Posterior stabilized designs in modern total knee arthroplasty: Vestigial organs

Clinical difference between posterior-stabilized (PS) and cruciate-retaining (CR) designs in total knee arthroplasty has remained elusive for decades. This classic debate has been given pause due to futile efforts to prove one design superior over the other. Recently, anterior-lipped and more conforming CR bearings have emerged to substitute for the posterior-cruciate ligament (PCL), if absent, damaged or resected, and obviate the need for the archaic cam-post mechanism of a traditional PS design. Advantages of avoiding a PS TKA include eliminating the risk of box cut induced femoral condylar fracture, operative efficiency by removing procedural steps, removing the articulation that is a source of wear, post deformation, breakage, or dislocation, and eliminating patellar clunk

Process Documentation and Cross Training for Offices

This blog entry summarizes what process documentation and cross training is, and how to implement both concurrently. Process documentation and cross training consume office time, but having processes documented and the office cross train help transition new employees and current employees taking on new tasks. This process works for both large and small offices, and will prevent single point of failure situations, where one person is the only person responsible for something, and if that person leaves, no one has a clue what to do

Well-being and Engineering: Personal and Professional Well-Being Experiences of Tenured Female Engineering Faculty

This poster presents early results from a doctoral research study. Designed to capture and share the stories of faculty, this qualitative research study examined the lived experience of female engineering faculty from several universities and engineering sub-disciplines to uncover how these women incorporate well-being across their personal and professional lives in support of their professional success as they navigate the faculty pathway. This poster will present the well-being experiences and findings for one study participant, Frances, an African American engineering faculty member who has navigated the faculty pathway through tenure and into an administrative position. Readers are encouraged to reflect critically on their own well-being experiences as well as the importance of well-being within engineering and higher education institution

Women Engineering Faculty Well-Being: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

This study examined the lived experiences of women as they navigate faculty pathways in engineering. This qualitative research study centered on the well-being journeys of seven women who have achieved tenure as engineering faculty to uncover how these women psychologically experienced and incorporated well-being across their personal and professional lives in support of their success, happiness, and satisfaction. Leveraging qualitative research techniques aligned with the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology, this study elicited and systematically analyzed accounts of well-being across participants’ professional and personal life spaces. The well-being journeys of seven participants, JoAnn, Rose, Marie, Allison, Dylan, Mary, and Gabriella, who have navigated the faculty pathway to tenure and beyond in several universities and engineering sub-disciplines are described here. Their rich stories weave together successes and challenges commonly faced by many in engineering including managing demands of professional and personal roles, establishing trusting relationships, resilience against marginalizing cultures and climates, and supporting one’s own success within engineering departments and universities widely. This work reveals four psychological patterns, or themes, from the accounts of women engineering educators in order to illuminate challenges faced by women faculty within engineering disciplines as well as to offer examples of what actionable well-being strategies could look like for faculty and for those who support them. Through the analysis and interpretation of their accounts, readers gain insight into challenges faced, strategies engaged, and benefits of maintaining well-being as a woman faculty member. Their experiences illustrate the subtle and overt ways faculty identities and success may be marginalized by immediate colleagues and how a faculty member may ensure her own success and well-being through seeking positive relationships in external spaces. By presenting participants’ accounts, the findings demonstrate approaches faculty could potentially adopt to circumvent toxic professional environments and enhance their own well-being. This study provides strategies that can be adopted by others in their own pursuit of professional success (however success may be defined by the individual)

Exploring the Nutritional Value of Carrots and Determining Attributes that are Favored by Consumers

This study explored 24 varieties of carrots, the most popular vegetable of the Apiaceae family. Carrots are one of the most widely consumed vegetables. They are a cool season vegetable crop, which comes in many different varieties and colors, each having its distinct aroma, content of volatiles and nutritional compounds that influence the harshness or eating quality of the carrot. In the US, 3.5 billion pounds of carrots are grown each year, showing the importance that carrots have in United States agricultural economic systems. Carrots are an important vegetable due to their characteristic flavor and the many health benefits, such as: reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease and improving vision. The taste and health benefits of carrots are related to the levels of phenolic compounds, volatiles, and sugar. Data was collected from 24 carrot varieties at harvest and after a 3-month cold storage to determine effects storage has on the quality and taste of the carrot. During storage, biochemical changes happen to the carrot, decay, respiration and the breakdown of sugars. These post-harvest changes influence the development of volatiles that leads to the formation of harsh bitter flavors. Some carrot varieties are bred to be able to withstand storage conditions. This study found that three carrot varieties: Bolero (C7), Navarino (C8), and Bermuda (C23) fared the best under cold storage conditions. It is important to understand how storage affects the taste profile of carrots; this information will inform farmers on which carrot varieties are the best to grow, store, and sell to consumers

Big Data Decision Making

The process we use to gather information in making decisions can be as important as the decisions themselves. Do you rely more on sophisticated analytics or intuition? Using a self-report exercise, this article assists the reader in recognizing their decision-making style and offers a framework to enhance the process

Magnetic field detection in the B2Vn star HR 7355

The B2Vn star HR 7355 is found to be a He-rich magnetic star. Spectropolarimetric data were obtained with FORS1 at UT2 on Paranal observatory to measure the disk-averaged longitudinal magnetic field at various phases of the presumed 0.52 d cycle. A variable magnetic field with strengths between B_z = -2200 and +3200G was found, with confidence limits of 100 to 130G. The field topology is that of an oblique dipole, while the star itself is seen about equator-on. In the intensity spectra the HeI-lines show the typical equivalent width variability of He-strong stars, usually attributed to surface abundance spots. The amplitudes of the equivalent width variability of the HeI lines are extraordinarily strong compared to other cases. These results not only put HR 7355 unambiguously among the early-type magnetic stars, but confirm its outstanding nature: With v sin i = 320 km/s the parameter space in which He-strong stars are known to exist has doubled in terms of rotational velocity.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 Table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Is the Internet Killing your Creative Potential?

The managers’ capacity for true creativity and deep critical-thinking risks being diminished by our 24/7 connectedness in an information-intensive world. In order to investigate this, the authors devised a simple experiment involving the creation of paper airplanes to gauge whether Google search behavior (serving as a proxy for our direct access to information) encourages or inhibits creativity. Our primary research question examines whether outcomes of design thinking taking place without instant access to information via the Internet would be more or less creative

Future Proof and Real-World Ready: The Role of Live Project-Based Learning in Students’ Skill Development

The rapid pace of technological change taking place today makes it even more important for marketing educators to incorporate relevant technical and higher level meta-skills in their digital marketing courses. We review the pedagogical literature on skill development and project-based learning and detail two live course projects designed to help students develop technical skills related to digital marketing in addition to important meta-skills involving creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. We evaluate the impact of the projects through a direct and indirect assessment process. Findings suggest that live project–based learning can support the development of the technical and meta-skills necessary for students to adapt to uncertainty and ambiguity and become future proof and real-world ready as they enter the workforce. We discuss the benefits and challenges associated with moving digital marketing education from conceptual to real-life projects and highlight pedagogical recommendations for educators who want to integrate live project-based learning into their courses