The Washington Redskins: A brand in crisis

Even though it is not new, the debate over the use of the brand and logo by the Washington Redskins has come to the forefront of the collective consciousness. With this debate in mind, I completed a study to answer two questions. Should the Redskins change its brand and logo? And must the Redskins change their brand and logo? In order to complete the study, a survey was conducted with undergraduate students that gathered more than 300 complete responses. After gathering and analyzing the data, I was able to draw conclusions. The first conclusion being that the Washington Redskins should change their brand and logo. Not only did the participants perceive the logo to be below average, thus hurting the brand equity, but they also noted that the use of racially offensive logos was not supported by the public, thus hurting overall consumer perceptions. These two factors mean that the Redskins will likely be better off financially if they change their brand and logo sooner rather than later, as it seems like only a matter of time before the public pressure will be too great. For the second question their appeared to be some, but not enough support point toward the Redskins being forced to change. While people did not believe that companies, and more specifically sports franchises, should use racially offensive images, they also indicated that companies should be able to use whatever logo they see fit. However, while the Redskins’ logo may not be illegal, it seems possible that public and financial pressure may lead the Washington Redskins owner to change

Building Collaborative Relationships through Digital Projects

The Rowan Public Art project (http://publicart.rowan.edu) is an online, interactive digital scholarship website of campus public art. The project includes descriptions of Rowan\u27s public art including original photography and video, an interactive campus map, and links to library resources on the art, the artists, and public art in general. Digital scholarship projects like this offer libraries ways to collaborate across campus, position the library as leaders in collaboration, and demonstrate that the library is an effective collaboration partner. This project has allowed us to support the efforts and successes of others across campus. We have collaborated in the creation of this project with entities as diverse as University Publications, University Planning, the Rowan University Art Gallery, and the Department of Art. All of them have contributed in significant ways to accomplishing this project. Since we have launched this project additional collaborations have been initiated and proposed. The Department of Geography is already using it for course material in urban geography and public art and as a result are now partnering with us on a new project to collect data related to public art. A writing arts instructor is planning to use this project as a core piece of her composition class. This project is but a piece of our long term goals with the Digital Scholarship Center at Rowan University Libraries. Soon similar digital scholarship projects will be initiated to develop research and creative opportunities, curricular assets, community outreach, and student and faculty success. These projects serve as models for effective collaboration across campus and transform the library into an organization that directly supports campus initiatives and goals. Mike and Jon will discuss this project and how it fits within the libraries\u27 plans with digital scholarship and collaboration

Reconfigurable self-assembled DNA devices

Modular reconfigurable systems can be achieved with DNA origami, demonstrating the potential to generate molecular robots

TYGR 2006: A Magazine of Literature & Art

TYGR is the student art and literary magazine for Olivet Nazarene University.https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/stud_tygr/1006/thumbnail.jp

Car-Park Management using Wireless Sensor Networks

A complete wireless sensor network solution for car-park management is presented in this paper. The system architecture and design are first detailed, followed by a description of the current working implementation, which is based on our DSYS25z sensing nodes. Results of a series of real experimental tests regarding connectivity, sensing and network performance are then discussed. The analysis of link characteristics in the car park scenario shows unexpected reliability patterns which have a strong influence on MAC and routing protocol design. Two unexpected link reliability patterns are identified and documented. First, the presence of the objects (cars) being sensed can cause significant interference and degradation in communication performance. Second, link quality has a high temporal correlation but a low spatial correlation. From these observations we conclude that a) the construction and maintenance of a fixed topology is not useful and b) spatial rather than temporal message replicates can improve transport reliability

On blocks of Deligne's category Rep(S_t)

Recently P. Deligne introduced the tensor category Rep(S_t) (for t not necessarily an integer) which in a certain precise sense interpolates the categories Rep(S_d) of representations of the symmetric groups S_d. In this paper we describe the blocks of Deligne's category Rep(S_t).Comment: 43 pages, final version, includes an added appendix as well as other modifications recommended by the refere

Prototype of a new Engineering Masters project model: Working with marketing and software faculties to commercially kickstart university research

We describe a Master of Engineering (500-level) project modelled on the real-world arrangement where engineers work with marketing and software groups to prepare a product for commercialisation. A 4-member software team to develop and test embedded firmware and support applications on a mobile platform was provided through a final-year undergraduate software-engineering project course based outside the engineering school, in a separate faculty. A marketing team consisting of interns prepared logos, product names, and advertising materials, with input from a creative 200-level class. This team also considered possible exit strategies based on analysis of the market size and activity. This marketing effort was organised through the management communications group in the management school. The masters student acts as project manager and it is their remit to guide the product towards release on the crowd-sourced venture-capital site kickstarter.com. A small but original product idea is required to provide a viable vehicle for the project. Financial commitment to manufacture, even on a small scale, represents a novel outcome for a university project

Interpretable correlation descriptors for quantitative structure-activity relationships

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The topological maximum cross correlation (TMACC) descriptors are alignment-independent 2D descriptors for the derivation of QSARs. TMACC descriptors are generated using atomic properties determined by molecular topology. Previous validation (<it>J Chem Inf Model </it>2007, <b>47</b>: 626-634) of the TMACC descriptor suggests it is competitive with the current state of the art.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we illustrate the interpretability of the TMACC descriptors, through the analysis of the QSARs of inhibitors of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). In the case of the ACE inhibitors, the TMACC interpretation shows features specific to C-domain inhibition, which have not been explicitly identified in previous QSAR studies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The TMACC interpretation can provide new insight into the structure-activity relationships studied. Freely available, open source software for generating the TMACC descriptors can be downloaded from <url>http://comp.chem.nottingham.ac.uk</url>.</p

Rapid assembly of highly-functionalised difluorinated cyclooctenones via ring-closing metathesis

Building block methodology from trifluoroethanol and ringclosing metathesis using a Fürstner modification of Grubbs’ conditions allows the rapid synthesis of novel difluorinated cyclooctenones