The Current Status of Women\u27s Employment in Outdoor Leadership

The study analyzed women\u27s employment rates from 62 outdoor organizations to determine women\u27s rep­resentation in the outdoor field. Statistical analysis revealed that women were under-represented in outdoor organizations at the executive and management levels using a proportionality standard. Additionally, women reported lower salaries and higher gender-based discrimination occurrences than their male coun­terparts

A Sense of Competence. Re-conceptualizing Issues of Competence for Women in Outdoor Education

Competence development in outdoor education is a complex process that is shaped by gender-role socialization, learning environments, and by individual differences. Outdoor educators need to further their un­derstanding of this process so they can fully empower themselves and their students. Outdoor programs need to be designed to support the development of both compe­tence in outdoor skills and a sense of com­petence in these skills so program partici­pants will be able to fully participate in out­door activities. This abstract provides an introduction to the issue of competence de­velopment and further discussion of this topic is available in Loeffler (1997)

Depositional environment and diagenesis, Birdbear Formation (Upper Devonian) Williston Basin, North Dakota

The Birdbear Formation is a subsurface unit that is present throughout North Dakota except where truncated by post-depositional erosion. An angular unconformity is present between the Birdbear and younger strata in areas where the Three Forks Formation does not overlie the Birdbear. An isopach map of the Birdbear, constructed from drill-hole log data, indicates that the formation generally thickens gradually from the erosional limit to a maximum of 119 feet north of the center of the Basin. A structure map o~ the top of the Birdbear shows a basin that reaches 9000 feet below sea level. The Birdbear is predominantly a fossiliferous limestone and a dolomitic muddy limestone. The formation can be divided into seven lithofacies based on the results of core and thin-section petrography. Each lithofacies is characterized by fossil fauna and other lithologic features. Epeiric-sea sedimentation is the depositional model proposed for the Birdbear Formation. Lithofacies analysis suggests, after an initial shallow-water depositional environment, the development of three energy zones of an epeiric depositional setting. In addition, a supratidal or supralittoral zone was present. A stromatoporoid bank-complex developed approximately during middle Birdbear time and may be considered to have been superimposed on the epeiric setting. Lithologic and other features of the Birdbear xiii also suggest sedimentation similar to that documented from the present-day tidal-flat complex of the Caribbean Andros Island area and the sabkha of the Persian Gulf Abu Dhabi area. Four diagenetic zones can be assigned to Birdbear rocks. Dolomite occurrence and interpreted mechanisms of dolomitization best define each zone. A mixing-zone mechanism is believed to be the most significant telogenetic process. This process probably accounts for bleached Birdbear rocks and intercrystalline porosity, such as that found near the Billings anticline. Late diagenesis is indicated by 1) saddle-dolomite rhombs, and 2) anhydrites that have replaced some of these rhombs. Nodules, stylolites, microst ylolites, some dolomites, and other diagenetic features are interpreted to be effects of pressure response. Pressure-response carbonate diagenesis probabl y occurred through ionic mobilization and precipitation, induced by a particle edge, fluid-film mechanism and a proposed intraunit solution mechanism. Petroleum occurrence in the Birdbear is related to lithofacies that represent bank and back-bank areas, and to dolomitization

Focusing In: Using Photo Elicitation to Explore the Meanings of Outdoor Experiences

This exploratory qualitative study utilized photo-elicitation interviews to investigate the· inner significance of structured outdoor experiences for participants. Photo-elicitation provides a model for collaborative research in that the researcher becomes a listener as the subject interprets the image for the researcher. In the present study, photographs taken by the participants during their outdoor adventure experiences formed the foundation of the photo-elicitation interview

Factors Affecting Rural Women’s Involvement in Physical Activity in Ghana

A qualitative study approach was used to explore the factors affecting rural women’s involvement in physical activity in Ghana. Most prior research has been done in African urban areas thus, neglecting the rural areas. Purposive sampling and a semi-structured interview method were used to interview nine women aged 40-60 years living in three rural areas in the central region of Ghana. The interviews were conducted by phone, translated, transcribed, and then coded using NVivo software package. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data. The data presented eight enablers and five barriers to physical activity involvement for rural Ghanaian women. Findings revealed that rural women get a fair amount of physical activity from their traditional occupations, household chores, and community involvement but lack involvement in organized physical activity for leisure and fun. By introducing rural women to more varied physical activity options, they could gradually replace the physical activity they traditionally gain from their livelihood as they begin to age out of them in middle adulthood

Applying a Dynamic Performance Management Framework to Wicked Issues: How Coproduction Helps to Transform Young People's Services in Surrey County Council, UK

This article explores how a dynamic performance management (DPM) approach can give policy makers a more integrated, time-related understanding of how to address wicked problems successfully. The article highlights how an outcome-based approach to solving wicked policy problems has to balance three very contrasting objectives of stakeholders in the policy making process-improving service quality, improving quality of life outcomes and improving conformity to the principles of public governance. Simultaneous achievement of these three objectives may not be feasible, as they may form an interactive dynamic system. However the balancing act between them may be achieved by the use of DPM. Policy insights from this novel approach are illustrated through a case study of a highly successful co-production intervention to help young people with multiple disadvantages in Surrey, UK. The implications of DPM are that policy development needs to accept the important roles of emergent strategy and learning mechanisms, rather than attempting 'blueprint' strategic planning and control mechanisms. Some expectations about the results may indeed be justifiable in particular policy systems, as clustering of quality of life outcomes and outcomes in the achievement of governance principles is likely, because behaviours are strongly inter-related. However, this clustering can never be taken for granted but must be tested in each specific policy context. Undertaking simulations with the model and recalibrating it through time, as experience builds up, may allow learning in relation to overcoming barriers to achieving outcomes in the system

High temperature stable separator for lithium batteries based on SiO² and hydroxypropyl guar gum

A novel membrane based on silicon dioxide (SiO$_{2}$) and hydroxypropyl guar gum (HPG) as binder is presented and tested as a separator for lithium-ion batteries. The separator is made with renewable and low cost materials and an environmentally friendly manufacturing processing using only water as solvent. The separator offers superior wettability and high electrolyte uptake due to the optimized porosity and the good affinity of SiO$_{2}$ and guar gum microstructure towards organic liquid electrolytes. Additionally, the separator shows high thermal stability and no dimensional-shrinkage at high temperatures due to the use of the ceramic filler and the thermally stable natural polymer. The electrochemical tests show the good electrochemical stability of the separator in a wide range of potential, as well as its outstanding cycle performance

An individual based computational model of intestinal crypt fission and its application to predicting unrestrictive growth of the intestinal epithelium.

Intestinal crypt fission is a homeostatic phenomenon, observable in healthy adult mucosa, but which also plays a pathological role as the main mode of growth of some intestinal polyps. Building on our previous individual based model for the small intestinal crypt and on in vitro cultured intestinal organoids, we here model crypt fission as a budding process based on fluid mechanics at the individual cell level and extrapolated predictions for growth of the intestinal epithelium. Budding was always observed in regions of organoids with abundant Paneth cells. Our data support a model in which buds are biomechanically initiated by single stem cells surrounded by Paneth cells which exhibit greater resistance to viscoelastic deformation, a hypothesis supported by atomic force measurements of single cells. Time intervals between consecutive budding events, as simulated by the model and observed in vitro, were 2.84 and 2.62 days, respectively. Predicted cell dynamics was unaffected within the original crypt which retained its full capability of providing cells to the epithelium throughout fission. Mitotic pressure in simulated primary crypts forced upward migration of buds, which simultaneously grew into new protruding crypts at a rate equal to 1.03 days-1 in simulations and 0.99 days-1 in cultured organoids. Simulated crypts reached their final size in 4.6 days, and required 40 6.2 days to migrate to the top of the primary crypt. The growth of the secondary crypt is independent of its migration along the original crypt. Assuming unrestricted crypt fission and multiple budding events, a maximal growth rate of the intestinal epithelium of 0.10 days-1 43 is predicted and thus approximately 22 days are required for a 10-fold increase of polyp size. These predictions are in agreement with the time reported to develop macroscopic adenomas in mice after loss of Apc in intestinal stem cells

High-Resolution Cartography of the Transcriptome and Methylome Landscapes of Diffuse Gliomas

Molecular mechanisms of lower-grade (II–III) diffuse gliomas (LGG) are still poorly understood, mainly because of their heterogeneity. They split into astrocytoma- (IDH-A) and oligodendroglioma-like (IDH-O) tumors both carrying mutations(s) at the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene and into IDH wild type (IDH-wt) gliomas of glioblastoma resemblance. We generated detailed maps of the transcriptomes and DNA methylomes, revealing that cell functions divided into three major archetypic hallmarks: (i) increased proliferation in IDH-wt and, to a lesser degree, IDH-O; (ii) increased inflammation in IDH-A and IDH-wt; and (iii) the loss of synaptic transmission in all subtypes. Immunogenic properties of IDH-A are diverse, partly resembling signatures observed in grade IV mesenchymal glioblastomas or in grade I pilocytic astrocytomas. We analyzed details of coregulation between gene expression and DNA methylation and of the immunogenic micro-environment presumably driving tumor development and treatment resistance. Our transcriptome and methylome maps support personalized, case-by-case views to decipher the heterogeneity of glioma states in terms of data portraits. Thereby, molecular cartography provides a graphical coordinate system that links gene-level information with glioma subtypes, their phenotypes, and clinical context