Division I Collegiate Women Athletic Directors\u27 Perceptions of Sexism and Career Experiences

This study investigated eight Division I (DI) collegiate women athletic directors\u27 (ADs) career experiences and perceptions of sexism within their careers and athletics as a whole. Over the last century, women\u27s sports have made great strides toward equality in athletics. Specifically, the last four decades have yielded notable progress including the amendment of Title IX in 1972, which allowed women and men equal access to federal funding for sports, as well as the creation of women\u27s professional sports leagues, increased numbers of girls and women participating in athletics, increased numbers of women\u27s collegiate teams, and increased rates of women employed in collegiate athletics (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014). Despite these many efforts and accomplishments, sexism and gender inequities continue to loom within the sports\u27 world. As a result, women and girls involved in athletics are experiencing numerous harmful effects regarding poor self-concept (Leaper & Brown, 2008), distorted body image (Greenleaf, 2002; Krane, Choi, Baird, Aimar, & Kauer, 2004; Parsons & Betz, 2001; Steinfeldt, Zakrajsek, Bodey, Middendorf, & Martin, 2013), challenges in socioemotional adjustment (Leaper & Brown, 2008), and a lack of career opportunities (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014), to name a few. Moreover, the realm of college sports is no exception to gender inequality, and is of particular interest because it is federally funded vis-à-vis Title IX. Currently, only 10% of DI collegiate ADs are women, and 11.4% of collegiate athletic departments have no women in administration positions (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014). With the 42nd anniversary of the enactment of Title IX occurring this year, it is imperative to acknowledge improvements around the status of women in sports, but more importantly reexamine areas that have not improved, or have in fact regressed. One of the most important areas in need of improvement is the representation of women in leadership positions within collegiate sports administrations. Due to the limited research on women collegiate ADs\u27 perceptions of sexism in athletics, this qualitative research was framed as an exploratory study, and it utilized a critical feminist theory framework and grounded theory analysis. Data was obtained in semi-structured exploratory interviews with eight current DI collegiate women ADs. Four significant concepts emerged from the data, including Luck Over Talent, which captured how participants attributed their success to luck versus talent; Ambivalent Awareness of Sexism, which described how most participants expressed ambivalence around their awareness of sexism in their careers and in athletics; Prevalence of Subtle Sexism, which encapsulated how participants acknowledged experiencing sexism but typically in a subtle fashion as opposed to a blatant fashion; and Overcoming Hurdles, which related to participants describing strategies for success. In addition, a visual model based on grounded theory was proposed to further explain how DI college women ADs might navigate sexism within their careers. Results from this study aim to provide direction for future research on sexism in athletics, improve the underrepresentation of women ADs in college athletics departments and career fields traditionally dominated by men, and inform counseling psychologist\u27s practice with girls and women who are involved in or interested in pursuing careers in athletics

Using 222 Rn for hydrograph separationin a micro basin (Luxembourg)

In order to obtain information on the hydrological signature of rivers during and after heavy rain events, small catchment areas are selected as experimental sites. Hydrograph separations based on environmental tracers are performed. Natural isotopic tracers such as 18O, 2H and particularly 222Rn may help to distinguish the components dominating the outflow, particularly of 'pre-event waters', 'event waters' and 'post-event waters'. Even with moderate concentrations in groundwater, radon can be a very sensitive indicator of groundwater input into rivers. The selected microbasin under investigation is situated in the western part of Luxembourg and belongs to the Attert River catchment. At chosen points at the basin's outflow radon detectors continuously measure radon activity in water. The radon monitors are installed together with high precision thermometers, conductivity meters, flow meters and automatic water samplers for chemical analysis. Besides the continuous measurements, grab water samples are taken at different locations along the stream, most of them during periods of heavy rain events. Presented are the results of a one year measurement campaign. During the dry season i.e. during more or less continuous discharge conditions, the observed mean values do not show substantial variations and can be used as reference values. Fluctuations of the measured data during rain events are discussed and the interplay between the different parameters analysed

Fracture testing of weldments

Fracture toughness testing of welded structure

Free energy computation of particles with membrane-mediated interactions via Langevin dynamics.

We apply well-established concepts of Langevin sampling to derive a new class of algorithms for the efficient computation of free energy differences of fluctuating particles embedded in a ’fast’ membrane, i.e., a membrane that instantaneously adapts to varying particle positions. A geometric poten- tial accounting for membrane-mediated particle interaction is derived in the framework of variational hybrid models for particles in membranes. Recent explicit representations of the gradient of the geometric interaction poten- tial allows to apply well-known gradient based Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCDC) methods such as Langevin-based sampling

Evolving a photosynthetic organelle

The evolution of plastids from cyanobacteria is believed to represent a singularity in the history of life. The enigmatic amoeba Paulinella and its 'recently' acquired photosynthetic inclusions provide a fascinating system through which to gain fresh insight into how endosymbionts become organelles

Recurrence of ventricular arrhythmias in ischaemic secondary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients: long-term follow-up of the Leiden out-of-hospital cardiac arrest study (LOHCAT)

Aims to assess the long-term rate of mortality and the recurrence of potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias in secondary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) patients and to construct a model for baseline risk stratification.Methods and resultsSince 1996, all patients with ischaemic heart disease, receiving ICD therapy for secondary prevention of sudden death, were included in the current study. Patients were evaluated at implantation and during long-term follow-up. A total of 456 patients were included in the analysis and followed for 54 ± 35 months. During follow-up, 100 (22) patients died and ICD therapy was noted in 216 (47) patients, of which 138 (30) for fast, potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia. Multivariate analysis revealed a history of atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF), ventricular tachycardia as presenting arrhythmia, and wide QRS and poor left ventricular ejection fraction as independent predictors of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. The strongest predictor was AF with a hazard ratio of 2.1 (95 confidence interval 1.3-3.2). On the basis of the available clinical data, it was not possible to identify a group which exhibited no risk on recurrence of potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias.ConclusionIschaemic secondary prevention ICD recipients exhibit a high recurrence rate of potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Factors that increase risk can be identified but, even with these factors, it was not possible to distinguish a recurrence-free group

One-Year Analysis of the Prospective Multicenter SENTRY Clinical Trial: Safety and Effectiveness of the Novate Sentry Bioconvertible Inferior Vena Cava Filter

Purpose To prospectively assess the Sentry bioconvertible inferior vena cava (IVC) filter in patients requiring temporary protection against pulmonary embolism (PE). Materials and Methods At 23 sites, 129 patients with documented deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or PE, or at temporary risk of developing DVT or PE, unable to use anticoagulation were enrolled. The primary end point was clinical success, including successful filter deployment, freedom from new symptomatic PE through 60 days before filter bioconversion, and 6-month freedom from filter-related complications. Patients were monitored by means of radiography, computerized tomography (CT), and CT venography to assess filtering configuration through 60 days, filter bioconversion, and incidence of PE and filter-related complications through 12 months. Results Clinical success was achieved in 111 of 114 evaluable patients (97.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 92.5%–99.1%). The rate of freedom from new symptomatic PE through 60 days was 100% (n = 129, 95% CI 97.1%–100.0%), and there were no cases of PE through 12 months for either therapeutic or prophylactic indications. Two patients (1.6%) developed symptomatic caval thrombosis during the first month; neither experienced recurrence after successful interventions. There was no filter tilting, migration, embolization, fracture, or caval perforation by the filter, and no filter-related death through 12 months. Filter bioconversion was successful for 95.7% (110/115) at 6 months and for 96.4% (106/110) at 12 months. Conclusions The Sentry IVC filter provided safe and effective protection against PE, with a high rate of intended bioconversion and a low rate of device-related complications, through 12 months of imaging-intense follow-up

Quality Protein Maize Germplasm Characterized for Amino Acid Profiles and Endosperm Opacity

Quality protein maize (QPM) is improved over normal (non-QPM) maize in grain concentrations of the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan. Quality protein maize has a long history as tropical adapted germplasm, but little effort has been made to incorporate temperate or sub-tropical germplasm for temperate adaptation and interactions between different modifier loci in these backgrounds are poorly understood. A design-II mating scheme including new temperate and subtropical lines produced 69 hybrids. Large hybrid genetic variation components resulted in substantial broad-sense heritability H2 estimates, specifically tryptophan (0.46) and endosperm opacity (0.82). A microbial assay for amino acid estimation proved robust across diverse environments with minimal genotype × environment (G×E) effects. Endosperm opacity had no G×E effects across both Texas and Iowa locations demonstrating stability for this trait. Endosperm opacity primarily followed an additive, midparent trend, with a few hybrids deviating from the trend (36%) suggesting a complex nature of multiple modifier loci across diverse germplasm. The top QPM hybrid outperformed the top commercial hybrid by 35 and 30% for lysine and tryptophan as a proportion of grain, respectively. QPM line Tx832 was a parent of top hybrids for lysine and tryptophan, and the highest noncommercial hybrids for methionine. Minimal correlations with yield and other traits suggest that future breeding should result in QPM hybrids with increasingly competitive yields