Group Formation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68807/2/10.1177_104649647300400206.pd

‘Stepping away from the computer and into the sweats': The construction and negotiation of exercise identities in a Norwegian public company

While research has found that a developed exercise identity enables individuals to view exercise participation as self- reinforcing, the social barriers to such exercise identity development and participation have not been fully addressed. The subsequent aim of this study was to explore some of the social complexities at play in terms of how company employees construct and manage their exercise identities within a work place setting. A case-study method was used to address the research issue over a nine-month period. The case to be studied included a sample of 72 employees from a Norwegian public company who participated in an on-going work-based exercise programme called ‘Exercise for all’. The principal means of data collection comprised participant observation, individual interviews and exercise logbooks. The data were subject to inductive analysis. The primary barriers to exercise participation included high levels of social comparison in a competitive working context, particularly in relation to ‘competent colleagues’, and feelings of guilt associated with partaking in ‘recreational’ activities during work hours. Strategies engaged with to overcome and negotiate such obstacles included justifying participation through a health-related discourse, and constructing a more distinct ‘worker-exerciser’ identity

Band gap behavior of optimal one-dimensional composite structures with an additive manufactured stiffener

In this work, the banded behaviour of composite one-dimensional structures with an additive manufactured stiffener is examined. A finite element method is used to calculate the stiffness, mass and damping matrices, and periodic structure theory is used to obtain the wave propagation of one-dimensional structures. A multi-disciplinary design optimisation scheme is developed to achieve optimal banded behaviour and structural characteristics of the structures under investigation. Having acquired the optimal solution of the case study, a representative specimen is manufactured using a carbon fibre cured plate and additive manufactured nylon-based material structure. Experimental measurements of the dynamic performance of the hybrid composite structure are conducted using a laser vibrometer and electrodynamic shaker setup to validate the finite element model

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

Spoken language interaction with robots: Recommendations for future research

With robotics rapidly advancing, more effective human–robot interaction is increasingly needed to realize the full potential of robots for society. While spoken language must be part of the solution, our ability to provide spoken language interaction capabilities is still very limited. In this article, based on the report of an interdisciplinary workshop convened by the National Science Foundation, we identify key scientific and engineering advances needed to enable effective spoken language interaction with robotics. We make 25 recommendations, involving eight general themes: putting human needs first, better modeling the social and interactive aspects of language, improving robustness, creating new methods for rapid adaptation, better integrating speech and language with other communication modalities, giving speech and language components access to rich representations of the robot’s current knowledge and state, making all components operate in real time, and improving research infrastructure and resources. Research and development that prioritizes these topics will, we believe, provide a solid foundation for the creation of speech-capable robots that are easy and effective for humans to work with

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

Paroxysmal Cerebral Disorder