Crafting a Campus Sustainability Action Plan: A Grassroots Approach

In recent decades, colleges and universities have taken a leadership role in developing institution-based Sustainability Action Plans (SAPs). A SAP includes a summation of past achievements, current initiatives, and the prioritized goals and implementation strategies for future action in terms of promoting environmental sustainability. These plans can also serve as pedagogical devices that teach students, staff and faculty important lessons of intentional living, global citizenship, and environmental responsibility. While many plans are adopted as top-down initiatives, there is great value in finding ways to engage the entire campus community in such endeavors at the grassroots level. This project documents a ground-up approach to developing a SAP at Gettysburg College, a liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania. Consisting of three phases, the project began with an assessment of current sustainability accomplishments as detailed in ASHE’s Sustainability Tracking and Rating System (STARS) data base. The second stage included an investigation of recent SAPs adopted by peer institutions and work by the college’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, President’s Office and student groups to develop and implement as campus survey on potential sustainability priorities. Finally, a series of focus groups consisting of various campus constituencies provided input for crafting a final draft SAP, which was then offered to the campus community for a second round of review. This bottom-up approach helped to cultivate grassroots ownership of the resulting SAP, leading to a greater likelihood of successful implementation. This project may serve as a useful model for other liberal arts institutions

The Evolution of Multicomponent Systems at High Pressures: VI. The Thermodynamic Stability of the Hydrogen-Carbon System: The Genesis of Hydrocarbons and the Origin of Petroleum

The spontaneous genesis of hydrocarbons which comprise natural petroleum have been analyzed by chemical thermodynamic stability theory. The constraints imposed upon chemical evolution by the second law of thermodynamics are briefly reviewed; and the effective prohibition of transformation, in the regime of temperatures and pressures characteristic of the near-surface crust of the Earth, of biological molecules into hydrocarbon molecules heavier than methane is recognized. A general, first-principles equation of state has been developed by extending scaled particle theory (SPT) and by using the technique of the factored partition function of the Simplified Perturbed Hard Chain Theory (SPHCT). The chemical potentials, and the respective thermodynamic Affinity, have been calculated for typical components of the hydrogen-carbon (H-C) system over a range pressures between 1-100 kbar, and at temperatures consistent with those of the depths of the Earth at such pressures. The theoretical analyses establish that the normal alkanes, the homologous hydrocarbon group of lowest chemical potential, evolve only at pressures greater than approximately thirty kbar, excepting only the lightest, methane. The pressure of thirty kbar corresponds to depths of approximately 100 km. Special high-pressure apparatus has been designed which permits investigations at pressures to 50 kbar and temperatures to 2000 K, and which also allows rapid cooling while maintaining high pressures. The high-pressure genesis of petroleum hydrocarbons has been demonstrated using only the solid reagents iron oxide, FeO, and marble, CaCO3, 99.9% pure and wet with triple-distilled water

Reviewing the Use of Injury Screening Assessments and Identifying Risk of Injury

Lower extremity injures account for over half of reported sports related injuries with the ankle and knee being the most commonly injured joints. The majority of non-contact injuries related to these two joints can potentially be prevented through individualized prevention programs. Biomechanical injury screening has the potential to identify the risk factors associated with injury and allows the implementation of targeted rehabilitation strategies to combat the identified deficits. There is substantial need for screening assessments that are practical and accurate for the clinical athletic trainer. This literature reviewed examined the dorsiflexion lunge test, Functional Movement Screen (FMS), Y-Balance Test, Star Excursion Balance Test and lower extremity strength as preseason screening tools and their ability to predict future injury of primarily the knee and ankle. Practicing athletic trainers need an assessment tool that is inexpensive, easy to implement and has the ability to screen large numbers of athletes efficiently. The Y Balance test is recommended to implement as part of the preseason pre-participation exam so the athletic trainer can identify athletes who are at higher risk for injury and develop an individualized rehabilitation program to improve this deficits and ultimately reduce injury rates. This assessment screen has the highest sensitivity and best likelihood ratios. These values are specific for non-contact injuries and produce a minimal amount off false positives

Perceptions of Women\u27s Teams Coaches Regarding Gender Equity and Title IX Compliance in Community Colleges

Title IX was enacted over 40 years ago, and although there have been marked increases in the number of girls and women participating in athletics at every level, gender equity in athletics continues to be a concern. This is especially evident at the community college level. Title IX requires equity in the areas of opportunities for participation, opportunities for financial aid, and equity in benefits and services. This study sought to ascertain perceptions of equity held by community college coaches of women’s teams. A cross-sectional design was used to survey coaches from all regions of the NJCAA who were listed in the National Directory of in regard to their perceptions of equity in opportunities for participation, opportunities for scholarships, awareness and understanding of Title IX and related compliance issues, including whistleblower protection, and their level of comfort in discussing gender equity issues with supervisors. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences in perceptions regarding gender equity in terms of opportunities for participation, opportunities for financial aid by means of athletic scholarships, benefits and services, awareness and understanding and level of comfort in discussing perceptions regarding gender equity issues or Title IX non-compliance based on gender, years’ experience coaching, sport coached and region, although effect sizes for each analysis were determined to be small. Without question, women are in a better position to recognize gender inequities in athletics on college campuses. It is essential that women are recruited and hired into leadership positions in athletic departments and into executive positions in educational administrations at community colleges. Without a voice at the decision-making levels, the pace at which community colleges move toward equity will continue to lag

An Examination of the Psychometric Properties of the Mental Health Literacy Scale with K-12 Educators

The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS) with K-12 educators, including the exploration of an education-modified version of the MHLS, and a between groups comparison of practicing educators. A tool that is reliable and easy to administer could help assess staff mental health literacy needs and guide district professional development. In this study, the MHLS was found to have several strong scales. The disorder recognition scale, information seeking knowledge scale, and the attitudes scale, which demonstrated better reliability and factorability when divided into two sub-scales, all demonstrated good to excellent reliability. The education-modified version of the MHLS did not demonstrate any practical difference in factor structure or reliability from the standard MHLS. The education-modified MHLS may be a viable option for quickly assessing educator mental health literacy given the limited time schools have available for making effective professional development decisions. Between groups comparisons of MHLS scores revealed no significant differences between classified and certified staff, as well as no significant differences between general and special educators. Comparison of the mean MHLS score to other research studies utilizing the MHLS demonstrated that the sample of educators had the lowest mean score out of any previous samples. These results merit further investigation into how to support all school district staff and provide them with the tools and professional development required to successfully identify and support students with mental health needs

Alien Registration- Kenney, William A. (Anson, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/8972/thumbnail.jp

Jonesing to Repeal the Jones Act

The Jones Act—the title for a series of laws—is the backbone of American cabotage laws, and yet, it is rarely talked about in mainstream American discourse. The original Jones Act was enacted in 1920, and since 1920, it has not changed to any measurable degree. The Jones Act requires that all domestic maritime shipping—movement of merchandise from one U.S. point to another U.S. point—be completed by ships that are owned by U.S. citizens, operated by U.S. citizen crews, built in the U.S., and flagged by the U.S. These requirements have hampered the American economy, its security, and the maintenance of its merchant marine, even though these are the areas that are supposed to be boosted by the Act. These requirements, along with the numerous expansions and exemptions that litter their enforcement, have warped American shipping standards and their costs. In fact, because of the Jones Act, the U.S. “is ranked as having the most restrictive maritime transport industry among all OECD countries.” Now, after over 100 years under a regime that has only hurt the United States, it is time to repeal the Jones Act—either in its entirety or partially—and bring the U.S. into the 21st Century

The Trouble with Hubble Types in the Virgo Cluster

Quantitative measures of central light concentration and star formation activity are derived from R and Halpha surface photometry of 84 bright S0-Scd Virgo Cluster and isolated spiral galaxies. For isolated spirals, there is a good correlation between these two parameters and assigned Hubble types. In the Virgo Cluster, the correlation between central light concentration and star formation activity is significantly weaker. Virgo Cluster spirals have systematically reduced global star formation with respect to isolated spirals, with severe reduction in the outer disk, but normal or enhanced activity in the inner disk. Assigned Hubble types are thus inadequate to describe the range in morphologies of bright Virgo Cluster spirals. In particular, spirals with reduced global star formation activity are often assigned misleading early-type classifications, irrespective of their central light concentrations. 45+-25% of the galaxies classified as Sa in the Virgo Cluster sample have central light concentrations more characteristic of isolated Sb-Sc galaxies. The misleading classification of low concentration galaxies with low star formation rates as early-type spirals may account for part of the excess of `early-type' spiral galaxies in clusters. Thus the morphology-density relationship is not all due to a systematic increase in the bulge-to-disk ratio with environmental density.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. Latex aaspp4.sty, 9 pages, 2 Postscript (embedded) figures. Also available at http://www.astro.yale.edu/koopmann/preprint.htm