Turaev torsion, definite 4-manifolds, and quasi-alternating knots

We construct an infinite family of hyperbolic, homologically thin knots that are not quasi-alternating. To establish the latter, we argue that the branched double-cover of each knot in the family does not bound a negative definite 4-manifold with trivial first homology and bounded second betti number. This fact depends in turn on information from the correction terms in Heegaard Floer homology, which we establish by way of a relationship to, and calculation of, the Turaev torsion.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

$750 Million of Neutral News Coverage: A Content Analysis of Nextel\u27s Media Exposure before and after Becoming NASCAR\u27s Primary Corporate Sponsor.

This study examined the exposure of the Nextel brand name in major U.S. newspapers 1 year before and after Nextel became the primary sponsor of the North American Stock Car Association of Racing. A content analysis of 576 newspaper articles was performed. The hypotheses tested the quantity and quality of Nextel\u27s coverage, as well where the stories were appearing and where the brand was being used in the stories. The study found the number of Nextel mentions in year two was almost 4 times as many as year one. The data reveal a dramatic increase in cases found in sports stories. In regard to value, Nextel\u27s NASCAR sponsorship resulted in less negative and considerably more neutral media coverage. However, Nextel\u27s mentions also became less positive. Nextel mentions associated with NASCAR increased in year two, from none in year one to 62.5% of all cases in year two

Keeping College Pricey: The Bootlegger and Baptist Story of Higher Education Accreditation

Since the passage of the Veterans Readjustment Act of 1952, private accrediting agencies have held the purse strings to all federal student aid. Today, six regional accrediting agencies and ten national accrediting agencies act as the gatekeepers of these federal monies. No college or university can access federal funds without receiving the imprimatur of one of these recognized accrediting agencies. Proponents of the current system of accreditation argue that the framework presently in place ultimately benefits both students and the public at large by fulfilling quality assurance and information signaling functions. Applying Yandle’s “Baptists and Bootleggers” model, we examine whether the accreditation system in this country exclusively serves the public interest by ensuring that institutions are meeting high standards of excellence or whether this system instead serves private interests. We begin by briefly outlining the history of accreditation in the United States before explaining the public choice lens through which we explore the issue of higher education accreditation—Yandle’s Baptists and Bootleggers model. After highlighting the public interest (“Baptist”) arguments many policy advocates have raised in favor of accreditation, we consider whether the quantitative and the qualitative evidence supports the public interest story. We then turn to the public choice (“Bootleggers”) account of the current accreditation system and argue that the current system of higher education accreditation serves as a cartel aimed at keeping the price of a college education high, with little incentives for anything beyond minimum quality standards. We test this hypothesis by analyzing the opposition raised by universities and accrediting agencies alike to 34 C.F.R.§ 600.9—a regulation promulgated in October 2010 dealing with the state’s power to deny federal funds to schools that fail to meet its independent authorization requirements, even if the school is already accredited by one of the recognized accrediting agencies. We suggest that the current system of compulsory accreditation should be abolished and should be replaced by a system run independently by each state. Ultimately, competition between the states both for students and for new and innovative universities would result in reforms that the accreditors have no incentive to pursue under the current system

Counseling College Student-Athletes: A Working Alliance Model Approach

Student-athletes often represent a highly visible, yet decidedly misunderstood population on college and university campuses. In the general student population, the combination of multiple stressors often leads students to seek professional counseling services. Unfortunately, student-athletes, who are often faced with a multitude of psychosocial stressors germane to balancing athletic and academic responsibilities, seldom seek out professional counseling services. However, when they do seek services, the authors posited that an understanding of the construct of the therapeutic working alliance and the application of the working alliance model (Bordin, 1979) offered a useful template for fostering positive counseling outcomes with student-athletes. In this article, the major elements of this construct and model were presented along with a discussion and implications for its application to a college or university student-athlete population

Air Launched Vehicle Exergy Analysis During Aircraft Boost Phase

The analysis of air launched vehicles carrying payloads to low earth orbit is complex. The integration of the aircraft flight phase and the launch vehicle flight phase requires the integration of systems functioning from different energy relationships. System exergy balance provides a relationship to integrate the efficiency of the aircraft launcher and the efficiency of the launch vehicle in a single, integrated system assessment. The exergy balance of the aircraft flight phase can be calculated with the launch vehicle included as part of the vehicle mass. As exergy balance allows for separate of the masses, different velocities, and different propulsion systems to continue the mission analysis after separation through payload orbital insertion and aircraft landing. This paper presents the initial assessment of the aircraft launch phase up to separation of the launch vehicle. Showing the method of integration afforded by the system exergy balance relationship

Public School Principals’ Perceptions Concerning the Hiring of Social Studies Teachers

The authors employed a qualitative research design to explore issues pertaining to the selection and interviewing of social studies applicants for teaching positions in public secondary schools. They specifically focused on the quality of the applicant pool, characteristics of desired candidates and the school principals’ perspectives of a desired interview. Analysis of the principals’ responses to the interview questions yielded two primary categories related to their perspectives regarding potential social studies teachers: (a) personal and professional educator attributes and (b) a candidate’s actions within the formal setting of an interview. Subcategories were developed that further delineated the expectations administrators have concerning their potential social studies teachers. The authors address implications for social studies teachers seeking employment and the establishment of stronger teacher training programs to assist with the alignment of the candidate’s interview skills with the desires of school administrators

A Comparison of the Efficiency in Finding Genes between Sequences Enriched For Hypo-Methylated Regions and Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequence in Bread Wheat

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) has a roughly 17Gbp hexaploid genome, resulting from a hybridization event between tetraploid emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides) and diploid goat grass (Aegilops tauschii). This large plant genome is composed of at least 80% transposable elements (TE’s), making the transcriptionally active regions (genes) difficult to locate. Epigenetic methylation of DNA is a common indicator of low transcriptional activity and is used to silence TE’s within a genome. Using restriction enzymes that cannot cut methylated DNA (HpaII and HpyCH4IV) Illumina sequencing libraries were constructed that are enriched for hypomethylated regions of the wheat cultivar “Chinese Spring”. The resulting sequence data (roughly 4.5 Gb) was assembled into contigs with AbySS using k-values of 36, 50, and 64. Resulting contigs were then annotated for gene content using Blastx and Blast2GO. Our findings were then compared to un-enriched sequences from a whole genome shotgun sequence to determine the gene enrichment potential of our selection strategy. When contigs were assembled with a k-value of 64 for the libraries made with HpyCH4IV and k-values of 64 and 50 for the HpaII libraries, a higher proportion of genes were identified than in the control whole genome shotgun sequence