How to Evaluate NCAA Success in Attaining its Stated Mission. Implications for Athletes’ Rights and Social Justice

Most major organizations have mission statements that define their purpose or reason for existing. A mission statement is meaningful only if it acts as a unifying force for guiding strategic decision making and achieving long term goals. Well defined mission statements also serve as a yardstick for measuring organizational effectiveness in attaining stated goals. With this is mind, the purpose of this paper is to discuss methods that can be used to determine whether the NCAA is achieving its educational goals or merely using its mission statement as support for an “unrelated business.” Differences between Federal Graduation Rates, Graduation Success Rates, and the Academic Progress Rate are examined. Implications of the NCAA’s statement of purpose for social justice and athletes’ rights are also discussed

Tracing Water and Carbon Sources in Complex Geochemical Settings of the Appalachians: An Isotopic Perspective

Understanding sources of water and carbon are important for tracking recharge sources as well as assessing any changes in water quality associated with shale gas drilling and/or coal mining in the Appalachians. Natural stable isotopes have become an increasingly important tool for determining sources and cycling of water, carbon, nutrients and other trace elements. This is plausible because variations in water-rock interactions, recharge sources, recharge pathways, and residence time can impart unique isotopic fingerprints to different water sources.;The main objective of this study was to use stable isotopes of water (delta18OH2O and delta2H H2O), DIC (delta13CDIC) and SO4 (delta34SSO4 and delta18O SO4) to delineate sources of water and carbon in three different geochemical settings in Appalachians: natural springs, coal mine discharges and co-produced waters produced during Marcellus shale gas drilling in the Appalachian region. At some study sites other geochemical proxies such as major cations, anions (i.e. Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO 3-, SO42-) as well as field parameters (temperature and pH) were used in conjunction with stable isotope data to better understand the underlying physical, geochemical and biological processes. Our data shows that stable isotopic signatures in natural springs, coal mine discharge and co-produced waters can be used understand sources of carbon and water at each site as well as understanding biogeochemical transformations that lead to isotopic fractionation

Advanced feed system component interaction analysis Quarterly status letter, 30 Jun. - 30 Sep. 1969

Dynamic model of Mars Mariner 1969 pressure regulato

Phase of beta-frequency tACS over primary motor cortex modulates corticospinal excitability

The assessment of corticospinal excitability by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced motor evoked potentials is an established diagnostic tool in neurophysiology and a widely used procedure in fundamental brain research. However, concern about low reliability of these measures has grown recently. One possible cause of high variability of MEPs under identical acquisition conditions could be the influence of oscillatory neuronal activity on corticospinal excitability. Based on research showing that transcranial alternating current stimulation can entrain neuronal oscillations we here test whether alpha or beta frequency tACS can influence corticospinal excitability in a phase-dependent manner. We applied tACS at individually calibrated alpha- and beta-band oscillation frequencies, or we applied sham tACS. Simultaneous single TMS pulses time locked to eight equidistant phases of the ongoing tACS signal evoked MEPs. To evaluate offline effects of stimulation frequency, MEP amplitudes were measured before and after tACS. To evaluate whether tACS influences MEP amplitude, we fitted one-cycle sinusoids to the average MEPs elicited at the different phase conditions of each tACS frequency. We found no frequency-specific offline effects of tACS. However, beta-frequency tACS modulation of MEPs was phase-dependent. Post hoc analyses suggested that this effect was specific to participants with low (<19 Hz) intrinsic beta frequency. In conclusion, by showing that beta tACS influences MEP amplitude in a phase-dependent manner, our results support a potential role attributed to neuronal oscillations in regulating corticospinal excitability. Moreover, our findings may be useful for the development of TMS protocols that improve the reliability of MEPs as a meaningful tool for research applications or for clinical monitoring and diagnosis. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Unfinished Business: a Review of the Implementation of the Provisions of United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 61/105 and 64/72, Related to the Management of Bottom Fisheries in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

In 2006 the General Assembly adopted resolution 61/105, based on a compromise proposal offered by deep-sea fishing nations, which committed States and regional fisheries management organisations [RFMOs] to take specific measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems [VMEs] from the adverse impacts of bottom fisheries in the high seas and to ensure the longterm sustainability of deep-sea fish stocks. These measures included conducting impact assessments to determine whether significant adverse impacts[SAIs] to VMEs would occur, managing fisheries to prevent SAIs on VMEs, and closing areas of the high seas to bottom fishing where VMEs are known or likely to occur, unless regulations are in place to prevent SAIs and to manage sustainably deep-sea fish stocks. Based on a review in 2009 of the actions taken by States and RFMOS, the UNGA adoptedresolution 64/72 that reaffirmed resolution 61/105 and strengthened the call for action through committing States, inter alia, to ensure that vessels do not engage in bottom fishing until impact assessments have been carried out and to not authorise bottom fishing activities until the measures in resolutions 64/72 and 61/105 have been adopted andimplemented

The effects of maternal social phobia on mother-infant interactions and infant social responsiveness

Background: Social phobia aggregates in families. The genetic contribution to intergenerational transmission is modest, and parenting is considered important. Research on the effects of social phobia on parenting has been subject to problems of small sample size, heterogeneity of samples and lack of specificity of observational frameworks. We addressed these problems in the current study.Methods: We assessed mothers with social phobia (N = 84) and control mothers (N = 89) at 10 weeks in face-to-face interactions with their infants, and during a social challenge, namely, engaging with a stranger. We also assessed mothers with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) (N = 50). We examined the contribution to infant social responsiveness of early infant characteristics (neonatal irritability), as well as maternal behaviour. Results: Mothers with social phobia were no less sensitive to their infants during face-to-face interactions than control mothers, but when interacting with the stranger they appeared more anxious, engaged less with the stranger themselves, and were less encouraging of the infant's interaction with the stranger; infants of index mothers also showed reduced social responsiveness to the stranger. These differences did not apply to mothers with GAD and their infants. Regression analyses showed that the reduction in social responsiveness in infants of mothers with social phobia was predicted by neonatal irritability and the degree to which the mother encouraged the infant to interact with the stranger.Conclusions: Mothers with social phobia show specific parenting difficulties, and their infants show early signs of reduced social responsiveness that are related to both individual infant differences and a lack of maternal encouragement to engage in social interactions

Cambial growth dynamics of plantation grown Swietenia macrophylla and Carapa guianensis.

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