Kids Can BIKE! A Parks and Recreation Program to Promote Youth Cycling

Physical inactivity is a major concern, and is believed to contribute to the high prevalence of childhood obesity in U.S. schoolchildren. To address this problem, the Knoxville Area Coalition on Childhood Obesity launched a ‘Kids Can BIKE!’ program in 2012. The bicycling program is seven weeks long and is designed to increase physical activity, teach safe cycling skills, and explore Knoxville parks and greenways while having fun. The program targeted children in grades 4 and 5 who were already enrolled in an afterschool or summer program. Once a week, the children were transported to a location where they could safely ride. The city Department of Parks and Recreation transported the bicycles to the site in a 24-foot enclosed trailer, and provided staffing. The instructors were trained to deliver a safe cycling curriculum that included both physical activity and education components each week. The children were surveyed at the beginning and end of the program to determine the impact of the bicycle program on changes in bicycle knowledge and to evaluate their attitudes towards the program as a whole. There was a significant increase in the percentage of correct answers for all of the items combined (p=0.008). The children indicated high levels of satisfaction with the program. Bicycle education programs can be successfully integrated into existing afterschool and summer programs and may help children acquire the skills and knowledge to become lifelong bicyclists

Pre-service teacher implementation of strategy instruction: Effects on the comprehension of middle school students

Recent legislation related to dyslexia has increased the focus on how reading is being taught in schools and how teachers are prepared to teach reading at the pre-service level. One promising teaching approach to supporting students with reading difficulties is the self- regulated strategy development (SRSD) model. However, there is limited research regarding whether the model can be implemented by pre-service teachers while still remaining effective. This study investigated the effects and fidelity of implementation of pre-service teacher implemented SRSD on the reading comprehension of middle school students identified as struggling in reading. A multiple baseline design across participants was used. Two undergraduate, pre-service teachers provided instruction. Participants were seven middle school students that demonstrated reading comprehension deficits. All instruction was provided in pairs or small groups. Results indicate that pre-service teachers can adhere to SRSD components and have a positive effect on students’ reading comprehension when implementing SRSD. Ideas for future research and implications are discussed

The Relationship Between Parent Education of Sleep and Routine & Classroom Behavior of Students at a Pee Dee Region Elementary School

This action research was carried out to determine if parent education of sleep and routine had an effect on classroom behavior (physical contact and defiance). The research was completed in two full day 4K (four-year-old) Montessori classrooms in a Pee Dee Region elementary school. Students and parents were included in the research. Data from parents was gathered using assessments and sleep diaries. Teacher data was gathered using reflection journals and tallying charts. Parents were provided weekly education on sleep and routine importance. There was no conclusive data to show that parent education directly affected classroom behavior. The researchers believe the outcome was due to a lack of consistent parental participation. More research could b

Physical reasoning in complex scenes is sensitive to mass

Thesis (M. Eng. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58).Many human activities require precise judgments about the dynamics and physical properties - for example, mass - of multiple objects. Classic work suggests that people's intuitive models of physics in mass-sensitive situations are relatively poor and error-prone, based on highly simplified heuristics that apply only in special cases. These conclusions seem at odds with the breadth and sophistication of naive physical reasoning in real-world situations. Our work measures the boundaries of people's physical reasoning in mass-sensitive scenarios and tests the richness of intuitive physics knowledge in more complex scenes. We asked participants to make quantitative judgments about stability and other physical properties of virtual 3D towers composed of heavy and light blocks. We found their judgments correlated highly with a model observer that uses simulations based on realistic physical dynamics and sampling-based approximate probabilistic inference to efficiently and accurately estimate these properties. Several alternative heuristic accounts provide substantially worse fits. In a separate task, participants observed virtual 3D billiards-like movies and judged which balls were lighter. In contrast to the previous experiments, we found their judgments to be more consistent with simple, visual heuristics than a simulation-based model that updates its beliefs about mass in response to prediction errors. We conclude that rich internal physics models are likely to play a key role in guiding human common-sense reasoning in prediction-based tasks and emphasize the need for further investigation in inference-based tasks.by Jessica B. Hamrick.M.Eng.and S.B

Epidemiology of Any and Vaccine-Type Anogenital Human Papillomavirus Among 13-26-Year-Old Young Men After HPV Vaccine Introduction

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to determine prevalence of and factors associated with any human papillomavirus (HPV) and vaccine-type HPV among young men after vaccine introduction, stratified by vaccination status. METHODS: Young men were recruited from clinical sites from 2013 to 2015, completed a survey, and were tested for 36 anogenital HPV types. We determined factors associated with ≥1 HPV type among all participants, and vaccine-type HPV (HPV6, 11, 16, and/or 18) among all, vaccinated and unvaccinated participants, using multivariable regression. RESULTS: Mean age was 21.5 years and 26% had received at least one HPV vaccine dose. HPV prevalence was lower in vaccinated versus unvaccinated young men (50.5% vs. 62.6%, p = .03). HPV positivity was discordant by anogenital site. At both sites, 59.4% were positive for ≥1 HPV type and 26.0% for ≥1 4-valent vaccine type. In multivariable logistic regression, factors associated with ≥1 HPV type among all participants were frequency of oral sex (odds ratio [OR] = 1.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00-3.24), recent smoking (OR = 1.84, CI = 1.17-2.90), and sexually transmitted infection history (OR = 1.56, CI = 1.02-2.38). Factors associated with vaccine-type HPV among all participants were white versus black race (OR = 1.91, CI = 1.10-3.34) and gonorrhea history (OR = 2.52, CI = 1.45-4.38); among vaccinated participants were private versus Medicaid insurance (OR = 5.6, CI = 1.46-20.4) and private versus no insurance (OR = 15.9, CI = 3.06-83.3); and among unvaccinated participants was gonorrhea history (OR = 1.83, CI = 1.03-3.24). CONCLUSIONS: Anogenital HPV prevalence was high and vaccination rates low among young men 2-4 years after vaccine introduction, underscoring the urgency of increasing vaccination rates and vaccinating according to national guidelines

The Probability of Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), Escape Differs Among Life Stages and Between Two Trapping Techniques Commonly Used By Landowners, Sticky Bands and Duct Tape.

The invasive Lycorma delicatula (White) was first identified in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 2014, and has since increased its range to several Eastern states. Lycorma delicatula pose a serious threat to many native species, including hardwoods and grapes, and land owners are continually seeking effective traps to control populations. Both commercially-produced Web-Cote brand sticky bands and less expensive duct tape are often used by land owners to trap L. delicatula. However, the probability of escape from these adhesives has not been formally assessed, and almost certainly differs as a function of life stage and type of adhesive used. The purpose of this work was to determine if the effect of adhesive type (Web-Cote sticky bands vs. duct tape) on the probability of escape differs based on life stage. Additionally, we wanted to know how escape probability differs among life stages when individuals were exposed to each adhesive type, separately. In all life stages, the probability of escape from duct tape was greater than from Web-Cote sticky bands, indicating that sticky bands are a more effective tool in L. delicatula population control. In trials using only Web-Cote sticky bands, the probability of escape was low in second (21.1%), third (32.6%), and fourth (38.5%) instars relative to adults (84.1%). In trials using only duct tape, the probability of escape remained high among all life stages, with approximately 72% of second instars and 100% of adults escaping. Recent studies indicate that alternate trapping techniques, including circle trunk traps, are even more effective at capturing L. delicatula than sticky bands, though they are costlier. We propose a hybrid approach to L. delicatula trapping which utilizes relatively inexpensive sticky bands early in the season, and fewer, more effective circle trunk traps later in the season

Correction to The Probability of Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), Escape Differs Among Life Stages and Between Two Trapping Techniques Commonly Used by Landowners, Sticky Bands and Duct Tape. The Great Lakes Entomologist 53(3-4): 170-177.

This is a manuscript correction in reference to: Desko M, Schiebel C, Silverman S, Bickel J, Felton K, and Chandler JL. (2020) The Probability of spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), escape differs among life stages and between two trapping techniques commonly used by landowners, sticky bands and duct tape. The Great Lakes Entomologist 53(3-4): 170-177

Long-term benthic foraminiferal culture: strategies for carbonate-system control and experimentation

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