Self-Perceived Leadership Practices of Athletic Training Leaders

Athletic trainers in leadership positions within the National Athletic Trainers\u27 Association (NATA) have the ability and the responsibility to influence the profession of athletic training. The purpose of this study was to assess the self-reported leadership practices, according to the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), for certified athletic trainers (ATC) in leadership positions within the NATA and to examine differences and relationships in LPI scores and demographics. Subjects consisted of 78 of 114 leaders (22 female, 56 male) holding positions in one of the following groups within the NATA: Board of Certification (BOC), Board of Directors (BOD), Education Council Executive Committee (ECEC), Commission of Accreditation on Athletic Training Education (CAATE), or Executive Board members in districts one through ten. The subjects provided demographic information: gender, district, years of experience as an ATC (19.68 ± 6.78), current and previous employment, current and previous leadership positions, and years of leadership experience (8.10 ± 6.38). The LPI (reliability= .70-.85) was used to assess subjects on their self-perceived levels of five leadership practices, 1) Model the Way, 2) Inspire a Shared Vision, 3) Challenge the Process, 4) Enable Others to Act and 5) Encourage the Heart. Each leadership practice has six corresponding questions on a 10-point Likert scale (l= almost never, I0=almost always). ANOVA\u27s were used to assess differences between various demographic variables and the leadership practices. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to assess relationships between years of leadership and ATC experience with LP! scores (p\u3e.05). ANOVA\u27s revealed consistent main effects for the categories of the LP!, with Enabling Others to Act (50.14±5.06) as the practice utilized significantly more often than all other leadership practices. Additionally, Modeling (47.69±5.27) and Encouraging (46.18±7.45) were used more often than Inspiring (43.79±8.19) and Challenging (43.68±7.35). No main effects or interactions were found for the separate grouping variables of gender (p=.828), employment position (p=.232), leadership title (p=.941), leadership workshop attendance (p=.112), leadership inventory participation history (p=.138) and leadership group (p=.133). Athletic training leaders most frequently tend to empower their subordinates and allow each person opportunities to be successful, as these are the signs of an Enabling leader. Additionally, they may effectively display their own guiding principles (Modeling) and uplift those around them (Encouraging). Years of leadership experience and years of athletic training experience do not have a significant c01Telation with any of the leadership practices. This may be due to all leaders embodying similar traits of each of the five leadership practices. Future studies could focus on demographics such as percentage of time spent performing leadership duties and employment duties, as well as gender specific differences between leaders who have children and family commitments

A FGF-Hh feedback loop controls stem cell proliferation in the developing larval brain of drosophila melanogaster

The adult Drosophila central nervous system is produced by two phases of neurogenesis: the first phase occurs during embryonic development where the larval brain is formed and the second occurs during larval development to form the adult brain. Neurogenesis in both phases is caused by the activation of neural stem cell division and subsequent progenitor cell division and terminal differentiation. Proper activation of neural stem cell division in the larval brain is essential for proper patterning and functionality of the adult central nervous system. Initiation of neural stem cell proliferation requires signaling from the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) homolog Branchless (Bnl) and by the Hedgehog (Hh) growth factor. I have focused on the interactions between both of these signaling pathways with respect to post-embryonic neural stem cell proliferation using the Drosophila larval brain. Using proliferation assays and quantitative real-time PCR, I have shown that Bnl and Hh signaling is inter-dependent in the 1st instar larval brain and activates neural stem cell proliferation. I have also shown that overexpression of bnl can rescue signaling and neuroblast proliferation in a hh mutant. However, overexpression of hh does not rescue signaling or neuroblast proliferation in a bnl mutant, suggesting that Bnl is the signaling output of the Bnl-Hh feedback loop and that all central brain and optic lobe neural stem cells require Bnl signaling to initiated proliferation

Single system image: A survey

Single system image is a computing paradigm where a number of distributed computing resources are aggregated and presented via an interface that maintains the illusion of interaction with a single system. This approach encompasses decades of research using a broad variety of techniques at varying levels of abstraction, from custom hardware and distributed hypervisors to specialized operating system kernels and user-level tools. Existing classification schemes for SSI technologies are reviewed, and an updated classification scheme is proposed. A survey of implementation techniques is provided along with relevant examples. Notable deployments are examined and insights gained from hands-on experience are summarized. Issues affecting the adoption of kernel-level SSI are identified and discussed in the context of technology adoption literature

A Component-Based Approach for Scientific Services for Education and Research (Scientific SEARCH)

Today’s challenge for retrieving digital information by users such as “students,” educators,” or “researchers” is coping, more than ever before, with the excessive data and information available. The problem is further compounded because of the way scientific knowledge is structured, in terms of expert interviews, articles, conference coverage, journal scans etc. Great progress has been made in digital library research. The NSF/NSDL through their initiatives has assembled a great set of tools and techniques that hold significant potential. Many projects are now underway applying these tools and techniques to meet the information needs of different user communities. The primary focus of Scientific SEARCH project is enhancing access to high quality learning materials and resources, modules, and other digital objects targeted towards scientific consumer and scientific producer. The project will use a multi-phased approach to achieve the objective. The paper describes the first-phase work submitted to NSF 04-542 solicitation

Massive skyrmions in quantum Hall ferromagnets

We apply the theory of elasticity to study the effects of skyrmion mass on lattice dynamics in quantum Hall systems. We find that massive Skyrme lattices behave like a Wigner crystal in the presence of a uniform perpendicular magnetic field. We make a comparison with the microscopic Hartree-Fock results to characterize the mass of quantum Hall skyrmions at $\nu=1$ and investigate how the low temperature phase of Skyrme lattices may be affected by the skyrmion mass.Comment: 6 pages and 2 figure

Structure of thymidylate kinase from Ehrlichia chaffeensis

A 2.15 Å resolution apo structure of thymidylate kinase from E. chaffeensis is reported