CAN MUSCLE ACTIVATION BE INCREASED WHEN MODIFYING THE DUMBBELL CHEST PRESS? AN ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC COMPARISON

The development of core stability is an important part of the athlete strength and conditioning process. Research has shown that when traditional resistance exercise is performed on a stability ball, core muscle surface electromyography (sEMG) is increased (Anderson & Behm, 2005). However, investigators have also demonstrated this can lead to a considerable reduction in agonist muscle sEMG (Behm & Anderson, 2006). It has been suggested that by replacing traditional bilateral resistance exercises with unilateral variations the reduction in agonist muscle sEMG associated with stability ball resistance exercise can be avoided (Behm & Anderson, 2006). However, this theory has not been tested on the chest press. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare core and agonist sEMG during chest press performance to establish whether unilateral chest press exercise would increase core sEMG without compromising agonist sEMG

Ignition of thermally sensitive explosives between a contact surface and a shock

The dynamics of ignition between a contact surface and a shock wave is investigated using a one-step reaction model with Arrhenius kinetics. Both large activation energy asymptotics and high-resolution finite activation energy numerical simulations are employed. Emphasis is on comparing and contrasting the solutions with those of the ignition process between a piston and a shock, considered previously. The large activation energy asymptotic solutions are found to be qualitatively different from the piston driven shock case, in that thermal runaway first occurs ahead of the contact surface, and both forward and backward moving reaction waves emerge. These waves take the form of quasi-steady weak detonations that may later transition into strong detonation waves. For the finite activation energies considered in the numerical simulations, the results are qualitatively different to the asymptotic predictions in that no backward weak detonation wave forms, and there is only a weak dependence of the evolutionary events on the acoustic impedance of the contact surface. The above conclusions are relevant to gas phase equation of state models. However, when a large polytropic index more representative of condensed phase explosives is used, the large activation energy asymptotic and finite activation energy numerical results are found to be in quantitative agreement

Teaching and Assessing Active Listening as a Foundational Skill for Lawyers as Leaders, Counselors, Negotiators, and Advocates

Our students will be more effective leaders, counselors, negotiators, and advocates as they deepen their ability to actively listen. As a professional and interpersonal skill linked closely with a lawyer’s success, our students’ ability to listen should demand our attention as legal educators. This attention is worth the effort because studies indicate active listening is not a static ability: we can teach students to be better listeners. But “active listening” is missing from most law schools’ learning outcomes or curricula, or it is only included as an undefined element of effective communication. Consequently, it is a critical lawyering skill that is routinely not being effectively, independently taught and assessed. This article introduces the Active Listening Milestone Rubric for Law Students, which is a stage-development or milestone model in competency-based education. The rubric includes four sub-competencies, which are defined using expertise drawn from listening experts and studies then explained in the context of the practice of law: 1) Active listeners assess and accurately allocate resources necessary to the conversation; 2) active listeners work to create a shared understanding with the speaker by considering both the speaker’s and the listener’s lenses and how they may differ; 3) active listeners work to increase shared understanding with the verbal and nonverbal cues; and 4) active listeners move to a response only after fully exploring and understanding the speaker’s meaning

High Time for Conservation: Adding the Environment to the Debate on Marijuana Liberalization

The liberalization of marijuana policies, including the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana, is sweeping the United States and other countries. Marijuana cultivation can have significant negative collateral effects on the environment that are often unknown or overlooked. Focusing on the state of California, where by some estimates 60% -- 70% of the marijuana consumed in the United States is grown, we argue that (a) the environmental harm caused by marijuana cultivation merits a direct policy response, (b) current approaches to governing the environmental effects are inadequate, and (c) neglecting discussion of the environmental impacts of cultivation when shaping future marijuana use and possession policies represents a missed opportunity to reduce, regulate, and mitigate environmental harm

The Erpenbeck high frequency instability theorem for ZND detonations

The rigorous study of spectral stability for strong detonations was begun by J.J. Erpenbeck in [Er1]. Working with the Zeldovitch-von Neumann-D\"oring (ZND) model, which assumes a finite reaction rate but ignores effects like viscosity corresponding to second order derivatives, he used a normal mode analysis to define a stability function V(\tau,\eps) whose zeros in $\Re \tau>0$ correspond to multidimensional perturbations of a steady detonation profile that grow exponentially in time. Later in a remarkable paper [Er3] he provided strong evidence, by a combination of formal and rigorous arguments, that for certain classes of steady ZND profiles, unstable zeros of $V$ exist for perturbations of sufficiently large transverse wavenumber \eps, even when the von Neumann shock, regarded as a gas dynamical shock, is uniformly stable in the sense defined (nearly twenty years later) by Majda. In spite of a great deal of later numerical work devoted to computing the zeros of V(\tau,\eps), the paper \cite{Er3} remains the only work we know of that presents a detailed and convincing theoretical argument for detecting them. The analysis in [Er3] points the way toward, but does not constitute, a mathematical proof that such unstable zeros exist. In this paper we identify the mathematical issues left unresolved in [Er3] and provide proofs, together with certain simplifications and extensions, of the main conclusions about stability and instability of detonations contained in that paper. The main mathematical problem, and our principal focus here, is to determine the precise asymptotic behavior as \eps\to \infty of solutions to a linear system of ODEs in $x$, depending on \eps and a complex frequency $\tau$ as parameters, with turning points $x_*$ on the half-line $[0,\infty)$

Strong nonlocality: A trade-off between states and measurements

Measurements on entangled quantum states can produce outcomes that are nonlocally correlated. But according to Tsirelson's theorem, there is a quantitative limit on quantum nonlocality. It is interesting to explore what would happen if Tsirelson's bound were violated. To this end, we consider a model that allows arbitrary nonlocal correlations, colloquially referred to as "box world". We show that while box world allows more highly entangled states than quantum theory, measurements in box world are rather limited. As a consequence there is no entanglement swapping, teleportation or dense coding.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, very minor change

Isopoll Maps and an Analysis of the Distribution of the Modern Pollen Rain, Eastern and Central Northern Canada

At 39 sites in eastern and central northern Canada, multiple samples of surface moss and lichens have been analyzed for their pollen content. Although pollen from 20 to 30 taxa were identified in the samples from each site, 8 pollen types (Alnus, Betula, Picea. Pinus, Salix, Gramineae, Cyperaceae and Ericaceae) usually comprise 90 to 100% of the pollen rain. We present isopoll maps of these taxa based on mean percentages of multiple samples from the 39 sites. The data are further analyzed by a number of statistical methods to determine whether there are specific pollen assemblages within this region and to what extent present day climatic parameters and floristic/vegetation zones correlate with pollen counts. Cluster analysis on raw data and on principal component scores yields six distinct pollen assemblages which are further examined by discriminant analysis. Pollen concentration maps for eastern Canada are also presented here and used as an aid in interpreting the percentage data.L'analyse pollinique d'un grand nombre d'échantillons de mousses et de lichens prélevés à la surface de 39 sites du centre et de l'est du Nord canadien a été faite. Même si on a pu identifier de 20 à 30 taxons dans les échantillons provenant de chacun des sites, 8 types polliniques (Alnus, Betula, Picea, Pinus, Salix, Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Ericaceae) se partagent habituellement entre 90 et 100% de la pluie pollinique. On présente ici les cartes isopolles de ces taxons, basées sur les pourcentages moyens des nombreux échantillons prélevés sur les 39 sites. L'analyse statistique des données qui a été faite avait pour but de dégager des assemblages polliniques distincts et de déterminer si les paramètres climatiques actuels ainsi que les régions floristiques pouvaient être mis en corrélation avec les sommes polliniques. Une analyse de grappes et de scores des composantes principales et des données brutes a permis de dégager 6 assemblages polliniques distincts qui ont fait l'objet d'une analyse discriminante. Les cartes de concentration pollinique de l'est du Canada, qui ont été dressées, ont servi à l'interprétation des données en pourcentage

"Pudding mold" band drives large thermopower in Nax_xCoO2_2

In the present study, we pin down the origin of the coexistence of the large thermopower and the large conductivity in Na$_x$CoO$_2$. It is revealed that not just the density of states (DOS), the effective mass, nor the band width, but the peculiar {\it shape} of the $a_{1g}$ band referred to as the "pudding mold" type, which consists of a dispersive portion and a somewhat flat portion, is playing an important role in this phenomenon. The present study provides a new guiding principle for designing good thermoelectric materials.Comment: 5 page

Data Recovery Investigations at the Tank Destroyer Site (41CV1378) at Fort Hood, Coryell County, Texas

Data recovery investigations at the Tank Destroyer site (41CV1378) were conducted in August 2007 for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This work was required because of potential impacts to the site from TxDOT’s planned improvements of Tank Destroyer Boulevard and State Highway 9. The investigations focused on a burned rock mound (Feature 1), one-half of which has been destroyed by an adjacent tank trail. The mound contained two internal features: an off-centered earth oven and a small cluster of Rabdotus sp. shells. With the exception of the location of its earth oven, the mound at the Tank Destroyer is typical of a classic central Texas domed mound, though slightly flattened by postdepositional processes. In all, an area of 30.5 m2 and volume of 11.8 m3 of cultural deposits were hand excavated, and an additional ca. 17.3 m2 was mechanically stripped. The mound excavations yielded 5,570.5 kg of burned rocks. Artifacts recovered from mound and nonmound contexts consist of 129 chipped stone tools, 9 cores and core fragments, 4,466 pieces of unmodified debitage, 1 ground stone tool, 2 unmodified bone fragments, 1,415 Rabdotus sp. shells, and 40 historic artifacts. In addition, 413 pieces of microdebitage and 251 Rabdotus sp. shells were recovered from flotation and soil column samples taken from the mound. There was virtually no preservation of vertebrate faunal remains and poor preservation of botanical remains. No economic plants (i.e., food resources) were recovered despite the collection and processing of flotation samples. Sixteen radiocarbon assays on charred wood and Rabdotus sp. shells date the site occupation to 1500 b.c. through a.d. 1650. The date range for the diagnostic projectile points recovered from the site (200 b.c. to a.d. 1200) fits nicely within the range of radiocarbon dates. As a group, the radiocarbon dates and the projectile points suggest that the most intensive period of site use occurred intermittently between 1000 b.c. and a.d. 1200. Like most burned rock mounds, the mound at the Tank Destroyer site consisted of a jumbled mass of burned rocks that episodically accreted around an earth oven. These processes and repeated use over centuries limit our ability to recognize distinct components for analysis. Given these limitations, our analysis took a different approach. While it includes traditional analyses of the lithic, burned rock, and snail assemblages, it also examines social identity during the Late Archaic period in central Texas and the relationships between burned rock mounds and middens and environmental variables through a landscape analysis

Interpretation of knockout experiments: the congenic footprint

In gene targeting experiments, the importance of genetic background is now widely appreciated, and knockout alleles are routinely backcrossed onto a standard inbred background. This produces a congenic strain with a substantial segment of embryonic stem (ES)-cell-derived chromosome still flanking the knockout allele, a phenomenon often neglected in knockout studies. In cholecystokynin 2 (Cckbr) knockout mice backcrossed with C57BL/6, we have found a clear ‘congenic footprint’ of expression differences in at least 10 genes across 40 Mb sequence flanking the Cckbr locus, each of which is potentially responsible for aspects of the ‘knockout’ phenotype. The expression differences are overwhelmingly in the knockout-low direction, which may point to a general phenomenon of background dependence. This finding emphasizes the need for caution in using gene knockouts to attribute phenotypic effects to genes. This is especially the case when the gene is of unknown function or the phenotype is unexpected, and is a particular concern for large-scale knockout and phenotypic screening programmes. However, the impact of genetic background should not be simply viewed as a potential confound, but as a unique opportunity to study the broader responses of a system to a specific (genetic) perturbation