A map through the minefield: church merger as a strategy for starting new faith communities

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1656/thumbnail.jp

Speedups And Orbit Equivalence Of Finite Extensions Of Ergodic Zᵈ-Actions

We classify n-point extensions of ergodic Zᵈ-actions up to relative orbit equivalence and establish criteria under which one n-point extension of an ergodic Zᵈ-action can be sped up to be relatively isomorphic to an n-point extension of another ergodic Zᵈ-action. Both results are characterized in terms of an algebraic object associated to each n-point extension which is a conjugacy class of subgroups of the symmetric group on n elements

Executive Function Relationships to Sitting Time and Physical Activity: A Pilot Study

Executive function (EF) refers to the neurocognitive perspective of supervisory abilities to self-regulate during goal-direct behavior. More specifically, the ability to attend to and inhibit dominant responses (i.e. Attention/Inhibition) has been found to moderate the intention and physical activity (PA) relationship, yet does not appear to relate to PA. However, this EF is related to other health behaviors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption (i.e. behaviors to be inhibited). The lack of relationship to PA might be due to it being a behavior that is not to be inhibited, compared to a behavior that should be inhibited (e.g. sitting time). PURPOSE: To compare relationships of various executive functions to physical activity and sitting time. METHODS: Sixteen college-aged males (n=5) and females (n=11) (Age = 22.38±1.26 years; BMI = 25.57±7.58 kg/m2) completed the study. At time 1, participants provided demographics, self-reported PA (IPAQ-SF), and were asked to wear a Yamax Digiwalker SW-200 pedometer for 7 days to assess normal, PA in average steps/day (week 1). At time 2, three executive functions were assessed via computer-based tasks: Attention/Inhibition (Stroop task), Planning/Problem Solving (Tower of London), and Working Memory (Corsi Block Task). Participants were provided with a goal 50% greater than their week 1 average step/day count, and all intended to meet this goal over the following 7 days (week 2). RESULTS: On average, participants self-reported 496.88±142.72 min/day of sitting, and had an average step count of 7744.31±2900.20 steps/day for week 1. The average step change across week 2 was +2245.31±1102.32 steps/day – falling short of their prescribed step goal by ~1627 steps/day. Attention/Inhibition was positively related to sitting time (r = .61, p \u3c .01), and Planning/Problem Solving was the only EF related to change in steps from week 1 to week 2 (r = -.53, p \u3c .05). No other EFs related to sitting time, moderate- or vigorous-intensity PA. CONCLUSION: The present pilot data supports our initial hypothesis that Attention/Inhibition executive abilities are related to sedentary time, such as sitting, but not PA. To guide future research, Planning/Problem Solving was the only EF to be related PA, while Working Memory was not related to any PA outcomes

How can firms in the UK be encouraged to create more value? A discussion and review paper

This paper investigates how firms in the UK might be encouraged to create more value through strategic innovation. Our approach is an integrative one, drawing on both the extant literature - covering the value chain, innovation and the low skill/low quality equilibrium debate - and the two systematic reviews completed by the AIM Scholars - covering promising practices and networks. In the paper we argue that there are three basic strategies that firms can adopt to create more value through strategic innovation: Increasing efficiency and effectiveness through the adoption of better practices; Innovating to produce products or services that generate more revenue — through either higher prices or larger volumes — but realised while remaining at the same position in the value chain. Fundamentally changing position in the value chain and moving to a position where the products and services that are being delivered inherently generate more value. We contend that increased value is likely to be created if firms adopt one or more of these three strategies. However, adoption is likely to represent significant challenges to management. Such challenges are linked to the levels of firm competency and their ability to construct, acquire and communicate knowledge during the innovation and subsequent implementation process. Addressing these challenges form the basis of our policy and research implications

Inferring the Origin Locations of Tweets with Quantitative Confidence

Social Internet content plays an increasingly critical role in many domains, including public health, disaster management, and politics. However, its utility is limited by missing geographic information; for example, fewer than 1.6% of Twitter messages (tweets) contain a geotag. We propose a scalable, content-based approach to estimate the location of tweets using a novel yet simple variant of gaussian mixture models. Further, because real-world applications depend on quantified uncertainty for such estimates, we propose novel metrics of accuracy, precision, and calibration, and we evaluate our approach accordingly. Experiments on 13 million global, comprehensively multi-lingual tweets show that our approach yields reliable, well-calibrated results competitive with previous computationally intensive methods. We also show that a relatively small number of training data are required for good estimates (roughly 30,000 tweets) and models are quite time-invariant (effective on tweets many weeks newer than the training set). Finally, we show that toponyms and languages with small geographic footprint provide the most useful location signals.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures. Version 2: Move mathematics to appendix, 2 new references, various other presentation improvements. Version 3: Various presentation improvements, accepted at ACM CSCW 201

Power Wheelchair Canopy

Some power wheelchair users can not drive and independently hold an umbrella at the time because they do not have much upper body strength. Therefore, users are unprotected from the rain and are getting soaking wet. One of the members of this group is in a wheelchair and faces this problem. He has previously searched for something to protect him from rain, but could not found something he could independently use. What users need is a powered umbrella that attaches to their power wheelchair. There is no such umbrella available in the market. In this project, the solution to this problem will be designed and built in the form of an umbrella for his wheelchair. Exploration of various methods of rain protect will be explored. Calculations will be performed to verify that everything will work when assembled. The prototype will then be built. Assuming there will be some issues, as there always seem to be, several iterations of the prototype will be built. This is assuming that there will still be money left in the budget to complete these other iterations. It is also desired to make it inexpensive. This will allow power wheelchair users all over the world to purchase it for themselves. In order to achieve this, the project will lean heavily on the 3-D printing capabilities that the University of Akron has to offer

Correlates of early adolescent peer and personal substance use in rural northern Michigan

Data were collected from 181 middle school students in rural northern Michigan during May 1982. Student responses concerning peer and personal use of alcohol and nicotine were analyzed. The results suggest that peer substance use is highly correlated with personal substance use, and increases significantly with age. Sexual differences were also noted. This article describes the powerful correlates between peer and personal alcohol and nicotine use (i.e., cigarette smoking), and suggests some hypotheses for this phenomenon.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45261/1/10964_2005_Article_BF02088730.pd

Comparative Efficacy of Video and Text Instructional Modalities for an Oral Surgery Technique among Dental Students

Purpose: To gauge the efficacy of video media in pre-doctoral oral and maxillofacial surgery education and compare it to traditional text-based learning materials. Methods: Twenty novice dental students were randomly divided into two groups to place an Erich arch bar to the maxillary dentition of a dentoform. Group A was given a 10 minute video instruction while Group B was given 10 minutes to review written text instruction. All participants were given 45 minutes to place the arch bar on a dentoform while being recorded. This session concluded with a survey of student perceptions using the SEEQ. The students then alternated instructional modalities and again evaluated using the SEEQ. Two double-blinded clinical OMS faculty evaluated the recordings in accordance with the standards detailed in the ABPAS. Results: The difference in the post-instructional skill scores of Group A and Group B students was deemed not significant (p = 0.46). Overall, the students expressed significant preference for the video modality compared to the textual modality. The difference of the scores in each preference category between the video and text modalities were all found to be significant with p-values well below 0.05. Conclusion: Educators must remain cognizant towards the benefits of new technology and continue to explore newer, potentially more efficacious modalities such as interactive teaching materials. These benefits may be utilized to help increase student engagement and increase long-term retention of the material. It is imperative to understand the limits of each method and balance them strategically to offer comprehensive healthcare training

Challenge and Hold One Another Accountable: Social Work Faculty Respond to Incivility

Incivility within social work education reflects patterns seen across higher education and within society. Previous work has found that social work faculty are reluctant to report incivility and have limited confidence in their ability to address it effectively. In order to address potential solutions, this paper uses qualitative data (n = 164) drawn from a larger survey of social work faculty in the United States. The exploratory analysis focuses on strategies social work faculty use when experiencing incivility and bullying them-selves, and methods recommended by social work faculty to confront incivility administratively and systemically within the social work academy. Responses were coded into four themes: values-based responses, leadership/ institutional responses, individual and faculty level responses, and faculty disengagement. These themes suggest opportunities and recommendations to move toward a civil social work academy