BIOMECHANICAL VALIDATION OF A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF BASEBALL PITCHING

Correct biomechanics minimise the risk of injury and improve performance during baseball pitching. The mechanics of 20 youth pitchers were analysed during outdoor practice using digital camcorders and a checklist of kinematic and temporal elements. The pitchers were also analysed indoors with a six-camera 240Hz Motion Analysis System. In both conditions, mechanics were graded using accepted norms for youth pitchers. Kappa coefficients were calculated between the qualitative measurements and motion analysis data for 17 kinematic parameters. 11 variables showed acceptable relationships between qualitative and quantitative data, indicating the practical value of this qualitative analysis as a field tool

Publishing Archaeology in Science and Scientific American, 1940-2003

Many new, or processual, archaeologists of the 1960s argued that Americanist archaeology became scientific only in the 1960s. The hypothesis that the rate of publication of archaeological research in Science and Scientific American increased after about 1965, as new archaeologists sought to demonstrate to their peers and other scientists that archaeology was indeed a science, is disconfirmed. The rate of archaeological publication in these journals increased after 1955 because the effort to be more scientific attributed to the processualists began earlier. Higher publication rates in both journals appear to have been influenced by an increased amount of archaeological research, a higher rate of archaeological publication generally, and increased funding. The hypothesis that editorial choice has strongly influenced what has been published in Science is confirmed; articles focusing on multidisciplinary topics rather than on narrow archaeological ones dominate the list of titles over the period from 1940 through 2003

The Impact of Family Based Scheduling on Transfer Batches in a Job Shop Manufacturing Cell

Past research has shown that the performance of manufacturing cells can be improved if family orientated scheduling heuristics are used, or if jobs are split into smaller transfer batches for processing and material handling purposes. The research has also shown that large amounts of lot splitting results in increased setup frequency due to the reduction in transfer batch size. This can offset any gains in performance. This study examines the combined effect of lot splitting in a manufacturing cell that utilizes family-based scheduling heuristics. The results show that family-based scheduling is an effective means of reducing the negative impact of lot splitting on flow time. Lot splitting, however, has little benefit for due date performance even when scheduling rules that reduce setup frequency are used

Collaborating with individuals with lived experience to adapt CANMAT clinical depression guidelines into a patient treatment guide: The CHOICE‐D co‐design process

Effective treatment of depression involves collaboration with informed patients and families and appropriate knowledge sharing. We describe here our experience, as a case example, of a collaboration to “translate” a clinical guideline designed for practitioners into an accessible, plainlanguage version that patients and families can use during the care process, both to provide basic educational information and to foster informed discussions with their treatment providers. Content experts in knowledge translation, patient advocacy, patient‐oriented research, and psychiatry guided overall project design. Our first step was to identify lived experience writers to join in the codesign and co‐writing of the “CHOICE‐D Patient and Family Guide to Depression Treatment.” A national call for writers attracted 62 applicants, from whom eight individuals with lived experience of depression and writing experience were selected. Individuals subsequently attended a welcoming teleconference, followed by a 1‐day workshop designed to provide (a) a detailed overview of the clinician guideline, (b) an opportunity to select what should be included in the Guide, and (c) key principles of knowledge translation/lay writing. Both from the workshop and subsequently through the codesign process, lived experience writers recommended that the Guide address symptoms, effects of illness course on treatment, first‐line treatments, safety/side effects, and treatment misconceptions. To promote patient autonomy, question scripts (how and what to ask your treatment provider), self‐triaging resources, and treatment selection aids were suggested. Stylistic considerations included use of simple yet hopeful language, brevity, white space, key terms glossary, and graphics. Several strategies were particularly useful to optimize writer engagement in the codesign process: a pre‐workshop conference call and circulation of project resources, an in‐person workshop to increase content knowledge, structured discussion with co‐writers and project leads to develop ideas, and practical training exercises with the provision of feedback. Both during and at the end of the project, writers provided additional recommendations for improving the process, including more in‐person meetings, distribution of step‐by‐step instructions on the writing task, and a key terms glossary of technical terms to support their role. In conclusion, we describe a process with practical tips and reflective feedback on important considerations for engaging persons with lived experience as leaders in the codesign and writing process of lay treatment guidelines. These methods may serve as a model for similar projects in other areas of healthcare.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156154/2/jep13308.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156154/1/jep13308_am.pd

Quantifying Methane Emissions in the Uintah Basin During Wintertime Stagnation Episodes

This study presents a meteorologically-based methodology for quantifying basin-scale methane (CH4) emissions in Utah’s Uintah Basin, which is home to over 9,000 active and producing oil and natural gas wells. Previous studies in oil and gas producing regions have often relied on intensive aircraft campaigns to estimate methane emissions. However, the high cost of airborne campaigns prevents their frequent undertaking, thus providing only daytime snapshots of emissions rather than more temporally-representative estimates over multiple days. Providing estimates of CH4 emissions from oil and natural gas production regions across the United States is important to inform leakage rates and emission mitigation efforts in order to curb the potential impacts of these emissions on global climate change and local air quality assessments. Here we introduce the Basin-constrained Emissions Estimate (BEE) method, which utilizes the confining topography of a basin and known depth of a pollution layer during multi-day wintertime cold-air pool episodes to relate point observations of CH4 to basin-scale CH4 emission rates. This study utilizes ground-based CH4 observations from three fixed sites to calculate daily increases in CH4, a laser ceilometer to estimate pollution layer depth, and a Lagrangian transport model to assess the spatial representativity of surface observations. BEE was applied to two cold-air pool episodes during the winter of 2015–2016 and yielded CH4 emission estimates between 44.60 +/– 9.66 × 103 and 61.82 +/– 19.76 × 103 kg CH4 hr–1, which are similar to the estimates proposed by previous studies performed in the Uintah Basin. The techniques used in this study could potentially be utilized in other deep basins worldwide

Daily torpor: When heart and brain go cold - Nonlinear cardiac dynamics in the seasonal heterothermic Djungarian hamster

Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) acclimated to short photoperiod display episodes of spontaneous daily torpor with metabolic rate depressed by ∼70%, body temperature (

SUSY approach to Pauli Hamiltonians with an axial symmetry

A two-dimensional Pauli Hamiltonian describing the interaction of a neutral spin-1/2 particle with a magnetic field having axial and second order symmetries, is considered. After separation of variables, the one-dimensional matrix Hamiltonian is analyzed from the point of view of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. Attention is paid to the discrete symmetries of the Hamiltonian and also to the Hamiltonian hierarchies generated by intertwining operators. The spectrum is studied by means of the associated matrix shape-invariance. The relation between the intertwining operators and the second order symmetries is established and the full set of ladder operators that complete the dynamical algebra is constructed.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

UV continuum emission and diagnostics of hydrogen-containing non-equilibrium plasmas

For the first time the emission of the radiative dissociation continuum of the hydrogen molecule ($a^{3}\Sigma_{g}^{+} \to b^{3}\Sigma_{u}^{+}$ electronic transition) is proposed to be used as a source of information for the spectroscopic diagnostics of non-equilibrium plasmas. The detailed analysis of excitation-deactivation kinetics, rate constants of various collisional and radiative transitions and fitting procedures made it possible to develop two new methods of diagnostics of: (1) the ground $X^{1}\Sigma_{g}^{+}$ state vibrational temperature $T_{\text{vib}}$ from the relative intensity distribution, and (2) the rate of electron impact dissociation (d[\mbox{H_{2}}]/dt)_{\text{diss}} from the absolute intensity of the continuum. A known method of determination of $T_{\text{vib}}$ from relative intensities of Fulcher-$\alpha$ bands was seriously corrected and simplified due to the revision of $d \to a$ transition probabilities and cross sections of $d \gets X$ electron impact excitation. General considerations are illustrated with examples of experiments in pure hydrogen capillary-arc and H$_{2}$+Ar microwave discharges.Comment: REVTeX, 25 pages + 12 figures + 9 tables. Phys. Rev. E, eprint replaced because of resubmission to journal after referee's 2nd repor

The effect of discrete vs. continuous-valued ratings on reputation and ranking systems

When users rate objects, a sophisticated algorithm that takes into account ability or reputation may produce a fairer or more accurate aggregation of ratings than the straightforward arithmetic average. Recently a number of authors have proposed different co-determination algorithms where estimates of user and object reputation are refined iteratively together, permitting accurate measures of both to be derived directly from the rating data. However, simulations demonstrating these methods' efficacy assumed a continuum of rating values, consistent with typical physical modelling practice, whereas in most actual rating systems only a limited range of discrete values (such as a 5-star system) is employed. We perform a comparative test of several co-determination algorithms with different scales of discrete ratings and show that this seemingly minor modification in fact has a significant impact on algorithms' performance. Paradoxically, where rating resolution is low, increased noise in users' ratings may even improve the overall performance of the system.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Fertility Control Options for Management of Free-roaming Horse Populations

The management of free-roaming horses (Equus ferus) and burros (E. asinus) in the United States has been referred to as a “wicked problem” because, although there are population control options, societal values will ultimately determine what is acceptable and what is not. In the United States, free-roaming equids are managed by different types of organizations and agencies, and the landscapes that these animals inhabit vary widely in terms of access, size, topography, climate, natural resources, flora, and fauna. This landscape diversity, coupled with contemporary socioeconomic and political environments, means that adaptive management practices are needed to regulate these free-roaming populations. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently manages free-roaming equids on 177 herd management areas in the United States by applying fertility control measures in situ and/or removing horses, which are either adopted by private individuals or sent to long-term holding facilities. The BLM off-range population currently includes \u3e50,000 animals and costs approximately $50 million USD per year to maintain; on-range equid numbers were estimated in March 2022 to be approximately 82,384. On-range populations can grow at 15–20% annually, and current estimates far exceed the designated appropriate management level of 26,715. To reduce population recruitment, managers need better information about effective, long-lasting or permanent fertility control measures. Because mares breed only once a year, fertility control studies take years to complete. Some contraceptive approaches have been studied for decades, and results from various trials can collectively inform future research directions and actions. Employing 1 or more fertility control tools in concert with removals offers the best potential for success. Active, iterative, cooperative, and thoughtful management practices can protect free-roaming horses while simultaneously protecting the habitat. Herein, we review contraceptive vaccines, intrauterine devices, and surgical sterilization options for controlling fertility of free-roaming horses. This review provides managers with a “fertility control toolbox” and guides future research