A study of the issues and challenges in athletic administration from the perspective of Division III athletic directors

The purpose of this study was to identify the issues and challenges facing selected Division III athletic directors. The study sought to determine if there were any differences in the available literature and the opinions of selected Division III athletic directors. The study involved 80 Division III schools throughout the Tri-State area of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. The primary focus of the study included the colleges and universities within the New Jersey Athletic Conference. The research instrument used in the study was a 12-question survey. This self-designed survey was based upon the current issues and challenges in Division III athletics. Out of the 80 surveys that were distributed by electronic mail, a total of 56 surveys were returned, for a response rate of 70%. The demographic results of the study showed that the average Division III athletic director was a male, with a master\u27s degree, and a concentration of studies in administration. The results of the survey showed that there continues to be many athletic directors in both the Tri-State area and the New Jersey Athletic Conference that do not agree with some of the recent proposals that were passed in Division III athletics

An Empire for the Faithful, A Colony for the Dispossessed

Tsarist officials proclaimed a “civilizing mission” in Central Asia, but, in ruling this territory, they saw in Islam both a tangible instrument of domestic policing and the essential element of a “forward policy.” Paving the way for the projection of tsarist power from Turkestan into neighboring regions, tolerance would, they hoped, allow Russia to undermine British rule and compete for the loyalties of Muslims throughout Asia.Les fonctionnaires tsaristes ont fait état d’une « mission civilisatrice » pour l’Asie centrale, mais, en gouvernant ce territoire, ils ont vu dans l’islam à la fois un instrument de politique intérieure et un élément essentiel d’une « politique vers l’avant ». Préparant le terrain dans le but d’étendre le pouvoir tsariste depuis le Turkestan vers les régions voisines, les Russes espéraient, par leur tolérance, miner le pouvoir britannique et le concurrencer pour gagner la fidélité des musulmans dans l’ensemble de l’Asie

Designing timber connections for ductility – A review and discussion

This paper discusses the design principles of timber connections for ductility with focus on laterally-loaded dowel-type fasteners. Timber connections are critical components of timber structures: not only do they join members, but they also affect load capacity, stiffness, and ductility of the overall system. Moreover, due to the brittle failure behaviour of timber when loaded in tension or shear, they are often the only source of ductility and energy dissipation in the structure in case of overloading, much like a fuse in an electrical circuit. This paper addresses current challenges in connection design for ductility, reviews selected best-practice design approaches to ensure ductility in timber connections, suggests simple performance-based design criteria to design connections for ductility, and aims to stimulate a discussion around potential solutions to implement safe design principles for ductile connections in future design codes and connection testing regimes

<i>miniPixD</i>: a compact sample analysis system which combines X-ray imaging and diffraction

This paper introduces miniPixD: a new, compact system that utilises transmission X-ray imaging and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to locate and identify materials of interest within an otherwise opaque volume. The system and the embodied techniques have utility in security screening, medical diagnostics, non-destructive testing (NDT) and quality assurance (QA). This paper outlines the design of the system including discussion on the choice of components and presents some data from relevant samples which are compared to other energy dispersive and angular dispersive XRD techniques

What We Know About Multifamily Mortgage Originations and Why We Care

The three publicly available data sets on multifamily mortgage originations are examined and compared in an attempt to resolve the more than $20 billion discrepancy between the published estimates of the size of the conventional conforming multifamily lending market. The data are from the Survey of Mortgage Lending Activity, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, and the 1991 Residential Finance Survey. The analyses show that all three data sets have substantial weaknesses, and that the primary source of the differences in estimates is due to differences in the populations covered. The 1993 multifamily mortgage originations volume is estimated to be about$30 billion

Estimating the Volume of Multifamily Mortgage Originations By Commercial Banks Using the Survey of Mortgage Lending Activity and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data

Two public data sets on multifamily mortgage originations are used to resolve the $15 billion discrepancy between the published estimates of the size of the multifamily lending market covered by commercial banks. The data are from the Survey of Mortgage Lending Activity and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The analyses show the primary sources of the differences in the estimates are differences in the populations covered, nonreporting biases, and the methods used to expand the reported values to aggregate values. The 1993 multifamily mortgage originations volume by commercial banks is estimated to be about$7-8 billion

Determination of ingredients in packaged pharmaceutical tablets by energy dispersive X‐ray diffraction and maximum likelihood principal component analysis multivariate curve resolution‐alternating least squares with correlation constraint

Energy dispersive X‐ray diffraction (EDXRD) and maximum likelihood principal component analysis multivariate curve resolution‐alternating least squares (MLPCA‐MCR‐ALS) with correlation constraint were used to quantify the composition of packaged pharmaceutical formulations. Recorded EDXRD profiles from unpackaged and packaged samples of ternary mixtures were modelled together in order to recover the concentrations as well as the pure profiles of the constituent compounds. MLPCA was used as a data pretreatment step to MCR‐ALS, accounting for the high noise and nonconstant variance observed in the EDXRD profiles and was shown to improve the resolution accuracy of MCR‐ALS for the data set. Local correlation constraints were applied in the MCR‐ALS procedure in order to model unpackaged and packaged samples simultaneously while accounting for the matrix effect of the packaging materials. The composition of the formulations was estimated with root‐mean‐square error of prediction for each component, including paracetamol, being approximately 2.5 %w/w for unpackaged and packaged samples. Paracetamol concentration was resolved simultaneously for the unpackaged and packaged samples to a greater degree of accuracy than achieved by partial least squares regression (PLSR) when modelling the contexts separately. By modelling the effects of the packaging and incorporating accurate reference information of unpackaged samples into the resolution of packaged samples, the potential of EDXRD and MLPCA‐MCR‐ALS for the identification and quantification of packaged solid‐dosage medicine in nondestructive screening and counterfeit medicine detection has been raised

A genome-wide scan to identify loci for smoking rate in the Framingham Heart Study population

BACKGROUND: Although many years of genetic epidemiological studies have demonstrated that genetics plays a significant role in determining smoking behavior, little information is available on genomic loci or genes affecting nicotine dependence. Several susceptibility chromosomal regions for nicotine dependence have been reported, but few have received independent confirmation. To identify susceptibility loci for nicotine dependence, 313 extended pedigrees selected from the Framingham Heart Study population were analyzed by both the GENEHUNTER and S.A.G.E. programs. RESULTS: After performing linkage analyses on the 313 extended Framingham Heart Study families, the EM Haseman-Elston method implemented in GENEHUNTER provided evidence for significant linkage of smoking rate to chromosome 11 and suggestive linkage to chromosomes 9, 14, and 17. Multipoint sib-pair regression analysis using the SIBPAL program of S.A.G.E. on 1389 sib pairs that were split from the 313 extended families identified suggestive linkage of smoking rate to chromosomes 4, 7, and 17. Of these identified positive regions for nicotine dependence, loci on chromosomes 7, 11, and 17 were identified by both GENEHUNTER and S.A.G.E. programs. CONCLUSION: Our genome-wide scan results on the Framingham Heart Study data provide evidence for significant linkage of smoking rate to chromosome 11 and suggestive linkage to chromosomes 4, 7, 9, 14, and 17. These findings suggest that some of these regions may harbor susceptibility loci for nicotine dependence, and warrant further investigation in this and other populations

Long-term neprilysin gene transfer is associated with reduced levels of intracellular Abeta and behavioral improvement in APP transgenic mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Proteolytic degradation has emerged as a key pathway involved in controlling levels of the Alzheimer's disease (AD)-associated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide in the brain. The endopeptidase, neprilysin, has been implicated as a major Aβ degrading enzyme in mice and humans. Previous short and intermediate term studies have shown the potential therapeutic application of neprilysin by delivering this enzyme into the brain of APP transgenic mice using gene transfer with viral vectors. However the effects of long-term neprilysin gene transfer on other aspects of Aβ associated pathology have not been explored yet in APP transgenic mice.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that the sustained expression of neprilysin for up to 6 months lowered not only the amyloid plaque load but also reduced the levels of intracellular Aβ immunoreactivity. This was associated with improved behavioral performance in the water maze and ameliorated the dendritic and synaptic pathology in the APP transgenic mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data support the possibility that long-term neprilysin gene therapy improves behavioral and neurodegenerative pathology by reducing intracellular Aβ.</p

Multivariate calibration of energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction data for predicting the composition of pharmaceutical tablets in packaging

A system using energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) has been developed and tested using multivariate calibration for the quantitative analysis of tablet-form mixtures of common pharmaceutical ingredients. A principal advantage of EDXRD over the more traditional and common angular dispersive X-ray diffraction technique (ADXRD) is the potential of EDXRD to analyse tablets within their packaging, due to the higher energy X-rays used. In the experiment, a series of caffeine, paracetamol and microcrystalline cellulose mixtures were prepared and pressed into tablets. EDXRD profiles were recorded on each sample and a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out in both unpackaged and packaged scenarios. In both cases the first two principal components explained >98% of the between-sample variance. The PCA projected the sample profiles into two dimensional principal component space in close accordance to their ternary mixture design, demonstrating the discriminating potential of the EDXRD system. A partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was built with the samples and was validated using leave-one-out cross-validation. Low prediction errors of between 2% and 4% for both unpackaged and packaged tablets were obtained for all three chemical compounds. The prediction capability through packaging demonstrates a truly non-destructive method for quantifying tablet composition and demonstrates good potential for EDXRD to be applied in the field of counterfeit medicine screening and pharmaceutical quality control