42 research outputs found
An Analysis of Soccer Referee Demographics and Motivational Factors in the Western Kentucky Soccer Officials Association
No full textThrough a lens of the Knowledge Gap Theory of Mass Communication and the consideration of Media Framing Theory, this research examined the demographics of soccer referees in the Western Kentucky Soccer Officials Association, in addition to the leading motivations for beginning, continuing, and leaving their officiating vocation. With the knowledge of the aforementioned, this paper aimed to lay the groundwork for a strategic communication plan in the officiating community that addresses the alarming trend that is a lack of certified referees in youth athletics. The data was collected through online surveys that were distributed to active referees in the Western Kentucky Soccer Officials Association. While individuals identified many motivations, results suggested that the theme of enjoyment in affiliation or the “love of the game” is far and away the leading reason for referees to both begin their careers and continue their careers, as the study reveals that intrinsic motivation is extremely significant for officials. Further, referee abuse is the leading reason that referees have pondered walking away from the game. Finally, while the reasons are still unknown, the demographic portion of the research did communicate that the respondents generally belonged to the higher socioeconomic classes of society. They were also predominantly and disproportionately white, exclusively male, and held advanced educational degrees at a higher rate than the general population. Higher household incomes and a median age that would be considered by most as middle-aged were also themes that emerged, while most had played soccer competitively at a minimum of the high school level
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Intervention Study to Improve Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students Morphosyntax Production in Single Sentences and Connected Language
No full textThrough a non-traditional approach, the author completed this dissertation with the following components: 1) an introduction to the problem examined, 2) a literature review, 3) a manuscript prepared for submission to a peer reviewed journal, and 4) a reflection of her experiences completing doctoral studies during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic. Although the pandemic changed the process to complete this dissertation, the research began prior to and persisted throughout the pandemic to examine the effect a systematically organized morphosyntax intervention on deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students’ production of English single sentences and connected language. The author begins by introducing the barriers DHH students face when accessing morphosyntax knowledge (Chapter 1). In the next chapters, the paucity of morphosyntactical interventions for deaf and hard of hearing students (Chapter 2) provides a rationale for the study described in the following chapter (Chapter 3). The final chapter (Chapter 4) is in the format of a lesson plan, describing the author’s educational experiences while reflecting on her journey as a student, researcher, administrator, and mother to complete the requirements of her doctoral program.
Growth of nanocrystalline Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films using the spray pyrolysis technique and their characterization
No full textVirtual Assessment and Experimental Validation of Power Loss Contributions in Swash Plate Type Axial Piston Pumps
No full textInternational audienc
Soft hydrogel zwitterionic coatings minimize fibroblast and macrophage adhesion on polyimide substrates
No full textMinimizing the foreign body reaction to polyimide-based implanted devices has a pivotal role for several biomedical applications. In this work we propose materials exhibiting non-biofouling properties and a Young's modulus reflecting the one of soft human tissues. We describe the synthesis, characterization and in vitro validation of poly(carboxybetaine) hydrogel coatings covalently attached to polyimide substrates via a photolabile 4-azidophenyl group, incorporated in poly(carboxybetaine) chains at two concentrations of 1.6 and 3.1 mol.%. The presence of coatings was confirmed by attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. White light interferometry was used to evaluate coating continuity and thickness (resulting between 3 and 6 μm in dry conditions). Confocal laser scanning microscopy allowed to quantify the thickness of the swollen hydrogel coatings that ranged between 13 and 32 μm. The different hydrogel formulations resulted in stiffness values ranging from 2 to 19 kPa, and led to different fibroblasts and macrophages responses tested in vitro. Both cell types showed a minimum adhesion on the softest hydrogel type. In addition, both the overall macrophage activation and cytotoxicity were observed to be negligible for all the tested material formulations. These results are a promising starting point towards future advanced implantable systems. In particular, such technology paves the way to novel neural interfaces able to minimize the fibrotic reaction, once implanted in vivo, and to maximize their long-term stability and functionality
Principles for a New Maritime Code (Summary)
No full textW artykule autor zawarł przegląd materii normatywnej Kodeksu morskiego z 2001 r. z punktu widzenia zamierzonych poczynań nowelizacyjnych. Jest on zwolennikiem hipoteki morskiej jako odrębnego samodzielnego, nowego ograniczonego prawa rzeczowego regulowanego wyłącznie przez kodeks morski. Autor artykułu jest krytykiem reguł rotterdamskich i uważa, że jest to nieudana
próba zastąpienia reżimu reguł hasko-visbijskich opartego na stuletniej bez mała praktyce.The article reviews the 2001 Maritime Code amendments, including Title I (General Provisions) and Title II (Vessel). The Author promotes new regulation of maritime lien as a distinct ius ad rem, specific to the maritime code. He takes a stand against the Rotterdam Rules as he believes they are an unsuccessful attempt to replace the Hague-Visby Rules and their nearly one hundred year old tradition
Soft Hydrogel Zwitterionic Coatings Minimize Fibroblast and Macrophage Adhesion on Polyimide Substrates
No full textMinimizing the foreign body reaction to polyimide-based implanted devices plays a pivotal role in several biomedical applications. In this work, we propose materials exhibiting nonbiofouling properties and a Young's modulus reflecting that of soft human tissues. We describe the synthesis, characterization, and in vitro validation of poly(carboxybetaine) hydrogel coatings covalently attached to polyimide substrates via a photolabile 4-azidophenyl group, incorporated in poly(carboxybetaine) chains at two concentrations of 1.6 and 3.1 mol %. The presence of coatings was confirmed by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. White light interferometry was used to evaluate the coating continuity and thickness (between 3 and 6 mu m under dry conditions). Confocal laser scanning microscopy allowed us to quantify the thickness of the swollen hydrogel coatings that ranged between 13 and 32 mu m. The different hydrogel formulations resulted in stiffness values ranging from 2 to 19 kPa and led to different fibroblast and macrophage responses in vitro. Both cell types showed a minimum adhesion on the softest hydrogel type. In addition, both the overall macrophage activation and cytotoxicity were observed to be negligible for all of the tested material formulations. These results are a promising starting point toward future advanced implantable systems. In particular, such technology paves the way for novel neural interfaces able to minimize the fibrotic reaction, once implanted in vivo, and to maximize their long-term stability and functionality.TNE3rd International Conference on Bioinspired and Zwitterionic Materials (ICBZM), Tokyo, JAPAN, Oct 18-20, 201
Automated optical fibers coupling to photonic integrated circuits
No full textThe photonic integrated circuits are required in the next generations of coherent terabit optical communications. The software tools for automated adjustment and coupling of optical fiber arrays to photonic integrated circuits has been developed. The obtained results are needed in final production phase in the technology process of photonic integrated circuits packaging
Efficient circuit-level modelling of ballistic CNT using piecewise non-linear approximation of mobile charge density
No full textThis paper presents a new carbon nanotube transistor (CNT) modelling technique which is based on an efficient numerical piece-wise non-linear approximation of the non-equilibrium mobile charge density. The technique facilitates the solution of the self-consistent voltage equation in a carbon nanotube such that the CNT drain-source current evaluation is accelerated by more than three orders of magnitude while maintaining high modelling accuracy. The model is currently limited to ballistic transport but can be extended to non-ballistic modes of transport when a suitable theory is developed while researchers study phenomena that sometimes prevent electrons in a carbon nanotube from going ballistic. Our results show that while the accuracy and speed of the proposed model vary with the number of piece-wise segments in the mobile charge approximation, it is possible to obtain a speed-up of more than 1000 times while maintaining the accuracy within less than 2% in terms of average RMS error compared with the state of the art theoretical reference CNT model implemented in FETToy. This numerical efficiency makes our model particularly suitable for implementation in circuit-level, eg. SPICE-like, simulators where large numbers of such devices may be used to build complex circuits
