Can TV Make You a Better Stats Communicator?

Sara Stoudt explains how to glean presentation tips from the small screen and win over even the most statistics-anxious audienc

Pollution Prevention and Water Reuse at Utah Department of Transportation Facilities

As stormwater flows over roads, sidewalks, and other impervious surfaces, it picks up pollutants that are deposited on these surfaces. One common pollutant transported by stormwater is road salt. While the application of road salt is crucial for wintertime public safety, road salt has a host of negative environmental impacts. Road salt has been linked to increasing levels of dissolved solids in groundwater, vegetation damage, and behavioral changes in aquatic organisms. Studies have shown that these impacts are concentrated around salt storage facilities. As a result, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued many state departments of transportation municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permits. In Utah, road salt is stored at Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) maintenance stations, which are regulated by a Phase I MS4 permit. To comply with their MS4 permit, UDOT constructed retention ponds to capture salt-laden stormwater and truck wash water. However, without information and established maintenance and management plans informing pond design, these retention ponds suffer from design issues such as overflow throughout the winter season. Through pollution prevention assessments, pond and tap water analysis, pond sediment analysis, and surface water quality modeling at 11 UDOT maintenance stations, this project provides UDOT with site design guidelines and best management practices to ultimately reduce the impact of UDOT road salt facilities on the environment

The Combination of Platelet Rich Plasma and Corticosteroids in Musculoskeletal and Musculotendinous Pathologies

Background - 126 million Americans reported to have a musculoskeletal or musculotendinous pathology in 20121 - Combined direct and indirect cost of these injuries in 2015 was $874 billion1 - Corticosteroid injections have been the mainstay of invasive management after conservative methods fail Long-term effects of corticosteroids Intra-articular injections for knee osteoarthritis resulted in cartilage volume loss10 Harm to flexor tendons, neurovascular structures, and compromised integrity7, 11 - Platelet Rich Plasma Sample patient blood --\u3e Centrifuge --\u3e Separate plasma and platelets from other blood products --\u3e Reconcentrate the platelets into the plasma Platelets release growth factor beta, vascular endothelial growth factor, platelet derived growth factor, transforming growth factor12, 13 Reproduction of cells and regeneration of tissue New application in the management of musculoskeletal and musculotendinous pathologies - The goal of this literature review is to discuss possible improved outcomes and patient satisfaction when combining platelet rich plasma with corticosteroids in the management of musculoskeletal and musculotendinous pathologies in adults 18 years or older, versus the use of PRP or corticosteroid injections alone.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/mspas_capstones/1013/thumbnail.jp

Sea ice near-inertial response to atmospheric storms

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015A moored oceanographic array was deployed on the Beaufort Sea continental slope from August 2008-August 2009 to measure Arctic sea ice near-inertial motion in response to rapidly changing wind stress. Upward looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers detected sea ice and measured ice drift using a combination of bottom track and error velocity. An analysis of in-situ mooring data in conjunction with data from National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis suggest that many high and low pressure systems cross the Beaufort in winter, but not all of these create a near-inertial ice response. Two unusually strong low pressure systems that passed near the array in December 2008 and February/March 2009 were accompanied by elevated levels of near-inertial kinetic energy in the ice. The analysis suggests pressure systems which have a diameter to ground track velocity ratio close to 3/4 of the local inertial period can excite a large near-inertial response in the sea ice. It is conjectured that this results from the combined effect of resonance arising from similar intrinsic timescales of the storm and the local inertial period and from stresses that are able to overcome the damping of sea ice arising from ice-mechanics and damping in the ice-ocean boundary layer. Those systems whose intrinsic times scales do not approach resonance with the local inertial period did not excite a large near- inertial response in the sea ice. From an analysis of two storms in February 2009, and two in December 2008, it appears that wind stresses associated with previous low pressure systems preconditioned the ice pack, allowing for larger near-inertial response during subsequent events

An investigation of the Speed and Power Limitations of a Copper-Doped Gallium Arsenide Photoconductive Switch

The processes of persistent photoconductivity followed by photo-quenching are demonstrated in copper-compensated, silicon-doped, semi-insulating gallium arsenide. These processes allow a switch to be developed that can be closed by the application of one laser pulse (λ = 1.06 μm) and opened by the application of a second laser pulse with a wavelength equal to twice that of the first laser (λ= 2.13 μm). Switch closure is primarily achieved by elevating electrons from a deep copper center which has been diffused into the material. The opening phase is a two-step process which relies initially on the absorption of the 2-μm laser causing electrons to be elevated from the valence band back into the copper center, and finally on the recombination of electrons in the conduction band with holes in the valence band. The second step requires a sufficient concentration of recombination centers in the material for opening to occur in the subnanosecond regime. Both an experimental and a theoretical investigation of the generation of recombination centers in copper-doped gallium arsenide material, for the purpose of enabling the switch to close as well as open in the subnanosecond regime, is presented. These recombination centers were generated in the bulk GaAs material by fast-neutron irradiation (-1-MeV). An enhanced recombination center density also allows the copper-compensated GaAs switches to open against average electric fields of up to 36 kV/cm corresponding to a switch voltage of 18 kV. Finally, a new high-power radio-frequency (RF) source topology is introduced which uses two copper-doped gallium arsenide switches to synthesize frequency-agile RF waveforms. These waveforms may have considerable advantages when used in high-power-microwave applications

This is exactly what this study is all about and it is happening right in front of me! Using Participatory action research to awaken a sense of injustice within a privileged institution

Rockport is an elite, all boys, day school in the northeast United States. It educates mostly white, wealthy, young men. Student researchers, faculty researchers and I collaborated to study bullying at Rockport using an approach to research known as participatory action research (PAR). In the process we also gained a better understanding of how privilege, especially gendered privilege, was socialized and (re)produced. The participatory research spaces that emerged in our project - grounded in the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators - facilitated critical awareness of self and context that Deutsch (2006) referred to as awaking the sense of injustice. Over the course of a year, our research at Rockport collected data of local consequence and in doing so, built institutional momentum that has since become a school-wide and ongoing initiative to address bullying. As a result, this work was a form of counter-hegemonic action

A study of joint conductance as a function of pressure between two thick walled concentric steel cylinders

The following paper investigates the effect which pressure has on the joint conductance between two concentric, thick walled, low carbon steel cylinders in direct contact. Also, the transient response of the joint conductance and the interface pressure was noted for various heat fluxes

Some halogen derivatives of p - toluidine

Project (B.S.)--University of Kansas, Chemical Engineering, 1919. ; Includes bibliographic references

Amending PHB with Algal Biomass to Enhance Biodegradability

Pollution due to petroleum-based plastic is a growing problem all over the world. Petroleum-based plastics that fill landfills and oceans take hundreds of years to degrade. One possible solution to this growing problem is to increase the use of bioplastics. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a widely studied bioplastic that is biodegradable in both soil and marine environments. However, PHB use is limited due to its poor mechanical properties. Past researchers have investigated the use of natural additives, primarily different types of plant fibers, to enhance both the mechanical properties and degradation rates of bioplastics. The purpose of this project was to develop a composite bioplastic using PHB and algal biomass in order to enhance the mechanical and degradation properties of PHB. Composite bioplastic films were formed using a solvent casting method with algal biomass to PHB ratios of 0, 5, 10, and 20% on a weight-to-weight basis. To test the mechanical properties of the biocomposites using a tensile testing machine, the films were cut into dogbones, 3 cm in length. The films were also cut into 2.5 x 3 cm ships that were placed into gas-tight serum vials filled with seawater to measure the degradation rate through CO2 evolution. The mechanical properties of the biocomposite that were tested include ultimate tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation at break. The ultimate tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of the 20% algae biocomposite were found to be significantly lower than those of the neat, 5, and 10% algae biocomposite. The percent elongation at break of the different biocomposite blends, however, were not significantly different. For the rate of degradation, the neat , 5, and 10% algae biocomposites were found to degrade at significantly different rates, with the 10% blend having the highest rate of degradation followed by the 5% blend and then the neat PHB. The 20% algae biocomposite degraded at a rate that was not significantly different from the degradation rate of the 10% algae biocomposite. From the results of the mechanical properties and degradation rate testing, the 10% algae biocomposite was found to have mechanical properties similar to those of neat PHB and a degradation rate that was much higher than that of neat PHB. Therefore, it can be concluded that the addition of algal biomass to PHB on a 10% weight-to-weight basis enhances both the mechanical properties and degradation rate of PHB

FACTORS AFFECTING NESTING SUCCESS OF THE CANVASBACK IN THE ASPEN PARKLANDS

The Minnedosa study area is located in the southwestern portion of Manitoba just south of the town of Minnedosa. It is 90 square miles in size and roughly square in shape. The Aspen Parkland, in which the study area is located, is characterized by gently rolling terrain and black soils. Mixed farming is the rule with emphasis on small grain production consisting of wheat, barley, and oats. Roughly 50 percent of the water areas in the parkland are ringed with aspen, Populus tremuloides, and large blocks of aspen are interspersed throughout the area. The Minnedosa area differs because of more intensive farming practices which have reduced many of the aspen stands to small islands or bluffs, II or to trees ringing the shorelines. During the canvasback nesting seasons of 1961-65, the number of ponds per square mile averaged about 60, but some sections contained as many as 120 ponds. Average pond size was 1.1 acres. About 15 percent of the water areas had one- third or more of the shoreline covered by aspen and willows with some burr oak, chokecherry, and pin cherry. Whitetop, Scholochloa festucacea, was the most abundant emergent aquatic and usually made up about 40 percent of the emergent cover on the area