Walk to Jerusalem: Facilitating physical activity in a faith community

Obesity and physical inactivity are on the rise in our society today. Combined with poor eating habits, many Americans are overweight or obese. Churches have become important settings for providing health education programs, especially for African-American populations. There have been mixed results from faith-based physical activity studies, and few have been conducted with Caucasian populations. The present study used the Walk to Jerusalem program as a motivational tool within a Caucasian faith-based setting. The objectives were to increase physical activity, decrease blood pressure and weight, if needed, and improve attitude toward physical activity. The primary objective of the project was achieved as the results showed a significant increase in level of physical activity from pre to post-program. There were no significant differences in weight or blood pressure. Faith-based settings can be useful for proving health promotion and education programs, especially for those lacking access to health care, but more long-term studies are needed

Parametric Representation of Tactile Numerosity in Working Memory

Estimated numerosity perception is processed in an approximate number system (ANS) that resembles the perception of a continuous magnitude. The ANS consists of a right lateralized frontoparietal network comprising the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and the intraparietal sulcus. Although the ANS has been extensively investigated, only a few studies have focused on the mental representation of retained numerosity estimates. Specifically, the underlying mechanisms of estimated numerosity working memory (WM) is unclear. Besides numerosities, as another form of abstract quantity, vibrotactile WM studies provide initial evidence that the right LPFC takes a central role in maintaining magnitudes. In the present fMRI multivariate pattern analysis study, we designed a delayed match-to-numerosity paradigm to test what brain regions retain approximate numerosity memoranda. In line with parametric WM results, our study found numerosity-specific WM representations in the right LPFC as well as in the supplementary motor area and the left premotor cortex extending into the superior frontal gyrus, thus bridging the gap in abstract quantity WM literature

Processing Unidirectional E-Mail Memos for Preservation and Access

[Excerpt] As with most institutions, Michigan State University now communicates official university business through e-mail messages rather than traditional paper memos. The university’s IT Services department periodically sends out aggregations of these Deans, Directors, and Chairs (DDC) messages that originate in various offices and departments. Many of the messages include supplementary information as attachments, typically in PDF, DOC, XSL, and/or PPT file formats. Per MSU’s retention schedules, DDC messages have historical value and must be preserved and made accessible. The original file formats—MSG (Windows PC) or EML (Apple Macintosh)—could be converted to MBOX or EML (if necessary), de facto preservation format standards for e-mail, and accessed in nearly any e-mail program. With the DDC messages functioning as unidirectional memos, however, the University Archives & Historical Collections (UAHC) decided to take a simpler approach and convert them to PDF format. The original appearance of the message would be retained, including the header

What Drives the Success of Pop-Up Stores?

Pop-up stores are considered an alternative or a further development of the pioneering flagship store concept. They describe a temporary store concept that displays products in an unexpected way to attract the consumers’ attention (Hutter 2013). So far, this store format has mainly been applied to the USA and the UK, and has been insufficiently studied. This paper summarizes interim results of a pilot study on pop-up stores, which focuses on identifying factors for their success.Pop-up Stores stellen eine konzeptionelle Weiterentwicklung von Flagship Stores dar. Pop-Up Stores beschreiben ein zeitlich limitiertes Storekonzept, bei dem Produkte in einer ungewöhnlichen und finanziell erschwinglichen Art und Weise dem Kunden präsentiert werden (Hutter 2013). Bislang wird dieses neuartige Storekonzept überwiegend in den USA und in UK praktiziert und wissenschaftlich diskutiert. Der vorliegende Beitrag fasst erste Zwischenergebnisse einer Pilotstudie zu den Erfolgsfaktoren von Pop-up Stores zusammen

Poetry Unit (2-4th grade)

This unit covers a range of poetry topics covered throughout grades 2nd-4th. The focus of the unit is on the structure and elements of poetry such as rhyme, imagery, and playful language. Topics include, limericks, cinquain, haiku, and free verse

e-Learning to Aid International Student Transition: A Case Study.

The number of International Students at Australian Universities has grown substantially and this has been beneficial to University communities. However, this presents some challenges due to the diverse backgrounds of incoming students. Areas of diversity include English language skills, cultural backgrounds, technical knowledge, IT skills, exposure to e-learning, learning experiences and expectations. In order to address these issues, we have introduced an Experimental Design Module that is done at the beginning of semester. The students work towards producing a written piece of work but the process is divided into a range of integrated exercises. Through these exercises, the students are introduced to a range of e-learning tools such as discussion boards, e-quizzes, online lectures and tutorials. In the process, they get to know other students in the class which helps with social integration. They are also shown some examples of Australian professional communication skills and get to practice using them. All of the exercises improve their scientific English language skills. This exercise has improved independent learning and performance in the topic