Knowledge Transfer Needs and Methods

INE/AUTC 12.3

Enabling Data-Driven Transportation Safety Improvements in Rural Alaska

Safety improvements require funding. A clear need must be demonstrated to secure funding. For transportation safety, data, especially data about past crashes, is the usual method of demonstrating need. However, in rural locations, such data is often not available, or is not in a form amenable to use in funding applications. This research aids rural entities, often federally recognized tribes and small villages acquire data needed for funding applications. Two aspects of work product are the development of a traffic counting application for an iPad or similar device, and a review of the data requirements of the major transportation funding agencies. The traffic-counting app, UAF Traffic, demonstrated its ability to count traffic and turning movements for cars and trucks, as well as ATVs, snow machines, pedestrians, bicycles, and dog sleds. The review of the major agencies demonstrated that all the likely funders would accept qualitative data and Road Safety Audits. However, quantitative data, if it was available, was helpful

Judging the impact of leadership-development activities on school practice

The nature and effectiveness of professional-development activities should be judged in a way that takes account of both the achievement of intended outcomes and the unintended consequences that may result. Our research project set out to create a robust approach that school staff members could use to assess the impact of professional-development programs on leadership and management practice without being constrained in this judgment by the stated aims of the program. In the process, we identified a number of factors and requirements relevant to a wider audience than that concerned with the development of leadership and management in England. Such an assessment has to rest upon a clear understanding of educational leadership,a clearly articulated model of practice, and a clear model of potential forms of impact. Such foundations, suitably adapted to the subject being addressed, are appropriate for assessing all teacher professional development

Trends in decayed teeth among middle‐aged and older adults in the United States: socioeconomic disparities persist over time

ObjectivesWhile trends in tooth loss among older adults have been well documented and show a decline over the last few decades, little is known about trends in tooth decay which may lead to tooth loss. The study aim was to examine trends in tooth decay among adults ages 50 years and older in the United States and determine whether these trends were consistent across demographic and socioeconomic subgroups of middle‐aged and older adults.MethodsSecondary analysis of data collected through detailed oral health examinations in the National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES) surveys 1988–1994 and 1999–2004. Tooth decay was measured as active caries. Multivariable associations were estimated using negative binomial regression models.ResultsAveraged over time, the mean number of decayed teeth was 0.54. Rates of decay remained stable over time. Males, non‐Hispanic Blacks, Mexican‐Americans, and those of other race/ethnicity as well as those with fewer years of education and lower levels of income had more decayed teeth. The increased number of decayed teeth for Mexican‐Americans and those of other race/ethnicity was due in part to differing levels of education and income. Trends over time did not vary by any of these demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Trends in the number of decayed teeth did not meaningfully change when the numbers of missing and filled teeth were controlled.ConclusionsAlthough studies have shown the number of middle‐aged and older Americans experiencing tooth loss has decreased over time, trends in tooth decay have remained relatively stable, with socioeconomic disparities persisting over time.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135439/1/jphd12153_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135439/2/jphd12153.pd

Microwave and Millimeter Wave Techniques

Contains reports on two research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-78-C-0020)National Science Foundation (Grant AST77-26896

The 1.6 micron near infrared nuclei of 3C radio galaxies: Jets, thermal emission or scattered light?

Using HST NICMOS 2 observations we have measured 1.6-micron near infrared nuclear luminosities of 100 3CR radio galaxies with z<0.3, by modeling and subtracting the extended emission from the host galaxy. We performed a multi-wavelength statistical analysis (including optical and radio data) of the properties of the nuclei following classification of the objects into FRI and FRII, and LIG (low-ionization galaxies), HIG (high-ionization galaxies) and BLO (broad-lined objects) using the radio morphology and optical spectra, respectively. The correlations among near infrared, optical, and radio nuclear luminosity support the idea that the near infrared nuclear emission of FRIs has a non-thermal origin. Despite the difference in radio morphology, the multi-wavelength properties of FRII LIG nuclei are statistically indistinguishable from those of FRIs, an indication of a common structure of the central engine. All BLOs show an unresolved near infrared nucleus and a large near infrared excess with respect to FRII LIGs and FRIs of equal radio core luminosity. This requires the presence of an additional (and dominant) component other than the non-thermal light. Considering the shape of their spectral energy distribution, we ascribe the origin of their near infrared light to hot circumnuclear dust. A near infrared excess is also found in HIGs, but their nuclei are substantially fainter than those of BLO. This result indicates that substantial obscuration along the line-of-sight to the nuclei is still present at 1.6 micron. Nonetheless, HIGs nuclei cannot simply be explained in terms of dust obscuration: a significant contribution from light reflected in a circumnuclear scattering region is needed to account for their multiwavelength properties.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication on Ap

Efficacy of blood flow restriction exercise during dialysis for end stage kidney disease patients: protocol of a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Exercise during haemodialysis improves strength and physical function. However, both patients and clinicians are time poor, and current exercise recommendations add an excessive time burden making exercise a rare addition to standard care. Hypothetically, blood flow restriction exercise performed during haemodialysis can provide greater value for time spent exercising, reducing this time burden while producing similar or greater outcomes. This study will explore the efficacy of blood flow restriction exercise for enhancing strength and physical function among haemodialysis patients. METHODS: This is a randomised controlled trial design. A total of 75 participants will be recruited from haemodialysis clinics. Participants will be allocated to a blood flow restriction cycling group, traditional cycling group or usual care control group. Both exercising groups will complete 3 months of cycling exercise, performed intradialytically, three times per week. The blood flow restriction cycling group will complete two 10-min cycling bouts separated by a 20-min rest at a subjective effort of 15 on a 6 to 20 rating scale. This will be done with pressurised cuffs fitted proximally on the active limbs during exercise at 50% of a pre-determined limb occlusion pressure. The traditional cycling group will perform a continuous 20-min bout of exercise at a subjective effort of 12 on the same subjective effort scale. These workloads and volumes are equivalent and allow for comparison of a common blood flow restriction aerobic exercise prescription and a traditional aerobic exercise prescription. The primary outcome measures are lower limb strength, assessed by a three repetition maximum leg extension test, as well as objective measures of physical function: six-minute walk test, 30-s sit to stand, and timed up and go. Secondary outcome measures include thigh muscle cross sectional area, body composition, routine pathology, quality of life, and physical activity engagement. DISCUSSION: This study will determine the efficacy of blood flow restriction exercise among dialysis patients for improving key physiological outcomes that impact independence and quality of life, with reduced burden on patients. This may have broader implications for other clinical populations with similarly declining muscle health and physical function, and those contraindicated to higher intensities of exercise.<br /

The SPECFIND V2.0 catalogue of radio cross-identifications and spectra. SPECFIND meets the Virtual Observatory

The new release of the SPECFIND radio cross-identification catalogue, SPECFIND V2.0, is presented. It contains 107488 cross-identified objects with at least three radio sources observed at three independent frequencies. Compared to the previous release the number of entry radio catalogues is increased from 20 to 97 containing 115 tables. This large increase was only made possible by the development of four tools at CDS which use the standards and infrastructure of the Virtual Observatory (VO). This was done in the framework of the VO-TECH European Design Study of the Sixth Framework Program. We give an overview of the different classes of radio sources that a user can encounter. Due to the increase of frequency coverage of the input radio catalogues, this release demonstrates that the SPECFIND algorithm is able to detect spectral breaks around a frequency of ~1 GHz.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&