1,396 research outputs found
The Coach’s Journal: Experiences of Black Female Assistant Coaches in NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball
In NCAA Division I women’s basketball, Black female coaches make up only a small percentage of the total number of coaches (i.e., 26%; NCAA, 2016) even though the majority of student-athletes are Black (i.e., 51%). Although these discrepancies have recently been recognized in sport studies literature (Borland & Bruening, 2010; LaVoi & Dutove, 2012), sport psychology researchers have yet to explore the underlying structural and psychological issues that lead to the underrepresentation of Black female coaches in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. To this end, we utilized narrative inquiry (Smith & Sparkes, 2009a) in the current study to explore the stories of eight NCAA Division I women’s basketball assistant coaches who identify as Black females. During face-to-face interviews, participants described the roles they are asked to fill and the ways they cope with the multiple oppressions they experience as Black women in coaching. The first and second authors co-constructed four themes, (a) Pregame: Learning to coach; (b) First half: Experiences from the first 10 years; (c) Second half: Experiences from the last five years; and (d) Overtime: Thinking about the future, throughout their thematic analysis of these narratives (Braun & Clark, 2006). It is hoped that these findings will lead to the development of interventions that can empower NCAA Division I Black female coaches as well as challenge current structural ideologies that disadvantage Black female coaches in this context. Further, creating a more inclusive environment at NCAA Division I institutions could enhance the experiences and coaching career aspirations of Black female student-athletes by allowing them to see empowered Black female role models in coaching positions. Implications for certified mental performance consultants (CMPCs) working within NCAA Division I women’s basketball, who are well positioned to contribute to these efforts, are also discussed
Potential application of liquid dye penetrants for serial number restoration on firearms
© 2018, © 2018 Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences. Chemical reagents for serial number restoration are designed to exploit the plastic deformation zone below the obliterated serial number. Most techniques in operational use are variants of Fry’s Reagent. This technique uses toxic, corrosive chemicals and requires a skilful operator in the laboratory. Fry’s Reagent can also be destructive of the firearm due to rusting. In an attempt to find a non-toxic, non-destructive alternative to Fry’s Reagent, this project tested the use of liquid dye penetrants (LDPs), a non-destructive examination technique to detect cracks and imperfections used in the welding industry, for the restoration of obliterated serial numbers. Steel plates bearing an obliterated serial number with a range of obliteration depths were subjected to LDP treatment under various treatment conditions. The results using LDPs were negative for all obliteration depths and all test conditions attempted. Some of the serial numbers were subsequently restored successfully with Fry’s reagent, proving that the plastic deformation zone was present on the steel plates below the obliteration. Further work to develop a non-toxic, non-destructive serial number restoration process will be undertaken
Information filtering via Iterative Refinement
With the explosive growth of accessible information, expecially on the
Internet, evaluation-based filtering has become a crucial task. Various systems
have been devised aiming to sort through large volumes of information and
select what is likely to be more relevant. In this letter we analyse a new
ranking method, where the reputation of information providers is determined
self-consistently.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication on Europhysics Letter
Measurement of the thermal neutron absorption cross section of boron by means of a time of flight technique. EUR 12.e
Enhancement of the Binding Energy of Charged Excitons in Disordered Quantum Wires
Negatively and positively charged excitons are identified in the
spatially-resolved photoluminescence spectra of quantum wires. We demonstrate
that charged excitons are weakly localized in disordered quantum wires. As a
consequence, the enhancement of the "binding energy" of a charged exciton is
caused, for a significant part, by the recoil energy transferred to the
remaining charged carrier during its radiative recombination. We discover that
the Coulomb correlation energy is not the sole origin of the "binding energy",
in contrast to charged excitons confined in quantum dots.Comment: 4 Fig
Evidence for distinct polymer chain orientations in KC60 and RbC60
The KC60 and RbC60 polymer phases exhibit contrasting electronic properties
while powder diffraction studies have revealed no definite structural
difference. We have performed single crystal X-ray diffraction and diffuse
scattering studies of these compounds. It is found that KC60 and RbC60 possess
different chain orientations about their axes, which are described by distinct
space groups Pmnn and I2/m, respectively. Such a structural difference will be
of great importance to a complete understanding of the physical properties.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Metal-Organic Frameworks for fingermark detection — A feasibility study
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline structures, currently used as sensors, separation membranes, and as catalysts. Due to their physicochemical and optical properties, they have been recently proposed for fingermark detection. This study further explored their potential for fingermark detection. Natural fingermarks, as well as charged and protein-enriched marks, were used to test the efficiency of the technique. Various parameters, such as precursor concentration, pH, immersion time and detection protocols, were investigated and optimised. The performance of the optimised MOF-based method was then compared to that of routinely used techniques. The results obtained indicated that MOFs can effectively detect fingermarks, especially protein-rich marks such as marks contaminated with body fluids. However, after comparison and evaluation against benchmark techniques, results were judged to be inferior to those from currently employed detection methods. However, with further research and optimisation MOFs may be promising as an alternative to current powder suspension techniques
Distance-Based Genome Rearrangement Phylogeny
Evolution operates on whole genomes through direct rearrangements of genes, such as inversions, transpositions, and inverted transpositions, as well as through operations, such as duplications, losses, and transfers, that also affect the gene content of the genomes. Because these events are rare relative to nucleotide substitutions, gene order data offer the possibility of resolving ancient branches in the tree of life; the combination of gene order data with sequence data also has the potential to provide more robust phylogenetic reconstructions, since each can elucidate evolution at different time scales. Distance corrections greatly improve the accuracy of phylogeny reconstructions from DNA sequences, enabling distance-based methods to approach the accuracy of the more elaborate methods based on parsimony or likelihood at a fraction of the computational cost. This paper focuses on developing distance correction methods for phylogeny reconstruction from whole genomes. The main question we investigate is how to estimate evolutionary histories from whole genomes with equal gene content, and we present a technique, the empirically derived estimator (EDE), that we have developed for this purpose. We study the use of EDE on whole genomes with identical gene content, and we explore the accuracy of phylogenies inferred using EDE with the neighbor joining and minimum evolution methods under a wide range of model conditions. Our study shows that tree reconstruction under these two methods is much more accurate when based on EDE distances than when based on other distances previously suggested for whole genomes
The Dark Kinase Knowledgebase: An online compendium of knowledge and experimental results of understudied kinases
Kinases form the backbone of numerous cell signaling pathways, with their dysfunction similarly implicated in multiple pathologies. Further facilitated by their druggability, kinases are a major focus of therapeutic development efforts in diseases such as cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disorders. While their importance is clear, the role or biological function of nearly one-third of kinases is largely unknown. Here, we describe a data resource, the Dark Kinase Knowledgebase (DKK; https://darkkinome.org), that is specifically focused on providing data and reagents for these understudied kinases to the broader research community. Supported through NIH\u27s Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) Program, the DKK is focused on data and knowledge generation for 162 poorly studied or \u27dark\u27 kinases. Types of data provided through the DKK include parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) peptides for quantitative proteomics, protein interactions, NanoBRET reagents, and kinase-specific compounds. Higher-level data is similarly being generated and consolidated such as tissue gene expression profiles and, longer-term, functional relationships derived through perturbation studies. Associated web tools that help investigators interrogate both internal and external data are also provided through the site. As an evolving resource, the DKK seeks to continually support and enhance knowledge on these potentially high-impact druggable targets
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