A Potential Framework For An Internship Learning Program In Sport Management

The purpose of this thesis is to create a potential framework described as the Internship Learning Program (ILP). The foundation that drives the potential framework, the experiential learning theory, Master of Science of Organizational Dynamics at University of Pennsylvania, my educational and professional experience, research and scholarly works are intertwined throughout as they inform subsequent elements of the ILP. Internships are interwoven among three stakeholders; the university, the intern and the potential employer. This Capstone examines the goals and structure to maximize the benefit for the student, university and employer. A summary is presented highlighting next steps

Altered growth patterns of a mountain Ok population of Papua New Guinea over 25 years of change

Context The Mountain Ok (Mt Ok) people of Telefomin, who live at the interior of Papua New Guinea (PNG), were documented over 25 years ago to be one of the shortest populations on record, with average adult height below the fifth percentile (US). Serum Growth Hormone was detectable, Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 and serum indicators of protein nutritional status fell within the normal range, suggesting that these were not primary factors for their relative short stature. Objective Since the Telefolmin people have experienced recent socioeconomic changes, they were re-evaluated in 2008, to examine height, weight, and body mass index (BMI), for insight into relative contributions of environment and other factors that modulate stature in children and adults. Study Design and Setting Cross-sectional anthropometric data were collected from 474 individuals at Telefomin in 2008, and compared with anthropometric data from 342 individuals measured in 1983. Results The height of Telefolmin subjects, below the fifth percentile in 1983, remained below the fifth percentile in 2008. Weight and BMI of peripubertal and adult age groups increased from 1983 to 2008. Male and female heights at peripubertal ages were significantly greater in 2008. Nevertheless, final adult height did not change significantly over the 25 years. Conclusions Recent socioeconomic changes appear to contribute to increased weight, BMI, and stature at younger ages in the Mt Ok at Telefomin. In contrast, unchanging adult stature may reflect a delay in the impact of socioeconomic changes, or genetic influences that modulate responsiveness to other growth regulators. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83759/1/21134_ftp.pd

Analysis of Coaxial Soil Cell in Reflection and Transmission

Accurate measurement of moisture content is a prime requirement in hydrological, geophysical and biogeochemical research as well as for material characterization and process control. Within these areas, accurate measurements of the surface area and bound water content is becoming increasingly important for providing answers to many fundamental questions ranging from characterization of cotton fiber maturity, to accurate characterization of soil water content in soil water conservation research to bio-plant water utilization to chemical reactions and diffusions of ionic species across membranes in cells as well as in the dense suspensions that occur in surface films. In these bound water materials, the errors in the traditional time-domain-reflectometer, “TDR”, exceed the range of the full span of the material’s permittivity that is being measured. Thus, there is a critical need to re-examine the TDR system and identify where the errors are to direct future research. One promising technique to address the increasing demands for higher accuracy water content measurements is utilization of electrical permittivity characterization of materials. This technique has enjoyed a strong following in the soil-science and geological community through measurements of apparent permittivity via time-domain-reflectometery as well in many process control applications. Recent research however, is indicating a need to increase the accuracy beyond that available from traditional TDR. The most logical pathway then becomes a transition from TDR based measurements to network analyzer measurements of absolute permittivity that will remove the adverse effects that high surface area soils and conductivity impart onto the measurements of apparent permittivity in traditional TDR applications. This research examines the theoretical basis behind the coaxial probe, from which the modern TDR probe originated from, to provide a basis on which to perform absolute permittivity measurements. The research reveals currently utilized formulations in accepted techniques for permittivity measurements which violate the underlying assumptions inherent in the basic models due to the TDR acting as an antenna by radiating energy off the end of the probe, rather than returning it back to the source as is the current assumption. To remove the effects of radiation from the experimental results obtain herein, this research utilized custom designed coaxial probes of various diameters and probe lengths by which to test the coaxial cell measurement technique for accuracy in determination of absolute permittivity. In doing so, the research reveals that the basic models available in the literature all omitted a key correction factor that is hypothesized by this research as being most likely due to fringe capacitance. To test this theory, a Poisson model of a coaxial cell was formulated to calculate the effective extra length provided by the fringe capacitance which is then used to correct the experimental results such that experimental measurements utilizing differing coaxial cell diameters and probe lengths, upon correction with the Poisson model derived correction factor, all produce the same results thereby lending support for the use of an augmented measurement technique, described herein, for measurement of absolute permittivity, as opposed to the traditional TDR measurement of apparent permittivity

Informing Practice through Collaborative Partnerships

This paper focuses on students and their teacher engaging in authentic tasks and materials couched in problem-oriented formats within meaningful learning contexts that foster thinking and learning. Authentic in that students construct meaning from real data and are asked to make sense of the world around them. Students pursue individual paths of inquiry using critical and imaginative thinking, and engage in social and solitary contexts that involve them in writing, intervening, and reflecting on ideas gleaned from conversations and readings (electronic and conventional) with a university educator and NASA science educator. The process engages students in formal skills such as written communication, literacy, logic, and calculation using an innovative electronic interactive network. Evaluations of timed writings, concept maps, and Vee diagrams are presente

Associations between cadmium exposure and neurocognitive test scores in a cross-sectional study of US adults

Background: Low-level environmental cadmium exposure and neurotoxicity has not been well studied in adults. Our goal was to evaluate associations between neurocognitive exam scores and a biomarker of cumulative cadmium exposure among adults in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Methods: NHANES III is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of the U.S. population conducted between 1988 and 1994. We analyzed data from a subset of participants, age 20–59, who participated in a computer-based neurocognitive evaluation. There were four outcome measures: the Simple Reaction Time Test (SRTT: visual motor speed), the Symbol Digit Substitution Test (SDST: attention/perception), the Serial Digit Learning Test (SDLT) trials-to-criterion, and the SDLT total-error-score (SDLT-tests: learning recall/short-term memory). We fit multivariable-adjusted models to estimate associations between urinary cadmium concentrations and test scores. Results: 5662 participants underwent neurocognitive screening, and 5572 (98%) of these had a urinary cadmium level available. Prior to multivariable-adjustment, higher urinary cadmium concentration was associated with worse performance in each of the 4 outcomes. After multivariable-adjustment most of these relationships were not significant, and age was the most influential variable in reducing the association magnitudes. However among never-smokers with no known occupational cadmium exposure the relationship between urinary cadmium and SDST score (attention/perception) was significant: a 1 μg/L increase in urinary cadmium corresponded to a 1.93% (95%CI: 0.05, 3.81) decrement in performance. Conclusions: These results suggest that higher cumulative cadmium exposure in adults may be related to subtly decreased performance in tasks requiring attention and perception, particularly among those adults whose cadmium exposure is primarily though diet (no smoking or work based cadmium exposure). This association was observed among exposure levels that have been considered to be without adverse effects and these levels are common in U.S. adults. Thus further research into the potential neurocognitive effects of cadmium exposure is warranted. Because cumulative cadmium exposure may mediate some of the effects of age and smoking on cognition, adjusting for these variables may result in the underestimation of associations with cumulative cadmium exposure. Prospective studies that include never-smokers and non-occupationally exposed individuals are needed to clarify these issues

On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Brief of Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., National Association of Manufacturers, Business Roundtable, and Chemical Manufacturers Association as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent, William Daubert and Joyce Daubert, Individually and as Guardians Ad Litem for Jason Daubert, and Anita De Young, Individually and as Gaurdian Ad Litem for Eric Schuller v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

The Federal Rules of Evidence exclude expert scientific testimony when it has been developed without regard for accepted scientific methods. This case focuses on expert scientific evidence. Such evidence plays a vital and often dispositive role in modern litigation. For scientific evidence to be helpful to the factfinder it must meet some minimal threshold of reliability. To hold otherwise would be to allow a system of adjudication based more on chance than on reason

Extinctions and Correlations for Uniformly Discrete Point Processes with Pure Point Dynamical Spectra

The paper investigates how correlations can completely specify a uniformly discrete point process. The setting is that of uniformly discrete point sets in real space for which the corresponding dynamical hull is ergodic. The first result is that all of the essential physical information in such a system is derivable from its $n$-point correlations, $n= 2, 3, >...$. If the system is pure point diffractive an upper bound on the number of correlations required can be derived from the cycle structure of a graph formed from the dynamical and Bragg spectra. In particular, if the diffraction has no extinctions, then the 2 and 3 point correlations contain all the relevant information.Comment: 16 page

Soil profile method for soil thermal diffusivity, conductivity and heat flux: Comparison to soil heat flux plates

Diffusive heat flux at the soil surface is commonly determined as a mean value over a time period using heat flux plates buried at some depth (e.g., 5–8 cm) below the surface with a correction to surface flux based on the change in heat storage during the corresponding time period in the soil layer above the plates. The change in heat storage is based on the soil temperature change in the layer over the time period and an estimate of the soil thermal heat capacity that is based on soil water content, bulk density and organic matter content. One- or multiple-layer corrections using some measure of mean soil temperature over the layer depth are common; and in some cases the soil water content has been determined, although rarely. Several problems with the heat flux plate method limit the accuracy of soil heat flux values. An alternative method is presented and this flux gradient method is compared with soil heat flux plate measurements. The method is based on periodic (e.g., half-hourly) water content and temperature sensing at multiple depths within the soil profile and a solution of the Fourier heat flux equation. A Fourier sine series is fit to the temperature at each depth and the temperature at the next depth below is simulated with a sine series solution of the differential heat flux equation using successive approximation of the best fit based on changing the thermal diffusivity value. The best fit thermal diffusivity value is converted to a thermal conductivity value using the soil heat capacity, which is based on the measured water content and bulk density. A statistical analysis of the many data resulting from repeated application of this method is applied to describe the thermal conductivity as a function of water content and bulk density. The soil heat flux between each pair of temperature measurement depths is computed using the thermal conductivity function and measured water contents. The thermal gradient method of heat flux calculation compared well to values determined using heat flux plates and calorimetric correction to the soil surface; and it provided better representation of the surface spatiotemporal variation of heat flux and more accurate heat flux values. The overall method resulted in additional important knowledge including the water content dynamics in the near-surface soil profile and a soil-specific function relating thermal conductivity to soil water content and bulk density