ATHLETE BRANDING: THE PERCIEVED IMPACT OF ESTABLISHMENT AND COMMUNICATION OF COLLEGIATE ATHLETE’S BRAND IMAGE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Athlete branding is defined as a public persona of an individual athlete who has established their own symbolic meaning and value using their name, face or other brand elements in the market (Arai, 2014). A brand image is defined as the reasoned or emotional perceptions consumers attach to specific brands (Dobni & Zinkhan, 1990), and involves the perceptions of a particular brand as reflected by the brand associations held in a consumer's memory (Keller, 1993). It is not only what athletes produce in terms of winning or losing, but how they package this winning or losing as a complete brand that matters (Arai, 2014). The purpose of this study is to examine the under researched topic of the perceived impact of the establishment and communication of collegiate athlete’s brand image through social media. This study will attempt to discover the impact that branding and the communication of brand image through social media outlets has on collegiate athletes

Electromagnetic and Gravitational Waves on a de Sitter background

One of the longstanding problems of modern gravitational physics is the detection of gravitational waves, for which the standard theoretical analysis relies upon the split of the space-time metric into a background metric plus perturbation. However, as is well known, the background need not be Minkowskian in several cases of physical interest. Thus, we here investigate in more detail what happens if the background space-time has a non-vanishing Riemann curvature. In the case in which the de Donder gauge is imposed, its preservation under infinitesimal space-time diffeomorphisms is guaranteed if and only if the associated covector is ruled by a second-order hyperbolic operator. Moreover, since in this case the Ricci term of the wave equation has opposite sign with respect to the wave equation of Maxwell theory in the Lorenz gauge, it is possible to relate the solutions of the two problems. We solve completely the homogeneous vector wave equation of Maxwell theory in the Lorenz gauge when a de Sitter space-time is considered. The decoupling technique, analytic formulae and plots are original and have been first presented, in the literature, by Bini, Esposito and the author in Gen. Rel. Grav. 42, 51-61 (2010). Moreover, we solve explicitly the Einstein equations for metric perturbations on a de Sitter background. In fact, by using the Regge-Wheeler gauge, the coupled system of differential equations, to first-order in the metric perturbation, has been here solved in terms of the Heun general functions.Comment: 86 pages, 37 figures, Ph.D. thesis of the autho

Field trips, guest speakers, films, and other visual materials available to high schools by selected business firms in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Field trips, guest speakers, films, and other visual materials available to high schools by selected business firms in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Hunger in America 2014: National Report

Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organization, has conducted the most comprehensive study of hunger in America every four years since 1993. Like the prior studies, Hunger in America 2014 (HIA 2014), the latest iteration, documents the critical role that the charitable food assistance network plays in supporting struggling families in the United States. Study results are based on surveys of food programs in the charitable food assistance network supported by Feeding America, and clients that access services through that network in 2012-2013. In addition to this report on the Feeding America national network, this study has resulted in 42 state reports and 196 food bank reports detailing network activities on local levels.The current assessment occurs in a period with historically high demand for food assistance. Unemployment and poverty rates have remained high since the Great Recession of 2008, and the number of households receiving nutrition assistance from the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has increased by approximately 50 percent between 2009 and 2013.Demand for charitable food assistance has also expanded. HIA 2014 finds an increased number of individuals relying on charitable assistance to access nutritious foods for themselves and their families

Solution of Maxwell's equations on a de Sitter background

The Maxwell equations for the electromagnetic potential, supplemented by the Lorenz gauge condition, are decoupled and solved exactly in de Sitter space-time studied in static spherical coordinates. There is no source besides the background. One component of the vector field is expressed, in its radial part, through the solution of a fourth-order ordinary differential equation obeying given initial conditions. The other components of the vector field are then found by acting with lower-order differential operators on the solution of the fourth-order equation (while the transverse part is decoupled and solved exactly from the beginning). The whole four-vector potential is eventually expressed through hypergeometric functions and spherical harmonics. Its radial part is plotted for given choices of initial conditions. We have thus completely succeeded in solving the homogeneous vector wave equation for Maxwell theory in the Lorenz gauge when a de Sitter spacetime is considered, which is relevant both for inflationary cosmology and gravitational wave theory. The decoupling technique and analytic formulae and plots are completely original. This is an important step towards solving exactly the tensor wave equation in de Sitter space-time, which has important applications to the theory of gravitational waves about curved backgrounds.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Latex. The presentation has been improved, and the title has been change

Medical Comorbidities of Dementia: Links to Caregivers’ Emotional Difficulties and Gains

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154268/1/jgs16244_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154268/2/jgs16244.pd

A recommended “minimum data set” framework for SD-OCT retinal image acquisition and analysis from the Atlas of Retinal Imaging in Alzheimer’s Study (ARIAS)

Introduction: We propose a minimum data set framework for the acquisition and analysis of retinal images for the development of retinal Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) biomarkers. Our goal is to describe methodology that will increase concordance across laboratories, so that the broader research community is able to cross‐validate findings in parallel, accumulate large databases with normative data across the cognitive aging spectrum, and progress the application of this technology from the discovery stage to the validation stage in the search for sensitive and specific retinal biomarkers in AD. Methods: The proposed minimum data set framework is based on the Atlas of Retinal Imaging Study (ARIAS), an ongoing, longitudinal, multi‐site observational cohort study. However, the ARIAS protocol has been edited and refined with the expertise of all co‐authors, representing 16 institutions, and research groups from three countries, as a first step to address a pressing need identified by experts in neuroscience, neurology, optometry, and ophthalmology at the Retinal Imaging in Alzheimer\u27s Disease (RIAD) conference, convened by the Alzheimer\u27s Association and held in Washington, DC, in May 2019. Results: Our framework delineates specific imaging protocols and methods of analysis for imaging structural changes in retinal neuronal layers, with optional add‐on procedures of fundus autofluorescence to examine beta‐amyloid accumulation and optical coherence tomography angiography to examine AD‐related changes in the retinal vasculature. Discussion: This minimum data set represents a first step toward the standardization of retinal imaging data acquisition and analysis in cognitive aging and AD. A standardized approach is essential to move from discovery to validation, and to examine which retinal AD biomarkers may be more sensitive and specific for the different stages of the disease severity spectrum. This approach has worked for other biomarkers in the AD field, such as magnetic resonance imaging; amyloid positron emission tomography; and, more recently, blood proteomics. Potential context of use for retinal AD biomarkers is discussed