The Effect on Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University\u27s Reporting Culture from Implementing an Aviation Safety Action Program

The Flight Training Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, has been contemplating implementing an Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) in order to help protect students and instructors from certificate action. This feasibility study analyzed what motivated instructor pilots to submit safety reports, and if an ASAP would increase reporting from instructor pilots. It also identified what concerns existed among instructors and managers regarding an ASAP. A survey was given to instructors and managers; also instructors in leadership roles were interviewed. It was found that the benefit to the organization and peers was the highest motivation factor to submit safety reports and no significant evidence existed for an increase in reporting under an ASAP. In fact, instructors and managers were concerned with Federal Aviation Administration involvement and with the potential for an ASAP to decrease reporting

Promoting Inquiry in Science Classrooms in European Schools : a Handbook for Tutors

In Scotland, PISCES stands for Promoting Inquiry Skills for a Curriculum for Excellence in Science. It is a CPD module for teachers of science, which has been developed in Scotland with the support of the S-TEAM project. However, this Handbook uses our international acronym in which PISCES stands for Promoting Inquiry in Science Classrooms in European Schools . It is, we believe, potentially equally as successful across Europe as it was designed around the idea of empowering teachers to think for themselves how to make their practice more-inquiry based, wherever they are. It is recognised that some school, social, policy and cultural environments may be more supportive of the idea of ‘more inquiry-based practice’ than others. PISCES empowers teachers to make small or large changes to their practice, according to those sorts of contextual factors, their own aims and how they perceive the needs of their pupils. You will note that we have been careful to use the word ‘more’ in ‘more inquiry-based.’ As befits the idea of empowerment to adapt to one’s own context, there is no single model of inquiry being ‘pushed’ here. Indeed, we count it as a measure of success of PISCES that the teachers who have participated did very different things in making their practice more inquiry-based. Strathclyde University is a leading partner in S-TEAM. Members of Strathclyde University, along with the Development Officer for Curriculum for Excellence for East Lothian, successfully developed and delivered a pilot version of PISCES as a module to a group of East Lothian teachers, in 2010/11. The module resulted in successful ‘experiments in practice’ and increased awareness of the benefits of inquiry-based teaching and learning. The same group of teachers have also taken part in a follow-up course (ARIES: Advanced Resources for Inquiry and Evaluation in Science). PISCES is a high quality CPD programme, valued by teachers and supportive of their professional self-development. It can be applied to both primary and secondary teaching, in all science subjects. Pupils benefit from learning experiences, which develop scientific inquiry skills. Feedback from participating teachers has been consistently positive

Promoting inquiry skills in Curriculum for Excellence in Science: conceptualising inquiry to improve practice

This paper describes a Scottish initiative (arising out of a EU funded development project) involving university researchers, a local authority curriculum development officer and a group of teachers interested in developing more inquiry based approaches in science education. The project is not one in which the researchers bring prescriptions from research. Rather, it is seen as a joint effort aimed at solving practitioners' conceptual and practice issues. The overall question for the teachers was, How do I (we) make our practice more inquiry based? The question for the researchers was, How do we help you (the interested science teachers) to make your practice more inquiry based? This has two sub-questions: How do we help you to conceptualise the issues? How do we help you to solve the practice problems? As it turned out, the particular group of teachers we worked with did not ask for help with practice issues, so we have not made much progress in answering the second question. Therefore, this paper will focus on the first. We seem to have been successful in helping the teachers to acquire some useful conceptual tools for thinking about and changing their practice in ways that they valued for themselves. Perhaps the answer to the second question is that researchers can help teachers to solve their practice problems by helping them to conceptualise the issues

Male Visual Dominance Continues: a Global Study of Images of Men and Women in 750 Online Newspapers in 74 Nations.

This study examined how women were represented globally in online newspapers. Depiction of men and women in online newspapers was investigated via cropping of photographs. The photograph was examined to determine if emphasis was placed on the face or body of the human image. The researcher used the Body Index Scale coding instrument. A simple random sample of 1,969 published photographs in 750 global online newspapers was examined. A major finding was that men dominate the front screens on global online newspaper Web sites. The data concluded men were cropped with an emphasis on the head, emphasizing intellect. Women were often cropped with emphasis on the body. The significances of this study were that global online newspapers have an increasingly large impact on society. The manner in which men and women are depicted in global online newspapers play a role in how visual images can dictate stereotypes in mass culture

Individual Factors and Successful Learning in a Hybrid Course

What personality factors make for a successful hybrid L2 learning experience? While previous studies have examined online learning in comparative terms (i.e. Which format is better: in class or hybrid?), this study examines certain personality and cognitive factors that might define the ideal hybrid language learner. All informants studied introductory Spanish with multimedia materials supported by synchronous chat (video, voice, text). Personality and cognitive traits were probed using the Big Five Inventory scale (BFI1) and the Shipley Institute of Living scale (SILS2), respectively. The results were correlated with course outcomes and learner preferences for online, chat, or in-class activities. Exit interviews were conducted with an eye to offering a richer understanding of how hybrid students viewed online learning. The quantitative data revealed that conscientiousness (per BFI) had a significant, positive correlation with final grades. Low-verbal learners (per SILS) registered a definite preference for working with online materials, as opposed to learning in class or chatting online. The results suggest that students who are conscientiousness learners perform well within the hybrid-learning environment; low-verbal learners, in particular, value the online materials which create the possibility to work online at one\u27s own pace

Addressing health literacy in patient decision aids

MethodsWe reviewed literature for evidence relevant to these two aims. When high-quality systematic reviews existed, we summarized their evidence. When reviews were unavailable, we conducted our own systematic reviews.ResultsAim 1: In an existing systematic review of PtDA trials, lower health literacy was associated with lower patient health knowledge (14 of 16 eligible studies). Fourteen studies reported practical design strategies to improve knowledge for lower health literacy patients. In our own systematic review, no studies reported on values clarity per se, but in 2 lower health literacy was related to higher decisional uncertainty and regret. Lower health literacy was associated with less desire for involvement in 3 studies, less question-asking in 2, and less patient-centered communication in 4 studies; its effects on other measures of patient involvement were mixed. Only one study assessed the effects of a health literacy intervention on outcomes; it showed that using video to improve the salience of health states reduced decisional uncertainty. Aim 2: In our review of 97 trials, only 3 PtDAs overtly addressed the needs of lower health literacy users. In 90% of trials, user health literacy and readability of the PtDA were not reported. However, increases in knowledge and informed choice were reported in those studies in which health literacy needs were addressed.ConclusionLower health literacy affects key decision-making outcomes, but few existing PtDAs have addressed the needs of lower health literacy users. The specific effects of PtDAs designed to mitigate the influence of low health literacy are unknown. More attention to the needs of patients with lower health literacy is indicated, to ensure that PtDAs are appropriate for lower as well as higher health literacy patients

A critical appraisal of “The efficacy of continuous passive motion in the rehabilitation of anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions.”

This paper delves deeply into the comparison of two different rehabilitation methods following ACL reconstructive surgery. In pursuit of more information in this field, a literature search was performed, and one journal article was selected for appraisal. This journal article, The efficacy of continuous passive motion in the rehabilitation of anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions, compares the efficacy of continuous passive motion (CPM) to the efficacy of early active motion training. The authors do this by taking patients directly after surgery and placing them into three different treatment groups: one practicing only CPM training, one practicing only early active motion training and one practicing both treatments. The researchers measured the subject’s knee range of motion and anterior laxity and then compared the three groups at certain intervals of time up to 6 months post-surgery. After the 6 months had passed, the researchers found that both rehabilitation methods achieved the same range of motion and stability levels and that there were no significant differences in the results between the three groups. These results were clinically significant because they proved that both methods are equally efficient and safe. This conclusion benefits the field because it allows patients and healthcare providers to have more viable options for ACL rehabilitation without sacrificing stability or range of motion

A social-economic study of land development for farm settlement at Butler's

Commissioned by: Commissioner of Crown Lands Department of Lands and Survey, Hokitika.The primary aim of the study is to identify the likely impacts of publicly-funded programmes of land development for farm settlement on the social life and economy of small communities in the West Coast Region. As this is a preliminary, or scoping, type of analysis the investigation focuses on the identification of important issues regarding land development and settlement rather than a definitive assessment of particular impacts. Specifically, the study attempts to identify the key issues of major planning importance for the Butler's development block in Westland County. The proposed Butler's development, a 5427 hectare Lands and Survey Department block located between Ross and Hokitika, is representative of land development opportunities and related issues on the West Coast generally

Interfacial Stress Transfer in a Graphene Monolayer Nanocomposite

Graphene is one of the stiffest known materials, with a Young's modulus of 1 TPa, making it an ideal candidate for use as a reinforcement in high-performance composites. However, being a one-atom thick crystalline material, graphene poses several fundamental questions: (1) can decades of research on carbon-based composites be applied to such an ultimately-thin crystalline material? (2) is continuum mechanics used traditionally with composites still valid at the atomic level? (3) how does the matrix interact with the graphene crystals and what kind of theoretical description is appropriate? We have demonstrated unambiguously that stress transfer takes place from the polymer matrix to monolayer graphene, showing that the graphene acts as a reinforcing phase. We have also modeled the behavior using shear-lag theory, showing that graphene monolayer nanocomposites can be analyzed using continuum mechanics. Additionally, we have been able to monitor stress transfer efficiency and breakdown of the graphene/polymer interface