Recruiting and Retaining LGBT Athletes Lessons from the Population

Presented at the Diversity Research Symposium 2014: From Research to Action conference at Ball State University. Published in 2016 as part of the conference proceedings entitled Diversity Research Symposium Journal 2014: From Research to Action.This paper explores the experiences of gay and lesbian college student athletes. Participants of the study played at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) institutions. All contributors were engaged in an hour to 90 minute interview. They were asked a range of questions regarding their family environments and attitudes, institutional climates, and the process of disclosing their sexuality. The primary research question explored was, What are the experiences of gay and lesbian college student athletes on college campuses? Intentions for the study were to bring awareness to the treatment of gay and lesbian athletes on college campuses, and how they navigated their college surroundings. The submitted chapter provides an outline of implications for athletics and for higher education, overall. Information was collected through resources provide by the NCAA on inclusivity of LGBT student athletes (Morrison, 2012)

FACTORS INFLUENCING WEST TENNESSEE FARMERS' WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR A BOLL WEEVIL ERADICATION PROGRAM

Data from a survey were used to evaluate Tennessee farmers' willingness to pay for the boll weevil eradication program. Producer experience, boll weevil control costs, and attitudes about boll weevil damage and insecticide usage after the program were significant explanatory variables and had a positive influence on willingness to pay.Contingent valuation, cotton, regional pest control, pest management groups, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Alloparenting Adolescents: Evaluating the Social and Biological Impacts of Leprosy on Young People in Saxo-Norman England (9th to 12th Centuries AD) through Cross-Disciplinary Models of Care

The majority of historical sources describe past attitudes towards people with leprosy as negative, focussing on ostracism and damnation, and this is thought to have impacted on the care that sufferers received. More recent historical and archaeological evidence challenges this longstanding perspective, portraying a very different view of care for those with this potentially debilitating and disfiguring disease (Roberts 2002; Rawcliffe 2006; Roberts 2013; Roberts 2018). This paper aims to explore the social and biological impacts of adolescents with leprosy in SaxoNorman England (9th – 12th centuries AD). The intersection of youth, chronic infection, aspects of care (inclusive of medical, surgical, and daily support), and cultural identity has only been tangentially explored in the past (e.g see Redfern and Gowland 2011; Roberts and Bernard 2015; Lewis 2017). Studies that integrate these entwined themes can, however, provide a more holistic view of societal responses to wider encultured disease identities. This study utilises multiple lines of evidence for medical care and social treatment to evaluate the validity of dominant historical narratives about leprosy, i.e. that people in the past with leprosy were not cared for or treated well. In order to achieve this, the notion of past requirements of care and treatment through an alloparental model will be introduced. This is followed by a review of the existing historiographical evidence for medical care for young people in the medieval period to better understand systems of care provision and parental reactions to their sick children at this time. Discussions of leprosy in young people in the present and past will help contribute to longitudinal views of the biological impacts of leprosy and help the necessity for care in relation to certain pathological responses (i.e. the manifestation of lepromatous leprosy). To apply this framework to the past, palaeopathological and archaeological evidence from adolescent individuals excavated from the North Cemetery of St. Mary Magdalen leprosy hospital will be analysed. The presence of both leprosy and alloparental care for adolescents in the Saxo-Norman transition at this hospital is demonstrated. Finally, the construction of a theoretical model of required clinical care and provisions, such as the Index of Care framework, helps interpret the evidence for care in alloparental institutions such as leprosaria. The treatment of people with leprosy in the medieval period is often cited as a justification for the continuing stigma and community expulsion of family members with leprosy in some parts of the world (World Health Organization 2015). Therefore, it is worth examining the social milieu of this disease in which young people with leprosy in the past lived, and the models of care and treatment that may be interpreted from these data in order to dispel this longstanding stigma

Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) Models as a Mixed-Modeling Technique: A Tutorial and an Annotated Example

Formative modeling of latent constructs has produced great interest and discussion among scholars in recent years. However, confusion exists surrounding researchers’ ability to validate these models, especially with covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) techniques. With this paper, we help to clarify these issues and explain how formatively modeled constructs can be assessed rigorously by researchers using CB-SEM capabilities. In particular, we explain and provide an applied example of a mixed-modeling technique termed multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) models. Using this approach, researchers can assess formatively modeled constructs as the final, distal dependent variable in CB-SEM structural models—something previously impossible because of CB-SEM’s mathematical identification rules. Moreover, we assert that researchers can use MIMIC models to assess the content validity of a set of formative indicators quantitatively—something considered conventionally only from a qualitative standpoint. The research example we use in this manuscript involving protection-motivated behaviors (PMBs) details the entire process of MIMIC modeling and provides a set of detailed guidelines for researchers to follow when developing new constructs modeled as MIMIC structures

A New Method for Characterizing Very Low-Mass Companions with Low-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

We present a new and computationally efficient method for characterizing very low-mass companions using low-resolution (R ∼ 30), near-infrared (YJH) spectra from high-contrast imaging campaigns with integral field spectrograph (IFS) units. We conduct a detailed quantitative comparison of the efficacy of this method through tests on simulated data comparable in spectral coverage and resolution to the currently operating direct-imaging systems around the world. In particular, we simulate Project 1640 data as an example of the use, accuracy, and precision of this technique. We present results from comparing simulated spectra of M, L, and T dwarfs with a large and finely sampled grid of synthetic spectra using Markov-chain Monte Carlo techniques. We determine the precision and accuracy of effective temperature and surface gravity inferred from fits to PHOENIX dusty and cond, which we find reproduce the low-resolution spectra of all objects within the adopted flux uncertainties. Uncertainties in effective temperature decrease from ± 100–500 K for M dwarfs to as small as ± 30 K for some L and T spectral types. Surface gravity is constrained to within 0.2–0.4 dex for mid-L through T dwarfs, but uncertainties are as large as 1.0 dex or more for M dwarfs. Results for effective temperature from low-resolution YJH spectra generally match predictions from published spectral type-temperature relationships except for L–T transition objects and young objects. Single-band spectra (i.e., narrower wavelength coverage) result in larger uncertainties and often discrepant results, suggesting that high-contrast IFS observing campaigns can compensate for low spectral resolution by expanding the wavelength coverage for reliable characterization of detected companions. We find that S/N ∼ 10 is sufficient to characterize temperature and gravity as well as possible given the model grid. Most relevant for direct-imaging campaigns targeting young primary stars is our finding that low-resolution near-infrared spectra of known young objects, compared to field objects of the same spectral type, result in similar best-fit surface gravities but lower effective temperatures, highlighting the need for better observational and theoretical understanding of the entangled effects of temperature, gravity, and dust on near-infrared spectra in cool low-gravity atmospheres

Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement versus CBT for co-occurring substance dependence, traumatic stress, and psychiatric disorders: Proximal outcomes from a pragmatic randomized trial

In clinical settings, there is a high comorbidity between substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders, and traumatic stress. As such, transdiagnostic therapies are needed to address these co-occurring issues efficiently. The aim of the present study was to conduct a pragmatic randomized controlled trial comparing Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) to group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and treatment-as-usual (TAU) for previously homeless men residing in a therapeutic community. Men with co-occurring substance use and psychiatric disorders, as well as extensive trauma histories, were randomly assigned to 10 weeks of group treatment with MORE (n=64), CBT (n=64), or TAU (n=52). Study findings indicated that from pre- to post-treatment MORE was associated with modest yet significantly greater improvements in substance craving, post-traumatic stress, and negative affect than CBT, and significantly greater improvements in post-traumatic stress and positive affect than TAU. A significant indirect effect of MORE on decreasing craving and post-traumatic stress by increasing dispositional mindfulness was observed, suggesting that MORE may target these issues via enhancing mindful awareness in everyday life. This pragmatic trial represents the first head-to-head comparison of MORE against an empirically-supported treatment for co-occurring disorders. Results suggest that MORE, as an integrative therapy designed to bolster self-regulatory capacity, may hold promise as a treatment for intersecting clinical conditions

The use and prescription of pangolin in traditional Vietnamese medicine

It is now acknowledged that demand stemming from traditional medicine stimulates a continued market for illegal wildlife trade globally. Increasing demand for pangolin fuels widespread unsustainable extraction and an illicit international trade that is threatening pangolin populations worldwide. Vietnam is an important transit country in this trafficking network and a significant consumer country, particularly due to their longstanding tradition of consuming wildlife products as traditional medicine. We conducted 51 semi-structured, questionnaire-based interviews with traditional Vietnamese medicine practitioners in Hanoi, Vietnam to explore the factors influencing their prescription of pangolin. The results show that traditional Vietnamese medicine practitioners are important drivers of pangolin use and that prescription continues despite prohibitive legislation. The main influencing factors were money, illegality (as a deterrent) and supply. Wealthier patients were more likely to use pangolin as medicine and patients generally trusted a doctor’s prescription. Awareness of regulations related to pangolin use in traditional medicine was low and pangolin use continued without fear of the law. Lactation, abscesses and circulation were the most prescribed uses for pangolin scales. All respondents believed that pangolin can be substituted, however, a belief remained that substitutes are inferior to pangolin. This study provides a unique perspective of pangolin use in one of the main pangolin consumption countries in the world. The results suggest that the law is not being implemented effectively and that increased enforcement efforts are necessary. Furthermore, these insights serve to inform future demand-reduction campaigns whereby the most common uses and substitutes for pangolin scales may be targeted

Precision Farming by Cotton Producers in Six Southern States: Results from the 2001 Southern Precision Farming Survey

Precision Farming by Cotton Producers in Six Southern States: Results from the 2001 Southern Precision Farming Surveycotton, precision farming, survey, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,