INDICATORS OF INHABITANT, HOUSEHOLD, FAMILY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: SOUTH CAROLINA AND NORTH CAROLINA

Social and economic futures are dependent on numbers of housing units, families, households and individuals, and on many characteristics of aggregate populations. Research reported in this manuscript is focused on the states of North Carolina and South Carolina and the counties therein. The chief concern is change; e.g., numerical and percentage increase or decrease. These dynamics refer to basic components of population: births, deaths and residential relocation.Consumer/Household Economics,

Improving the viability of mental models held by novice programmers

Recent research has found that many novice programmers often hold non-viable mental models of basic programming concepts such as assignment and object reference. This paper proposes a constructivist-based teaching model, integrating a cognitive conflict strategy with program visualization, with the aim of improving novice programmers’ mental models. The results of a preliminary empirical study suggest that, for the relatively straightforward concept of assignment, tight integration of program visualization with a cognitive conflict event that highlights a student’s inappropriate understanding can help improve students’ non-viable mental models. 14 out of 18 participants who held non-viable mental models of the assignment process successfully changed their model to be viable as a result of the proposed teaching model

A Heuristic Approach to Creating Technological Fair Use Guidelines in Higher Education

Higher education has experienced challenges defining and implementing copyright compliance. Confusion among faculty and staff appears to be common regarding copyright and fair use. The original copyright doctrine was drafted over 200 years ago, which predates practically all technological advances that have and will continue to occur. Change is slow and onerous with most legislation; there is not much possibility the small amendments made to the law will be able to keep pace with the continual technological evolution. Further, judges are citing precedents in court rulings of copyright disputes that were made using the best interpretation of the law, even though those earlier adjudicators had nothing concrete upon which to base decisions. The cycle of loose interpretations further exacerbates the copyright and fair use problem involving technology. Moreover, this concern has been magnified due to the digital nature of lesson delivery most learning institutions are adopting today. The rapid, widespread move toward online learning methods creates an entire set of copyright and fair use circumstances that extend beyond the traditional, face-to-face pedagogical issues. Invariably, schools will be left to attempt to decide what will be considered legal and safe, often by trial and error, until clearer, universally accepted guidelines can be created. A group consensus for best practice was achieved over three rounds of surveying with the help of a Delphi panel highly experienced in copyright laws. Opinions converged early during the process, where proper fair use assessment was one of the major themes appearing during the first round. Respondents also agreed future educators will undoubtedly continue to struggle with fully understanding the intricacies of fair use. An overall consensus reached for many questions was sufficient for answering the proposed research questions and drafting a list of recommendations for technological fair use. The outcome should add to the existing knowledge base, given the limited number of studies that have been conducted regarding the complexities of copyright topics in distance and online education. Recommendations for further investigations encourages researchers to continue where this effort ends to remain current and compliant with the ubiquitous changes in technologies

Foray search: An effective systematic dispersal strategy in fragmented landscapes

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, population models generally assume that the dispersal trajectories of animals are random, but systematic dispersal could be more efficient at detecting new habitat and may therefore constitute a more realistic assumption. Here, we investigate, by means of simulations, the properties of a potentially widespread systematic dispersal strategy termed "foray search." Foray search was more efficient in detecting suitable habitat than was random dispersal in most landscapes and was less subject to energetic constraints. However, it also resulted in considerably shorter net dispersed distances and higher mortality per net dispersed distance than did random dispersal, and it would therefore be likely to lead to lower dispersal rates toward the margins of population networks. Consequently, the use of foray search by dispersers could crucially affect the extinction-colonization balance of metapopulations and the evolution of dispersal rates. We conclude that population models need to take the dispersal trajectories of individuals into account in order to make reliable predictions

The City Gesture Checklist: The development of a novel gesture assessment

Background People with aphasia rely on gesture more than healthy controls to get their message across, but use a limited range of gesture types. Gesture therapy is thus a potential avenue of intervention for people with aphasia. However, currently no gesture assessment evaluates how they use gesture. Such a tool could inform therapy targets and measure outcomes. In gesture research, many different coding categories are used to describe gesture forms and functions. These coding methods are prohibitively time‐consuming to use in clinical practice. There is therefore a need for a ‘quick and dirty’ method of assessing gesture use. Aims To investigate current practice among UK‐based clinicians (speech and language therapists) in relation to gesture assessment and therapy, to synthesize gesture‐coding frameworks used in aphasia research, to develop a gesture checklist based on the synthesized coding frameworks suitable for use in clinical practice, and to investigate the interrater reliability (IRR) of the checklist among experienced and unfamiliar users. Methods & Procedures The research team synthesized seven gesture‐coding frameworks and trialled three resulting prototype checklists at a co‐design workshop with 20 clinicians. Attending clinicians were also consulted about their current clinical gesture practice using a questionnaire. A final City Gesture Checklist (CGC) was developed based upon outcomes and feedback from the workshop. The IRR of the CGC was evaluated between the research team and 11 further clinicians within a second workshop. Both groups used the CGC to count gestures in video clips of people with aphasia talking to a conversation partner. Main Contribution A total of 18 workshop attendees completed the current practice questionnaire. Of these, 10 reported assessing gesture informally and five also used formal assessment. Gesture‐coding synthesis highlighted six main categories of gesture form. Clinicians at the co‐design workshop provided feedback on prototype checklists regarding the relevance and usability of the gesture categories, layout, use of images and instructions. A final version of the CGC was created incorporating their recommendations. The IRR for the CGC was moderate between both the researchers and clinicians. Conclusions & Implications The CGC can be used to assess the types of gesture that people with aphasia produce. The IRR was moderate amongst both experienced users and new users who had received no training. Future research directions include investigating how to improve IRR, evaluating intra‐rater reliability and sensitivity to change, and exploring use of the CGC in clinical practice

Novel Application of a Performance Prediction Model During Altered Running Gait Strategies

Currently, there is limited research demonstrating that gait retraining can significantly impact running economy and subsequent running performance in distance runners with most of the research showing no or minimal change. Recently, a novel model was developed that predicts running performance based on changes in running economy but has not previously been applied when altering running gait strategies. PURPOSE: The goal of the study was to determine the effect of altering running strategy on predicted running performance in distance runners through application of this novel prediction model. METHODS: Fifteen male (n=10; Age: 22.2 ± 4.9 years; Height: 177.7 ± 7.4 cm; Mass: 68.6 ± 6.7 kg) and female (n=5; Age: 21.8 ± 4.1 years; Height: 167.4 ± 7.8 cm; Mass: 59.3 ± 8.1 kg) long distance runners were recruited to participate in the study. Participants’ oxygen consumption (VO2) and carbon dioxide (VCO2) were measured by a metabolic cart using a face mask. After a brief warm-up, participants rested for the initial five minutes then ran at their preferred speed for five minutes. Participants rested for another five minutes while their oxygen consumption returned to baseline measurements and ran for five minutes while increasing step rate by 7.5%. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between conditions for VO2 measurements and energetic cost (P \u3e 0.05). There was also no significant difference in the baseline speed and predicted speed resulting from the increase in step rate (P \u3e 0.05). CONCLUSION: Increasing stride rate 7.5% resulted in an average decrease in predicted running speed of 1%. While statistically insignificant, small decrements in running speed can accrue over time and negatively impact running performance

Assessing the Validity of a Performance Prediction Model for Use With Gait Retraining

A common strategy that athletic trainers and high-performance athletes use to manage and treat running-related injuries is gait retraining. However, the research is equivocal on how gait retraining can affect running economy and subsequent running performance in distance runners. A new prediction model was developed that predicts running performance based on oxygen consumption changes, however, it is unclear if this model is valid and can accurately be used to predict running performance as a result of gait retraining. PURPOSE: The goal of the study was to determine the validity of the performance prediction model, particularly when applied to gait retraining. METHODS: Sixteen male (n = 5) and female (n = 11) long-distance runners were recruited to participate in the study. Participants’ oxygen consumption (VO2) and carbon dioxide (VCO2) were measured by a metabolic cart using a face mask. Oxygen consumption was measured at baseline, immediately post-, and 4 weeks post-retraining. The prediction model applied used VO2 changes after retraining resulting in a predicted velocity, which was then compared to the actual velocity measured at the running trials. RESULTS: It was determined that there was a significant correlation between the observed and predicted velocities post-retraining (r = 0.90; P \u3c 0.001) and at follow-up (r = 0.72; P = 0.002). Additionally, the differences in observed and predicted velocities was not significantly associated with body surface area (P \u3e 0.05) and the model did not demonstrate any systemic bias when predicting velocity. CONCLUSION: It appears that the prediction model has no systematic bias and that model variability was not associated with body surface area. This model appears to be valid when predicting velocity (performance) under gait retraining conditions

A Comparison of Quadriceps -to-Hamstrings Ratios During Isokinetic Testing, Cutting, and Drop Landings in Male Soccer Players

Collegiate soccer is not an unusual place to suffer a knee injury. The sport has many dynamic movements, such as cutting, jumping and shooting. Many professionals use quadriceps-to-hamstring (Q/H) ratios as a tool to determine when an injured player can to return to game play or use the ratio to investigate how predisposed a certain player is to sustaining a knee injury. However, many of these ratios are taken in isokinetic testing in a controlled environment and to our knowledge it is unknown if these ratios are similar to those measured during dynamic activity. Therefore, this study investigated if there was a relationship between Q/H ratios measured during isokinetic testing and drop landings and cutting. Fifteen Division 2 collegiate male soccer players (age: 19.79 ± 1.25 years; height: 176.74 ± 6.22 cm; weight: 77.24 ± 11.01 kg). Wearing Athlos© compression shorts participants performed isokinetic testing, drop landings and cutting drills while muscle activity was measured. A significant difference was found between the bilateral Q/H ratios during the drop landings (p = 0.04; h = 0.49). There were no significant bilateral differences measured during the cutting drills in either direction and isokinetic testing (p \u3e 0.05). Additionally, there was so significant relationship in Q/H ratios between isokinetic testing and the dynamic movements (p\u3e 0.05). This suggests that clinicians should use Q/H ratios during dynamic movements rather than isokinetic testing in a controlled environment to better assess player risk disposition and return-to-play criteria

HFPK 334: An unusual Supernova Remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud

We present new Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) radio-continuum and XMM-Newton/Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) observations of the unusual supernova remnant HFPK 334 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The remnant follows a shell type morphology in the radio-continuum and has a size of $\sim$20~pc at the SMC distance. The X-ray morphology is similar, however, we detect a prominent point source close to the center of the SNR exhibiting a spectrum with a best fit powerlaw with a photon index of $\Gamma = 2.7 \pm 0.5$. This central point source is most likely a background object and cannot be directly associated with the remnant. The high temperature, nonequilibrium conditions in the diffuse region suggest that this gas has been recently shocked and point toward a younger SNR with an age of $\lesssim 1800$ years. With an average radio spectral index of $\alpha=-0.59\pm0.09$ we find that an equipartition magnetic field for the remnant is $\sim$90~$\mu$G, a value typical of younger SNRs in low-density environments. Also, we report detection of scattered radio polarisation across the remnant at 20~cm, with a peak fractional polarisation level of 25$\pm$5\%.Comment: 19 pages, 6-figures, submitted to A