The Influence of Performance Success, Skill Level, and Gender on the Causal Attributions of Recreational Golfers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of performance success, skill level, and gender on the causal attributions made by recreational golfers. Skill level was determined by handicap, and performance success was the golfer’s estimation of whether the particular round of golf was successful or unsuccessful. It was hypothesized that the causal attributions that recreational golfers made would be more internal, stable, and personally controllable after a successful performance than after an unsuccessful performance. Male and female golfers (N=101), from age 19 to 73, with an average age of 39, playing recreationally completed the Causal Dimension Scale-ll after completing a nine or eighteen hole round. Two-way analyses of variance (gender by performance success) revealed that attributions made for successful performances were perceived as significantly more personally controllable than unsuccessful performances regardless of gender. Male golfers attributed their performance to less externally controllable reasons than females regardless of performance success. The stability of attributions made depended upon both gender and performance success. Male attributions for successful performance were significantly more stable than male attributions for unsuccessful performance, and female attributions for unsuccessful performance were significantly more stable than male attributions for unsuccessful performance. Males with medium handicaps made attributions that were more internal than those with high handicaps and also attributed their performance to factors less controllable by others than did either the high or low handicap groups

Observation of a linear temperature dependence of the critical current density in a Ba_{0.63}K_{0.37}BiO_3 single crystal

For a Ba_{0.63}K_{0.37}BiO_3 single crystal with T_c=31 K, H_{c1}=750 Oe at 5 K, and dimensions 3x3x1 mm^3, the temperature and field dependences of magnetic hysteresis loops have been measured within 5-25 K in magnetic fields up to 6 Tesla. The critical current density is J_c(0)=1.5 x 10^5 A/cm^2 at zero field and 1 x 10^5 A/cm^2 at 1 kOe at 5 K. J_c decreases exponentially with increasing field up to 10 kOe. A linear temperature dependence of J_c is observed below 25 K, which differs from the exponential and the power-law temperature dependences in high-Tc superconductors including the BKBO. The linear temperature dependence can be regarded as an intrinsic effect in superconductors.Comment: RevTex, Physica C Vol. 341-348, 729 (2000

Anisotropic dielectric function in polar nano-regions of relaxor ferroelectrics

The paper suggests to treat the infrared reflectivity spectra of single crystal perovskite relaxors as fine-grained ferroelectric ceramics: locally frozen polarization makes the dielectric function strongly anisotropic in the phonon frequency range and the random orientation of the polarization at nano-scopic scale requires to take into account the inhomogeneous depolarization field. Employing a simple effective medium approximation (Bruggeman symmetrical formula) to dielectric function describing the polar optic modes as damped harmonic oscillators turns out to be sufficient for reproducing all principal features of room temperature reflectivity of PMN. One of the reflectivity bands is identified as a geometrical resonance entirely related to the nanoscale polarization inhomogeneity. The approach provides a general guide for systematic determination of the polar mode frequencies split by the inhomogeneous polarization at nanometer scale.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

New Faculty Mentoring in Respiratory Care Programs

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to identify mentoring practices of new faculty members in Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) accredited respiratory care programs in the U.S. and to identify the perceptions of program directors regarding the observed impact of program mentoring practices. Methods: The method for the study was quantitative non-experimental survey research. The survey instrument was an electronic questionnaire titled Respiratory Care Faculty (RCF) Mentoring Survey. The 25-item survey was divided into three dimensions: mentoring practices, mentor/mentee relationship, and perceptions of the impact of new faculty mentoring. Of the 410 possible program director participants, 126 (30%) responded to the survey. Data from the survey were used to analyze three primary research questions on four independent variables (12 total research questions). Results: Testing of the null hypotheses associated with the 12 research questions resulted in three significant findings and 9 findings that were not significant. Significant findings included female program directors reported greater opportunities for mentoring within their programs and greater levels of expectation concerning mentoring as compared to male program directors. Program directors from associate degree programs also reported a higher level of expectation concerning mentoring than program directors in bachelor’s degree programs. There was overwhelming agreement regarding the potential impact and benefit of mentoring new faculty to improve job performance, reduce turnover, improve job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Conclusion: The results of this study may benefit administrators and educators in respiratory care in efforts to support new faculty who possibly feel underprepared or overwhelmed in the new role. Because other allied health fields of study are similar in nature to respiratory care, the findings of the study could have potential implications across a range of health-related professions

Performance Differences in High Intensity Training Participants

High intensity training has become increasingly popular over the last 20 years with the advent of well-known training regimens such as P90X, CrossFit, Beachbody, PiYo, and Camp Gladiator. As such, it is important to understand the differences among individuals who participate in high intensity training. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to examine differences in Functional Movement Screen (FMS) scores, strength, power, and dynamic exercise in a cohort of male and female high intensity trained athletes (HIT). METHODS: A total of thirty participants (males, n=15; and females, n=15) (mean ± SD; age = 30.7 ± 9.9 years) with minimum two-years of HIT experience were recruited to participate in this study. On the first day of data collection each subject provided informed consent and then participated in a height and weight measurement, body composition measurement (7-site skinfold), FMS screening, and 1-Repetition Maximal (1-RM) lifts for deadlift (DL), shoulder press (SP), and power clean (PC). A minimum of 5 days later each subject performed a standardized test of dynamic exercise (DE) that involved performing as many repetitions as possible of 5 pullups, 10 pushups, and 15 unloaded squats in 20 minutes. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to compare differences between the males and females for FMS scores and ANOVA was used to determine differences between the males and females for all other variables with p £ 0.05 for all analysis. RESULTS: Results of the Mann-Whitney tests comparing FMS scores between males and females indicated that the females had higher straight leg raise (SLR) scores (2.9 vs. 2.1, p= 0.001) and sum of all scores (FMSSUM) (16.9 vs. 15.4, p = 0.045) than the males. Results of the ANOVA indicated that the males demonstrated greater muscular strength per kilogram of body weight on the DL (1.99 vs. 1.65 kg/kgBW, p = 0.007) and the SP (0.833 vs. 0.513 kg/kgBW, p \u3c 0.001) exercises. Results of the ANOVA also indicated that the males demonstrated greater muscular power per kilogram of body weight on the PC (1.146 vs. 0.766, p \u3c 0.001) exercise. There was no statistically significant difference between groups for DE. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study support the need for a greater emphasis on mobility training, specifically the hips, for males that participate in high intensity training. Performance differences were shown between the genders for maximal muscular strength and power but not for dynamic exercise. These results indicate that these differences should be considered when designing training programs for maximal muscular strength and power training but same sport athletes of different gender could participate in the same dynamic exercise programming

Automatic Calibration of an Airborne Imaging System to an Inertial Navigation Unit

This software automatically calibrates a camera or an imaging array to an inertial navigation system (INS) that is rigidly mounted to the array or imager. In effect, it recovers the coordinate frame transformation between the reference frame of the imager and the reference frame of the INS. This innovation can automatically derive the camera-to-INS alignment using image data only. The assumption is that the camera fixates on an area while the aircraft flies on orbit. The system then, fully automatically, solves for the camera orientation in the INS frame. No manual intervention or ground tie point data is required

Origin of the giant magnetic moments of Fe impurities on and in Cs films

To explore the origin of the observed giant magnetic moments ($\sim 7 \mu_B$) of Fe impurities on the surface and in the bulk of Cs films, we have performed the relativistic LSDA + U calculations using the linearized muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) band method. We have found that Fe impurities in Cs behave differently from those in noble metals or in Pd. Whereas the induced spin polarization of Cs atoms is negligible, the Fe ion itself is found to be the source of the giant magnetic moment. The 3d electrons of Fe in Cs are localized as the 4f electrons in rare-earth ions so that the orbital magnetic moment becomes as large as the spin magnetic moment. The calculated total magnetic moment of $M = 6.43 \mu_B$, which comes mainly from Fe ion, is close to the experimentally observed value.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures and 1 table. Submitted to PR

Flux Creep and Flux Jumping

We consider the flux jump instability of the Bean's critical state arising in the flux creep regime in type-II superconductors. We find the flux jump field, $B_j$, that determines the superconducting state stability criterion. We calculate the dependence of $B_j$ on the external magnetic field ramp rate, $\dot B_e$. We demonstrate that under the conditions typical for most of the magnetization experiments the slope of the current-voltage curve in the flux creep regime determines the stability of the Bean's critical state, {\it i.e.}, the value of $B_j$. We show that a flux jump can be preceded by the magneto-thermal oscillations and find the frequency of these oscillations as a function of $\dot B_e$.Comment: 7 pages, ReVTeX, 2 figures attached as postscript file