Modeling Clemson Football Traffic: New Techniques for Small Communities

Many communities host planned special events that generate several times the communties\u27 AADT around the event period (e.g. pro and college football games). Larger metropolises benefit from ITS to collect data from, model, plan for, and analyze potential solutions to event-caused congestion. The smaller communities, which do not have the resources for traffic management centers, could benefit from more cost-appropriate methodologies. This thesis presents a cost-effective methodology for traffic data collection before and after these events. Modelers can then use this data in a microsimulation package, such as VISSIM, to model how the transportation network performs during this period, to model treatments, and to obtain MOEs useful for making planning decisions. Furthermore, because these events cause networks to be severely over-saturated, collected data can underestimate the level of demand, as it is restricted by capacity. This thesis also presents a methodology to account for this as well. Researchers collected traffic data with these methods from games in 2014-16, developed models for base and treatment scenarios, and proposed changes to the traffic plan starting in 2015. In addition to the methodology, travel-time results from these models are provided as measures of effectiveness. The author\u27s uses his experience with this project to demonstrate that these methods can be used to microsimulate a severely-oversaturated network and predict treatment effectiveness

Effects of Pro-Socialization Skills Training On Self-Efficacy in Correctional Institution Inmates

Prison inmates released to the community following incarceration often have difficulty adapting socially. Previous research indicates that prison treatment programs aimed at increasing cognitive and prosocial skills can improve ex-felon adaption and decrease recidivism. The current study explored the effects of an 8-week prison treatment program (Transitional Counseling Program [TCP]) designed to teach prosocial skills. This was expected to enhance Bandura\u27s (1977, 1982, 1986) construct of self-efficacy (SE) within inmates. Self-efficacy enhancement was seen as a first step in a program of future research which may show a connection between higher inmate SE at release, improved post prison adaption, and recidivism reduction. Inmate participants were members of three preexisting TCP groups: Prior TCP (n = 5), Current TCP (Il = 8), and Partial TCP (Q = 6). Prior TCP inmates completed training six to eighteen months prior to data collection. Current TCP inmates completed training at the time of the study. Partial TCP inmates completed some training (two to four weeks long) at the time of the study. Fourteen inmates who declined TCP were assigned to a non-equivalent control (Control) group. Measures included a demographic questionnaire (DQ); the SE research scale developed by Sherer, Maddux, Mercandante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacobs and Rogers (1982), containing two subscales: General SE and Social SE; and the Shipley Institute of Living Scale (Shipley) (Zachary, 1986). As predicted, a main effect for treatment was found (f = 3.94, df = 3, 21, Q = .02) using General SE scores as the dependent variable in an analysis of covariance. Six covariates including Shipley IQ, were examined for possible preexisting differences between groups. None of the covariates were significantly related to SE scores. Post hoc comparisons revealed two groups, Current TCP and Control, as significantly different at the .05 level for General SE scores. Prior TCP and Partial TCP means did not differ significantly from the Control group. Total SE scores showed no significant differences between groups using Tukey post hoc criteria. Further research is needed to confirm the causal role of TCP, to explore ways to prevent decay in training effects, and to establish generalizability limits

‘Life in the Travelling Circus’: A Study of Loneliness, Work Stress, and Money Issues in Touring Professional Golf

As accepted for publicationThis article examines the effects of globalization on the well-being of migrant professional athletes. Interviews with 20 touring professional golfers reveal that players experience many of the personal problems – such as loneliness, isolation, low decision latitude, low social support, and effort-reward imbalance – which have been identified as “strong predictors of mental ill-health” (Leka & Jain, 2010, p. 65). Feelings of loneliness and isolation developed as players were regularly apart from family and friends, and spent most of their time with other golfers whom they had somewhat superficial relationships with. These feelings coupled with, for many, uncertain income generated through golf added further to their work-related anxieties. Overall, results highlight the importance of considering how workplace anxieties and vulnerabilities impact on athlete migrants’ health and well-being

Comparison of the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination for dementia detection

Objective: To assess the ability of the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) in comparison to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to detect signs of dementia in a diverse elderly population. Design: Systematic literature review. Methods: Searches were done in PubMed, utilizing the terms MMSE, RUDAS, and dementia. Results: Using the keywords mentioned on PubMed,two articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria: Limpawattana et al and T. R. Nielsen et al. One other article was found by searching under the “Related Articles” section on PubMed: D. Basic et al. Conclusion: The RUDAS performs just as well as the MMSE for detecting dementia and is less affected by demographic variables such as education, language, and cultural background

Living Together: The Economics of Cohabitation

Analyzes trends among unmarried couples ages 30 to 44 living together by education. Compares median household income, poverty rate, composition of household income, and number of children with those of married couples and those without partners

A Second Order Smooth Variational Principle on Riemannian Manifolds

We establish a second order smooth variational principle valid for functions defined on (possibly infinite- dimensional) Riemannian manifolds which are uniformly locally convex and have a strictly positive injectivity radius and bounded sectional curvature

Approximation of functions and their derivatives by analytic maps on certain Banach spaces

Let X be a separable Banach space that admits a separating polynomial; in particular, let X be a separable Hilbert space. Let f : X -> R be bounded and Lipschitz, with uniformly continuous derivative. Then, for each epsilon > 0, there exists an analytic function g : X -> R with vertical bar g - f vertical bar < epsilon and parallel to g' - f'parallel to < epsilon

Perturbed ferromagnetic chain: Tunable test of hardness in the transverse-field Ising model

Quantum annealing in the transverse-field Ising model (TFIM) with open-system dynamics is known to use thermally assisted tunneling to drive computation. However, it is still subject to debate whether quantum systems in the presence of decoherence are more useful than those using classical dynamics to drive computation. We contribute to this debate by introducing the perturbed ferromagnetic chain (PFC), a chain of frustrated subsystems where the degree of frustration scales inversely with the perturbation introduced by a tunable parameter. This gives us an easily embeddable gadget whereby problem hardness can be tuned for systems of constant size. We outline the properties of the PFC and compare classical spin-vector Monte Carlo (SVMC) variants with the adiabatic quantum master equation. We demonstrate that SVMC methods get trapped in the exponentially large first-excited-state manifold when solving this frustrated problem, whereas evolution using quantum dynamics remains in the lowest energy eigenstates. This results in significant differences in ground-state probability when using either classical or quantum annealing dynamics in the TFIM

Heteronormativity and prostate cancer: a discursive paper

Aims and objectives To discuss the risks that heteronormative assumptions play in prostate cancer care and how these may be addressed. Background There is international evidence to support the case that LGBT cancer patients are less likely to report poor health or self-disclose sexual orientation. Gender-specific cancers, such as prostate cancer, require particular interventions in terms of supportive care. These may include advice about side-effect management (such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction), treatment choices and social and emotional issues. In this paper we discuss and analyse the heteronormative assumptions and culture that exist around this cancer. We argue that this situation may act as a barrier to effective supportive care for all LGBT patients, in this case MSM (men who have sex with men). Design Theoretical exploration of heteronormativity considered against the clinical context of prostate cancer. Methods Identification and inclusion of relevant international evidence combined with clinical discussion. Results This paper posits a number of questions around heteronormativity in relation to prostate cancer information provision, supportive care and male sexuality. Whilst assumptions regarding sexual orientation should be avoided in clinical encounters, this may be difficult when heteronormative assumptions dominate. Existing research supports the assertion that patient experience, including the needs of LGBT patients, should be central to service developments. Conclusion Assumptions about sexual orientation should be avoided and recorded accurately and sensitively, and relational models of care should be promoted at the start of cancer treatment in an appropriate manner. These may assist in reducing the risks of embarrassment or offence to non-heterosexual patients, or to professionals who may adopt heteronormative assumptions. Relevance to clinical practice Having an awareness of the risks of making heteronormative assumptions in clinical practice will be useful for all health professionals engaged in prostate cancer care. This awareness can prevent embarrassment or upset for patients and ensure a more equitable provision of service; including men with prostate cancer who do not identify as heterosexual