Estimation of body density in adolescent athletes

National samples of 141 male and 133 female highly-trained adolescent athletes were studied to derive anthropometric-based equations predicting body density. Anthropometric measures included skinfold thicknesses at seven sites, circum- ferences at 14 sites, and diameters at nine sites. Criterion measures of body density were determined by underwater weighing with corrections for residual lung vol- ume based on the oxygen dilution method. Variable selection procedures included factor analysis followed by forward-stepping regression and polynomial analysis. For both the male and female samples, two quadratic equations utilizing either the sum of three or seven skinfold measures were derived. Within the male sample, high validity coefficients (R = 0.81 - 0.82) and low standard errors (SEE = 0.0055 - 0.0056 g-ml !) were shown with these equations. Similar results were demon- strated with the equations for females (R = 0.82 and SEE = 0.0060 g-ml~ l). Cross- validation on independent samples of male (n = 66) and female (n = 46) adolescent athletes further confirmed these findings. In the cross-validation sample of males, predicted scores were highly correlated with actual body density (r = 0.86 - 0.87) and the total error of prediction ranged from 0.0057 to 0.0061 g-ml~ l. Among the females, these values were r = 0.82 - 0.83 and total error = 0.0058 to 0.0063 g*ml-1. These results indicate that within reasonable limits of error, the sum of three or seven skinfolds may be used to make estimates of the body density of adolescent male or female athlete

Association of malalignment, muscular dysfunction, proprioception, laxity and abnormal joint loading with tibiofemoral knee osteoarthritis - a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: To investigate (1) the association of specific biomechanical factors with knee osteoarthritis and knee osteoarthritis development, and (2) the impact of other relevant risk factors on this association.Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus were searched up until April 2017. Studies were included if they fulfilled the following criteria: the study 1) assessed the association of a biomechanical factor with knee osteoarthritis, or knee osteoarthritis development; 2) reported on skeletal malalignment, muscular dysfunction, impaired proprioception, laxity and abnormal loading during gait; 3) was a cohort study with participants developing knee osteoarthritis and participants not developing knee osteoarthritis, or a case-control or cross-sectional study with participants with knee osteoarthritis and without knee osteoarthritis. Risk of bias was assessed with the QUIPS tool and meta-analyses were performed using random effects models.Results: Of 6413 unique studies identified, 59 cross-sectional studies were eligible for meta-analyses (9825 participants, 5328 with knee osteoarthritis). No cohort studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Compared with healthy controls, patients with knee osteoarthritis have higher odds of having lower muscle strength, proprioception deficits, more medial varus-valgus laxity and less lateral varus-valgus laxity. Patients with medial knee osteoarthritis have higher odds of having a higher knee adduction moment than healthy controls. Level of evidence was graded as 'very low' to 'moderate' quality. Due to large between study differences moderation of other risk factors on biomechanical risk factors could not be evaluated.Conclusions: Patients with knee osteoarthritis are more likely to display a number of biomechanical characteristics. The causal relationship between specific biomechanical factors and the development of knee osteoarthritis could not be determined as no longitudinal studies were included. There is an urgent need for high quality, longitudinal studies to evaluate the impact of specific biomechanical factors on the development of knee osteoarthritis.Trial Registration: (PROSPERO ID: CRD42015025092)

Generation and characterization of anisotropic microstructures in rare earth-iron-boron alloys

The automotive industry is currently being directed toward electrification of their fleets. In order to provide these hybrid or electric vehicles, lightweight high torque electric motors are needed. Permanent magnet (PM) brushless motors have been identified as the preferred motors for these applications. In order to effectively provide these motors, cost-effective high strength PMs are needed. The use of polymer bonded PMs is one method to reduce processing costs, but performance is decreased unless anisotropic PMs can be formed. New processing methods to form anisotropic mixed rare earth (MRE)-iron-boron PM particulate were studied in this work. Two primary processing routes were identified and investigated: controlled devitrification through application of uniaxial pressure and rapid directional solidification utilizing a segregating additive. In addition, further control of the melt-spinning process was achieved through control of wheel surface temperature and finish. Controlled devitrification was found to produce an anisotropic, nanocrystalline microstructure, as observed through TEM and XRD studies. A high defect density within the structure, unprecedented in RE2Fe14B microstructures, was observed. It is surmised that the defects cause soft magnetic behavior. Stabilization of a columnar, textured microstructure was achieved through the utilization of moderate wheel speeds during melt-spinning, in combination with minor additions of Ag to the alloy. The texture was seen to be altered from that typically seen in RE2Fe14B alloys melt-spun at low-to-moderate wheel speeds. It was observed that this occurs through a modification in the solidification pathway, catalyzed by the addition of Ag. In addition to the altered texture, the presence of fine precipitates within the matrix and varying interdendritic phases was observed. Alteration of wheel surface temperature and surface finish was seen to have significant effects on the ability to form amorphous material in Nd2Fe14B + TiC alloys. Counter to the predictions of several theoretical models, increased wheel surface temperatures were seen to increase the glassy fraction. Additionally, utilizing coarser abrasives to finish the wheel surface resulted in greater amorphous fractions. It is proposed that the changes are correlated with alteration of wetting behavior between the wheel and the melt. The work presented here provided promising directions for the formation of anisotropic particulate suitable for use in polymer-bonded permanent magnets

Large language models for document classification

This thesis is a research endeavor to explore the efficacy of large language models in conjunction with document classification. This thesis started out as a project started together with the "Byggebot"- project, started by the PolarisMedia-group, after my thesis advisor Professor Andreas Lothe Opdahl was contacted by the project lead to see if he was interested in the idea. The original goal of this project was to see whether or not one could utilize large language models as a means of classifying "news-worthy" stories, with a focus on municipal building permit documents. The municipality i decided on working in was Tromsø, as one of the local newspapers were working on a similar project, and were originally interested in collaborating. I eventually has issues with bad data, as there was the need to acquire them manually, and the municipal database of Tromsø had less than desirable document markings and classifications. After some trial and error, the decision on shifting the thesis to document classification itself, as this was where most of the time was spent on this project, and it seemed like an interesting angle to research. After rigorous attempts at fine-tuning models and semi-manually classified verification documents, it was unclear whether or not the models were being verified well enough because of lacking data. In the end the decision ended up being to use multiple different state-of-the-art models and compared them against each other to test the agreement between them when being tested against multiple different datasets, trying to classify each one with a similar prefixed-prompt. In the end the resulting scores seem to indicate that certain models tend to agree with each other. The argument is then that the probability of the classification being wrong when multiple models have agreed to this extent, is moderately low. The models are by no means perfect, but it seems to be a trend for certain ones to be more effective than others in some of the domains tested.Masteroppgave i informasjonsvitenskapINFO390MASV-INF

The effect of certain external factors on the keeping quality of apples in storage

Typescript (photocopy) Thesis (M.S.)--Iowa State College, 1923. Includes bibliography

A Four Week Intervention Program at Albert Lea Medical Center: An Investigative Study of Employee Lifestyle Practices

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of a four-week intervention program on the development of healthy lifestyle practices among employees at Albert Lea Medical Center. Specifically, the study was designed to investigate changes in subjects\u27 predicted health risk age after participation in a four-week worksite health promotion program at ALMC. The intervention program consisted of the following wellness components: physical, emotional, occupational, intellectual, spiritual, and social. The study was designed to answer the question of how the July Challenge would effect the risk age of each participant. Health risk appraisals were sent to randomly selected individuals at Albert Lea Medical Center\u27s main hospital campus, all satellite medical clinics, and a long-term care facility. Participants were divided into the three following groups: experienced; who had participated in a similar wellness intervention from February to March, 1999, nonexperienced; individuals who had not participated in any wellness interventions, and control group. Each participant was asked to complete a health risk appraisal form one week prior to the wellness intervention, within one week after the intervention, and finally, a third health risk appraisal nine weeks after the July Challenge was completed. The experienced and non-experienced groups participated in a four-week intervention program which promoted balance and consistent participation in wellness activities from the six areas mentioned above. A 3 x 3 (Time Period x Group) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to interpret the results of the wellness intervention. The results indicated that the mean risk age for the experienced and non-experienced groups significantly increased across the data collection periods. The mean risk age for the control group remained relatively the same. It is interesting to note that all the risk ages for each participant in the three groups, with the exception of one in the control group, was lower than the actual age of the participant. The reader is provided various explanations for this outcome although more research is recommended. While the data analysis indicated that the July Challenge wellness intervention had a negative impact on the participant\u27s risk age, research has found that employee wellness programs do indeed have a positive impact on the health of the employees and the corporate bottom line. It is to the financial benefit of corporate America to support and implement health promotion programs. These programs should include ongoing education and reinforcement to foster continued participation in healthy lifestyle practices. It is a goal of the health promotion professional to increase employees\u27 awareness of how unhealthy lifestyle choices impact their lives. As individuals become more health conscious, they will hopefully make wiser decisions regarding risk factors over which they have control, such as smoking, wearing seat belts, poor nutrition, and so on. A major obstacle facing health promotion specialists is the client\u27s relapse into old habits after wellness interventions are completed

Hvilke ulike praksiser eksisterer for faget programmering i ungdomsskolen, og hvilke innholdskomponenter legger lærerne vekt på i utformingen av faget?

I 2016 kom programmering som valgfag på lærerplanen for grunnskolen i Norge for første gang. I første omgang skulle faget tilbys til utvalgte skoler som ville være med på prosjektet, og det var 155 skoler som satte i gang høsten 2016. Høsten 2017 ble det åpnet for at alle skoler som ønsket å tilby programmering som valgfag, kunne gjøre dette. Hovedproblemstillingen i denne oppgaven er som følger: Hvilke ulike praksiser eksisterer for faget programmering i ungdomsskolen, og hvilke innholdskomponenter legger lærerne vekt på i utformingen av faget? Jeg har forsøkt å fokusere på lærerne i faget og hvordan skolene organiserer og implementerer undervisningen i koding, samt at jeg også har sett på hvilke læringsmål i faget lærerne mener er viktige og hvordan de jobber praktisk med faget. Jeg har også sett på hvem som er lærere i faget, hvilken holdning som finnes til IKT faget i skolene og hvordan lærerne ser på mulighetene for at koding kan bli et eget fag i den norske skolen. I arbeidet med oppgaven har jeg forsøkt å finne og lese så mye relevant litteratur og tidligere forskning jeg kunne finne om emnet. Det at det hele tiden publiseres ny forskning på løpende bånd, har gjort dette arbeidet komplisert og tidkrevende da det har vært vanskelig å begrense hvilke arbeider som er verdt å lese og hvilke som er mindre relevante. Det er også vanskelig å klare å stoppe opp og slutte å lete etter nytt og relevant materiale. Metoden jeg har brukt i arbeidet med oppgava er hovedsakelig kvalitative dybdeintervjuer, men jeg har også foretatt en liten kvantitativ undersøkelse der lærere deltok. Blant funnene i arbeidet kan det nevnes at det er en forståelse for viktigheten av å jobbe med programmering i skolen, men at det er uenighet om faget skal være et eget fag eller om det skal fortsette å være et valgfag. Andre funn viser at det er få lærere som har utdanning og erfaring i koding, noe som kan bli et problem når vi vet hvor fort utviklingen i IKT feltet går. Jeg har et håp om at denne oppgaven kan inspirere andre til å se nærmere på programmeringsfaget og dets plass i den norske skolen i framtiden.MASIKT-OP