An Ideal-Type through Innovation Diffusion: Recording the Construction History of Football Stadiums in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)

Dr. John Bale (1984) argued sport scholars need to examine whether innovation diffusion occurred in sport. Rogers (1962, 2003) argued innovation diffusion process involves the following: 1) an innovation; 2) an available communication system(s); and occurs 3) over time; and 4) among members of a social system (p. 11). This project also adds geography as suggested by Bale (1984) and Hagerstrand (1952, 1953) to the study of innovation diffusion. The purpose of the current project is to examine whether innovation diffusion exists within the strong social system of college football. The study involves the collection of data on college football from 1869 to 2014 to examine whether the concept of diffusion of innovation theory can be found in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The investigation concludes that five stages exist concerning the development of the college football stadium. Stage One starts with the development of college football from its humble beginnings as temporary facilities until the development of Harvard Stadium, the first reinforced concrete and steel venue. Stage Two is the golden age of college football stadium construction as the innovation of reinforced concrete and steel diffused to universities around the United States. Stage Three acknowledges the innovations occurring during the Great Depression and how both federal and state governments invested in stadiums as part of public works projects. Stage Four examines technology innovations such as television, artificial turf, modern scoreboards, and luxury areas and their respective impacts on the stadium. The final stage, Stage Five, examines the additions of luxury spaces to almost every venue along with the development of the modern video board. This project finds innovation diffusion occurs throughout time within Division I FBS. The project also concludes that due to improved communications technology and easing of the travel challenges, traditional geography as discussed by Bale (1984) influenced innovation diffusion in the earlier stages (i.e., Stages One through Three) while virtual geography influences innovation diffusion in later stages (i.e., Stage Four and Five). The project also finds that renovation was more common than new construction and that rehabilitation occurs more than any other types of renovation

The effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of cytisine versus varenicline for smoking cessation in an Australian population: a study protocol for a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial

Smoking cessation medications are effective but often underutilised because of costs and side effects. Cytisine is a plant-based smoking cessation medication with over 50 years of use in Central and Eastern Europe. While cytisine has been found to be well-tolerated and more effective than nicotine replacement therapy, direct comparison with varenicline have not been conducted. This study evaluates the effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of cytisine compared with varenicline.Two arm, parallel group, randomised, non-inferiority trial, with allocation concealment and blinded outcome assessment.Australian population-based study.Adult daily smokers (N=1266) interested in quitting will be recruited through advertisements and Quitline telephone-based cessation support services.Eligible participants will be randomised (1:1 ratio) to receive either cytisine capsules (25-day supply) or varenicline tablets (12-week supply), prescribed in accordance with the manufacturer's recommended dosing regimen. The medication will be mailed to each participant's nominated residential address. All participants will also be offered standard Quitline behavioural support (up to six 10-12 minute sessions).Assessments will be undertaken by telephone at baseline, 4- and 7-months post-randomisation. Participants will also be contacted twice (two and four weeks post-randomisation) to ascertain adverse events, treatment adherence and smoking status. The primary outcome will be self-reported 6-month continuous abstinence from smoking, verified by carbon monoxide at 7-month follow-up. We will also evaluate the relative safety and cost-effectiveness of cytisine compared with varenicline. Secondary outcomes will include self-reported continuous and 7-day point prevalence abstinence and cigarette consumption at each follow-up interview.If cytisine is as effective as varenicline, its lower cost and natural plant-based composition may make it an acceptable and affordable smoking cessation medication that could save millions of lives worldwide

Assessing the Impact of the 2017 Tax Reform on College Athletic Donations Related to Ticket Sales

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 affected many traditional tax deductions for a variety of organizations. One that went under the radar for many, except those in the college sport ecosystem, was the removal of a deduction for donations related to college sport ticket sales. Developed from the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988, IRC §170(l) provided individual taxpayers the ability to claim 80% of the amount paid over the value of tickets to college athletic events as a charitable contribution. TCJA eliminated this itemized deduction, which concerned several university athletic directors about the long-term effects of this change on their program’s revenue generation. This article assesses the history of the development and application of IRC §170(l) and determines whether these contributions should have been allowed as a charitable deduction overall. The article also examines the impact of IRC §170(l) after TCJA’s implementation, finding the athletic directors’ collective feared impact of reduced contribution revenues was not significant based on available data. Donors appear motivated by more than just the tax benefit, and the removal of the deduction did little to affect overall contributions

Processing 3D Models of Large Instream Wood for Hydraulics Applications – Structure- from-Motion Workflow Documentation

Estimating how large instream wood (LW) may impact local hydraulics is critical both for mitigating flood hazards and for ensuring intended habitat benefits of the LW are produced. In practice, the design of forms such as LW is limited by a lack of mechanistic tools for estimating how LW features (e.g. porosity, wetted perimeter, and obstructed area) will affect flow depths and velocities. Structure-from-Motion (SfM) is a photogrammetric technique that may be used to create and integrate 3D models of LW with topographic surveys and hydrological observations to calculate LW features on a depth-dependent basis. This paper is intended to convey the knowledge of using SfM to create 3D models of large instream wood (LW) for hydraulics applications. The intended audience is researchers and practitioners who are interested in better understanding the role of large LW in river ecosystems. The document presents methods for creating and georeferencing 3D models of LW using SfM, integrating them with terrain models, and processing them to produce depth-dependent hydraulic variables. The methods presented in this document are not ideal or exhaustive, but intended as a baseline framework to improve upon.Keywords: tutorial, SfM, Agisoft Metashape, point cloud, blockage ratio, 3D model, wood accumulation, log jam, hydraulics, LW, Structure-from-Motion, mesh, large woo

Large Wood Hydraulics: Using Structure-from-Motion to Estimate Flow Depths

Estimating how large instream wood (LW) may impact local hydraulics is critical both for mitigating flood hazards and for ensuring intended habitat benefits of the LW are produced. In practice, the design of forms such as LW is limited by a lack of mechanistic tools for estimating how LW features (e.g. porosity, wetted perimeter, and obstructed area) will affect flow depths and velocities. This project aimed to better estimate how submerged LW features impact hydraulics and flow resistance (represented as the roughness coefficient, Manning’s n). This study introduces a methodological framework for integrating Structure-from-Motion (SfM) meshes of log jams with topographic surveys and depth and discharge observations. This method was applied to a log jam in the Coast Range, Oregon, USA to measure the aforementioned LW features on a depth-dependent basis. These data were subsequently applied to a modified version of Manning’s formula developed for flow past rigid, emergent obstructions and integrated with the Cowan method. Alongside the standalone Cowan method, the integrated approach was validated against observed discharge values. The results indicated that, although similar in outcome, the standalone Cowan method fits the observed discharge slightly better compared to the obstruction-modified Cowan method (R² = 0.78 > 0.75). Despite accounting for the obstruction, the poorer performance relative to the standalone Cowan method is attributed to Manning’s equation, which is formulated to decrease with discharge and is strongly dependent on the hydraulic radius term. Due to the limited data of the study, the standard formula could be revised by collecting more flow observations across varied LW configurations and testing the dependence of depth against the new parameters. Nevertheless, the resulting parameters can be readily applied outside of Manning’s equation, such as calculating the pore Reynolds number used to estimate drag coefficients.Keywords: 3D model, porosity, log jam, point cloud, large wood, Shapely, open channel flow, Manning's n, photogrammetry, Structure-from-Motion, blockage ratio, wood accumulation, flow resistance, hydraulics, LW, channel roughness, Sf

Identification of compounds with anti-convulsant properties in a zebrafish model of epileptic seizures

The availability of animal models of epileptic seizures provides opportunities to identify novel anticonvulsants for the treatment of people with epilepsy. We found that exposure of 2-day-old zebrafish embryos to the convulsant agent pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) rapidly induces the expression of synaptic-activity-regulated genes in the CNS, and elicited vigorous episodes of calcium (Ca2+) flux in muscle cells as well as intense locomotor activity. We then screened a library of ∼2000 known bioactive small molecules and identified 46 compounds that suppressed PTZ-inducedtranscription of the synaptic-activity-regulated gene fos in 2-day-old (2 dpf) zebrafish embryos. Further analysis of a subset of these compounds, which included compounds with known and newly identified anticonvulsant properties, revealed that they exhibited concentration-dependent inhibition of both locomotor activity and PTZ-induced fos transcription, confirming their anticonvulsant characteristics. We conclude that this in situ hybridisation assay for fos transcription in the zebrafish embryonic CNS is a robust, high-throughput in vivo indicator of the neural response to convulsant treatment and lends itself well to chemical screening applications. Moreover, our results demonstrate that suppression of PTZ-induced fos expression provides a sensitive means of identifying compounds with anticonvulsant activities