300 research outputs found
The effect of manipulating training demands and consequences on experiences of pressure in elite netball
Testing the efficacy of a pressure training framework (Stoker, Lindsay, Butt, Bawden, & Maynard, 2016), the present study investigated whether manipulating training demands and consequences altered experiences of pressure. Elite Netballers (Mage = 26.14 years) performed a Netball exercise in a randomized, within subject design with four conditions: a control, consequences, demands, and demands plus consequences condition. Compared with the control, self-reported pressure was significantly higher in the consequences and demands plus consequences condition, but not in the demands condition. The findings provide mixed support for manipulating demands and strong support for manipulating consequences as a means for producing pressure.
Key words: pressure training, stress, anxiety, stressor, coping, choking, demands, consequence, forfeit, reward, judgmen
Birds, bogs and forestry: the peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland
NCC’s Upland Bird Survey had surveyed a significant area of the Flow Country between 1979 and 1986, and the 1987 report analysed and published the data from those surveys, together with those obtained from eight sites in Caithness surveyed by RSPB in 1985 using NCC methods.
The results highlighted losses of up to 19% of the populations of Golden Plover, Greenshank and Dunlin in the Flow Country area as a result of then widespread and rapidly occurring afforestation of the peatlands. NCC considered that this land-use change represented “perhaps the most massive single loss of important wildlife habitat in Britain since the Second World War.”
Although Birds, bogs and forestry also included summary results from other NCC surveys in Caithness and Sutherland, these studies of peatland vegetation were reported in more detail in the complementary report The Flow Country, published by NCC the following year.
As a result of the case made by Birds, bogs and forestry and The Flow Country, a substantial proportion of the extent of these peatlands was designated as a Ramsar site and also classified under European nature Directives as a Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation
Maximum likelihood kernel density estimation: On the potential of convolution sieves
Methods for improving the basic kernel density estimator include variable locations, variable bandwidths and variable weights. Typically these methods are implemented separately and via pilot estimation of variation functions derived from asymptotic considerations. The starting point here is a simple maximum likelihood procedure which allows (in its greatest generality) variation of all these quantities at once, bypassing asymptotics and explicit pilot estimation. One special case of this approach is the density estimator associated with nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation (NPMLE) in a normal location mixture model. Another, closely associated with the NPMLE, is a kernel convolution sieve estimator proposed in 1982 but little used in practice to date. Simple algorithms are utilised, a simulation study is reported on, a method for bandwidth selection is investigated and an illustrative example is given. The simulations and other considerations suggest that the kernel convolution sieve provides an especially promising framework for further practical utilisation and development. And the method has a further advantage: it automatically reduces, where appropriate, to a few-component mixture model which indicates and initialises parametric mixture modelling of the data
The Flow Country: The peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland
This NCC publication is one of two which describes the nature conservation interest and importance of the Flow Country, in Caithness and Sutherland, northern Scotland. This area is now recognised as the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe and the report provided the first global review of the extent of this peatland type. The Flow Country is of outstanding importance, both nationally and internationally. These peatlands are three times larger than any other in either Britain or Ireland. The scale and diversity of the habitat is unique, and the total size and range of bird species present, and other aspects of the fauna, is of international importance. At the time of publication, in the mid-1980s, this area was suffering from widespread afforestation. This 1988 review summarised NCC’s detailed surveys of peatland vegetation in the Flow Country, and is complementary to a 1987 publication Birds, bogs and forestry: the peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland which outlined the ornithological importance of this area, and documented and called for a halt to the destructive afforestation which was then occurring
Simulation of dimensionality effects in thermal transport
The discovery of nanostructures and the development of growth and fabrication
techniques of one- and two-dimensional materials provide the possibility to
probe experimentally heat transport in low-dimensional systems. Nevertheless
measuring the thermal conductivity of these systems is extremely challenging
and subject to large uncertainties, thus hindering the chance for a direct
comparison between experiments and statistical physics models. Atomistic
simulations of realistic nanostructures provide the ideal bridge between
abstract models and experiments. After briefly introducing the state of the art
of heat transport measurement in nanostructures, and numerical techniques to
simulate realistic systems at atomistic level, we review the contribution of
lattice dynamics and molecular dynamics simulation to understanding nanoscale
thermal transport in systems with reduced dimensionality. We focus on the
effect of dimensionality in determining the phononic properties of carbon and
semiconducting nanostructures, specifically considering the cases of carbon
nanotubes, graphene and of silicon nanowires and ultra-thin membranes,
underlying analogies and differences with abstract lattice models.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures. Review paper, to appear in the Springer Lecture
Notes in Physics volume "Thermal transport in low dimensions: from
statistical physics to nanoscale heat transfer" (S. Lepri ed.
Structure and reactivity of Trypanosoma brucei pteridine reductase: inhibition by the archetypal antifolate methotrexate
The protozoan Trypanosoma brucei has a functional pteridine reductase (TbPTR1), an NADPH-dependent short-chain reductase that participates in the salvage of pterins, which are essential for parasite growth. PTR1 displays broad-spectrum activity with pterins and folates, provides a metabolic bypass for inhibition of the trypanosomatid dihydrofolate reductase and therefore compromises the use of antifolates for treatment of trypanosomiasis. Catalytic properties of recombinant TbPTR1 and inhibition by the archetypal antifolate methotrexate have been characterized and the crystal structure of the ternary complex with cofactor NADP(+) and the inhibitor determined at 2.2 Å resolution. This enzyme shares 50% amino acid sequence identity with Leishmania major PTR1 (LmPTR1) and comparisons show that the architecture of the cofactor binding site, and the catalytic centre are highly conserved, as are most interactions with the inhibitor. However, specific amino acid differences, in particular the placement of Trp221 at the side of the active site, and adjustment of the β6-α6 loop and α6 helix at one side of the substrate-binding cleft significantly reduce the size of the substrate binding site of TbPTR1 and alter the chemical properties compared with LmPTR1. A reactive Cys168, within the active site cleft, in conjunction with the C-terminus carboxyl group and His267 of a partner subunit forms a triad similar to the catalytic component of cysteine proteases. TbPTR1 therefore offers novel structural features to exploit in the search for inhibitors of therapeutic value against African trypanosomiasis
Novel word integration in the mental lexicon: Evidence from unmasked and masked semantic priming
4pi Models of CMEs and ICMEs
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which dynamically connect the solar surface to
the far reaches of interplanetary space, represent a major anifestation of
solar activity. They are not only of principal interest but also play a pivotal
role in the context of space weather predictions. The steady improvement of
both numerical methods and computational resources during recent years has
allowed for the creation of increasingly realistic models of interplanetary
CMEs (ICMEs), which can now be compared to high-quality observational data from
various space-bound missions. This review discusses existing models of CMEs,
characterizing them by scientific aim and scope, CME initiation method, and
physical effects included, thereby stressing the importance of fully 3-D
('4pi') spatial coverage.Comment: 14 pages plus references. Comments welcome. Accepted for publication
in Solar Physics (SUN-360 topical issue
Professionalism, Golf Coaching and a Master of Science Degree: A commentary
As a point of reference I congratulate Simon Jenkins on tackling the issue of professionalism in coaching. As he points out coaching is not a profession, but this does not mean that coaching would not benefit from going through a professionalization process. As things stand I find that the stimulus article unpacks some critically important issues of professionalism, broadly within the context of golf coaching. However, I am not sure enough is made of understanding what professional (golf) coaching actually is nor how the development of a professional golf coach can be facilitated by a Master of Science Degree (M.Sc.). I will focus my commentary on these two issues
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