A biomechanical analysis of the farmers walk, and comparison with the deadlift and unloaded walk

This study compared the biomechanical characteristics of the farmers walk, deadlift and unloaded walk. Six experienced male strongman athletes performed farmers' walks and deadlifts at 70% of their 1RM deadlift. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were apparent at knees passing with the farmers lift demonstrating greater trunk extension, thigh angle, knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion. Significantly greater mean vertical and anterior forces were observed in the farmers lift than deadlift. The farmers walk demonstrated significantly greater peak forces and stride rates and significantly shorter stride lengths, ground contact times, and swing times than unloaded walk. Significantly greater dorsiflexion, knee flexion, thigh angle, and significantly lesser trunk angle at foot strike were also observed in the farmers walk. The farmers lift may be an effective lifting alternative to the deadlift, to generating more anterior-propulsive and vertical force with less stress to the lumbar spine due to the more vertical trunk position

A Coasian Approach to Efficient Water Allocation of a Transboundary River

The United States and Mexico recently resolved a decade-old water dispute that required Mexico to repay the accumulated water debt within one year. A Coasian analysis estimates the social welfare gains attainable to each country under an alternative debt repayment scheme that allows repayment over a longer time horizon and in a combination of dollars and water, instead of solely in water. Assuming average water supply conditions, under the agreed 1-year repayment contract, U.S. compensation value is 534% greater and Mexico’s compensation cost is 60% less relative to when compensation is paid exclusively in water.coase, water allocation, water compensation, water markets, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q1, Q2,

Risk premia in Australian interest rates

The level of and movements in interest rates and the exchange rate can have a substantial impact on the economic performance of Australia's primary industries. Whether a country and/or exchange risk premium has resulted in higher interest rates and increased volatility in the exchange rate is therefore important to these industries. There is some evidence that a small country risk premium may have emerged during the early 1990s. In line with earlier studies, however, no evidence was found of such a premium during the 1980s. A further finding is that any exchange risk premium may have declined over the last decade or so. Possible links between risk premia and Australia's foreign debt and current account deficits are also examined.Financial Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,

What Gives Workplaces a Family-Like Atmosphere? An Exploratory Study

Social identity theory suggests identities form through mechanisms established during peoples’ childhoods. Those mechanisms operate the processes through which people assess their individualistic qualities. In organizations, similar phenomena occur as employees develop organizational identity. To help organizations foster more beneficial organizational identity, family systems theory is applied to the investigation of employee needs. Lumpkin et al.’s (2008) conceptual work on family orientation offer a solid starting point for such investigations. Their conceptual dimensions of family orientation are blended with concepts related to individual needs. Together, those concepts were used to reflexively code data from a qualitative research design. Eleven interviews were conducted with participants from family firms and nonfamily firms. Results indicate workplaces do reflect certain family-like characteristics. Those characteristics are defined and specific actions reflective of those characteristics are discussed. The manuscript ends with a discussion of future efforts to empirically measure the family-like characteristics

Very Low Mass Stellar and Substellar Companions to Solar-like Stars from MARVELS. II. A Short-period Companion Orbiting an F Star with Evidence of a Stellar Tertiary and Significant Mutual Inclination

We report the discovery via radial velocity (RV) measurements of a short-period (P = 2.430420 ± 0.000006 days) companion to the F-type main-sequence star TYC 2930-00872-1. A long-term trend in the RV data also suggests the presence of a tertiary stellar companion with P > 2000 days. High-resolution spectroscopy of the host star yields T_(eff) = 6427 ± 33 K, log g = 4.52 ± 0.14, and [Fe/H] = –0.04 ± 0.05. These parameters, combined with the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) and a parallax, allow us to infer a mass and radius of the host star of M_1 = 1.21 ± 0.08 M_☉ and R_1 = 1.09^(+0.15)_(–0.13) R_☉. The minimum mass of the inner companion is below the hydrogen-burning limit; however, the true mass is likely to be substantially higher. We are able to exclude transits of the inner companion with high confidence. Further, the host star spectrum exhibits a clear signature of Ca H and K core emission, indicating stellar activity, but a lack of photometric variability and small v sin I suggest that the primary's spin axis is oriented in a pole-on configuration. The rotational period of the primary estimated through an activity-rotation relation matches the orbital period of the inner companion to within 1.5 σ, suggesting that the primary and inner companion are tidally locked. If the inner companion's orbital angular momentum vector is aligned with the stellar spin axis as expected through tidal evolution, then it has a stellar mass of ~0.3-0.4 M_☉. Direct imaging limits the existence of stellar companions to projected separations <30 AU. No set of spectral lines and no significant flux contribution to the SED from either companion are detected, which places individual upper mass limits of M_([2,3]) ≾ 1.0 M_☉, provided they are not stellar remnants. If the tertiary is not a stellar remnant, then it likely has a mass of ~0.5-0.6 M_☉, and its orbit is likely significantly inclined from that of the secondary, suggesting that the Kozai-Lidov mechanism may have driven the dynamical evolution of this system

The Measurement of Organizational Justice Matters: A Research Note

Objectives: This experiment addressed whether, when administering a survey to police managers, it is best to measure organizational justice using attitudinal questions tapping into perceived importance or behavioral self-reports. Methods: We administered a survey to a national probability sample of police executives using a split-ballot experimental design, where respondents randomly received items measuring either (a) the perceived importance of organizational justice or (b) the self-reported usage of organizational justice. Results: Perceived importance of organizational justice was not significantly associated with the perceived quality of relationships with subordinates. However, actual usage of organizational justice was, increasing the perceived quality of relationships (b = .554, p \u3c .001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that: 1) the measurement of organizational justice matters, and 2) mangers who believe organizational justice is important still sometimes fail to use it. Future research should measure the concept using behavioral reports and should seek to explain this importance-usage gap

The community development credit union : evaluating its success in improving the urban community

This study examines the fundamentals, operations, and performance of community development credit unions (COCUs) in urban communities throughout the Great Lakes region. It incorporates a system for evaluating their operation as well as an analysis of traits that can be linked to CDCU effectiveness. The two-pronged approach to the study begins with an evaluation matrix that utilizes a collection of criteria designated as performance benchmarks. Data collected via mail survey for each of the nine case studies are passed through the matrix, producing scores that provide a basis for comparison in the analysis section where a set of criteria is drafted to personify an ideally successful community development credit union. The analysis of trends within the case studies has produced the conclusion that effective CDCU operation is linked to a high loan-to-deposit ratio, presence of local small business support, and an existent level of citizen participation within the community. In addition, the thesis suggests continued improvement of small business lending and support as well as providing financial education programs for residents

Does Blood Flow Restriction Applied Post High-Load Exercise Augment Skeletal Muscle Growth Following Eight Weeks of Training?

The application of blood flow restriction during low load exercise has consistently been shown to augment muscle hypertrophy which has been attributed to metabolic accumulation. It remains unknown, however, whether metabolites can augment muscle growth independent of further mechanical tension, specifically when maintained post high-load training. Thirteen untrained individuals performed 24 training sessions. The control arm performed one set of elbow flexion (70% 1RM) exercise to volitional fatigue, while the experimental arm performed the same protocol immediately folloby 3 min of blood flow restriction (70% arterial occlusion). Both conditions completed the same volume (3687 vs. 3638 kg) of exercise. There was an interaction (p=0.031) demonstrating an attenuation of muscle growth at the 60% site in the experimental [pre: 3.1 (0.6), post: 3.1 (0.7) cm] vs. control [pre: 3.1 (0.7), post 3.3 (0.7) cm] condition. Muscle growth at the 50% site did not differ between the experimental [pre: 2.9 (0.6), post 2.9 (0.6) cm] and control [pre: 2.8 (0.7), post: 2.9 (0.6) cm] condition (p=0.31) nor did it differ at the 70% site [experimental pre: 3.3 (0.60), post 3.5 (0.7) cm; control pre: 3.4 (0.7), post 3.6 (0.7) cm]. Although there were no differences at the group level, there were attenuations at the individual level. The number of measured sites displaying growth at or outside the error of the measurement was greater in the control (21) vs. experimental (10) condition. The application of blood flow restriction post high-load exercise did not augment, but appeared to attenuate muscle growth at the group and individual level. With regard to one-repetition maximum strength, increases were observed in both the control [pre: 13.5 (3.8), post: 16.3 (4.5) kg] and experimental [pre: 13.7 (4.1), post: 16.3 (4.6) kg] conditions with no differences between conditions. No changes were observed for isometric or isokinetic strength for either the control or experimental conditions. These results unveil the possibilities that 1) metabolites do not have anabolic properties per se, and may be detrimental for muscle hypertrophy; 2) immediate post-exercise blood flow is important for muscle hypertrophy; and/or 3) metabolites have anabolic properties but this was masked by the restriction of blood flow

The emotional basis of aversive parenting : mothers’ affective sensitivity to children’s aversiveness and reactivity

This study examined whether the affective processes of aversion-sensitivity, a pronounced tendency to be negatively aroused by the ongoing aversive properties of children’s behavior, regulate mothers’ aversive parenting behavior with children. On days when mothers are aversion-sensitive, they may experience negative emotional arousal when faced with difficult child behavior, leading them to be motivated to reduce their distress by removing the child behaviors that cause it. Using observed, sequential data from 319 divorcing mothers and their 4- to 11-year-old children across six assessments (over two years), multilevel models were estimated to predict a set of emotion-related parenting behaviors. Results demonstrated that within-mother increases in aversion-sensitivity predicted mothers’ displays of parenting behavior that tend to elicit negativity in children (i.e., mothers’ aversive parenting behavior), volatile fluctuations in aversive parenting behavior, tendencies to display extreme behavior that is beyond one standard deviation both above (spikes) and below (drops) mothers’ mean aversiveness, inclinations to remain high in aversiveness following spikes, and reductions in the ability to maintain low aversiveness following drops. Aversion-sensitive mothers’ tendencies to emit aversive and volatile parenting behavior were pronounced on days that children were aversive and negatively reactive. The results demonstrate the importance of emotional reactivity to aversive child inputs as a potential regulator of aversive parenting behavior. Applied to coercive family processes, the results suggest that the volatile and reciprocally negative family patterns that predict externalizing behaviors in children may rest in part on emotional processes reflected in aversion sensitivity. Knowledge of these processes may help explain why in some families stress, socio-economic disadvantage, difficult child temperament, and other factors predict aversive family patterns linked to child adjustment problems.Human Development and Family Science