1,897 research outputs found
Bowled out for a duck before picking up a bat: identifying womenâs perceived barriers and lived experiences of cricket within the City of Lincoln
Gender inequality in sport has received significant attention from sports development initiatives and sociologists of sport. Gender inequality describes the structuring of aspects of society that favours one gender over another. Feminist academic literature is heavily focused around how the inequality is perpetuated in society (Hargreaves, J. (2000) Heroines of Sport: âThe politics of difference and identityâ. London: Routledge.). The prevalence of gender inequality is reflected in womenâs participation levels in typically masculine sports such as cricket. Approximately 0.08% of the female population take part in cricket in the UK, which suggests there are inherent barriers to womenâs participation (Sport England, 2011, Active People Survey 2011). This problem is something that has been highlighted as a substantial aim that the legacy of the 2012 London Olympics can help overcome (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympics games Ltd (2008) Diversity and Inclusion strategy).
The present study builds on previous work to increase opportunities for women to participate in cricket (Hibberd et al 2011; âNot Just a Boys Gameâ: Programme evaluation of a multi-agency cricket intervention designed to reduce gender inequity in a city in the East of England.âPaper presented at the student BASES 2011 conference). The principal aim of this study is to investigate the perceived barriers that active women feel prevent or inhibit their participation in cricket. A case study approach will be adopted, focusing on six womenâs community and University sports clubs in Lincoln, in conjunction with Lincolnshire Cricket board (LCB). Women will be recruited from an array of social backgrounds, with different abilities, ages and experiences of sport.
A mixed method approach utilising both questionnaires and semi-structured group interviews will be employed (Bryman, A. (1988) Quantity and Quality in Social Research. London: Routledge). A theory driven approach to understanding womenâs perceived barriers to participation in cricket will be adopted. The project will enable researchers to gain a better understanding of the reasons why women find access to certain sports easier than others. This information will allow researchers to make recommendations for widening participation in womenâs cricket, with a view to increasing the viability of womenâs participation in cricket locally
LHC Limits on the Top-Higgs in Models with Strong Top-Quark Dynamics
LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in WW or ZZ decay modes place
strong constraints on the top-Higgs state predicted in many models with new
dynamics preferentially affecting top quarks. Such a state couples strongly to
top-quarks, and is therefore produced through gluon fusion at a rate enhanced
relative to the rate for the standard model Higgs boson. A top-Higgs state with
mass less than 300 GeV is excluded at 95% CL if the associated top-pion has a
mass of 150 GeV, and the constraint is even stronger if the mass of the
top-pion state exceeds the top-quark mass or if the top-pion decay constant is
a substantial fraction of the weak scale. These results have significant
implications for theories with strong top dynamics, such as topcolor-assisted
technicolor, top-seesaw models, and certain Higgsless models.Comment: 9 pages, 6 pdf figures included. Updated with 2011 Lepton-Photon
conference Higgs limits. Order of figures reversed, and conclusion slightly
expanded and clarifie
A Comparative Evaluation of Spectral Quality Metrics for Hyperspectral Imagery
Quantitative methods to assess or predict the quality of a spectral image are the subject of a number of current research activities. An accepted methodology would be highly desirable to use for data collection tasking or data archive searches in way analogous to the current uses of the National Imagery Interpretation Rating Scale (NIIRS) General Image Quality Equation (GIQE). A number of approaches to the estimation of quality of a spectral image have been published. An issue with many of these approaches is that they tend to be constructed around specific tasks (target detection, background classification, etc.) While this has often been necessary to make the quality assessment tractable, it is desirable to have a method that is more general. One such general approach is presented in a companion paper (Simmons, et al1). This new approach seeks to get at the heart of the general spectral imagery quality analysis problem â assessing the confidence of an image analyst in performing a specified task with a specific spectral image. In this approach the quality from spatial and spectral aspects of the imagery are treated separately and then a fusion concept known as âsemantic transformationâ is used to combine the utility, or confidence, from these two aspects into an overall quality metric. This paper compares and contrasts the various methods published in the literature with this new General Spectral Utility Metric (GSUM). In particular, the methods are applied to a target detection problem using data from the airborne HYDICE instrument collected at Forest Radiance I. While the GSUM approach is seen to lead to intuitively pleasing results, its sensitivity to image parameters was not seen to be consistent with previously published approaches. However, this likely resulted more from limitations of the previous approaches than with problems with GSUM. Further studies with additional spectral imaging applications are recommended along with efforts to integrate a performance predication capability into the GSUM framework
How to Measure IT Effectiveness: The CIO\u27s Perspective
Information technology (IT) continues to play an increasingly important role in todayâs businesses. As such, understanding IT and measuring its effect are imperative for the expansion and profitability of any business. This paper attempts to address the question - how to measure IT effectiveness - according to the CIOâs perspective. In this research-in-progress, we provide a review of the pertaining literature, focusing on the definitions, the measurements, and the nomological networks of IT effectiveness. Our ultimate research goal is to learn the CIOâs perspective on measuring IT effectiveness in their organizations, so that we can develop an improved model for the measurement of IT effectiveness. This improved model can help current and future IT managers and business executives improve their abilities to measure IT effectiveness in their organizations, enabling them to maximize the effectiveness of IT in aiding their respective organizations achieve their business objectives
Discovering Strong Top Dynamics at the LHC
We analyze the phenomenology of the top-pion and top-Higgs states in models
with strong top dynamics, and translate the present LHC searches for the
Standard Model Higgs into bounds on these scalar states. We explore the
possibility that the new state at a mass of approximately 125 GeV observed at
the LHC is consistent with a neutral pseudoscalar top-pion state. We
demonstrate that a neutral pseudoscalar top-pion can generate the diphoton
signal at the observed rate. However, the region of model parameter space where
this is the case does not correspond to classic topcolor-assisted technicolor
scenarios with degenerate charged and neutral top-pions and a top-Higgs mass of
order twice the top mass; rather, additional isospin violation would need to be
present and the top dynamics would be more akin to that in top seesaw models.
Moreover, the interpretation of the new state as a top-pion can be sustained
only if the ZZ (four-lepton) and WW (two-lepton plus missing energy) signatures
initially observed at the 3? level decline in significance as additional data
is accrued.Comment: 25 pages, pdf embedded figures. Submission extensively revised to
reflect discovery of a 125 GeV boso
Prospectus, April 10, 2002
https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2002/1012/thumbnail.jp
Protease inhibitors targeting coronavirus and filovirus entry.
In order to gain entry into cells, diverse viruses, including Ebola virus, SARS-coronavirus and the emerging MERS-coronavirus, depend on activation of their envelope glycoproteins by host cell proteases. The respective enzymes are thus excellent targets for antiviral intervention. In cell culture, activation of Ebola virus, as well as SARS- and MERS-coronavirus can be accomplished by the endosomal cysteine proteases, cathepsin L (CTSL) and cathepsin B (CTSB). In addition, SARS- and MERS-coronavirus can use serine proteases localized at the cell surface, for their activation. However, it is currently unclear which protease(s) facilitate viral spread in the infected host. We report here that the cysteine protease inhibitor K11777, ((2S)-N-[(1E,3S)-1-(benzenesulfonyl)-5-phenylpent-1-en-3-yl]-2-{[(E)-4-methylpiperazine-1-carbonyl]amino}-3-phenylpropanamide) and closely-related vinylsulfones act as broad-spectrum antivirals by targeting cathepsin-mediated cell entry. K11777 is already in advanced stages of development for a number of parasitic diseases, such as Chagas disease, and has proven to be safe and effective in a range of animal models. K11777 inhibition of SARS-CoV and Ebola virus entry was observed in the sub-nanomolar range. In order to assess whether cysteine or serine proteases promote viral spread in the host, we compared the antiviral activity of an optimized K11777-derivative with that of camostat, an inhibitor of TMPRSS2 and related serine proteases. Employing a pathogenic animal model of SARS-CoV infection, we demonstrated that viral spread and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV is driven by serine rather than cysteine proteases and can be effectively prevented by camostat. Camostat has been clinically used to treat chronic pancreatitis, and thus represents an exciting potential therapeutic for respiratory coronavirus infections. Our results indicate that camostat, or similar serine protease inhibitors, might be an effective option for treatment of SARS and potentially MERS, while vinyl sulfone-based inhibitors are excellent lead candidates for Ebola virus therapeutics
Further investigations of the deep double donor magnesium in silicon
The deep double donor levels of substitutional chalcogen impurities in
silicon have unique optical properties which may enable a spin/photonic quantum
technology. The interstitial magnesium impurity (Mg) in silicon is also a
deep double donor but has not yet been studied in the same detail as have the
chalcogens. In this study we look at the neutral and singly ionized Mg
absorption spectra in natural silicon and isotopically enriched 28-silicon in
more detail. The 1s(A) to 1s(T) transitions, which are very strong for
the chalcogens and are central to the proposed spin/photonic quantum
technology, could not be detected. We observe the presence of another double
donor (Mg) that may result from Mg in a reduced symmetry
configuration, most likely due to complexing with another impurity. The neutral
species of Mg reveal unusual low lying ground state levels detected
through temperature dependence studies. We also observe a shallow donor which
we identify as a magnesium-boron pair
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