Attachment Styles Within the Coach-Athlete Dyad: Preliminary Investigation and Assessment Development

The present preliminary study aimed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a new sport-specific self-report instrument designed to assess athletes’ and coaches’ attachment styles. The development and initial validation comprised three main phases. In Phase 1, a pool of items was generated based on pre-existing self-report attachment instruments, modified to reflect a coach and an athlete’s style of attachment. In Phase 2, the content validity of the items was assessed by a panel of experts. A final scale was developed and administered to 405 coaches and 298 athletes (N = 703 participants). In Phase 3, confirmatory factor analysis of the obtained data was conducted to determine the final items of the Coach-Athlete Attachment Scale (CAAS). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed acceptable goodness of fit indexes for a 3-first order factor model as well as a 2-first order factor model for both the athlete and the coach data, respectively. A secure attachment style positively predicted relationship satisfaction, while an insecure attachment style was a negative predictor of relationship satisfaction. The CAAS revealed initial psychometric properties of content, factorial, and predictive validity, as well as reliability

The evolution of galaxy groups and of galaxies therein

Properties of groups of galaxies depend sensitively on the algorithm for group selection, and even the most recent catalogs of groups built from redshift-space selection should suffer from projections and infalling galaxies. The cosmo-dynamical evolution of groups from initial Hubble expansion to collapse and virialization leads to a fundamental track (FT) in virial-theorem-M/L vs crossing time. The increased rates of mergers, both direct and after dynamical friction, in groups relative to clusters, explain the higher fraction of elliptical galaxies at given local number density in X-ray selected groups, relative to clusters, even when the hierarchical evolution of groups is considered. Galaxies falling into groups and clusters should later travel outwards to typically 2 virial radii, which is somewhat less than the outermost radius where observed galaxy star formation efficiencies are enhanced relative to field galaxies of same morphological type. An ongoing analysis of the internal kinematics of X-ray selected groups suggests that the radial profiles of line of sight velocity dispersion are consistent with isotropic NFW distributions for the total mass density, with higher (lower) concentrations than LambdaCDM predictions in groups of high (low) mass. The critical mass, at M200 ~ 10^13 M_sun is consistent with possible breaks in the X-ray luminosity-temperature and Fundamental Plane relations. The internal kinematics of groups indicate that the M-T relation of groups should agree with that extrapolated from clusters with no break at the group scale. The analyses of observed velocity dispersion profiles and of the FT both suggest that low velocity dispersion groups (compact and loose, X-ray emitting or undetected) are quite contaminated by chance projections.Comment: Invited review, ESO workshop "Groups of Galaxies in the Nearby Universe", held in Santiago, Chile, 5-9 December 2005, ed. I. Saviane, V. Ivanov & J. Borissova, 16 page

Tomato: a crop species amenable to improvement by cellular and molecular methods

Tomato is a crop plant with a relatively small DNA content per haploid genome and a well developed genetics. Plant regeneration from explants and protoplasts is feasable which led to the development of efficient transformation procedures. In view of the current data, the isolation of useful mutants at the cellular level probably will be of limited value in the genetic improvement of tomato. Protoplast fusion may lead to novel combinations of organelle and nuclear DNA (cybrids), whereas this technique also provides a means of introducing genetic information from alien species into tomato. Important developments have come from molecular approaches. Following the construction of an RFLP map, these RFLP markers can be used in tomato to tag quantitative traits bred in from related species. Both RFLP's and transposons are in the process of being used to clone desired genes for which no gene products are known. Cloned genes can be introduced and potentially improve specific properties of tomato especially those controlled by single genes. Recent results suggest that, in principle, phenotypic mutants can be created for cloned and characterized genes and will prove their value in further improving the cultivated tomato.