Towards a contemporary player learning in development framework for sports practitioners

As it is appreciated that learning is a non-linear process – implying that coaching methodologies in sport should be accommodative – it is reasonable to suggest that player development pathways should also account for this non-linearity. A constraints-led approach (CLA), predicated on the theory of ecological dynamics, has been suggested as a viable framework for capturing the non-linearity of learning, development and performance in sport. The CLA articulates how skills emerge through the interaction of different constraints (task-environment-performer). However, despite its well-established theoretical roots, there are challenges to implementing it in practice. Accordingly, to help practitioners navigate such challenges, this paper proposes a user-friendly framework that demonstrates the benefits of a CLA. Specifically, to conceptualize the non-linear and individualized nature of learning, and how it can inform player development, we apply Adolph’s notion of learning IN development to explain the fundamental ideas of a CLA. We then exemplify a learning IN development framework, based on a CLA, brought to life in a high-level youth football organization. We contend that this framework can provide a novel approach for presenting the key ideas of a CLA and its powerful pedagogic concepts to practitioners at all levels, informing coach education programs, player development frameworks and learning environment designs in sport

A comparative analysis of components incorporated in conservation priority assessments: a case study based on South African species of terrestrial mammals.

Assessing the risk of extinction to species forms an essential part of regional conservation initiatives that facilitate the allocation of limited resources for conservation. The present study conducted conservation priority assessments for 221 South African terrestrial mammal species using existing data sources. These data sources included regional IUCN Red List assessments, regional geographic distributions, relative endemism, taxonomic distinctiveness, relative body mass and human density. These components were in turn subjected to two quantitative conservation priority assessment techniques in an attempt to determine regional conservation priorities for South African terrestrial mammals. The top 22 mammal species (i.e. the top 10% of assessed species) identified by both regional conservation priority assessment techniques to be of conservation priority, consistently identified 13 South African terrestrial mammal species to be of high conservation priority. Seven of the 13 species were from the order Afrosoticida, two species from the order Eulipotyphla, with one species each from the orders Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Pholidota, and Rodentia. More importantly, 12 of the 13 mammal species were also listed as threatened in the 2004 Red Data Book of South African Mammals. These results suggest that the two conservation priority assessment techniques used in the present study may represent a practical and quantitative method for determining regional conservation priorities, and include measures that represent vulnerability, conservation value, and threat.DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biolog

A comparative analysis of components incorporated in conservation priority assessments: a case study based on South African species of terrestrial mammals.

Assessing the risk of extinction to species forms an essential part of regional conservation initiatives that facilitate the allocation of limited resources for conservation. The present study conducted conservation priority assessments for 221 South African terrestrial mammal species using existing data sources. These data sources included regional IUCN Red List assessments, regional geographic distributions, relative endemism, taxonomic distinctiveness, relative body mass and human density. These components were in turn subjected to two quantitative conservation priority assessment techniques in an attempt to determine regional conservation priorities for South African terrestrial mammals. The top 22 mammal species (i.e. the top 10% of assessed species) identified by both regional conservation priority assessment techniques to be of conservation priority, consistently identified 13 South African terrestrial mammal species to be of high conservation priority. Seven of the 13 species were from the order Afrosoticida, two species from the order Eulipotyphla, with one species each from the orders Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Pholidota, and Rodentia. More importantly, 12 of the 13 mammal species were also listed as threatened in the 2004 Red Data Book of South African Mammals. These results suggest that the two conservation priority assessment techniques used in the present study may represent a practical and quantitative method for determining regional conservation priorities, and include measures that represent vulnerability, conservation value, and threat.DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biolog

Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. VII. Understanding the Ultraviolet Anomaly in NGC 5548 with X-Ray Spectroscopy

During the Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project observations of NGC 5548, the continuum and emission-line variability became decorrelated during the second half of the six-month-long observing campaign. Here we present Swift and Chandra X-ray spectra of NGC 5548 obtained as part of the campaign. The Swift spectra show that excess flux (relative to a power-law continuum) in the soft X-ray band appears before the start of the anomalous emission-line behavior, peaks during the period of the anomaly, and then declines. This is a model-independent result suggesting that the soft excess is related to the anomaly. We divide the Swift data into on- and off-anomaly spectra to characterize the soft excess via spectral fitting. The cause of the spectral differences is likely due to a change in the intrinsic spectrum rather than to variable obscuration or partial covering. The Chandra spectra have lower signal-to-noise ratios, but are consistent with the Swift data. Our preferred model of the soft excess is emission from an optically thick, warm Comptonizing corona, the effective optical depth of which increases during the anomaly. This model simultaneously explains all three observations: the UV emission-line flux decrease, the soft-excess increase, and the emission-line anomaly

Lung adenocarcinoma promotion by air pollutants

A complete understanding of how exposure to environmental substances promotes cancer formation is lacking. More than 70 years ago, tumorigenesis was proposed to occur in a two-step process: an initiating step that induces mutations in healthy cells, followed by a promoter step that triggers cancer development1. Here we propose that environmental particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5), known to be associated with lung cancer risk, promotes lung cancer by acting on cells that harbour pre-existing oncogenic mutations in healthy lung tissue. Focusing on EGFR-driven lung cancer, which is more common in never-smokers or light smokers, we found a significant association between PM2.5 levels and the incidence of lung cancer for 32,957 EGFR-driven lung cancer cases in four within-country cohorts. Functional mouse models revealed that air pollutants cause an influx of macrophages into the lung and release of interleukin-1β. This process results in a progenitor-like cell state within EGFR mutant lung alveolar type II epithelial cells that fuels tumorigenesis. Ultradeep mutational profiling of histologically normal lung tissue from 295 individuals across 3 clinical cohorts revealed oncogenic EGFR and KRAS driver mutations in 18% and 53% of healthy tissue samples, respectively. These findings collectively support a tumour-promoting role for PM2.5 air pollutants and provide impetus for public health policy initiatives to address air pollution to reduce disease burden

A comparative analysis of components incorporated in conservation priority assessments: A case study based on South African species of terrestrial mammals

Assessing the risk of extinction to species forms an essential part of regional  conservation initiatives that facilitate the allocation of limited resources for conservation. The present study conducted conservation priority assessments for 221 South African terrestrial mammal species using existing data sources. These data sources included regional IUCN Red List assessments, regional geographic distributions, relative endemism, taxonomic distinctiveness, relative body mass and human density. These components were in turn subjected to two quantitative  conservation priority assessment techniques in an attempt to determine regional conservation priorities for South African terrestrial mammals. The top 22 mammal species (i.e. the top 10% of assessed species) identified by both regional conservation priority assessment techniques to be of conservation priority, consistently identified 13 South African terrestrial mammal species to be of high conservation priority. Seven of the 13 species were from the order Afrosoricida, two species from the order Eulipotyphla, with one species each from the orders  Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Pholidota, and Rodentia. More importantly, 12 of the 13mammal species were also listed as threatened in the 2004 Red Data Book of South African Mammals. These results suggest that the two conservation priority  assessment techniques used in the present study may represent a practical and quantitative method for determining regional conservation priorities, and include measures that represent vulnerability, conservation value, and threat.Key words: regional conservation priorities, terrestrial mammals, South Africa, vulnerability, conservation value, threat assessment