Use of Reflective Practices to Improve Self-Awareness in Youth Sport Coaches

In this dissertation, I explore the use of reflective practice among a group of youth sport coaches. More specifically, reflective practice as facilitated through use of videos and repeated interviews, with the intent to inspire greater awareness, malleability, and positive behavior change is presented. To synthesize this research, the following topics: coaching identity and the role of the coach, coach education and its misalignment with the goals of youth coaches, counseling as a means of mentoring, self-awareness and reflection, and behavior change, are discussed. In the current coach education literature, there is a gap in the types of education volunteer youth coaches are receiving, as it does not align with their coaching goals (McCullick et al., 2009; Trudel, Culver, & Werthner, 2013). Also, there tends to be a misuse or minimal use of reflective practices in the coaching field, which may limit positive behaviors (Tripp & Rich, 2012; Rosaen et al., 2008; Kinsella, 2010; Mann, Gordon, & MacLeod, 2009; Gilbert & Trudel, 2001). Since increasing self-awareness has been found to be an effective behavior change agent, it is logical to employ with youth sport coaches of varying education and ability (Lemyre, Trudel, & Durand-Bush, 2007). Closing the intention-behavior gap in coaching was the primary goal of this study. In doing so, this study may serve as a template for new practices that may be explored further to benefit coaches and youth sport participants alike. Participants included five head coaches of youth basketball leagues who were 38.4 years of age on average with 4.6 years of coaching experience,and 101 players, ages 7-10, from 10 teams in the league. The study incorporated four coach interviews, a quantitative coach satisfaction survey, and quantitative surveys for players in the league. An abductive approach was used to develop thematic categories from the interview data (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). Quantitative results revealed players rating in coach commitment and connection as significantly increasing over time, and coach caring and complementarity increasing minimally. More importantly, results indicated that increases were greater for players on teams with coaches involved in the intervention. Participant coaches endorsed the usefulness and supportiveness of the reflection intervention used in this study. Qualitative results revealed coaches have common goals of positive sport experience for youth, and with repeated interview, increase in their self-awareness by using reflection in their coaching. Additionally, using reflective practices through repeated dialogue and video review led to moderate behavior changes in participant coaches, that increased over time throughout the season

Bioinformatic and Proteomic Investigation of Chloroplast Transit Peptide Motifs and Genesis

The eukaryotic mitochondrion was formed by the endosymbiotic association of an - proteobacterium and a primordial phagocytic eukaryote. A second, and later, endosymbiosis between the eukaryote and a cyanobacterium gave rise to the chloroplast of plants. Following each of these events most of the organellar DNA was exported to the nucleus. A system evolved wherein proteins produced on cytosolic ribosomes are targeted to organelle protein translocators by N-terminal targeting sequences. Protein sorting between the chloroplast and the mitochondrion in the plant cell by the general import pathways shows remarkable fidelity despite a lack of sequence conservation among transit peptides and pre-sequences and despite very little sequence difference between these two targeting peptides. There is evidence for a hydrophobic recognition motif in mitochondrial presequences, and a similar motif has been proposed for the chloroplast transit peptide. We have developed novel motif-finding methods and applied them to our own chloroplast proteome data and to literature mitochondrial data. We fail to find a hydrophobic motif that discriminates the chloroplast and the mitochondrion. Another little understood phenomenon of organelle protein trafficking is how the targeting sequence is acquired after transfer of organelle DNA to the nucleus. It has been hypothesized that the transit peptide is acquired by exon shuffling. We find no correlation of transit peptide lengths with exon boundaries. Furthermore, using highly expressed cyanobacterial proteins conserved in plants, we find that the transit peptide appears as likely to be attached within the primordial sequence as without, indicating a more stochastic process for the origin of the transit peptide

Improving Knowledge of C-130 Aircraft Condition: A High Velocity Maintenance Case Study

High Velocity Maintenance (HVM) seems poised to revolutionize the way the Air Force schedules and performs depot-level maintenance on its aircraft. The four tenets of HVM -- Known Condition of the Aircraft, Supportability, Daily Standard Work, and High Burn Rate -- provide the basis for the Air Force\u27s Air Logistics Centers (ALCs) to improve the quality of planning and scheduling that goes into each aircraft\u27s depot maintenance visit. These tenets have been implemented at Warner Robins ALC as part of the C-130 depot maintenance process. While HVM is in active implementation there, much remains to be documented on how the process works in a practical way. This research is a case study that explores the way maintenance information systems and work unit codes are used to facilitate HVM on the C-130 line at Warner Robins ALC. The research focuses on the Center\u27s implementation of improving knowledge of each aircraft\u27s condition prior to its induction into the depot. This is investigated through a combination of documentation analysis, archival records review, interviews, and direct observations. The research also explores how an aircraft\u27s maintenance history is compiled and considered in the depot planning process, and the way in which information flows from field-level maintenance units to enterprise-level information systems to where they are used as part of the depot planning process

Tailgut cyst and perineal hydatid cyst: A case report with multimodality imaging findings

A tailgut cyst is a rare developmental lesion and usually is located in the retrorectal or presacral space. Extrahepatic hydatid disease has been reported in several locations including the pelvis and it often poses a diagnostic challenge. There are very few reported cases of primary perineal hydatid cysts. We present the multimodality imaging findings of a tailgut cyst and concurrent perineal hydatid disease in a 32-year-old male patient

Perkin Reaction: Rapid and Efficient Process Optimization Through a Microwave/Design of Experiments Couple

Microwave chemistry and a Design of Experiments (DOE) protocol were employed together in order to rapidly and efficiently optimize a modified Perkin reaction. Microwave heating significantly reduced the reaction time, and the DOE provided a statistically significant understanding of underlying process relationships in a minimum number of experimental runs. In all, the reaction time was reduced from1hour to 2 minutes, factors important to yield were identified, an interesting cross-term interaction was discovered, and it was demonstrated that the more economical sodium acetate trihydrate catalyst was a viable alternative to the more costly anhydrous sodium acetate

Ultrasonic locating devices for central venous cannulation: meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: To assess the evidence for the clinical effectiveness of ultrasound guided central venous cannulation. DATA SOURCES: 15 electronic bibliographic databases, covering biomedical, science, social science, health economics, and grey literature. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. POPULATIONS: Patients scheduled for central venous access. INTERVENTION REVIEWED: Guidance using real time two dimensional ultrasonography or Doppler needles and probes compared with the anatomical landmark method of cannulation. DATA EXTRACTION: Risk of failed catheter placement (primary outcome), risk of complications from placement, risk of failure on first attempt at placement, number of attempts to successful catheterisation, and time (seconds) to successful catheterisation. DATA SYNTHESIS: 18 trials (1646 participants) were identified. Compared with the landmark method, real time two dimensional ultrasound guidance for cannulating the internal jugular vein in adults was associated with a significantly lower failure rate both overall (relative risk 0.14, 95% confidence interval 0.06 to 0.33) and on the first attempt (0.59, 0.39 to 0.88). Limited evidence favoured two dimensional ultrasound guidance for subclavian vein and femoral vein procedures in adults (0.14, 0.04 to 0.57 and 0.29, 0.07 to 1.21, respectively). Three studies in infants confirmed a higher success rate with two dimensional ultrasonography for internal jugular procedures (0.15, 0.03 to 0.64). Doppler guided cannulation of the internal jugular vein in adults was more successful than the landmark method (0.39, 0.17 to 0.92), but the landmark method was more successful for subclavian vein procedures (1.48, 1.03 to 2.14). No significant difference was found between these techniques for cannulation of the internal jugular vein in infants. An indirect comparison of relative risks suggested that two dimensional ultrasonography would be more successful than Doppler guidance for subclavian vein procedures in adults (0.09, 0.02 to 0.38). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence supports the use of two dimensional ultrasonography for central venous cannulation

Assessing the Density of Vegetation for Wildlife Cover in Regenerating Clearcuts via Analysis of Digital Imagery

Increasing the availability of shrubland habitat is a major conservation priority in the Northeastern United States because many wildlife species require this habitat and its extent has been decreasing in recent decades. Conservation agencies often monitor the number of hectares of shrubland habitat created, but rarely monitor the density of the resulting vegetation because the process is tedious and time-consuming. The current study tested a new approach to assess vegetation density: Digital Imagery Vegetation Analysis (DIVA). We compared the density estimates of DIVA with four other methods (Cover Board, Robel Pole, Height of Obstruction, and Line Intercept), and assessed the advantages and disadvantages of using these five methods in shru- bland studies. We concluded that DIVA offers two main advantages over the other methods: (a) it directly measures the vertical structure of the vegetation and thus better captures the complex wildlife habitat characteristics required by many wildlife, and (b) it does not rely on ocular estimates and thus avoids much of the bias associated with the other methods that estimate vertical structure. Furthermore, DIVA provides a rich documentation that permits quality control and other analyses to be conducted after the fieldwork is completed. However, DIVA is more time consuming than the other methods, thus we recommend either Robel Pole or Cover Board for routine monitoring

Consistency of post-Newtonian waveforms with numerical relativity

General relativity predicts the gravitational wave signatures of coalescing binary black holes. Explicit waveform predictions for such systems, required for optimal analysis of observational data, have so far been achieved using the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation. The quality of this treatment is unclear, however, for the important late-inspiral portion. We derive late-inspiral waveforms via a complementary approach, direct numerical simulation of Einstein's equations. We compare waveform phasing from simulations of the last $\sim 14$ cycles of gravitational radiation from equal-mass, nonspinning black holes with the corresponding 2.5PN, 3PN, and 3.5PN orbital phasing. We find phasing agreement consistent with internal error estimates based on either approach, suggesting that PN waveforms for this system are effective until the last orbit prior to final merger.Comment: Replaced with published version -- one figure removed, text and other figures updated for clarity of discussio

A systematic correlation between two-dimensional flow topology and the abstract statistics of turbulence

Velocity differences in the direct enstrophy cascade of two-dimensional turbulence are correlated with the underlying flow topology. The statistics of the transverse and longitudinal velocity differences are found to be governed by different structures. The wings of the transverse distribution are dominated by strong vortex centers, whereas, the tails of the longitudinal differences are dominated by saddles. Viewed in the framework of earlier theoretical work this result suggests that the transfer of enstrophy to smaller scales is accomplished in regions of the flow dominated by saddles.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Laboratory Simulations of Suprauroral Mechanisms Leading to Perpendicular Ion Heating and Conic Formation

Laboratory experiments are presented simulating aspects of perpendicular ion heating and conic formation that are observed or hypothesized to occur in the terrestrial ionosphere and magnetosphere. Previous laboratory observations of ion conics in the presence of the current‐driven electrostatic ion cyclotron wave are reviewed. Field‐aligned ion beams, accompanied by beam‐generated electrostatic ion cyclotron modes, resulted in perpendicular energization of beam ions and also the heating of background plasma ions. Antenna‐launched broadband and narrow‐band lower hybrid waves produced considerable perpendicular ion heating and non‐Maxwellian “tail” formation. Laboratory results are discussed in light of in situ measurements by the S3‐3 satellite and the MARIE sounding rocket