The Effect of a 13-Week, Multi-Phasic, Strength Training Program on Throwing Velocity of Elite Pitchers: an Applied Study

The problem was to determine if a strength and conditioning program can increase throwing velocity of SUNY Brockport and Clarkson University varsity baseball pitchers. Participants were members of the SUNY Brockport and Clarkson University pitching staff. Thirteen participants made six throws prior to and at the conclusion of a thirteen week strength and conditioning program. Participants engaged in the program four days per week, which included daily stretching, two strength-based phases, and a plyometric phase. There was an increase in strength in all exercises of the training program, and an increase in throwing velocity from the pre to the post-test

Water quality performance of a reciprocating biofilm reactor for treatment of dairy wastewater

Removal of organic matter and nitrogen from concentrated wastewaters is often a complex and costly process that is rarely implemented in animal agriculture, such as the dairy industry, despite regulatory pressures and the high cost of land for manure application in some regions. This paper describes results from the first implementation for treatment of dairy farm wastewater of the relatively simple ReCip® technology. ReCip® typically consists of two basins filled with rock aggregate through which wastewater is flowed in series. One basin is full of wastewater and the other is only partially full. Wastewater is alternately pumped between the basins (reciprocated), which exposes biofilm on the aggregate to air and then submerges it, repeatedly creating aerobic and then anoxic conditions. These conditions promote nitrification and denitrification, in addition to removal of organic matter through biodegradation. The present study reports on 149 days of operation of a pilot-scale ReCip® system treating anaerobic lagoon wastewater at a California flush dairy. The resulting removals of wastewater constituents were 94% of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), 49% of total nitrogen, 56% of five-day carbonaceous biological oxygen demand, and 61% of total suspended solids. A simple mathematical model, which considers influent TAN concentration and temperature, was capable of predicting TAN removal. Preliminary results of air quality emission monitoring indicate releases of nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide from the basins during system operation. Additional studies are currently underway to further quantify air emissions, test various ReCip® operating conditions, and develop scale-up cost estimates

A Comparison of Micro-Expression Training Methods

Micro-expressions are brief facial expressions that last for 500 milliseconds or less and show the true emotional state of an individual when he or she is displaying a false emotional state. There are currently 2 different methods to train individuals to recognize micro-expressions-picture-based and video-based. Numerous organizations use micro-expression training as part of a deception detection program, but little research has been conducted on training outcomes, and no research has investigated the difference between the methods. In this quantitative study based on Darwin\u27s theory of the universality of emotional expression, a control group experimental design was used to determine if there is a difference in training outcomes, as measured by post-training accuracy rates of overall and emotion-specific micro-expression identification, between the 2 current micro-expression training methods and no training. A total of 196 participants recruited from Amazon\u27s Mechanical Turk community were randomly assigned to a picture-based training, video-based training, or no training control group. The online training and post-training test were delivered via a computer-based training platform. MANOVA, ANOVA and t-tests were run to determine the differences between the groups. Results indicated that participants in both picture-based and video-based training groups showed a significant increase in their ability to recognize micro-expressions compared to those in the no training group, but did not differ from each other. The study provides an increased understanding of micro-expression training outcomes that may contribute to the training of numerous law enforcement, security, and human resources professionals

Linking the knowledge economy, urban intensity and transport in post-industrial cities with a case study of Perth, Western Australia

Cities in post-industrial economies are characterised by a multi-layered intensification of knowledge. This intensification occurs through: • agglomeration of knowledge economic activity; • human capital knowledge; and • the means of knowledge exchange i.e. ICT and transport. This thesis proposes an intensification of key walkable urban centres, particularly universities. Knowledge urban intensification is heavily reliant on rail and walking transport intensification

Evaluation and Management of Sleep Disorders in the Hand Surgery Patient.

Despite posing a significant public health threat, sleep disorders remain poorly understood and often underdiagnosed and mismanaged. Although sleep disorders are seemingly unrelated, hand surgeons should be mindful of these because numerous conditions of the upper extremity have known associations with sleep disturbances that can adversely affect patient function and satisfaction. In addition, patients with sleep disorders are at significantly higher risk for severe, even life-threatening medical comorbidities, further amplifying the role of hand surgeons in the recognition of this condition

Predicting Revision Following In Situ Ulnar Nerve Decompression for Patients With Idiopathic Cubital Tunnel Syndrome.

PURPOSE: To determine the incidence of revision and potential risk factors for needing revision surgery following in situ ulnar nerve decompression for patients with idiopathic cubital tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all patients treated at 1 specialty hand center with an open in situ ulnar nerve decompression for idiopathic CTS from January 2006 through December 2010. Revision incidence was determined by identifying patients who underwent additional surgeries for recurrent or persistent ulnar nerve symptoms. Bivariate analysis was performed to determine which variables had a significant influence on the need for revision surgery. RESULTS: Revision surgery was required in 3.2% (7 of 216) of all cases. Age younger than 50 years at the time of index decompression was the lone significant predictor of need for revision surgery. Other patient factors, including gender, diabetes, smoking history, and workers\u27 compensation status were not predictive of the need for revision surgery. Disease-specific variables including nerve conduction velocities, McGowan grading, and predominant symptom type were also not predictive of revision. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with idiopathic CTS, the risk of revision surgery following in situ ulnar nerve decompression is low. However, this risk was increased in patients who were younger than 50 years at the time of the index procedure. The findings of this study suggest that, in the absence of underlying elbow arthritis or prior elbow trauma, in situ ulnar nerve decompression is an effective, minimal-risk option for the initial surgical treatment of CTS. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic III

A Gap Analysis of Iowa, 2003 Final Report

The Iowa Gap Analysis Project (IA GAP) began in 1997 to identify areas in the state where vertebrate species richness lacked adequate protection under existing land ownership and management regimes. To accomplish this goal, the IA GAP team prepared an assortment of datasets that led to three main pieces of information: Iowa vegetation types; Iowa vertebrate/habitat relationship models for 288 species; Iowa land stewardship (ownership and management). When the project began, there were few stat ewide datasets available that provided the type of data needed for this project. Conse quently, much effort was devoted to building the previously mentioned key da ta layers at a sufficiently fine scale and resolution for subsequent analysis. At the completion of the project, these data became freely available, with the intent that they will be used by those responsible for managing the state’s valuable natural resources, and by the public, so that every one can be better informed. With this in mind, we emphasize that these data are dynamic, and in some places, already out-of date. Nonetheless, the data and analyses that constitute IA GAP represent an important first step toward understanding the st atus of vertebrates and land cover in Iowa and planning for the conser vation of their biodiversit

Return to sender : a review of undeliverable refund checks

Every year there are a large number of refund checks returned to the South Carolina Department of Revenue as undeliverable by the post office. This paper discusses this problem and proposes solutions to it

Weaving the fragments of hope: social movement learning and popular education in Southwest Colombia

How do social movements learn and produce knowledge in contexts of repression and violence? And in such contexts, how can radical pedagogy form part of social movement responses in seeking to construct radical alternatives? In this thesis, I attempt to answer these questions, in order to understand the role which a radical intercultural pedagogical initiative plays in the struggles of social movements to construct and defend alternative modes of being and organising in the repressive context of southwest Colombia. The initiative is led by a small, radical human rights NGO called Nomadesc, based in Cali, Colombia. Over the course of two decades, it has brought together activists from diverse social movements and territories across southwest Colombia in order to empower them to deal with the violent context; reimagine alternatives; and strengthen and interweave their struggles. The Colombian context for social movements and their organising is uniquely intense. A country with diverse, vibrant social movements and significant levels of social protest, it is also consistently the most dangerous country in the world for activists, who are regularly targeted for assassination. Political violence has been a continuous feature of political and social life throughout the country’s history. As in other Latin American countries, Colombian social movements have a long and rich history of employing popular education as a means of generating knowledge and learning amongst activists. The underlying premise of this thesis is that the knowledge produced within social movements through their daily efforts to bring about social change is inherently valuable and of interest to activists and critical scholars. This is particularly so in the struggles of social movements on the peripheries of global capitalism in the Global South, where the knowledge of subaltern subjects has been discredited and ignored for centuries within the epistemological hierarchy of capitalist modernity (Santos, 2007). I employ a decolonial theoretical approach guided by the Epistemologies of the South framework of Boaventura de Sousa Santos, and which combines a critical realist ontology with the political economy work of Massimo De Angelis in order to lay out an ontological understanding of social movement struggles for social change. This thesis may be of interest to scholars spanning various disciplines, including critical education, social movement studies, Latin American studies, and postcolonial literature. The thesis combines two complimentary methodological approaches: the systematisation of experiences (a collaborative, participatory research technique associated with popular educators in Latin America); and an ‘engaged ethnography’ developed specifically for activist social movement research (Mathers & Novelli, 2007). These two approaches were combined in an extensive period of fieldwork embedded within the Nomadesc team in Colombia, allowing for a comprehensive data collection process with over 100 participants. This thesis is concerned with the ‘how’, the ‘what’, and the ‘so what’ of the learning and knowledge production processes which emerge from this radical pedagogical initiative: that is, it seeks to analyse the nature and content of these processes, and to explore the effects which they have upon the participating social movements and their struggles. I argue that, as an initiative which emerged from and is embedded within the social movement struggles of southwest Colombia, the Nomadesc pedagogical process is itself a continuous learning process, shaped by a dialectic of learning which exists between the pedagogical initiative and the struggles of the social movements involved. This dialectic allows for a dynamic, horizontal process of collective knowledge construction. Highlighting the central role of the intercultural knowledge dialogue between subjects of struggle, I demonstrate the potential of radical pedagogy to produce counter-hegemonic learning and knowledge processes between diverse subjects of struggle. Within this intercultural knowledge dialogue, the diversity of the movements is conceived as a container of emancipatory potential

Geographic and Age-Based Variations in Medicare Reimbursement Among ASSH Members.

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate how American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) members\u27 Medicare reimbursement depends on their geographical location and number of years in practice. Methods: Demographic data for surgeons who were active members of the ASSH in 2012 were obtained using information publicly available through the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Hand-surgeons-per-capita and average reimbursement per surgeon were calculated for each state. Regression analysis was performed to determine a relationship between (1) each state\u27s average reimbursement versus the number of ASSH members in that state, (2) average reimbursement versus number of hand surgeons per capita, and (3) total reimbursement from Medicare versus number of years in practice. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to detect a difference in reimbursement based on categorical range of years as an ASSH member. Results: A total of 1667 ASSH members satisfied inclusion in this study. Although there was significant variation among states\u27 average reimbursement, reimbursement was not significantly correlated with the state\u27s hand surgeons per capita or total number of hand surgeons in that given state. Correlation between years as an ASSH member and average reimbursement was significant but non-linear; the highest reimbursements were seen in surgeons who had been ASSH members from 8 to 20 years. Conclusions: Peak reimbursement from Medicare for ASSH members appears to be related to the time of surgeons\u27 peak operative volume, rather than any age-based bias for or against treating Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, though geographic variation in reimbursement does exist, this does not appear to correlate with density or availability of hand surgeons