A Mixed Methods Approach to Identifying Administration Issues Pertinent in Interscholastic Sports

The purpose of this study was to investigate three propositions: a) What are the administration issues most pertinent to interscholastic sport today, as well as the next five years?, b) How important are those administration issues to athletic administrators?, and c) What are the potential implications of those pertinent administration issues to practicing athletic administrators? The literature provides a general overview of relevant issues surrounding interscholastic athletics. However, the importance and implications of relevant issues to practicing high school athletic administrators are difficult to discern. To answer the first proposition, the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) provided 10 contemporary administration issues that were most pertinent to interscholastic sport today, as well as the next five years. To answer the second proposition, a Likert-Scale was created so that practicing athletic administrators could rate each issue on a scale of 5 = extremely important to 1 = very little importance. A national study was conducted with athletic directors from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (N = 170) annual conference. A one-tailed ANOVA was executed to determine significant differences among the 10 administration issues identified by the MSHSL. Four issues were found to be significant; Athletic Facilities, Athletic Training, Health Issues and Travel Teams. A Games-Howell post hoc was executed to determine significant differences across geographical regions of the United States. For the third proposition, semi-structured interviews were completed to provide insight on the implications for practicing athletic administrators. The results offer insight from which further investigations could be conducted to continue building on policies that influence interscholastic athletic administrators’ day-to-day accountability when overseeing their athletic programs

Integrated lunar materials manufacturing process

A manufacturing plant and process for production of oxygen on the moon uses lunar minerals as feed and a minimum of earth-imported, process materials. Lunar feed stocks are hydrogen-reducible minerals, ilmenite and lunar agglutinates occurring in numerous, explored locations mixed with other minerals in the pulverized surface layer of lunar soil known as regolith. Ilmenite (FeTiO.sub.3) and agglutinates contain ferrous (Fe.sup.+2) iron reducible by hydrogen to yield H.sub.2 O and metallic Fe at about 700.degree.-1,200.degree. C. The H.sub.2 O is electrolyzed in gas phase to yield H.sub.2 for recycle and O.sub.2 for storage and use. Hydrogen losses to lunar vacuum are minimized, with no net hydrogen (or any other earth-derived reagent) consumption except for small leaks. Feed minerals are surface-mined by front shovels and transported in trucks to the processing area. The machines are manned or robotic. Ilmenite and agglutinates occur mixed with silicate minerals which are not hydrogen-reducible at 700.degree.-1,200.degree. C. and consequently are separated and concentrated before feeding to the oxygen generation process. Solids rejected from the separation step and reduced solids from the oxygen process are returned to the mine area. The plant is powered by nuclear or solar power generators. Vapor-phase water electrolysis, a staged, countercurrent, fluidized bed reduction reactor and a radio-frequency-driven ceramic gas heater are used to improve thermal efficiency

Trypanosomes are monophyletic: evidence from genes for glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase and small subunit ribosomal RNA.

The genomes of Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major have been sequenced, but the phylogenetic relationships of these three protozoa remain uncertain. We have constructed trypanosomatid phylogenies based on genes for glycosomal glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) and small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA). Trees based on gGAPDH nucleotide and amino acid sequences (51 taxa) robustly support monophyly of genus Trypanosoma, which is revealed to be a relatively late-evolving lineage of the family Trypanosomatidae. Other trypanosomatids, including genus Leishmania, branch paraphyletically at the base of the trypanosome clade. On the other hand, analysis of the SSU rRNA gene data produced equivocal results, as trees either robustly support or reject monophyly depending on the range of taxa included in the alignment. We conclude that the SSU rRNA gene is not a reliable marker for inferring deep level trypanosome phylogeny. The gGAPDH results support the hypothesis that trypanosomes evolved from an ancestral insect parasite, which adapted to a vertebrate/insect transmission cycle. This implies that the switch from terrestrial insect to aquatic leech vectors for fish and some amphibian trypanosomes was secondary. We conclude that the three sequenced pathogens, T. brucei, T. cruzi and L. major, are only distantly related and have distinct evolutionary histories

Tides and Water Level Requirements for N.O.S Hydrographic Surveys

The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) of the National Ocean Service (NOS) contributes to the NOAA Nautical Charting Program by establishing requirements for, and providing the critical water level data necessary to produce accurate depth measurements. CO-OPS efforts involve six main functional areas: 1) tide and water level requirement planning; 2) preliminary tidal zoning development; 3) water level station installation, operation and removal; 4) data quality control, processing, and tabulation; 5) tidal datum computation and tidal datum recovery; and 6) generation of water level reducers and final tidal zoning. For each functional area, CO-OPS maintains appropriate specifications and standard operating procedures under the umbrella of an overall Data Quality Assurance Plan (DQAP). The objective of this effort is to provide the tide and water level correction information necessary to reduce soundings to Chart Datum. The goal is to provide water level correction information that meets current error budgets for correctors to soundings. The total uncertainty in the water level corrections are derived from three main sources: 1) errors in the actual measurement of water level; 2) uncertainties in the computation of tidal datums based on short period observations and in the datum recovery process at historical locations; and 3) uncertainties in the application of tidal zoning within the survey area. CO-OPS plans tide and water level requirements by balancing these uncertainties to provide the most effective combination of water level observations and zoning that meets allowable error budgets

The Basic Course at U.S. Colleges and Universities: V

This paper reports the results of a survey undertaken to determine the nature of the basic course in speech as it is now taught at United States colleges and universities, and to identify important trends in instruction of the basic communication course. It appears that enrollment in the basic course is increasing. Findings are also reported concerning the orientation taken in the basic course, along with information on instructional methods used and administrative concerns connected with the basic course. The various implications of the findings are discussed

Physico-chemical and shelf-life between baked and extruded pet foods

Master of ScienceGrain Science and IndustrySajid AlaviThe U.S. pet food market was approximately worth $22 billion in 2013. Further growth is predicted at a pace faster than most major human food product categories. More than 60% of pet food products are processed using extrusion, and a significant proportion is produced using baking. However, research is lacking on fundamental process and product differences between extrusion and baking. The current study focuses on this aspect and also in-depth characterization of process and product quality. Three iso-nutritional diets were formulated for dry expanded dog food using 0%, 7% and 15% fresh meat inclusion. Major variations between diets were inclusion rates of mechanically deboned chicken, cereal grains, and poultry fat. Each diet was processed with a single screw extruder using various thermal and/or mechanical energy inputs (obtained by varying pre-conditioner stem injection and/or extruder screw speeds). Diets were also processed by baking using a 30 foot experimental oven at 425°F, although the fresh meat inclusion was at 0%, 10% and 20% levels. Proximate analysis of products was conducted. Products were also characterized for physico-chemical properties such as bulk density, piece density, expansion ratio, degree of gelatinization and textural attributes. As fresh meat inclusion increased (0–15%), expansion ratio (4.1–3.5) decreased irrespective of extrusion treatment. Expansion was not evident in the baked kibbles, and bulk and piece densities were up to 56% higher for baked versus extruded kibbles. Textural analysis of extruded kibbles revealed serrated force-deformation response, typical of cellular products, with peak hardness of 2.9–1.5 kgf. On the other hand, baked products had a ‘smooth’ force-deformation response with higher peak hardness than extruded products (up to 3 kgf). Microbial counts for baked products were higher than extruded products, and rancidity profiles as obtained from gas chromatography also had marked differences. The extrusion process was characterized by detailed mass and energy balance analyses, and compared with baking that lacks mechanical energy input. Results from this study provide a useful bench-mark for dry expanded pet food product quality and commonly used processing technologies

Intra-session and inter-day reliability of the Myon 320 electromyography system during sub-maximal contractions

Electromyography systems are widely used within the field of scientific and clinical practices. The reliability of these systems are paramount when conducting research. The reliability of Myon 320 Surface Electromyography System is yet to be determined. This study aims to determine the intra-session and inter-day reliability of the Myon 320 Surface Electromyography System. Muscle activity from fifteen participants was measured at the anterior deltoid muscle during a bilateral front raise exercise, the vastus lateralis muscle during a squat exercise and the extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) muscle during an isometric handgrip task. Intra-session and inter-day reliability was calculated by intraclass correlation coefficient, standard error of measurement and coefficient of variation (CV). The normalized root mean squared (RMS) surface electromyographic signals produced good intra-session and inter-day testing intraclass correlation coefficient values (range: 0.63-0.97) together with low standard error of measurement (range: 1.49-2.32) and CV (range: 95% Confidence Interval = 0.36-12.71) measures for the dynamic-and-isometric contractions. The findings indicate that the Myon 320 Surface Electromyography System produces good to fair reliability when examining intra-session and inter-day reliability. Findings of the study provide evidence of the reliability of electromyography between trials which is essential during clinical testing.</p

Developing Leadership for Creative Efforts: A Preface

Michael D. Mumford is the George Lynn Cross distinguished research professor of psychology at the University of Oklahoma where he directs the Center for Applied Social Research. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Georgia in 1983 in the fields of industrial and organizational psychology and psychometrics. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 3, 5, 10, 14), the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the American Psychological Society. He has written more than 270 articles on leadership, creativity, innovation, planning, and ethics. He has served as senior editor of The Leadership Quarterly, and he sits on the editorial boards of the Creativity Research Journal, The Journal of Creative Behavior, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Ethics and Behavior, among other journals. He has served as principal investor on grants totaling more than US$30 million from the National Science Foundation, The National Institute of Health, the Department of Defense, the Department of Labor, and the Department of State. He is a recipient of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline