Foam Rolling as a Warm-up: The Effect on Lower Extremity Flexibility Compared to Aerobic and Stretching Protocols

Foam rolling has recently become popular in the realms of athletic training, strength and conditioning, and fitness enthusiasts as a means to decrease stiffness, improve flexibility, and manage pain . However, little is known about the physiological effects of foam rolling or its role in improving flexibility pre- or post-exercise. The purpose of this project is to examine and compare the effects of foam rolling, aerobic cycling, and stretching on lower extremity flexibility. Nineteen participants (10 female, 9 male) volunteered to test sit-and-reach flexibility after performing four different warm-up protocols on different days. The warm-up protocols were: Foam Rolling for five minutes, aerobic cycling for five minutes, stretching for five minutes, or lying supine for five minutes (control). A one-way repeated measures ANOVA test was used to determine significant difference (p \u3e 0.05) compared to the control group. Results indicate that foam rolling, cycling, and stretching significantly improved lower body sit-and-reach scores over the control. No significant differences were found between protocols

Spatial Concentration of Opioid Overdose Deaths in Indianapolis: An Application of the Law of Crime Concentration at Place to a Public Health Epidemic

The law of crime concentration at place has become a criminological axiom and the foundation for one of the strongest evidence-based policing strategies to date. Using longitudinal data from three sources, emergency medical service calls, death toxicology reports from the Marion County (Indiana) Coroner’s Office, and police crime data, we provide four unique contributions to this literature. First, this study provides the first spatial concentration estimation of opioid-related deaths. Second, our findings support the spatial concentration of opioid deaths and the feasibility of this approach for public health incidents often outside the purview of traditional policing. Third, we find that opioid overdose death hot spots spatially overlap with areas of concentrated violence. Finally, we apply a recent method, corrected Gini coefficient, to best specify low-N incident concentrations and propose a novel method for improving upon a shortcoming of this approach. Implications for research and interventions are discussed

Why Do Molecules Echo Atomic Periodicity?

Franck–Condon factors are investigated for sequences of free main-group diatomic molecules. Theory-based Condon loci (parabolas) and Morse-potential loci are plotted on Deslandres tables to verify if they, indeed, follow the largest Franck–Condon factors. Then, the inclination angles of the Condon loci are determined. Thus, entire band systems are quantified by one variable, the angle. For all available isoelectronic sequences, this angle increases from a central minimum toward magic-number molecular boundaries. The theory for the Condon locus gives the angle in terms of the ratio of the upperstate to the lower-state force constants. It is concluded that the periodicity is caused due to the fact that this ratio becomes larger as rare-gas molecules are approached, a trend that probably points to the extreme cases of the rare-gas molecules themselves. Thus, molecular periodicity echoes atomic periodicity in that data plots have extrema at molecules with magic-number atoms, yet it does not echo the details of atomic periodicity in series between those molecules

Point Process Modeling of Drug Overdoses with Heterogeneous and Missing Data

Opioid overdose rates have increased in the United States over the past decade and reflect a major public health crisis. Modeling and prediction of drug and opioid hotspots, where a high percentage of events fall in a small percentage of space-time, could help better focus limited social and health services. In this work we present a spatial-temporal point process model for drug overdose clustering. The data input into the model comes from two heterogeneous sources: 1) high volume emergency medical calls for service (EMS) records containing location and time, but no information on the type of non-fatal overdose and 2) fatal overdose toxicology reports from the coroner containing location and high-dimensional information from the toxicology screen on the drugs present at the time of death. We first use non-negative matrix factorization to cluster toxicology reports into drug overdose categories and we then develop an EM algorithm for integrating the two heterogeneous data sets, where the mark corresponding to overdose category is inferred for the EMS data and the high volume EMS data is used to more accurately predict drug overdose death hotspots. We apply the algorithm to drug overdose data from Indianapolis, showing that the point process defined on the integrated data outperforms point processes that use only homogeneous EMS (AUC improvement .72 to .8) or coroner data (AUC improvement .81 to .85).We also investigate the extent to which overdoses are contagious, as a function of the type of overdose, while controlling for exogenous fluctuations in the background rate that might also contribute to clustering. We find that drug and opioid overdose deaths exhibit significant excitation, with branching ratio ranging from .72 to .98

A Study of the Academic and Personal Impacts of a Literacy Intervention Course: Stories from Stakeholders

This study aims to illuminate, via the qualitative method of portraiture, the academic and personal impacts of both faculty and student stakeholders of a literacy intervention course, offered as an alternative to the traditional developmental reading model, taught at a regional southeastern United States four-year public university. Students who enrolled in the course from the semesters of fall 2012 to fall 2015 were given the opportunity to complete a survey about their experiences with the literacy intervention course. Faculty stakeholders were interviewed for their perspective on course creation, implementation, and delivery, focusing on the six curricular core competencies of reading strategies and reading guides; book club discussion; formal presentations; academic writing and research; motivation and responsibility; and work ethic and habit building. Utilizing the portraiture paradigm, the researcher crafted a narrative of the faculty and student stakeholders to “draw a picture” of the course and the experiences of those who have participated in it. When examined through the lens of Tinto’s theories of student success and the theory of transformational learning, the aesthetic whole of the course is unearthed, with extensive narrative from faculty and students alike to complete the narrative. The findings of this study offers insight into the perspectives of those deeply involved with the literacy intervention course. Students largely identified the course as influential on their success, with individual comments from students detailing specific elements of the course that impacted them

CRAFT DISTILLERY ARAK DI KARANGASEM

Arak Bali merupakan salah satu jenis minuman beralkohol tradisional yang terbuat dari hasil destilasi air nira kelapa, aren, atau lontar, yang dilegalkan oleh Gubernur Bali Wayan Koster pada awal tahun 2020 silam. Arak sendiri memiliki eksistensi yang kuat dalam keseharian masyarakat Bali, sebagai instrumen upacara keagamaan, adat, dan media silaturahmi. Sampai saat ini arak Bali masih diproduksi secara tradisional, oleh pengrajin perorangan yang merupakan petani kelapa, aren, atau lontar di daerah tertentu. Salah satu sentra produksi arak dengan jumlah pengrajin terbanyak terdapat di Desa Tri Eka Buana, Sidemen, Karangasem. Permintaan arak Bali setiap harinya semakin besar, dan peraturan legalisasi mengharuskan proses produksi secara legal untuk didasari standar-standar yang jelas guna menghindari praktek-praktek tidak bertanggung jawab yang dapat membahayakan semua pihak. Arak Bali juga diyakini memiliki potensi untuk bersaing di pasar internasional, dengan proses dan nilai-nilai kearifan lokal yang sarat makna serta memiliki daya tarik sendiri. Dari dasar-dasar inilah dirumuskan bahwa perancangan fasilitas craft distillery arak di Karangasem, Bali merupakan sebuah langkah bijak untuk mewadahi proses produksi dan mengembangkan eksistensi arak Bali sebagai warisan budaya lokal. Perancangan fasilitas craft distillery arak di Karangasem, Bali diharapkan dapat menjawab tuntutan produksi dalam skala lebih besar untuk para pengrajin di Desa Tri Eka Buana, Sidemen, berbasis standarisasi internasional untuk menciptakan lingkungan kerja yang efektif, efisien, aman dan nyaman. Potensi eksistensi arak sendiri juga dapat dikembangkan dengan merancang fasilitas yang juga mewadahi fungsi edu-tourism untuk kalangan tertentu, diwujudkan dalam sebuah bangunan yang mengadopsi bentuk serta tata ruang dalam arsitektur Bali Neo-Vernakular

Financial Adjustment and Couple Resilience in the Great Recession

This study examines economic and family implications of financial stressors and changes that couples experienced in the aftermath of the Great Recession as guided by Patterson’s (2002) Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response (FAAR) model. The sample consisted of a primarily middle-income group of 277 married and cohabiting couples; the couples were surveyed between 2008 and 2011 as part of the Flourishing Families Project. Findings from our path analysis showed that financial adjustments (e.g. cutting back on social activities and entertainment) in response to recession-era negative economic events were the source of economic pressure and couple relationship problems regarding finances. Prior levels of couple financial collaboration, however, partially offset these negative effects of the recession which was consistent with predictions from FAAR theory

An Experiential Approach to Mentoring Academic Leaders: Review, Practice, Report

This session presents a leadership development program where new department chairs discuss best practices and realistic challenges with seasoned chairs, helping all to improve their leadership skills through a supportive group process. The program includes a summer book study, monthly meetings, a department chair handbook, and leadership resources

Retention and Persistence in Higher Education: An Exploratory Study of Risk Factors and Milestones Impacting Second Semester Retention of Freshmen Students

This study investigated individual factors and milestones which may assist institutions in predicting first to second semester retention rates of freshmen students. While the data examined were limited to the student population enrolled at a rural community college, implications from the study could be meaningful for all institutions of higher education. The investigators examined extant data to determine whether exam scores, graduating high school GPAs/rank, and Pell Grant eligibility could be used as predictor variables in identifying students at-risk of leaving the institution. In addition, key milestones (time of registration, participation in a first year experience (FYE) course, declaring a major) were also examined to determine whether these events predicted retention. The study utilized a mixed methods approach analyzing quantitative data through linear regressions and Chi Squares that were obtained through agency records and closed-ended survey questions, while qualitative data was acquired through open-ended survey questions. Participants included 97 first-time freshmen enrolled at a southwest Missouri rural community college during the Fall 2015 semester and 1,150 students enrolled at the college between Fall 2011 and Fall 2013. The Fall 2015 first-time freshmen were asked to complete an online 24-item survey designed to extract both quantitative and qualitative data. The researchers found that ACT and Compass scores (with the exception of Compass Writing), and High School GPA/rank were strong predictors in determining first to second semester retention; however Pell Grant eligibility was found to be insignificant. Although the key milestones of time of registration, participation in a FYE course, and declaring a major were found to be insignificant in predicting retention rates of freshmen students, the qualitative data gathered suggested that the examined milestones had merit for a retention model

Photon pair generation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon microring resonators

We generate photon pairs in a-Si:H microrings using a CW pump, and find the Kerr coefficient of a-Si:H to be $3.73 \pm 0.25 \times 10^{-17}m^2/W$. By measuring the Q factor with coupled power we find that the loss in the a-Si:H micro-rings scales linearly with power, and therefore cannot originate from two photon absorption. Theoretically comparing a-Si:H and c-Si micro-ring pair sources, we show that the high Kerr coefficient of this sample of a-Si:H is best utilized for microrings with Q factors below $10^3$, but that for higher Q factor devices the photon pair rate is greatly suppressed due to the first order loss.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure