Competitive Orientations and Motives of Adult Sport and Exercise Participants

Participants in four different adult sport and exercise programs (running club, exercise classes, cardiac rehabilitation program, senior games) completed measures of competitive orientation and participation motivation. Our samples were older and more diverse than samples of previous research, and their competitive orientations and motives were similarly diverse. Multivariate analyses revealed gender and sample differences. Males were higher than females on competitiveness and win orientation, and runners were less win-oriented than other groups, but overall, all groups were similar to previous college-age samples in competitive orientation. Groups varied on specific motives, with females rating fitness, flexibility, affiliation, and appearance higher than males did. Generally, participants were diverse in orientations and motives, and positive about their participation. Research and conceptual models of sport orientation must extend beyond achievement motives to capture the diversity of adult participants. Program directors and instructors who offer activities and approaches to match this diversity will encourage wider participation and provide a more satisfying experience for more participants

Social Networks of Researchers and Educators on nanoHUB.org

The science gateway nanoHUB.org is the world’s largest nanotechnology user facility, serving 167,196 users in 2010 with over 2,300 resources including 189 simulation programs. Surveys of nanoHUB users and automated usage analysis find widespread simulation use in formal classroom education, thereby connecting recent research more rapidly and closely to education. Analysis of 719 citations in the scientific literature by over 1,300 authors to nanoHUB.org resources documents use of simulation programs by new research collaborations, by researchers outside of the community originating the program, and by experimentalists. The publication and author networks reveal research collaborations and capacity building through knowledge transfer. Analysis of secondary citations documents the quality of the conducted research with an h-index of 30 after just 10 years of operation. Our analysis proves with quantitative metrics that impactful research can be conducted by an ever growing research community. We argue that HUBzero technology and the user- focused design and operation of nanoHUB.org are success criteria that can be transferred to other science gateways

Computational Nanoelectronics Research and Education at nanoHUB.org

The simulation tools and resources available at nanoHUB.org offer significant opportunities for both research and education in computational nanoelectronics. Users can run simulations on existing powerful computational tools rather than developing yet another niche simulator. The worldwide visibility of nanoHUB provides tool authors with an unparalleled venue for publishing their tools. We have deployed a new quantum transport simulator, OMEN, a state-of-the-art research tool, as the engine driving two tools on nanoHUB. The educational resources of nanoHUB are one fo the most important aspects of the project, according to user surveys. new collections of tools into unified curricula have found a receptive audience in many university classrooms. The underlying cyberinfrastructure of nanoHUB has been packaged as a generic software platform called HUB-zero