Graduate Recital: Davis Hale, Saxophone

Kemp Recital Hall April 6, 2018 Saturday Evening 8:30 p.m

Utilizing the Messaging Layer Security Protocol in a Lossy Communications Aerial Swarm

Recent advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities have led to increasing research into swarming systems. Unfortunately, efforts to date have not resulted in viable secure communications frameworks, and the limited processing power and constrained networking environments that characterize these systems preclude the use of many existing secure group communications protocols. The Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, currently under development at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), offers some attractive properties for these types of systems. This work looks at integrating MLS into the Advanced Robotic Systems Engineering Laboratory (ARSENL) UAV swarm system as a means of assessing its efficacy. Implementation test results are presented both for experiments conducted in a simulation environment and with physical UAVs

Scale Development in Muscle Dysmorphia

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale in muscle dysmorphia (MD) using sound scale developmental techniques as presented in the literature. Eight steps were used in this process. They are as follows, generating an item pool representative of the dimensions from three models of MD, presenting a Likert type set of items to selected Subject Matter Experts (SME), generating a revised set of items following review from SME's, administration to a college population of male and female students ages 18-25 (n = 823), exposing data to an exploratory factor analysis, and finalizing a scale following review of statistical exposure, i.e. factor loadings and reliability. An 85-items scale was developed from the eight steps listed above. The name of this new scale is Hale's Scale (HAS). The overall alpha for this new scale is .912. Nine dimensions of muscle dysmorphia were retained for the final instrument. This study is exploratory in nature. Future research is needed to determine convergent validity, sample reliSchool of Teaching and Curriculum Leadershi

A Submaximal Field Test of Aerobic Capacity does not Accurately Reflect VO2max in Career Firefighters

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(4): 221-230, 2022. Adequate aerobic capacity is crucial to maintaining firefighter safety. The purpose of this study was to compare predicted VO2max scores from a submaximal and maximal step test. Eighteen career male firefighters from a medium sized urban municipality completed both a submaximal Forestry step test and a maximal laboratory WFI step test. A lack of association (p = .017) and low level of agreement (p = .015) was determined between step test protocols producing a mean bias of ± 5.61 mL.kg-1/min-1 with most scores being overestimated. Use of the Forestry step test to predict true VO2max in firefighters should be used with caution when classifying firefighter fitness

RAPID analysis of variable stiffness beams and plates: Legendre polynomial triple-product formulation

Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Numerical integration techniques are commonly employed to formulate the system matrices encountered in the analysis of variable stiffness beams and plates using a Ritz based approach. Computing these integrals accurately is often computationally costly. Herein, a novel alternative is presented, the Recursive Analytical Polynomial Integral Definition (RAPID) formulation. The RAPID formulation offers a significant improvement in the speed of analysis, achieved by reducing the number of numerical integrations that are performed by an order of magnitude. A common Legendre Polynomial basis is employed for both trial functions and stiffness/load variations leading to a common form for the integrals encountered. The Legendre Polynomial basis possesses algebraic recursion relations that allow these integrals to be reformulated as triple-products with known analytical solutions, defined compactly using the Wigner (3j) coefficient. The satisfaction of boundary conditions, calculation of derivatives and transformation to other bases is achieved through combinations of matrix multiplication, with each matrix representing a unique boundary condition or physical effect, therefore permitting application of the RAPID approach to a variety of problems. Indicative performance studies demonstrate the advantage of the RAPID formulation when compared to direct analysis using Matlab's ‘integral’ and ‘integral2’. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Education and Learning Opportunities (NVP 2014, Report 3)

With support and collaboration from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation through the America Healing initiative,  researchers at the University of Michigan are leading the National Voices Project (NVP) from 2011-2016. The central goals of the NVP are to examine the sourcesof racial/ethnic inequity and other disparitiesfor children in the United States today and identify interventions that address disparities effectively.The NVP offers an unprecedented perspective on community-level opportunities for children throughout the country, in the domains of health and nutrition, education and learning, and economic security – through the eyes of adults whose occupations and volunteer work affect such opportunities. In other words, the NVP reflects the perceptions of individuals throughout the United States who are in a position to improve children's opportunities inthe future. We generally use the word "children" throughout the report to describe children from age 0-18 years, unless otherwise noted.Previous reports for NVP 2014 focused chiefly on respondent characteristics and findings regarding health,  healthcare, and nutrition. This report for NVP 2014 will center on findings related to children's education and learning

Differences in Stronger Versus Weaker Firefighters in Selected Measures of Power

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(4): 552-560, 2022. Firefighters are required to perform a wide array of physically demanding job tasks, such as forcible entry, charged hose advances and victim extractions. An adequate level of muscular strength and power are required to successfully perform these tasks. The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in stronger and weaker firefighters in measures of power. Archived data for twenty-seven (age = 34.3 ± 7.9 yr, body height = 176.3 ± 7.2 cm, body mass = 89.4 ± 15.7 kg) full-time firefighters were analyzed. Participants were placed into one of two groups [i.e., stronger (HIGH) (n = 13) and weaker (LOW) (n = 14)], based on their relative isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTPr) performance. Power measures included counter-movement jump (CMJ) height, and peak anaerobic power in watts (PAPW). Significant mean score differences were not discovered between HIGH and LOW IMTPr groups on any measures of lower-body power. Moderate positive correlations were observed between IMTP and CMJ (r = .519; p = .01). This study identified significant differences in absolute and relative strength between firefighters who were able to lift at least 2.0x their bodyweight versus those who were not. Additionally, absolute strength (as assessed by the IMTP) was significantly and positively correlated to CMJ height when compared to their weaker counterparts. These findings may provide insight into approaches for improving occupational performance and durability through the physical development of firefighters via strength and conditioning programs which focus on developing absolute strength, relative strength, and power

Family caregivers of people who have intellectual/developmental disabilities and asthma: Caregiver knowledge of asthma self‐management concepts—A pilot study

BackgroundPeople who have an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) and asthma are at greater risk of poor health outcomes. They often require assistance from caregivers when managing their medicines. The objective of this pilot study was to assess the level of understanding of asthma self‐management concepts of family caregivers who provide assistance to people who IDD and asthma. Results will inform future needs assessment and intervention studies.Materials and MethodsNineteen caregivers of people who have asthma and IDD completed a mailed survey. The survey included scales to measure asthma self‐management concepts, inhaler technique knowledge, medication adherence and control of asthma. The caregivers were instructed to complete most of the scales with reference to the person with IDD.ResultsMost caregivers had acceptable health literacy, but had low scores on the asthma self‐management and inhaler technique tests. The most frequently cited barriers to controlling asthma were inadequate caregiver and patient education about the illness as well as knowing and avoiding asthma triggers. The most frequently cited barriers to medication management were knowing inhaler technique, knowledge of medication and forgetting to use medication. Asthma was controlled in 63.2% of patients, while almost 75% of patients were considered nonadherent to controller therapy.ConclusionsMost caregivers had inadequate understanding of asthma self‐management as well as inhaler technique despite having high health literacy. Improving caregiver and patient knowledge and skills may lead to better asthma control.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146473/1/bld12223.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146473/2/bld12223_am.pd

The role of brand loyalty and social media in e-commerce interfaces: survey results and implications for user interfaces

This paper explores the role of brand loyalty and social media in e-commerce interfaces. A survey consisting of 118 respondents was contacted to address the questions relating to online shopping and brand loyalty. Link between the frequency of access and time spent on an e-commerce user interface, and brand loyalty, gender and age profile differences, and the role of social media to branding and on-line shopping was analyzed. It was found that online loyalty differs from offline loyalty and loyalty also differed across genders, showing men were more loyal than women when shopping online. Information shared about products on social media by friends and family played an important role in purchase decision making. Website interface and ease of navigation were also key aspects for online shopping. The research concluded with recommendations to create multimodal websites which are more interactive and targeted so customer experience is enhanced and loyalty is achieved through the use of interactivity and social media