Butting Heads: Tackling Football Concussion and Prevention

Hundreds of thousands of sports concussions occur each year in the United States, and almost half of them are the result of a football injury. Even though they may not initially appear serious, concussions can lead to extreme cognitive impairments in those affected. This article highlights the importance of treating concussions properly and educating coaches, parents, and athletes on the value of allowing young athletes to take the time they need to fully recover

Using Random Forests to Describe Equity in Higher Education: A Critical Quantitative Analysis of Utah’s Postsecondary Pipelines

The following work examines the Random Forest (RF) algorithm as a tool for predicting student outcomes and interrogating the equity of postsecondary education pipelines. The RF model, created using longitudinal data of 41,303 students from Utah\u27s 2008 high school graduation cohort, is compared to logistic and linear models, which are commonly used to predict college access and success. Substantially, this work finds High School GPA to be the best predictor of postsecondary GPA, whereas commonly used ACT and AP test scores are not nearly as important. Each model identified several demographic disparities in higher education access, most significantly the effects of individual-level economic disadvantage. District- and school-level factors such as the proportion of Low Income students and the proportion of Underrepresented Racial Minority (URM) students were important and negatively associated with postsecondary success. Methodologically, the RF model was able to capture non-linearity in the predictive power of school- and district-level variables, a key finding which was undetectable using linear models. The RF algorithm outperforms logistic models in prediction of student enrollment, performs similarly to linear models in prediction of postsecondary GPA, and excels both models in its descriptions of non-linear variable relationships. RF provides novel interpretations of data, challenges conclusions from linear models, and has enormous potential to further the literature around equity in postsecondary pipelines

Book Review: Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali\u27s Child Revisited

A review of Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali\u27s Child Revisited by Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana

Indonesia, Modernity and Some Problems of Religious Adaptation

This article discusses the challenges of adaptation for Indonesian religion. It describes the ways that the major Indonesian religions have changed to fit the requirements of being recognized religions, and focuses as an example on the ways that Balinese Hinduism has changed to become Agama Hindu Dharma Indonesia. It also examines the traditional theological problem of “faith and works” in the Indonesian context, and the concerns used to balance modernization and religious freedom

Survival of the Black Church in difficult economic times : a case study

textMore U.S. adults are members of Historically Black Churches than the combined total of those connected to Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, Orthodox, Jehovah's Witness, and Hindu religious centers (Pew 2008). In addition to its considerable reach, Historically Black Churches have long been a pillar of the Black community. The impact of the Black Church is evident, not just in areas of religiosity, but firmly embedded in issues of economics and politics (Ellison and Sherkat 1995; Frazer 1964; Lincoln and Mamiya 1990; Morris 1984). Given their prominent engagement in spiritual and secular matters, and vital positionality as cultural symbols of blackness, effective implementation and delivery of marketing communication is an imperative for African American Churches. The purpose of this case study is to examine the ways in which the tools of marketing communication can be utilized within the context of a down economy by Historically Black Churches as a means of promoting their symbolic value and advancing their spiritually and secularly-based agendas. (Thomas, 2012) The average African American Church, regardless of denomination, has financial difficulty even during good economic conditions. However, during this recent recession, the African-American Church is facing huge challenges to survive. African-American houses of worship will need effective marketing and advertising plans to remain culturally relevant and compete for stable congregations. This case study explores the importance of culture, tradition, ethnic foundations, and importance of Historically Black Churches in diverse communities. These elements, in conjunction with results from observations of a local community , and a input from a minister , used in the development of a marketing and advertising framework that can be employed by Historically Black Churches. The framework also incorporates successful and transferable marketing communication methodologies used by other non-profit organizations. However, the framework can be altered to accommodate warranted contextual factors.Advertisin

Will farm finances stay healthy in 2002?

Agricultural credit ; Farm income