Presentations

In July, Neil Russell (Physics) gave an invited talk titled “The Standard Model Extension and Tests of Special Relativity” in the session on Lorentz invariance at the 11th annual Marcel Grossman meeting on General Relativity held in July in Berlin, Germany.

Harvey Wallace (HPER) was one of four public health experts invited to give presentations July 19 and 20 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Wallace is a member of the steering committee for "Exploring Accreditation: A Proposed Model for a Voluntary National Accreditation Program for State and Local Public Health Departments," a project of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He and the other panelists briefed the CDC leadership, including director Dr. Julie Gerberding, on the proposed model. A national satellite broadcast to inform the public health community and to encourage comment about the project concluded the meeting. The goal of a voluntary national accreditation program is to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of state and local public health departments.

Gerri Daniels, Meggan Mattson and Dena Russell from Admissions gave a presentation titled "Increasing Yield: Northern Michigan University's Follow-up Project" at the ACT 21st Annual Enrollment Planners Conference held July 19-21 in Chicago.

Randall Jensen (HPER) reports that six papers co-authored by HPER faculty and/or graduate students were presented in Salzburg, Austria, and published in the Proceedings of the XXIV International Symposium of Biomechanics in Sports:

-In "The effects of backpack loading styles on energy expenditure and movement in the sagittal plane during treadmill walking," student Kathryn Cole examined the movement of the body and caloric cost of backpacking at different grades with part of the load swinging from the outside of the pack, or with all of the load inside the pack. Data indicated there was a slight increase in caloric cost when having some of the load outside the pack. The paper's co-authors were Phil Watts and Cheryl Teeters (HPER).

-Jensen presented "Triathlon cycle-run transition: seated versus alternating seated and standing cycling," which examined the effect of different ways of cycling during the transition from cycling to running in a triathlon. It was a follow-up of a study performed at NMU and was conducted at the University of Limerick while Jensen was on sabbatical there. The co-authors were all from the University of Limerick.

-Student Katie Theut presented "A comparison of two types of backstroke starts," which was part of her master's thesis. She investigated the effect on backstroke start distance and velocity when placing both feet at the same level below the surface of the water or staggering one foot behind the other. Results showed there was no difference. Jensen was the co-author.

-Former graduate student John Lawrence presented data he collected while at NMU. In his "Reliability of a new lower extremity motor control test: Dot diagram," subjects were asked to move their feet in tandem through the air to various points marked on the floor. The study found that the new motor control test designed for alpine skiers was reliable. Jensen was the co-author.

-Student Brock Jensen presented "Effects of surface on oxygen uptake, power output and heart rate during uphill cycling," which was part of his master's thesis. The study analyzed the difference in cycling on a treadmill or over-ground with and without added weight. Data indicated there was a slight increase in oxygen uptake, heart rate and power output when cycling on the treadmill, indicating that using treadmill cycling to describe responses during outdoor cycling may be questionable. Co-authors were Randall Jensen, Watts and D.L. Jensen from Portage Health System.

Randall Jensen also presented a paper in Vuokatti, Finland, that was published in the Proceedings of the International Congress on Science and Nordic Skiing. "Comparison of the lactate-heart rate relationship during treadmill roller skiing and on snow cross-country skiing" examined heart rate, blood lactate and cadence while skiing over snow or using roller skis on a treadmill. Data indicated there are differences and that using the treadmill to predict on-snow skiing may be questionable. The co-authors were: R.S. Bowen, Sten Fjeldheim, M. Halloran, S. Peck, Jenny Ryan and Watts.