Developing and Piloting a Design Guide for Outdoor Classrooms in Utah

The outdoor classroom design guide can help applicants successfully apply for the Utah Outdoor Classroom Grant introduced by the Office of Outdoor Recreation (OOR) in 2021. The design guide includes case studies, design resources, and critical information for community involvement from statewide locations and will serve as a free public resource

Effect of Glass Fibre Sizing on the Interfacial Properties of Composites Produced using In-Situ Polymerised Polyamide-6 Transfer Moulding

The fibre-matrix interfacial properties of glass-fibre/polyamide-6 (GF/PA-6) composites produced by thermoplastic resin transfer moulding (TP-RTM) were investigated. Two different fibre sizings were compared, a specially-developed novel reactive fibre sizing and a standard silane glass fibre sizing. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and a number of mass-loss techniques were employed to study the form, distribution, quantity and degradation temperature of the fibre sizings. Activated PA-6 monomer precursor materials with viscosities of ∼10 mPa s were injected into the glass-fibre fabrics, contained between heated press platens, and polymerisation occurred in-situ within several minutes. Glass-fabric laminates with fibre volume fractions of ∼53% and low void content were produced at a pressure of ∼4 bar, with the low viscosity of the monomer negating the need for expensive high-pressure injection. Similar quality between the laminates was demonstrated by measuring density, thickness, fibre volume fraction, void content and fibre bundle distribution. Transverse mechanical properties of the composites reinforced with the novel reactive sizing were 20–28% higher than those with the standard fibre sizings, demonstrating improved fibre-matrix interfacial properties. Average mode I fracture toughness was also measured to be 10–30% higher than with the standard fibre sizing. Scanning electron microscopy and 3D depth composition were used to investigate fracture surfaces and determine the surface roughness. The novel reactive fibre sizing resulted in improved fibre-matrix adhesion and improved fracture toughness

Temporal trends in incidence of time-loss injuries in four male professional North American sports over 13 seasons

Sports-related injuries increase healthcare cost burden, and in some instances have harmful long term physical and psychological implications. There is currently a lack of comprehensive data on temporal injury trends across professional North American sports. The purpose of this study was to compare temporal trends, according to incidence and time-loss injuries, by body part in professional baseball, basketball, football, and ice hockey. Public injury data from Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League, and National Hockey League from 2007 to December 2019 were extracted and used. A mean of 62.49 injuries per 100 players per season was recorded for all professional sports. The groin/hip/thigh reported the greatest season proportional injury incidence for baseball, football, and ice hockey, with the groin/hip/thigh as the third highest injury incidence in basketball. When stratifying by more specific body part groupings, the knee demonstrated the greatest injury proportional incidence for basketball, football, and ice hockey, with the knee as the third highest proportional injury incidence for baseball. There was an increased in basketball ankle injuries following 2011-2012 season. Football and ice hockey reported the greatest concussion proportion incidence, with football demonstrating an increase in concussions over time, and a substantial increase in concussions from the 2014 to 2015 season. These publicly extracted data and findings can be used as a shared resource for professional baseball, basketball, football, and ice hockey for future individual and across sport collaborations concerning resource allocation and decision making in order to improve player health

Towards a common approach to the assessment of the environmental status of deep-sea ecosystems in areas beyond national jurisdiction

Many of the marine policy frameworks developed to protect biodiversity in deep-sea areas, including areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), include indicators to assess policy objectives. These frameworks often have specific guidance on how the indicators should be applied and interpreted. Selection of indicators is an important process and those with strong scientific underpinnings are more likely to produce the expected outcomes. We reviewed three policy and assessment frameworks which include ABNJ regions or were developed specifically for ABNJ: (1) Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) ecosystem assessments, (2) the frameworks adopted to implement the UN General Assembly (UNGA) sustainable fisheries resolutions for the management of bottom fisheries to prevent Significant Adverse Impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems, and (3) the Aichi Biodiversity Targets adopted by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). We examined whether an assessment approach based on evaluation of Good Environmental Status (GES) under the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), could be applied to ABNJ. We examined each MSFD descriptor for its applicability to deep-sea habitats considering the work of two European projects concluding that the MSFD could be applied to ABNJ to support OSPAR, UNGA and CBD policy objectives towards a common approach to the assessment of the status of deep-sea ecosystems in ABNJ. In achieving this we also introduce readers outside of Europe to the work conducted within the MSFD

Can the orbital distribution of Neptune's 3:2 mean motion resonance result from stability sculpting?

We explore a simplified model of the outcome of an early outer Solar System gravitational upheaval during which objects were captured into Neptune's 3:2 mean motion resonance via scattering rather than smooth planetary migration. We use N-body simulations containing the Sun, the four giant planets, and test particles in the 3:2 resonance to determine whether long-term stability sculpting over 4.5 Gyr can reproduce the observed 3:2 resonant population from an initially randomly scattered 3:2 population. After passing our simulated 3:2 resonant objects through a survey simulator, we find that the semimajor axis (a) and eccentricity (e) distributions are consistent with the observational data (assuming an absolute magnitude distribution constrained by prior studies), suggesting that these could be a result of stability sculpting. However, the inclination (i) distribution cannot be produced be stability sculpting and thus must result from a distinct process that excited the inclinations. Our simulations modestly under-predict the number of objects with high libration amplitudes (A{\phi}), possibly because we do not model transient sticking. Finally, our model under-populates the Kozai subresonance compared to both observations and to smooth migration models. Future work is needed to determine whether smooth migration occurring as Neptune's eccentricity damped to its current value can resolve this discrepancy.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure

Measuring the effects of listening for leisure on outcome after stroke (MELLO):A pilot randomized controlled trial of mindful music listening

Background: Cognitive deficits and low mood are common post-stroke. Music listening is suggested to have beneficial effects on cognition, while mindfulness may improve mood. Combining these approaches may enhance cognitive recovery and improve mood early post-stroke. Aims: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a novel mindful music listening intervention. Methods: A parallel group randomized controlled feasibility trial with ischemic stroke patients, comparing three groups; mindful music listening, music listening and audiobook listening (control group), eight weeks intervention. Feasibility was measured using adherence to protocol and questionnaires. Cognition (including measures of verbal memory and attention) and mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) were assessed at baseline, end of intervention and at six-months post-stroke. Results: Seventy-two participants were randomized to mindful music listening (n = 23), music listening (n = 24), or audiobook listening (n = 25). Feasibility and acceptability measures were encouraging: 94% fully consistent with protocol; 68.1% completing ≥6/8 treatment visits; 80–107% listening adherence; 83% retention to six-month endpoint. Treatment effect sizes for cognition at six month follow-up ranged from d = 0.00 ([−0.64,0.64], music alone), d = 0.31, ([0.36,0.97], mindful music) for list learning; to d = 0.58 ([0.06,1.11], music alone), d = 0.51 ([−0.07,1.09], mindful music) for immediate story recall; and d = 0.67 ([0.12,1.22], music alone), d = 0.77 ([0.16,1.38]mindful music) for attentional switching compared to audiobooks. No signal of change was seen for mood. A definitive study would require 306 participants to detect a clinically substantial difference in improvement (z-score difference = 0.66, p = 0.017, 80% power) in verbal memory (delayed story recall). Conclusions: Mindful music listening is feasible and acceptable post-stroke. Music listening interventions appear to be a promising approach to improving recovery from stroke

Documenting ---- in Bloomington-Normal: A Community Report on Intolerance, Segregation, Accessibility, Inclusion, and Progress, and Improvement

For the local chapter of Not In Our Town, we document intolerance, discrimination, segregation, disparities of access, and disparities in the criminal justice system in Bloomington-Normal, IL. Using archival material, secondary data, and primary data, we examine these issues from the mid-1990s to the present. We also assess the position of the organization in the community and provide strategies for future success. In sum, Bloomington-Normal was and is intolerant; discrimination did and does take place in this community; there are disparities of access and in the criminal justice system; we are segregated. The community is also less of these things than it used to be and is less of these things than other places. Fifteen undergraduate students in Sociology 300, twelve graduate students in Sociology 477, a teaching assistant, and an instructor conducted this study in spring 2017