Second chances: Investigating athletes’ experiences of talent transfer

Talent transfer initiatives seek to transfer talented, mature individuals from one sport to another. Unfortunately talent transfer initiatives seem to lack an evidence-based direction and a rigorous exploration of the mechanisms underpinning the approach. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the factors which successfully transferring athletes cite as facilitative of talent transfer. In contrast to the anthropometric and performance variables that underpin current talent transfer initiatives, participants identified a range of psychobehavioral and environmental factors as key to successful transfer. We argue that further research into the mechanisms of talent transfer is needed in order to provide a strong evidence base for the methodologies employed in these initiatives

Multilingual gendered identities: female undergraduate students in London talk about heritage languages

In this paper I explore how a group of female university students, mostly British Asian and in their late teens and early twenties, perform femininities in talk about heritage languages. I argue that analysis of this talk reveals ways in which the participants enact ‘culturally intelligible’ gendered subject positions. This frequently involves negotiating the norms of ‘heteronormativity’, constituting femininity in terms of marriage, motherhood and maintenance of heritage culture and language, and ‘girl power’, constituting femininity in terms of youth, sassiness, glamour and individualism. For these young women, I ask whether higher education can become a site in which they have the opportunities to explore these identifications and examine other ways of imagining the self and what their stories suggest about ‘doing being’ a young British Asian woman in London

HIGH OXYGEN AND MOISTURE BARRIER BIODEGRADABLE MATERIAL

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Packaging - Doctor of Philosophy, 2024Interest in biodegradable polymers is surging among consumers, businesses, and governments as the accumulation of waste from single-use, petrochemical-based, and non-biodegradable plastics has skyrocketed since the 1960s, with flexible plastics constituting a major part of this surge. However, one major challenge with biodegradable alternatives is their inability to match traditional petrochemical plastics' oxygen and moisture barrier properties, which is critical for maintaining equivalent shelf life. This dissertation addresses several pivotal challenges, presenting innovative solutions within biodegradable polymers. Our research achieved breakthroughs in the extrusion casting of stereocomplex-poly(lactic acid)\u2014SC-PLA films and blends of poly(L-lactic acid)/ poly(D-lactic acid)\u2014PLLA/PDLA in varying ratios, which were not previously documented. We explored the effects of annealing these films from 5 to 30 minutes to enhance crystallization and improve moisture barrier properties. Notably, PDLA served as an effective nucleating agent, significantly accelerating crystallization in blends with as little as 15% PDLA. Further investigations revealed the interplay between density, crystallinity, and barrier properties of PLLA, PDLA, and their blends under varying annealing conditions. Amorphous film samples displayed densities between 1,230 \ub1 6 and 1,243 \ub1 2 kg/m3, while semi-crystalline samples showed higher densities of 1,250 \ub1 8 to 1,257 \ub1 9 kg/m3. Changes in density and crystallinity were analyzed, with findings indicating that homocomplex crystals formed at shorter annealing times exhibit higher densities than stereocomplex crystals forming at longer durations. An innovative lamination technique involving base layers of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) or SC-PLA, coated with a biodegradable polyvinyl alcohol and nanoclay mixture, was developed. This structure was tested for its moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) and oxygen transmission rate (OTR), demonstrating promising barrier properties suitable for biodegradable packaging solutions. The MVTR ranged from 20 to 30 g/(m2\ub7d), and the OTR ranged from 54 to 69 cc/(m2\ub7d). We showed that optimizing the structure could obtain either a maximized MVTR of 10 g/(m2 \ub7 d) at 38 \ub0C/90% RH or a maximized OTR of 14.46 cc/(m2\ub7d) at 23 \ub0C/50% RH, both exceptional for a clear biodegradable structure without PVDC or metallization, showcasing low permeability for several biodegradable products. Finally, we assessed the SC-PLA films and the blends\u2019 biodegradability in simulated composting conditions over 120 days. This test was conducted for 120 days of PLLA, PDLA, PLLA/PDLA 50-50, 30-70, and 70-30 films. This study is the first to report on the biodegradation behavior of these materials, particularly highlighting the rapid biodegradation of annealed PLLA/PDLA 50-50 blends compared to slower rates in higher PDLA content films. This is followed by films with higher PDLA content, such as the 30-70 blend with most PDLA. No data on the biodegradation of SC-PLA or PDLA in compost conditions had previously been reported. This comprehensive test provides reassurance and confidence in the biodegradability of our materials. This dissertation contributes significant insights into developing high-performance, biodegradable film structures that offer viable alternatives to traditional plastics and align with global sustainability goals.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references

Revisiting the disciplinary home of evaluation: New perspectives to inform PR evaluation standards

From historical analysis of the early development of public relations evaluation (early 1980s to the early 2000s), this paper shows that public relations scholarship and practice have drawn heavily on media and communication studies in developing models and methods of evaluation, but have not significantly engaged with the large related body of knowledge on program evaluation. While communication and media studies are logical and formative disciplinary homes for public relations (PR), this paper argues that PR is a transdisciplinary field and that program evaluation is a mostly overlooked source of influence and heritage in relation to evaluation. This analysis presents evidence that a disciplinary ‘home visit’ to program evaluation, which nestles within program theory and theory of change, offers much to overcome the long-standing stasis in PR evaluation and to inform the search for standards

What proportion of patients with chronic heart failure are eligible for sacubitril-valsartan?

AIMS: The PARADIGM-HF trial showed that sacubitril-valsartan, an ARB-neprilysin inhibitor, is more effective than enalapril for some patients with heart failure (HF). It is uncertain what proportion of patients with HF would be eligible for sacubitril-valsartan in clinical practice. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2014, 6131 patients consecutively referred to a community HF clinic with suspected HF were assessed. The criteria required to enter the randomized phase of PARADIGM-HF, including symptoms, NT-proBNP, and current treatment with or without target doses of ACE inhibitors or ARBs, were applied to identify the proportion of patients eligible for sacubitril-valsartan. Recognizing the diversity of clinical opinion and guideline recommendations concerning this issue, entry criteria were applied singly and in combination. Of 1396 patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (≤40%, HFrEF) and contemporary measurement of NT-proBNP, 379 were on target doses of an ACE inhibitor or ARB at their initial visit and, of these, 172 (45%) fulfilled the key entry criteria for the PARADIGM-HF trial. Lack of symptoms (32%) and NT-proBNP <600 ng/L (49%) were common reasons for failure to fulfil criteria. A further 122 patients became eligible during follow-up (n = 294, 21%). However, if background medication and doses were ignored, then 701 (50%) were eligible initially and a further 137 became eligible during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Of patients with HFrEF referred to a clinic such as ours, only 21% fulfilled the PARADIGM-HF randomization criteria, on which the ESC Guidelines are based; this proportion rises to 60% if background medication is ignored

Positive youth development in swimming: clarification and consensus of key psychosocial assets

The purpose of this study was to gain a more cohesive understanding of the assets considered necessary to develop in young swimmers to ensure both individual and sport specific development. This two stage study involved (a) a content analysis of key papers to develop a list of both psychosocial skills for performance enhancement and assets associated with positive youth development, and (b) in-depth interviews involving ten expert swim coaches, practitioners and youth sport scholars. Five higher order categories containing seventeen individual assets emerged. These results are discussed in relation to both existing models of positive youth development and implications for coaches, practitioners and parents when considering the psychosocial development of young British swimmers

Genetic noise control via protein oligomerization

Gene expression in a cell entails random reaction events occurring over disparate time scales. Thus, molecular noise that often results in phenotypic and population-dynamic consequences sets a fundamental limit to biochemical signaling. While there have been numerous studies correlating the architecture of cellular reaction networks with noise tolerance, only a limited effort has been made to understand the dynamic role of protein-protein interactions. Here we have developed a fully stochastic model for the positive feedback control of a single gene, as well as a pair of genes (toggle switch), integrating quantitative results from previous in vivo and in vitro studies. We find that the overall noise-level is reduced and the frequency content of the noise is dramatically shifted to the physiologically irrelevant high-frequency regime in the presence of protein dimerization. This is independent of the choice of monomer or dimer as transcription factor and persists throughout the multiple model topologies considered. For the toggle switch, we additionally find that the presence of a protein dimer, either homodimer or heterodimer, may significantly reduce its random switching rate. Hence, the dimer promotes the robust function of bistable switches by preventing the uninduced (induced) state from randomly being induced (uninduced). The specific binding between regulatory proteins provides a buffer that may prevent the propagation of fluctuations in genetic activity. The capacity of the buffer is a non-monotonic function of association-dissociation rates. Since the protein oligomerization per se does not require extra protein components to be expressed, it provides a basis for the rapid control of intrinsic or extrinsic noise

Does Non-Moral Ignorance Exculpate? Situational Awareness and Attributions of Blame and Forgiveness

In this paper, we set out to test empirically an idea that many philosophers find intuitive, namely that non-moral ignorance can exculpate. Many philosophers find it intuitive that moral agents are responsible only if they know the particular facts surrounding their action. Our results show that whether moral agents are aware of the facts surrounding their action does have an effect on people’s attributions of blame, regardless of the consequences or side effects of the agent’s actions. In general, it was more likely that a situationally aware agent will be blamed for failing to perform the obligatory action than a situationally unaware agent. We also tested attributions of forgiveness in addition to attributions of blame. In general, it was less likely that a situationally aware agent will be forgiven for failing to perform the obligatory action than a situationally unaware agent. When the agent is situationally unaware, it is more likely that the agent will be forgiven than blamed. We argue that these results provide some empirical support for the hypothesis that there is something intuitive about the idea that non-moral ignorance can exculpate

Reproductive potential of silver European eels (Anguilla anguilla) migrating from Vistonis Lake (Northern Aegean Sea, Greece)

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla), once abundant throughout much of Europe and North Africa, has recently been classified as critically endangered. Information on its biology from the eastern Mediterranean is lacking, especially in relation to spawner quality. Therefore, silver eels were sampled during their seaward spawning migration from Vistonis Lake in Greece. Characteristics linked to reproductive output and success (i.e. body size and condition, sex ratio, silvering, Anguillicola crassus infection, fecundity and oocyte diameter) were examined. The lake produced large (687–1138 mm), exclusively female silver eels, 61.7% of which were infected by A. crassus. Silver eel fecundity, the first estimates from the southern part of the species range, was positively related to body length (R2 = 0.693; P < 0.001) and body weight (R2 = 0.731; P < 0.001). Fecundity did not differ between A. crassus infected and uninfected silver eels, but Greek silver eels were significantly more fecund than those in north-west Europe. The reproductive potential of Vistonis Lake silver eels and their contribution to the A. anguilla spawning stock is discussed.