RISK RATIOS AND HEDGING: FLORIDA FEEDER CATTLE

Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Knowledge Transformation in the United States Air Force Civil Engineer Career Field: A System Dynamics Approach

Recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have brought the level of expeditionary contractors to historically unprecedented levels, altering the work composition for military engineers. The alteration has shifted emphasis from technical knowledge areas toward managerial knowledge associated with supervising the increased number of contractors. This research utilizes System Dynamics modeling to analyze this shift in the United States Air Force Civil Engineer officer career field and resulting transformative effect on career field knowledge levels, both technical and managerial. The model is then tested with multiple external policy adjustments in the areas of career field structure, training, and operating policy. Results indicate the shift from technical to managerial knowledge not only diminishes technical knowledge, but also hinders managerial knowledge which requires a strong technical foundation; this creates an overall degradation of both knowledge areas. Therefore, the external policies implemented focused on limiting technical knowledge loss. The recommended policy included a combination of additional technical training and bifurcation of entry-level officers to focus on core technical knowledge, simultaneously providing the foundation for successful managerial knowledge levels

Injury Risk Estimation Expertise: Interdisciplinary Differences in Performance on the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz

Background: Simple observational assessment of movement is a potentially low-cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. Although many individuals utilize some form of observational assessment of movement, there are currently no substantial data on group skill differences in observational screening of ACL injury risk. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to compare various groups’ abilities to visually assess ACL injury risk as well as the associated strategies and ACL knowledge levels. The hypothesis was that sports medicine professionals would perform better than coaches and exercise science academics/students and that these subgroups would all perform better than parents and other general population members. Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A total of 428 individuals, including physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, exercise science researchers/students, athletes, parents, and members of the general public participated in the study. Participants completed the ACL Injury Risk Estimation Quiz (ACL-IQ) and answered questions related to assessment strategy and ACL knowledge. Results: Strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, physical therapists, and exercise science students exhibited consistently superior ACL injury risk estimation ability (þ2 SD) as compared with sport coaches, parents of athletes, and members of the general public. The performance of a substantial number of individuals in the exercise sciences/sports medicines (approximately 40%) was similar to or exceeded clinical instrument-based biomechanical assessment methods (eg, ACL nomogram). Parents, sport coaches, and the general public had lower ACL-IQ, likely due to their lower ACL knowledge and to rating the importance of knee/thigh motion lower and weight and jump height higher. Conclusion: Substantial cross-professional/group differences in visual ACL injury risk estimation exist. The relatively profound differences in injury risk estimation accuracy and their potential implications for risk screening suggest the need for additional training and outreach

A Unified Account of English Fronting Constructions

Recent work in discourse has uncovered a variety of discourse functions served by a speaker's use of some marked or non-canonical syntactic construction in a particular context. However, much less attention has been devoted to the question of generalizations that may apply across constructions- in particular, how a given functional principle may be variousl

Cross-professional differences in real-time assessment of ACL injury risk

Simple visual inspection of movement is a potentially low cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. Although many professionals, athletes, and coaches utilize some form of visual inspection of movement/injury risk, there is currently no substantial data on group skill differences. Sports medicine professionals, exercise science students/academics, and strength and conditioning coaches exhibited consistently superior ACL injury risk estimation skill compared to sport coaches, parents of athletes and the general public (about 2 standard deviations). In addition, many individuals’ visual risk assessment accuracy was similar to or exceeded clinical instrument-based biomechanical assessment methods (i.e., ACL nomogram). Perceptual-cognitive mechanisms are discussed

CSCW: The development of a taxonomy

Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) is a research field that studies the use of computer technology for group work. A review of the CSCW literature found that the use of terminology and definitions were inconsistent. This paper reports on the process of development of an holistic taxonomy of terminology and related definitions used in the CSCW literature from 1996 to 2003. The taxonomic structure will provide a framework for classifying the terminology and defining each concept to improve communication in this field. The completed structure will be presented to other researchers to determine implications for research practice

A case study evaluation: perceptually accurate textured surface models

This paper evaluates a new method for capturing surfaces with variations in albedo, height, and local orientation using a standard digital camera with three flash units. Similar to other approaches, captured areas are assumed to be globally flat and largely diffuse. Fortunately, this encompasses a wide array of interesting surfaces, including most materials found in the built environment, e.g., masonry, fabrics, floor coverings, and textured paints. We present a case study of naïve subjects who found that surfaces captured with our method, when rendered under novel lighting and view conditions, were statistically indistinguishable from photographs. This is a significant improvement over previous methods, to which our results are also compared. © 2009 ACM

Visual estimation of ACL injury risk: Efficient assessment method, group differences, and expertise mechanisms

Simple observational assessment of movement quality (e.g., drop vertical jump biomechanics) is an efficient and low cost method for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury screening and prevention. A recently developed test (see www.ACL-IQ.org) has revealed substantial cross-professional/group differences in visual ACL injury risk estimation skill. Specifically, parents, sport coaches, and to some degree sports medicine physicians, would likely benefit from training or the use of decision support tools. In addition, expertise mechanisms (perceptual-cognitive characteristics of skilled performers) were investigated in order to design training systems to improve risk estimation performance