Organizational Stress in High-Level Field Hockey: Examining Transactional Pathways Between Stressors, Appraisals, Coping, and Performance Satisfaction

This study investigated transactional pathways between organizational stressors and their 28 underpinning situational properties, appraisals, coping, perceived coping effectiveness (PCE) 29 and performance satisfaction in athletes. Ten high-level field hockey players were 30 interviewed. Data relating to stressors, situational properties, appraisals and coping were 31 analysed using directed content analysis. Mean PCE scores were calculated and subjective 32 performance satisfaction data were categorised as satisfied, neutral, or dissatisfied. A variety 33 of organizational stressors was reported, which were underpinned by five situational 34 properties. Challenge, threat and harm/loss appraisals were experienced and problem solving 35 was the most commonly reported family of coping. High PCE was not always associated with 36 performance satisfaction. Performance satisfaction was, however, linked to the appraisal 37 experienced. A battery of stress management techniques and ways of coping is useful for 38 optimising appraisals and alleviating negative outcomes of stress

Dynamic linkages between stock markets : the effects of crises and globalization

This paper investigates changes in the dynamics of linkages between selected national stock markets during the period 1995–2009. The analysis focuses on the possible effects of globalization and differences between crisis and non-crisis periods. We model the dynamics of dependencies between the series of daily returns on selected stock indices over different time periods, and compare strength of the linkages. Our tools are dynamic copula models and a formal sequential testing procedure based on the model confidence set methodology. We consider two types of dependencies: regular dependence measured by means of the conditional Spearman’s rho, and dependencies in extremes quantified by the conditional tail dependence coefficients. The main result consists of a collection of rankings created for the considered subperiods, which show how the mean level of strength of the dependencies have been changing in time. The rankings obtained for Spearman’s rho and tail dependencies differ, which allows us to distinguish between the results of crises and the effect of globalization.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A population of luminous accreting black holes with hidden mergers

Major galaxy mergers are thought to play an important part in fuelling the growth of supermassive black holes. However, observational support for this hypothesis is mixed, with some studies showing a correlation between merging galaxies and luminous quasars and others showing no such association. Recent observations have shown that a black hole is likely to become heavily obscured behind merger-driven gas and dust, even in the early stages of the merger, when the galaxies are well separated (5 to 40 kiloparsecs). Merger simulations further suggest that such obscuration and black-hole accretion peaks in the final merger stage, when the two galactic nuclei are closely separated (less than 3 kiloparsecs). Resolving this final stage requires a combination of high-spatial-resolution infrared imaging and high-sensitivity hard-X-ray observations to detect highly obscured sources. However, large numbers of obscured luminous accreting supermassive black holes have been recently detected nearby (distances below 250 megaparsecs) in X-ray observations. Here we report high-resolution infrared observations of hard-X-ray-selected black holes and the discovery of obscured nuclear mergers, the parent populations of supermassive-black-hole mergers. We find that obscured luminous black holes (bolometric luminosity higher than 2x10^44 ergs per second) show a significant (P<0.001) excess of late-stage nuclear mergers (17.6 per cent) compared to a sample of inactive galaxies with matching stellar masses and star formation rates (1.1 per cent), in agreement with theoretical predictions. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we confirm that the excess of nuclear mergers is indeed strongest for gas-rich major-merger hosts of obscured luminous black holes in this final stage.Comment: To appear in the 8 November 2018 issue of Nature. This is the authors' version of the wor

Learners' decisions for attending Pediatric Grand Rounds: a qualitative and quantitative study

BACKGROUND: Although grand rounds plays a major educational role at academic medical centers, there has been little investigation into the factors influencing the learners' decision to attend. Greater awareness of attendees' expectations may allow grand rounds planners to better accommodate the learners' perspective, potentially making continuing education activities more attractive and inviting. METHODS: We used both qualitative (part A) and quantitative (part B) techniques to investigate the motivators and barriers to grand rounds attendance. Part A investigated contextual factors influencing attendance as expressed through attendee interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. We created a concept map linking key factors and their relationships. In part B we quantified the motivators and barriers identified during the initial interviews through a survey of the grand rounds audience. RESULTS: Sixteen persons voluntarily took part in the qualitative study (part A) by participating in one of seven group interview sessions. Of the 14 themes that emerged from these sessions, the most frequent factors motivating attendance involved competent practice and the need to know. All sessions discussed intellectual stimulation, social interaction, time constraints and convenience, licensure, content and format, and absence of cost for attending sessions. The 59 respondents to the survey (part B) identified clinically-useful topics (85%), continuing education credit (46%), cutting-edge research (27%), networking (22%), and refreshments (8%) as motivators and non-relevant topics (44%) and too busy to attend (56%) as barriers. CONCLUSION: Greater understanding of the consumers' perspective can allow planners to tailor the style, content, and logistics to make grand rounds more attractive and inviting

Alcohol affects neuronal substrates of response inhibition but not of perceptual processing of stimuli signalling a stop response

Alcohol impairs inhibitory control, including the ability to terminate an initiated action. While there is increasing knowledge about neural mechanisms involved in response inhibition, the level at which alcohol impairs such mechanisms remains poorly understood. Thirty-nine healthy social drinkers received either 0.4g/kg or 0.8g/kg of alcohol, or placebo, and performed two variants of a Visual Stop-signal task during acquisition of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The two task variants differed only in their instructions: in the classic variant (VSST), participants inhibited their response to a “Go-stimulus” when it was followed by a “Stop-stimulus”. In the control variant (VSST_C), participants responded to the “Go-stimulus” even if it was followed by a “Stop-stimulus”. Comparison of successful Stop-trials (Sstop)>Go, and unsuccessful Stop-trials (Ustop)>Sstop between the three beverage groups enabled the identification of alcohol effects on functional neural circuits supporting inhibitory behaviour and error processing. Alcohol impaired inhibitory control as measured by the Stop-signal reaction time, but did not affect other aspects of VSST performance, nor performance on the VSST_C. The low alcohol dose evoked changes in neural activity within prefrontal, temporal, occipital and motor cortices. The high alcohol dose evoked changes in activity in areas affected by the low dose but importantly induced changes in activity within subcortical centres including the globus pallidus and thalamus. Alcohol did not affect neural correlates of perceptual processing of infrequent cues, as revealed by conjunction analyses of VSST and VSST_C tasks. Alcohol ingestion compromises the inhibitory control of action by modulating cortical regions supporting attentional, sensorimotor and action-planning processes. At higher doses the impact of alcohol also extends to affect subcortical nodes of fronto-basal ganglia- thalamo-cortical motor circuits. In contrast, alcohol appears to have little impact on the early visual processing of infrequent perceptual cues. These observations clarify clinically-important effects of alcohol on behaviour

К вопросу формирования маркетинговой компетентности студента вуза

Interview topic guide. This document is the topic guide used by the researcher to structure all participant interviews. (DOCX 15 kb

Comparison of (18)F SPECT with PET in myocardial imaging: A realistic thorax-cardiac phantom study

BACKGROUND: Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with fluorine-18 ((18)F) Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and flow tracer such as Rubidium-82 ((82)Rb) is an established method for evaluating an ischemic but viable myocardium. However, the high cost of PET imaging restricts its wider clinical use. Therefore, less expensive (18)F FDG single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging has been considered as an alternative to (18)F FDG PET imaging. The purpose of the work is to compare SPECT with PET in myocardial perfusion/viability imaging. METHODS: A nonuniform RH-2 thorax-heart phantom was used in the SPECT and PET acquisitions. Three inserts, 3 cm, 2 cm and 1 cm in diameter, were placed in the left ventricular (LV) wall to simulate infarcts. The phantom acquisition was performed sequentially with 7.4 MBq of (18)F and 22.2 MBq of Technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) in the SPECT study and with 7.4 MBq of (18)F and 370 MBq of (82)Rb in the PET study. SPECT and PET data were processed using standard reconstruction software provided by vendors. Circumferential profiles of the short-axis slices, the contrast and viability of the inserts were used to evaluate the SPECT and PET images. RESULTS: The contrast for 3 cm, 2 cm and 1 cm inserts were for (18)F PET data, 1.0 ± 0.01, 0.67 ± 0.02 and 0.25 ± 0.01, respectively. For (82)Rb PET data, the corresponding contrast values were 0.61 ± 0.02, 0.37 ± 0.02 and 0.19 ± 0.01, respectively. For (18)F SPECT the contrast values were, 0.31 ± 0.03 and 0.20 ± 0.05 for 3 cm and 2 cm inserts, respectively. For (99m)Tc SPECT the contrast values were, 0.63 ± 0.04 and 0.24 ± 0.05 for 3 cm and 2 cm inserts respectively. In SPECT, the 1 cm insert was not detectable. In the SPECT study, all three inserts were falsely diagnosed as "viable", while in the PET study, only the 1 cm insert was diagnosed falsely "viable". CONCLUSION: For smaller defects the (99m)Tc/(18)F SPECT imaging cannot entirely replace the more expensive (82)Rb/(18)F PET for myocardial perfusion/viability imaging, due to poorer image spatial resolution and poorer defect contrast

“I Think I Became a Swimmer Rather than Just Someone with a Disability Swimming Up and Down”: Paralympic Athletes Perceptions of Self and Identity Development

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Disability and Rehabilitation on 27 September 2016, available online at:DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2016.1217074.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of self and identity development. Method: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was taken. During semi-structured interviews five Paralympic swimmers (aged 20-24 years) were asked questions about their swimming career, perceptions of self, integration, and impairment. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Results: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis1 yielded three superordinate themes: a) ‘One of the crowd’; none of the participants viewed themselves as disabled, nor as supercrips; these perceptions stemmed from family-, school-, and swimming- related experiences, b) ‘Becoming me’; participation in swimming facilitated self- and social-acceptance, and identity development, and c) ‘A badge of honour’; swimming presented opportunity to present and reinforce a positive identity. Conclusions: Swimming experiences enabled the participants to enhance personal and social identities, integrate through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition.through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition.Peer reviewe

An Antiretroviral/Zinc Combination Gel Provides 24 Hours of Complete Protection against Vaginal SHIV Infection in Macaques

Repeated use, coitus-independent microbicide gels that do not contain antiretroviral agents also used as first line HIV therapy are urgently needed to curb HIV spread. Current formulations require high doses (millimolar range) of antiretroviral drugs and typically only provide short-term protection in macaques. We used the macaque model to test the efficacy of a novel combination microbicide gel containing zinc acetate and micromolar doses of the novel non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor MIV-150 for up to 24 h after repeated gel application.Rhesus macaques were vaginally challenged with SHIV-RT up to 24 h after repeated administration of microbicide versus placebo gels. Infection status was determined by measuring virologic and immunologic parameters. Combination microbicide gels containing 14 mM zinc acetate dihydrate and 50 µM MIV-150 afforded full protection (21 of 21 animals) for up to 24 h after 2 weeks of daily application. Partial protection was achieved with the MIV-150 gel (56% of control at 8 h after last application, 11% at 24 h), while the zinc acetate gel afforded more pronounced protection (67% at 8-24 h). Marked protection persisted when the zinc acetate or MIV-150/zinc acetate gels were applied every other day for 4 weeks prior to challenge 24 h after the last gel was administered (11 of 14 protected). More MIV-150 was associated with cervical tissue 8 h after daily dosing of MIV-150/zinc acetate versus MIV-150, while comparable MIV-150 levels were associated with vaginal tissues and at 24 h.A combination MIV-150/zinc acetate gel and a zinc acetate gel provide significant protection against SHIV-RT infection for up to 24 h. This represents a novel advancement, identifying microbicides that do not contain anti-viral agents used to treat HIV infection and which can be used repeatedly and independently of coitus, and underscores the need for future clinical testing of their safety and ability to prevent HIV transmission in humans

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program