Secular Trends in Stature in an Historic Sioux Population

This study attempts to explore the possibility of the occurrence of secular trends in height in an historic population of Sioux American Indians, and presents the results from an analysis on anthropometric data from two primary sources. One data set was collected in the late 19th century under the direction of Franz Boas. A later early 20th century set was collected by Dr. James R. Walker. A cross sectional design is used to examine an unusually long span of Sioux history; ca. 1820-1880 for the adult (individuals over 20 yrs.) analysis, and ca. 1892-1907 for the children (aged 6 to 11 years). Trends observed in the data are interpreted in light of the insights they provide into the health and nutritional status of this population. Adult heights (n=1195 tot.) were adjusted for aging effects and regressed on age, sexes being analyzed separately. Tests for differences between the means of age cohorts by decade of birth (1820-1880) were also carried out. The one sample of adults that showed significant differences between age-cohorts in this latter test also showed a significant positive linear secular trend (Walker\u27s adult males). Child heights (n=717 tot.) were used to examine any trend within the 15 yr. interval between original observations (1892 and 1907). A test for equivalence of regression slopes and for means was carried out comparing the two samples of children. No convincing secular trend could be discerned in the majority of the adult analysis (p \u3c .05). Similarly the null hypothesis of equivalence of slopes could not be rejected in the analysis of the child samples. The failure to find any negative secular trend in this population of American Indians is remarkable given the drastic socioeconomic changes that occurred with the coming of the reservation period (1876 on), and the concomitant radical changes in subsistence lifeways. Comparisons with contemporary populations of White Americans also show that the Sioux remained consistently taller than Whites well into the reservation period

The Plains Paradox: Secular Trends in Stature in 19\u3csup\u3eth\u3c/sup\u3e Century Nomadic Plains Equestrian Indians

This study documents the occurrence of secular trends in height in an historic population of 19th century nomadic Plains equestrian Indians. The eight tribal samples utilized are a subset of the Boas North American Indian anthropometric data set. A cross-sectional design was used to examine the span of years from 1800 to 1870 for adult individuals over 20 years of age, sexes analyzed separately, male n=1,123 and female n=362. Adult heights were adjusted for aging effects on three variables: standing height; sitting height; and sitting height/subischial length ratio. Combined with an unadjusted subischial length, these variables were used to examine each of the Plains tribes for secular trends. Each variable was then regressed onto year of birth using a quadratic model. Tribal samples showing significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) among the means of the birth cohorts, and hence secular change through time, included five of eight male tribal samples, but only two of the female tribal samples. Significant regressions for adjusted standing height were seen for Sioux males and females, Crow females, and Comanche and Kiowa males. The variable adjusted sitting height suggested secular trends for the Sioux males and females, Crow females, and Assiniboin, Comanche and Kiowa males. Sioux males and females as well as Crow males showed significant trends for the variable ratio. Only Crow males showed any significant change for the subischial dimension. There do seem to be common trends in heights seen for the majority of the tribes represented in the male Plains sample, with an early decline in heights through the 1830s to the 1850s, and then a recovery in heights in the 1860s and 1870s. This pattern is also seen for the Sioux and Crow females and is reflected in an analysis of the entire sample by sex, where each of the three age adjusted variables yielded significant results for both sexes. Comparison with contemporary populations of White Americans also shows that most of these Plains Indians remained tall at the start of the traumatic reservation period

Creating a Culture of Readers through Collection Development and Outreach

Children’s literature collections in academic libraries present a unique opportunity for librarians to develop engaging out- reach programs for students, faculty, and community mem- bers. The Curriculum Resource Center at Bowling Green State University’s Wm. T. Jerome Library has developed several popular events that both promote the collection and the cen- tral mission of creating a culture of reading. In this case study, three of the most successful endeavors – Mock Caldecott, April Madness, and Sneak Peek - are highlighted to provide insight into how we integrate our carefully developed collec- tion into programs that inspire excitement and build commu- nity around reading

COMPLETED RESEARCH: PRELIMINARY INSIGHTS INTO THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR MUSIC

In this study, we investigated the perception of a musician who sells his music on a digital platform in Ghana. We specifically examined the motivations for choosing that digital platform, the benefits being derived, and what could make him stop using that platform. We adopted a qualitative research approach and conducted in-depth interviews with the musician, and the owner of our target digital platform, Aftown.com. We found that the digital platform extends a musician’s reach to an audience beyond her geographical boundary, generates increased sales, and removes intermediaries between her and the customer. Digital platforms, especially a local one also helps overcome digital payment constraints because it is equipped with solutions like mobile money that enables local purchases, and not restricted to just popular international payment systems. The originality of this study lies in the fact that, it is one of the few scholarly investigations focusing on digital platforms from of a sub-Saharan country perspective

Transboundary Movement of Atlantic Istiophorid Billfishes Among International and U.S. Domestic Management Areas Inferred from Mark-Recapture Studies

Billfish movements relative to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas management areas, as well as U.S. domestic data collection areas within the western North Atlantic basin, were investigated with mark-recapture data from 769 blue marlin, Makaira nigricans, 961 white marlin, Tetrapturus albidus, and 1,801 sailfish, Istiophorus platypterus. Linear displacement between release and recapture locations ranged from zero (all species) to 15,744 km (mean 575, median 119, SE 44) for blue marlin, 6,523 km (mean 719, median 216, SE 33) for white marlin, and 3,845 km (mean 294, median 98, SE 13) for sailfish. In total, 2,824 (80.0%) billfish were recaptured in the same management area of release. Days at liberty ranged from zero (all species) to 4,591 (mean 619, median 409, SE 24) for blue marlin, 5,488 (mean 692, median 448, SE 22) for white marlin, and 6,568 (mean 404, median 320, SE 11) for sailfish. The proportions (per species) of visits were highest in the Caribbean area for blue marlin and white marlin, and the Florida East Coast area for sailfish. Blue marlin and sailfish were nearly identical when comparing the percent of individuals vs. the number of areas visited. Overall, white marlin visited more areas than either blue marlin or sailfish. Seasonality was evident for all species, with overall results generally reflecting the efforts of the catch and release recreational fishing sector, particularly in the western North Atlantic. This information may be practical in reducing the uncertainties in billfish stock assessments and may offer valuable insight into management consideration of time-area closure regulations to reduce bycatch mortality of Atlantic billfishes

Attitudes Toward and Extent of Leasing in the Printing Industry

Since 1955 the printing industry has been looking at leasing as a means of financing. There have been controversy over the advantages of leasing and what benefits it can be expected to offer. This project was undertaken because of the small amount of research in this area and because of the lack a combined body of knowledge about leasing. A third reason for undertaking this study was because of the financial pressure, especially in this continued era of tight money, which forces the search for new answers to capitalization. The study was carried out by mailing a questionnaire, covering letter and business reply envelop to each commercial printer in the in the sample. (see more in text

High School to College Transitions: Does the Professional Literature Accurately Reflect What’s Actually Happening in the Trenches?

Presentation at Ohio Educational Library Media Association Conference, Columbus, OH

Radiographic Assessment of Hip Disease in Children with Cerebral Palsy: Development of a Core Measurement Set and Analysis of an Artificial Intelligence System

Cerebral palsy is the most common physical disability during childhood. Cerebral palsy related hip disease is caused by an imbalance of muscle forces, resulting in progressive migration of the hip to complete dislocation. This can decrease function and quality of life. The prevention of hip dislocation is possible if detected early. Therefore, surveillance programmes have been set up to monitor children with cerebral palsy enabling clinicians to intervene early and improve outcomes. Currently, hip disease is assessed by analysing pelvic radiographs with various geometric measurements. This time-consuming task is undertaken frequently when monitoring a child with cerebral palsy. This thesis aimed to identify the key radiographic parameters used by clinicians (the core measurement set), and then build an artificial intelligence system to automate the calculation of this core measurement set. A systematic review was conducted identifying a comprehensive list of previously reported measurements from studies measuring radiographic outcomes in cerebral palsy children with hip pathologies. Fifteen measurements were identified from the systematic review, of which Reimers’ migration percentage was the most commonly reported. These measurements were used to perform a two-round Delphi study among orthopaedic surgeons and physiotherapists. Participants rated the importance of each measurement using a nine-point Likert scale (‘not important’ to critically important’). After the two rounds of the Delphi process, Reimers’ migration percentage was included in the core measurement set. Following the final consensus meeting, the femoral head-shaft angle was also included. The anteroposterior pelvic radiographs of 1650 children were then used to build an artificial intelligence system integrating the core measurement set, in collaboration with engineers from the University of Manchester. The newly developed artificial intelligence system was assessed by comparing its ability to calculate measurements and outline the pelvis and femur on a radiograph. The reliability of the dataset used to train the model was also analysed. The proposed artificial intelligence model achieved a ‘good to excellent’ inter-observer reliability across 450 radiographs when comparing its ability to calculate Reimers’ migration percentage to five clinicians. Its ability to outline the pelvis and proximal femur was ‘adequate’ with the better performance observed in the pelvis than the femur. The reliability of the training dataset used to teach the artificial intelligence model was ‘good’ to ‘very good’. Artificial intelligence systems are feasible solutions to optimise the efficiency of hip radiograph analysis in cerebral palsy. Studies are warranted to include the core measurement set as a minimum when reporting on hip disease in cerebral palsy. Future research should investigate the feasibility of implementing a risk score to predict the likelihood of hip displacement

Pattern of Head Computed Tomography Requests and Findings in a Specialist Hospital in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Background: Computed tomography (CT) has become a useful imaging modality in medical imaging and its role is increasing and diversifying in the past decades, most especially in the assessment of head pathologies.   Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the pattern of head computed tomography referrals, requests and findings among patients in State Specialist Hospital, Bauchi State.   Methodology: This study is a prospective cross-sectional study conducted from the month of May to August 2016. Thirty six (36) patients who presented for head CT scan were studied. Data collected include demographic information such as date of examination, age and gender of patients, referring clinic, indications for the examinations, and radiological diagnosis. Statistical analysis were done using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were presented and Pearson’s correlation was used to determine the relationship between the findings and referrals. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.   Results: There were 27 (75%) males and 9 (25%) females aged 18 to 94 years. A significant proportion of referrals (69.4 %; n = 25) were patients from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi, a neighbouring tertiary hospital. The highest indication for head CT was head injury due to RTAs (27.8%), with infarction (25%) being the commonest findings.   Conclusion: This study has shown that head injury due to road traffic accidents is the major indication for head CT in Bauchi with the commonest finding being infarction. Computed tomography is a useful modality for diagnosis of various pathologies.   &nbsp