Comparative Analysis of Participation and Finances in Programs of the Brookings Parks and Recreation Department

The purpose of this study was to conduct and comparative analysis of the nature and frequency of participation in recreation programs of the Brookings Parks and Recreation Department and the sources of revenue used in support of these activities. The study has been deemed significant as the present researcher was unable to fund and evidence that studies on the nature and frequency of participation as related to cost have been attempted. It was hoped that this study might provide a framework for data collection for future studies of a similar nature. The study was designed and conducted to provide Parks and Recreation Departments with information which would help those agencies determine the extent of non-resident participation and assist in the development of policies regarding such participation. It was also believed that the study might be indicative of the recreational needs of the non-resident population and could be taken to the officials in county government for their information in future county recreational support and planning. Finally, the study was significant in that the present researcher was unable to locate many studies relating to problems of rural recreation administration, particularly in the State of South Dakota

Sociodemographic and Psychographic Variables in the Senior Travel Market

Segmentation of the senior travel market has, until recently, focused on age groupings. Such segmentation has limited practical application, providing little direction for the development of travel services. Furthermore, age segments are not easily accessible for promotional communication. Investigations which segment the market into clusters, based on reasons for travel for example, may be limited to only the sample investigated. This investigation compares segmentation based on the sociodemographic variable of age to a proprietary psychographic segmentation technique. The latter is shown to provide a better view of the senior travel market and has the benefit of known avenues of accessibility. This research investigation was made possible by a grant from the American Association of Retired Persons Andrus Foundation

Effect of Washington State Visitor Information Centers on Travel Behavior

Profiles of visitors to Visitor Information Centers abound in the literature. However, little is known about the impact of these Visitor Information Centers on travel behavior. This study looked at individuals who stopped at a Washington State Visitor Information Center, picked up a questionnaire, and then returned their questionnaires after completing their trip. For the population that returned questionnaires the following influences from the information received were reported: 1) a little over 20% increase the length of their stay 2) almost 40% indicated they were influenced about destinations and attractions they visited 3) about 16% were influenced on their accommodations 4) about 7% were influenced by information about events. Visitor Information Centers in Washington State represent a potential inexpensive opportunity to influence travel behavior

Wide-angle elastic scattering and color randomization

Baryon-baryon elastic scattering is considered in the independent scattering (Landshoff) mechanism. It is suggested that for scattering at moderate energies, direct and interchange quark channels contribute with equal color coefficients because the quark color is randomized by soft gluon exchange during the hadronization stage. With this assumption, it is shown that the ratio of cross sections $R_{\overline{p} p/ p p}$ at CM angle $\theta = 90^0$ decreases from a high energy value of R_{\pbar p / pp} \approx 1/2.7, down to R_{\pbar p / pp} \approx 1/28, compatible with experimental data at moderate energies. This sizable fall in the ratio seems to be characteristic of the Landshoff mechanism, in which changes at the quark level have a strong effect precisely because the hadronic process occurs via multiple quark scatterings. The effect of color randomization on the angular distribution of proton-proton elastic scattering and the cross section ratio $R_{np/pp}$ is also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, latex2e, 4 uuencoded figures, include

Motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples

The current study employs the leisure motivation scale to examine motivations of non- Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples. Specifically, this investigation builds on tourism literature to explore the motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples in Los Angeles, California. Motivations to Buddhist temples are of particular interest given the increasing popularity in the West of Eastern spiritual activities, such as yoga and meditation, as well as the exponential growth of Buddhist-themed tourism campaigns. The findings provide insights for tourism officials responsible for promoting ways to attract tourists to Buddhist temples within their respective destinations

Measurement of spin correlation in ttbar production using a matrix element approach

correlation, assuming that the spin of the top quark is either correlated with the spin of the anti-top quark as predicted by the standard model or is uncorrelated. For the first time we use a matrix-element-based approach to study ttbar spin correlation. We use {ttbar -> W+bW-bbar ->l+nubl-nub} final states produced in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV, where l denotes an electron or a muon. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb-1 and were collected with the dzero detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The result agrees with the standard model prediction. We exclude the hypothesis that the spins of the ttbar are uncorrelated at the 97.7% C.L.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Quantitative Amyloid Imaging in Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer’s Disease: Results from the DIAN Study Group

Amyloid imaging plays an important role in the research and diagnosis of dementing disorders. Substantial variation in quantitative methods to measure brain amyloid burden exists in the field. The aim of this work is to investigate the impact of methodological variations to the quantification of amyloid burden using data from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network (DIAN), an autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease population. Cross-sectional and longitudinal [11C]-Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) PET imaging data from the DIAN study were analyzed. Four candidate reference regions were investigated for estimation of brain amyloid burden. A regional spread function based technique was also investigated for the correction of partial volume effects. Cerebellar cortex, brain-stem, and white matter regions all had stable tracer retention during the course of disease. Partial volume correction consistently improves sensitivity to group differences and longitudinal changes over time. White matter referencing improved statistical power in the detecting longitudinal changes in relative tracer retention; however, the reason for this improvement is unclear and requires further investigation. Full dynamic acquisition and kinetic modeling improved statistical power although it may add cost and time. Several technical variations to amyloid burden quantification were examined in this study. Partial volume correction emerged as the strategy that most consistently improved statistical power for the detection of both longitudinal changes and across-group differences. For the autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease population with PiB imaging, utilizing brainstem as a reference region with partial volume correction may be optimal for current interventional trials. Further investigation of technical issues in quantitative amyloid imaging in different study populations using different amyloid imaging tracers is warranted

Combined Forward-Backward Asymmetry Measurements in Top-Antitop Quark Production at the Tevatron

The CDF and D0 experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron have measured the asymmetry between yields of forward- and backward-produced top and antitop quarks based on their rapidity difference and the asymmetry between their decay leptons. These measurements use the full data sets collected in proton-antiproton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt s =1.96$ TeV. We report the results of combinations of the inclusive asymmetries and their differential dependencies on relevant kinematic quantities. The combined inclusive asymmetry is $A_{\mathrm{FB}}^{t\bar{t}} = 0.128 \pm 0.025$. The combined inclusive and differential asymmetries are consistent with recent standard model predictions

The central track trigger of the DO experiment

©2004 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.The general purpose DO collider detector, located at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, is operated in the high luminosity (L = 2 X 10(32) cm(-2) s(-1)) and high-collision-rate environment (396 ns between beam crossings) of the upgraded Tevatron proton anti-proton accelerator. DO uses a three-tiered trigger system to select events for offline storage and analysis. This paper describes the architecture and performance of the DO central track trigger (CTT) system based on the new central fiber tracker, central preshower and forward preshower detectors, with emphasis on the interface to and integration with the second tier L2 Trigger system