Development of a Cohesion Inventory for Children\u27s Sport Teams

The general purpose of this dissertation was to develop an inventory designed to measure cohesion in children’s (ages 9-12) sport teams. To this end, three studies were conducted. In Study 1, children became active agents in the process of test construction. More specifically, children (N = 167) participated in focus groups and completed open-ended questionnaires in order to provide information on their perceptions of cohesion as well as motives for participating, continuing, and ceasing involvement on sport teams. Study 2 involved the use of the information obtained from Study 1 to develop potential items for the questionnaire. In addition, the questionnaires were distributed to child sport participants (N = 298) to determine factorial validity. Finally, the purpose of Study 3 was to establish construct validity for the Child Sport Cohesion Questionnaire (CSCQ) with a heterogeneous sample of children (N = 290). To accomplish this task, four separate tests of validity were assessed: convergent, discriminant, predictive, and factorial. The results from Study 1 indicated that children as young as 9 years can understand the cohesion construct. They are able to identify (a) advantages relating to cohesive teams, (b) disadvantages relating to non-cohesive teams, and (c) methods for increasing cohesion within teams. Finally, in Study 1, children advanced motives for (a) joining, (b) maintaining, and (c) ceasing involvement on sport teams. Study 2 resulted in the development of potential items for the questionnaire. The research team (N = 4) and age appropriate children (N = 8) provided content validity for the advanced items. Furthermore, factorial validity was demonstrated via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The resulting Child Sport Cohesion Questionnaire containing 16 items (task cohesion = 7, social cohesion = 7, negative spurious items = 2) and a 5-point Likert scale, demonstrated a strong model fit, good internal consistency values, and a moderate inter-factor correlation. The findings from Study 3 revealed that the newly developed CSCQ possessed (a) convergent validity, (b) discriminant validity, and (c) factorial validity. In addition, partial support for predictive validity was established. Overall, the combination of the results from Study 3 provides support for the construct validity of the CSCQ

Children’s Perceptions of Cohesion

The general purpose of the two studies reported here was to examine perceptions of team cohesiveness in children aged 9 to 12 years. In Study 1, focus groups were used to examine individual perceptions of cohesion from the perspective of group integration—the group as a totality. In Study 2, open-ended questionnaires were used to examine individual perceptions of cohesion from the perspective of individual attractions to the group. The results showed that children as young as nine years understand the phenomenon known as cohesion. They can discuss the group as a totality, the characteristics of cohesive and non-cohesive teams, and identify the major factors attracting them to and maintaining their involvement in the group. Also, the ability to clearly distinguish between task and social cohesion is present. The results provide insight into the world of child sport and emphasise the importance of group cohesion, affiliation, and other social constructs in children’s involvement and adherence to sport groups

Information-theoretic analysis of the directional influence between cellular processes

Inferring the directionality of interactions between cellular processes is a major challenge in systems biology. Time-lagged correlations allow to discriminate between alternative models, but they still rely on assumed underlying interactions. Here, we use the transfer entropy (TE), an information-theoretic quantity that quantifies the directional influence between fluctuating variables in a model-free way. We present a theoretical approach to compute the transfer entropy, even when the noise has an extrinsic component or in the presence of feedback. We re-analyze the experimental data from Kiviet et al. (2014) where fluctuations in gene expression of metabolic enzymes and growth rate have been measured in single cells of E. coli. We confirm the formerly detected modes between growth and gene expression, while prescribing more stringent conditions on the structure of noise sources. We furthermore point out practical requirements in terms of length of time series and sampling time which must be satisfied in order to infer optimally transfer entropy from times series of fluctuations.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

The magnetization-driven random field Ising model at T=0

We study the hysteretic evolution of the random field Ising model (RFIM) at T=0 when the magnetization M is controlled externally and the magnetic field H becomes the output variable. The dynamics is a simple modification of the single-spin-flip dynamics used in the H-driven situation and consists in flipping successively the spins with the largest local field. This allows to perform a detailed comparison between the microscopic trajectories followed by the system with the two protocols. Simulations are performed on random graphs with connectivity z=4 (Bethe lattice) and on the 3-D cubic lattice. The same internal energy U(M)is found with the two protocols when there is no macroscopic avalanche and it does not depend on whether the microscopic states are stable or not. On the Bethe lattice, the energy inside the macroscopic avalanche also coincides with the one that is computed analytically with the H-driven algorithm along the unstable branch of the hysteresis loop. The output field, defined here as dU/dM, exhibits very large fluctuations with the magnetization and is not self-averaging. Relation to the experimental situation is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figure

Investigating perceptions of cohesion, performance, and satisfaction in sport officiating groups

Since sport officials constitute instrumental groups, their perceptions of, and interactions with, group members likely influence their performance, satisfaction, and retention. This warrants investigation into sport officiating groups. Rationale/Purpose: (1) Examine the relationship between sport officials’ cohesion, satisfaction, and performance; (2) Investigate sport officials’ perceptions of cohesion across sports; and (3) Explore sport officials’ perceptions of group processes. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using a cross-sectional design, participants (N = 228) completed a survey measuring perceptions of cohesion, performance, and satisfaction. Findings: Responses demonstrated consistent positive relationships between cohesion, performance, and satisfaction. Path analysis found that task cohesion predicted performance and satisfaction. Participants rated task cohesion higher than social cohesion, with American football highest and Association football lowest. Practical implications: Officiating organizations can use these results to reconsider assigning practices and develop strategies that improve cohesion, leading to increased performance and retention. Research contribution: Results highlight the need for sustained research to further understand how group processes influence sport officials and their performances. This study is novel as there is a dearth of research on how group dynamics influence sport officials’ performances and retention.</p