The Influence of Multimedia Production Knowledge on the Design Decisions of the Instructional Designer

This study explored the interaction of multimedia production competencies of expert and novice instructional designers on the design decisions made during the instructional design process / workflow. This multiple measures study used qualitative survey instruments to access and measure the production competencies of participants, then a design aloud protocol to capture and measure the instructional design decision-making process for those same participants. A follow-on interview after the initial design aloud session was conducted in order to triangulate and confirm any trends or findings uncovered during the earlier design aloud session. Ultimately, the objective of this study was to provide some evidence that suggests whether certain production skills are influencing instructional design decision-making. Employer influence on the instructional designer’s decision-making was also explored. Results indicated that a substantial number of instructional designers (n=30) who participated in this study were selecting media as a preliminary step in their workflow process, and were often then using analysis as a measure to confirm the early media selection. Expert instructional designers appeared to be less susceptible to the early media selection behavior, though not immune. Results indicate that one reason the expert instructional designers were less likely to adopt media as a preliminary instructional design step was that the experts conducted a more diverse set of analysis activities. Additionally, results indicated that instructional designers were often experiencing pressure to adopt media based on employer demands, and project constraints such as budget and time

Durability and mode-I fracture of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP)/wood interface bond

Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites are being used for reinforcement of wood, concrete, and steel. The objective of this study is to develop a qualification program to evaluate the service performance and fracture of composite/wood bonded interfaces. The proposed method is used for two types of FRP wood interface: FRP strips (plates) bonded to wood (used commercially for glulam timber beams) and wood cores wrapped with FRP by filament winding (being investigated for reinforced railroad wood crossties and utility wood poles). First, the service performance and durability of FRP-wood interface bond is evaluated using a modified ASTM delamination test. Second, the apparent shear strengths of interface bond under both dry and wet conditions are obtained from modified ASTM block shear tests. Finally, a simplified design of an innovative contoured double cantilever beam (CDCB) specimen is developed, and this specimen is used to evaluate Mode-I fracture of interface bonds; interface fracture toughness data are experimentally obtained for dry, wet and 3-cycle aging conditions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

LEARNING FROM THE LANDSCAPE: INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES AND PLACER MINING LANDSCAPES IN THE ELK CREEK MINING DISTRICT, WESTERN MONTANA

In 1865 gold was discovered in the Garnet Mountains of Western Montana. This was one of the last of a series of gold rushes in the American West that began with the California Gold Rush in 1849. During this time period miners carried knowledge of geology of placer deposits and placer mining techniques out of California and into the interior west where they encountered quite different geologic conditions. This study examines how miners perceived and learned from these new environments during the construction of placer landscapes in the Garnet Mountains, especially in the Elk Creek Mining District, through a process called landscape learning. This study is also intended to be an industrial archaeological guide to interpreting placer mining landscapes and techniques

Accountable Care Organizations in California: Promise and Performance

California has more accountable care organizations (ACOs) than any other state in the country, with particularly rapid growth over the past two years. This report introduces new evidence that ACOs improve the quality of care, increase patient satisfaction, and may reduce costs

Dynamical Gravastar "Simulated Horizon'' from TOV Equation Initial Value Problem with Relativistic Matter

We continue the study of ``dynamical gravastars'', constructed by solving the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equation with relativistic matter, undergoing a phase transition at high pressure to a state with negative energy density, as allowed in quantum theory. Since generation of a horizon-like structure or ``simulated horizon'' occurs at a radius above where the phase transition occurs, it is solely a property of the TOV equation with relativistic matter, for appropriate small radius initial conditions. We survey the formation of a simulated horizon from this point of view. From the numerical solutions, we show that the metric exponent appearing in the TOV equation undergoes an arc tangent-like jump, leading to formation of the simulated horizon. Rescaling the problem to fixed initial radius, we plot the ``phase diagram'' in the initial pressure--initial mass plane, showing the range of parameters where a simulated horizon dynamically forms.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables; the Mathematica notebook for Fig. 8 and Tables 1-3 is online at: https://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/302268

Effects of feeding a no-roughage diet to feedlot cattle compared to traditional corn-soybean meal-hay diet [abstract]

Abstract only availableThe present experiment utilized a group of 16 Angus-based steers. The steers in group two (control group) were fed a traditional corn-soybean meal diet with free choice fescue hay available. Calves on group one (test group) were fed a no-roughage diet (blood meal and fish meal, as a primary protein source.) The experiment was conducted in two 3.5 acre lots with ad libitum access to a self-feeder within each pen. Calves were divided into two groups using randomized separation. Calves were weighed at the onset of the project (day 0), again at day 72, and then a final weight was taken on all calves prior to slaughter in one of the three selling groups (165, 216, and 264 days). Self-feeders were filled only when they were empty and feed troughs were cleaned out every 3 to 4 days or as fines were built up in the bunks. Calves were sent to slaughter at National Beef in Dodge City, Kansas. The average market price for the calves in the test group was $148.21 versus the control group which was$140.63. The final difference in total revenue between the two groups equaled $1485.56. Feeding no-roughage diets is a new concept that has been shown to improve feed efficiency in research studies. This experiment was the first on-farm study that has been conducted. Feeding the no-roughage diet improved carcass quality grade which is why the carcass value was approximately$8 greater for this group. In addition the no-roughage group had heavier carcass weights which resulted in this treatment having approximately $1500 more value than the traditionally fed calves. There no-roughage diet cost was a$119.17 more difference in the total feed costs than the traditional diet of the feed bill. The net advantage to nutritionally improving the diet was approximately $1300 total, or$162.50 per calf.CAFNR On Campus Research Internshi

Item-level and Composite-level Interrater Reliability of Functional Movement Screen™ Scores Following Condensed Training in Novice Raters

BACKGROUND The Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™) is a clinical instrument designed to use movement behaviors to screen individuals for injury risk. Current rater certification programs focus on extensive, individualized training, which may not be appropriate in all screening contexts. PURPOSE The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of a two-hour FMSTM training seminar on measures of reliability between previously untrained scorers. STUDY DESIGN Repeated measures, descriptive cohort study. METHODS Four novice raters completed a two-hour training course administered by an FMS™-certified, licensed physical therapist. The novices and the instructor then scored a group of 16 individuals on the seven FMS™ component tests on two separate occasions. Interrater reliability was assessed for FMS™ component scores using Fleiss’ kappa and Krippendorff’s α. Interrater reliability for the FMS™ composite score was assessed using a two-way ICC for agreement (a priori significance level=0.05). RESULTS Reliability ranged from fair to almost perfect (kappa) for Deep Squat (0.61 Day 1, 0.79 Day 2), Shoulder Mobility (0.90 Day 1, 1.00 Day 2), Active Straight Leg Raise (0.53 Day 1, 0.69 Day 2), and Trunk Stability Push Up (0.48 Day 1, 0.49 Day 2) on both testing occurrences (p CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that a brief training seminar may be sufficient to ensure acceptable reliability in many, but not all, of the FMS™ component tests and composite score. Levels of Evidence Level 2

EEG-Based User Reaction Time Estimation Using Riemannian Geometry Features

Riemannian geometry has been successfully used in many brain-computer interface (BCI) classification problems and demonstrated superior performance. In this paper, for the first time, it is applied to BCI regression problems, an important category of BCI applications. More specifically, we propose a new feature extraction approach for Electroencephalogram (EEG) based BCI regression problems: a spatial filter is first used to increase the signal quality of the EEG trials and also to reduce the dimensionality of the covariance matrices, and then Riemannian tangent space features are extracted. We validate the performance of the proposed approach in reaction time estimation from EEG signals measured in a large-scale sustained-attention psychomotor vigilance task, and show that compared with the traditional powerband features, the tangent space features can reduce the root mean square estimation error by 4.30-8.30%, and increase the estimation correlation coefficient by 6.59-11.13%.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1702.0291