Athlete and Coach Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of Sickle Cell Trait and National Collegiate Athletic Association Mandated Testing: Recommendations for Intervention

Individuals with Sickle Cell Trait have died suddenly after extreme exertion during military training, athletic practice or games (Kerle & Nishimura, 1996; Harrelson, Fincher & Robinson, 1995; Howe & Bowden, 2007). One of those deaths, Dale Lloyd, a football player at Rice University, prompted a change in the National Collegiate Athletic Association\u27s (NCAA) Sports Medicine Handbook Guideline 3c: The Student Athlete with Sickle Cell Trait. Effective August 2010, the NCAA Division I Proposal No. 2009-75-B mandated sickle cell trait testing in all Division I athletes unless documented results of a prior test are provided to the institution or the student-athlete declines the test and signs a written release. It is well-documented that in the United States, Sickle Cell Disease/Sickle Cell Trait primarily affects African Americans more than any other race or ethnicity (NIH, 2008). Sickle cell screening programs have been scrutinized since the 1970s (Pemberton & Wailoo, 2006) because of insensitivity to race. The recent change in NCAA Guideline 3c has been scrutinized partially for the same reason. The purpose of this mixed methods study was threefold. It was necessary to 1) determine perceptions of SCT and NCAA mandated SCT testing from college coaches and athletes\u27 points of view; 2) determine the necessary components of the Sickle Cell Orientation and Education (S.C.OR.E) intervention that will be developed to educate intercollegiate athletes, as well as their coaches, about sickle cell trait from pre-participation screening to sickle cell trait diagnosis, and 3) to highlight the potential implications of an NCAA policy that mandates SCT testing. The PRECEDE-PROCEED (PRE-PRO) model of program planning was utilized to determine the necessary components of the intervention (Green & Kreuter, 1999). Constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) were utilized as the theoretical framework for this study. It was found that knowledge, perceived importance of an athlete knowing his/her SCT status, perception of NCAA 3c resulting in unfair treatment of athletes, perception of receiving less playing time, and perception of risk of having SCT were all associated with athletes\u27 outlooks on SCT and NCAA SCT testing. Overall, athletes and coaches did not perceive that athletes with SCT would be discriminated against. Individual, organizational, and policy recommendations were made to address this issue

Modeling and Simulation of Manufacturing Systems Under Signal Kanban Policies

A signal kanban system is used to order the production of various parts by processes with lengthy setup times, such as in metal stamping or injection molding. In this paper, we explore the behavior of signal kanban systems using simulations of systems producing two part types. Such simple models allows a visualization of the changes in the inventories of these parts under the signal kanban system. We consider the operation of the common fixed-batch signal kanban system, and a variation that we refer to as a fixed-fill policy. These policies are investigated under variations in demand, occasional disruptions in production, and modifications in policy parameters. Our investigations for this two-part­production model indicate that a fixed-fill signal kanban system is significantly more robust than the more common fixed-batch kanban system

Influence network linkages across implementation strategy conditions in a randomized controlled trial of two strategies for scaling up evidence-based practices in public youth-serving systems.

BackgroundGiven the importance of influence networks in the implementation of evidence-based practices and interventions, it is unclear whether such networks continue to operate as sources of information and advice when they are segmented and disrupted by randomization to different implementation strategy conditions. The present study examines the linkages across implementation strategy conditions of social influence networks of leaders of youth-serving systems in 12 California counties participating in a randomized controlled trial of community development teams (CDTs) to scale up use of an evidence-based practice.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 directors, assistant directors, and program managers of county probation, mental health, and child welfare departments. A web-based survey collected additional quantitative data on information and advice networks of study participants. A mixed-methods approach to data analysis was used to create a sociometric data set (n = 176) to examine linkages between treatment and standard conditions.ResultsOf those network members who were affiliated with a county (n = 137), only 6 (4.4%) were directly connected to a member of the opposite implementation strategy condition; 19 (13.9%) were connected by two steps or fewer to a member of the opposite implementation strategy condition; 64 (46.7%) were connected by three or fewer steps to a member of the opposite implementation strategy condition. Most of the indirect steps between individuals who were in different implementation strategy conditions were connections involving a third non-county organizational entity that had an important role in the trial in keeping the implementation strategy conditions separate. When these entities were excluded, the CDT network exhibited fewer components and significantly higher betweenness centralization than did the standard condition network.ConclusionAlthough the integrity of the RCT in this instance was not compromised by study participant influence networks, RCT designs should consider how influence networks may extend beyond boundaries established by the randomization process in implementation studies.Trial registrationNCT00880126

Rethinking Wind in Kentucky

Recent analyses and developments suggest that wind energy could play a role in Kentucky\u27s future power generation mix. This recent change in outlook for Kentucky wind has been driven by three factors: (1) improved wind turbine technologies, (2) improved economics, and (3) recent analyses showing improved grid reliability due to wind\u27s complementarity to solar power generation

Interactive Panel on Perspectives and Practical Skills for Men as Advocates for Gender Equity

Men can serve unique and critical roles as advocates of gender equity, particularly in maledominated units or organizations, such as most engineering departments and many universities. This panel brings together a group of men with diverse backgrounds and experiences to discuss their perspectives and offer practical skills for men to effectively serve as advocates for gender equity. This paper augments the panel and captures the backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and recommendations of the panelists, thereby providing a lasting resource for those unable to attend the panel or future interested individuals. The information we present targets men and administrators, who will better understand the barriers to advocacy, learn best-practices of effective advocacy, and hear first-hand experiences of successful advocacy

Review of productivity decline in sown grass pastures

Productivity decline in sown grass pastures is widespread in northern Australia and reduces production by approximately 50%, a farm gate cost to industry of > $17B over the next 30 years. Buffel grass is the most widely established sown species (>75% of plantings) and has been estimated to be “dominant” on 5.8 M hectares and “common” on a further 25.9 M hectares of Queensland. Legumes are the most cost effective mitigation option and can reclaim 30-50% of lost production. Commercial use of legumes has achieved mixed results with notable successes but many failures. There is significant opportunity to improve commercial results from legumes using existing technologies, however there is a need for targeted research to improve the reliability of establishment and productivity of legumes. This review recommends the grazing industry invest in targeted R,D&E to assist industry in improving production and sustainability of rundown pastures

Review of productivity decline in sown grass pastures

Productivity decline in sown grass pastures is widespread in northern Australia and reduces production by approximately 50%, a farm gate cost to industry of > $17B over the next 30 years. Buffel grass is the most widely established sown species (>75% of plantings) and has been estimated to be “dominant” on 5.8 M hectares and “common” on a further 25.9 M hectares of Queensland. Legumes are the most cost effective mitigation option and can reclaim 30-50% of lost production. Commercial use of legumes has achieved mixed results with notable successes but many failures. There is significant opportunity to improve commercial results from legumes using existing technologies, however there is a need for targeted research to improve the reliability of establishment and productivity of legumes. This review recommends the grazing industry invest in targeted R,D&E to assist industry in improving production and sustainability of rundown pastures

Mesocorticolimbic monoamine correlates of methamphetamine sensitization and motivation.

Methamphetamine (MA) is a highly addictive psychomotor stimulant, with life-time prevalence rates of abuse ranging from 5-10% world-wide. Yet, a paucity of research exists regarding MA addiction vulnerability/resiliency and neurobiological mediators of the transition to addiction that might occur upon repeated low-dose MA exposure, more characteristic of early drug use. As stimulant-elicited neuroplasticity within dopamine neurons innervating the nucleus accumbens (NAC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) is theorized as central for addiction-related behavioral anomalies, we used a multi-disciplinary research approach in mice to examine the interactions between sub-toxic MA dosing, motivation for MA and mesocorticolimbic monoamines. Biochemical studies of C57BL/6J (B6) mice revealed short- (1 day), as well as longer-term (21 days), changes in extracellular dopamine, DAT and/or D2 receptors during withdrawal from 10, once daily, 2 mg/kg MA injections. Follow-up biochemical studies conducted in mice selectively bred for high vs. low MA drinking (respectively, MAHDR vs. MALDR mice), provided novel support for anomalies in mesocorticolimbic dopamine as a correlate of genetic vulnerability to high MA intake. Finally, neuropharmacological targeting of NAC dopamine in MA-treated B6 mice demonstrated a bi-directional regulation of MA-induced place-conditioning. These results extend extant literature for MA neurotoxicity by demonstrating that even subchronic exposure to relatively low MA doses are sufficient to elicit relatively long-lasting changes in mesocorticolimbic dopamine and that drug-induced or idiopathic anomalies in mesocorticolimbic dopamine may underpin vulnerability/resiliency to MA addiction

Turbulence energetics in stably stratified geophysical flows: strong and weak mixing regimes

Traditionally, turbulence energetics is characterized by turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and modelled using solely the TKE budget equation. In stable stratification, TKE is generated by the velocity shear and expended through viscous dissipation and work against buoyancy forces. The effect of stratification is characterized by the ratio of the buoyancy gradient to squared shear, called Richardson number, Ri. It is widely believed that at Ri exceeding a critical value, Ric, local shear cannot maintain turbulence, and the flow becomes laminar. We revise this concept by extending the energy analysis to turbulent potential and total energies (TPE and TTE = TKE + TPE), consider their budget equations, and conclude that TTE is a conservative parameter maintained by shear in any stratification. Hence there is no "energetics Ric", in contrast to the hydrodynamic-instability threshold, Ric-instability, whose typical values vary from 0.25 to 1. We demonstrate that this interval, 0.25<Ri<1, separates two different turbulent regimes: strong mixing and weak mixing rather than the turbulent and the laminar regimes, as the classical concept states. This explains persistent occurrence of turbulence in the free atmosphere and deep ocean at Ri>>1, clarify principal difference between turbulent boundary layers and free flows, and provide basis for improving operational turbulence closure models.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, Quarterly Journal of Royal Meteorological Society, in pres