Stabilization of heterodimensional cycles

We consider diffeomorphisms $f$ with heteroclinic cycles associated to saddles $P$ and $Q$ of different indices. We say that a cycle of this type can be stabilized if there are diffeomorphisms close to $f$ with a robust cycle associated to hyperbolic sets containing the continuations of $P$ and $Q$. We focus on the case where the indices of these two saddles differ by one. We prove that, excluding one particular case (so-called twisted cycles that additionally satisfy some geometrical restrictions), all such cycles can be stabilized.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figure

QCD dipole prediction for DIS and diffractive structure functions

The $F_{2}$, $F_{G}$, $R=F_{L}/F_{T}$ proton structure functions are derived in the QCD dipole picture of BFKL dynamics. We get a three parameter fit describing the 1994 H1 proton structure function $F_{2}$ data in the low $x$, moderate $Q^{2}$ range. Without any additional parameter, the gluon density and the longitudinal structure functions are predicted.The diffractive dissociation processes are also discussed, and a new prediction for the proton diffractive structure function is obtained.Comment: 4 pages, latex file, 2 figures Invited talk given at the 28th International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 96), 25-31 July 1996, Warsaw, Polan

Women and children first? Child abuse and child protection in sport

Child welfare and women's rights both feature prominently in contemporary debates on equal rights. Whereas gender equity has been a policy objective for the past thirty years in sport organizations, however, child abuse and protection have only recently emerged as a sport ethics issues. Arguably, child protection has now leapfrogged over gender equity as a policy priority. The chapter opens with a discussion of the role of children in sport in relation to opposing ideologies of social control and personal freedom, and outlines the development of child protection and gender equity initiatives in sport, including the establishment of the not-for-profit Women’s Sports Foundation (UK) and the first national women in sport policy in England, and of a dedicated Sport England/NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU). The shift in theoretical focus from ‘women’ to ‘gender’ has been accompanied by a widening of the general social policy attention away from solely heterosexual interests. Sport organisations have responded comparatively slowly to the new rights agenda for gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered people but it is argued here that the arrival of the CPSU not only gave huge impetus to the institutionalisation of child protection in sport but also forced sports bodies to address ethics and equity agendas more forcibly than they had done before. In this way, the issue of child protection has acted as a kind of ethical Trojan horse in sport. The paradox of child protection in sport, however, is that it has simultaneously drawn public attention to issues of abuse and exploitation and deflected attention away from the specific issue of women’s rights in sport

Women and Sport: Social Issues – Ensuring a Safe Environment for the Female Athlete

Women athletes will only optimise their potential in sport if they are able to train and compete in conditions of complete safety. However, many females in sport endure less than safe conditions. They suffer pain, illness or injury, not as a result of the normal stresses and strains of practice and competition but as a consequence of the violation by others of inter-personal boundaries – in other words through experiencing sexually harassing or abusive behaviour. This papers reviews research on abusive relationships in sport

Ostrich or eagle? Protection and professionalism in sport science and coaching

In this presentation I examine the processes of professionalisation and mutual development within and between two occupational groups in the UK - sport and exercise scientists and sports coaches. At the outset I acknowledge the ‘cultural turn’ in science and use my own positionality, based on 30 years of experience within both communities, to inform the analysis. The main questions addressed here are whether these two interdependent groups have found a satisfactory professional relationship and how they have adjusted to the destabilising forces of late modernity. The issue of child protection in sport is used as a case study through which to examine these questions. The readiness of the two groups to acknowledge and embrace associated ethical and professional practices differs considerably. It is argued that sports coaching has addressed protection issues much more readily and effectively than has sport science. It is also suggested that the preoccupation of sport science with scholarly activity undermines the realisation of its aspiration for professional and chartered status. The emphasis of both occupational groups on ‘performance enhancement’, both scholarly and/or athletic, has led them to suffer from diminished social and political perspectives which benefit neither. The paper concludes with some reflections on the potential for both occupations to learn from attending to wider external reference points

Exposing the ‘Olympic family’: a review of progress towards understanding risk factors for sexual victimisation in sport

Sport organisations, including the Olympic movement, frequently invoke the concept of ‘family’ to describe their allegedly close and supportive social systems. However, the family metaphor backfires when sexual exploitation in sport is uncovered. Media coverage of high profile cases of sexual abuse against athletes by their coaches has prompted recent policy responses in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia but, relative to clinical and therapeutic settings, academic research into sexual exploitation in sport is only in its infancy. This paper reviews the empirical and theoretical advances in sport-based sexual abuse research, contrasting these with ‘mainstream’ data and theories. It examines whether elite sport, as a surrogate family setting for the talented young athlete, might be a distinctive location for sexual exploitation

Healthy sport for healthy girls? The role of parents in preventing sexual abuse in sport.

Sexual abuse has only recently been recognised as a problem within sport (Brackenridge 1994) and, as yet, little is known about the contexts in which girls might be at greater or lesser risk of experiencing such crimes. This papers explores the assumptions which parents make about their daughters’ health and safety in the sports coaching context in relation to Hellestedt’s (1987) Parentlal Involvement Continuum. Data from a study of 93 sets of parents of elite young sportswomen are presented which show what much mothers and fathers know about their daughters’ coaching setting. The results are used to evaluate the extent to which parents’ assumptions about sport as a healthy place for healthy girls are warranted. Research on sexual abuse prevention in day care settings (Finkelhor & Williams 1988) is explored as a possible template for parents who wish to contribute to the prevention of sexual abuse of girls in sport