The back stroke buddy

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2005.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.The objective of this thesis was to study and improve one's own physical intelligence. Through studying bodily movements of people trying to accomplish new tasks, I realized one way to enhance physical intelligence was through teaching devices. My area of expertise in training was swim instruction, as I have been teaching swim lessons for over seven years. The initial problems that new swimmers encounter involve getting accustom to the water, submerging their heads, and floating on their backs. As a swim teacher, one can verbally instruct students through the first two problem areas, but in order to float on one's back, there are methods required to facilitate this skill. The most widely used approach is for a swim teacher to support the back of the student's head and neck with his/her hand and guide the student through the water. The goal of this thesis is to eliminate the need for constant support from a swimming teacher by developing a device which will apply the same teaching technique, yet enable students to learn using this device to swim on their backs without assistance. The apparatus created by following the criteria set forth is aptly named The Back Stroke Buddy. This apparatus consists of three parts - a head support, a neck support, and a base. A swimmer's head will lie in the middle of the base while the head and neck support, which are located below the base, cradle the back of the head and provide support. This device is made out of soft foam which allows it to be robust and one size fits all. While it does meet all the necessary requirements set forth, The Back Stroke Buddy does have other added benefits. This device, due to its durable nature, allows the user to swim into an obstacle such as the wall or a lane line while remaining unscathed. Although this device does enable the swimmer to float on his/her back, the strokes which can be performed while using it are limited because of shoulder interference. Future work on this product involves making The Back Stroke Buddy more conducive to all arm movements, obtaining a patent and producing it large scale to be sold in stores.by Gregory Paul Fonder.S.B

Accompagnement et Contrôle des Chômeurs de Longue Durée en Wallonie: Evaluation d'un Nouveau Dispositif

En juillet 2004, le gouvernement fédéral belge lançait un nouveau dispositif d’accompagnement et de contrôle des chômeurs de longue durée. Ce nouveau dispositif allie un renforcement des actions d’accompagnement (aide à la recherche d’emploi et offre de formations) à un système de contrôle basé sur la convocation des chômeurs à un ou plusieurs entretien(s) visant à vérifier et stimuler leur recherche d’emploi, la convocation au premier entretien étant précédée d’une lettre d’avertissement. S’appuyant sur un échantillon de plus de 90.000 demandeurs d’emploi wallons (la région francophone de Belgique), l’objet de ce papier est d’évaluer si ce nouveau dispositif a permis d’améliorer l’accès à l’emploi ou à une formation des chômeurs, par rapport à ce qui ce serait passé en son absence. L’effet du dispositif est évalué au travers de modèles de durée discrets et est estimé par double différence, sur base de l’observation de trajectoires individuelles avant et après la mise en place du dispositif, pour le population cible du dispositif et pour une population de contrôle. Les résultats montrent que le dispositif a eu un effet relatif substantiel, bien que limité en termes absolus, sur l’accès à une formation de la majorité des chômeurs ciblés. Les résultats sont plus décevants en ce qui concerne l’accès à l’emploi, pour lequel une amélioration relativement plus modeste n’est observée que pour une minorité des chômeurs ciblés

Does formal child care availability for 0-3 year olds boost mothers' employment rate? Panel data based evidence from Belgium

In 2003, a new multi-annual program aimed at increasing the availability of formal child care for 0-3 year old children was launched in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. This paper is interested in evaluating if this increased availability of formal child care resulted in a higher employment rate for women with at least one child under 3. To this end, we use a difference-in-differences approach based on municipality-level panel data, taking advantage of the fact that the increase in availability of formal child care differed greatly across municipalities. We find that the raise in child care availability significantly increased the maternal employment rate, but to a lesser extent than expected, most likely because of a substantial crowding-out effect