1,192 research outputs found
Exploring athletic identity in elite-level English youth football: a cross-sectional approach.
This study is the first empirical investigation that has explored levels of athletic identity in elite-level English professional football. The importance of understanding athletes' psychological well-being within professional sport has been well documented. This is especially important within the professional football industry, given the high attrition rate (Anderson, G., & Miller, R. M. (2011). The academy system in English professional football: Business value or following the herd? University of Liverpool, Management School Research Paper Series. Retrieved from http://www.liv.ac.uk/managementschool/research/working%20papers/wp201143.pdf ) and distinct occupational practices (Roderick, M. (2006). The work of professional football. A labour of love? London: Routledge). A total of 168 elite youth footballers from the English professional football leagues completed the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). Multilevel modelling was used to examine the effect of playing level, living arrangements and year of apprentice on the total AIMS score and its subscales (i.e., social identity, exclusivity and negative affectivity). Football club explained 30% of the variance in exclusivity among players (P = .022). Mean social identity was significantly higher for those players in the first year of their apprenticeship compared to the second year (P = .025). All other effects were not statistically significant (P > .05). The novel and unique findings have practical implications in the design and implementation of career support strategies with respect to social identity. This may facilitate the maintenance of motivation over a 2-year apprenticeship and positively impact on performance levels within the professional football environment
Tales of Critical Moments in Professional Football
The term âcritical momentsâ describes the range of experiences of professional footballers, and are defined as âfrequently experienced moments in our lives where we must confront the anxiety associated with an important change in our identityâ (Nesti et al. 2012, p. 23). Our understanding of such critical moments in professional and youth football (Parker, 2001; Roderick, 2006, Nesti et al., 2012) is limited. To contribute to this emerging body of knowledge the aim of this study is to present accounts of critical moments from two players in a professional football club. From a season-long ethnographic engagement at a Championship football club two critical moments are presented as creative non-fiction vignettes. The first story is about Ryan who is about to find out if he has been given a professional playing contract for next season. The second is about Kevin, who is âlostâ in the talent development system after an unsuccessful loan spell. The term creative non-fiction is seen as appropriate as the vignettes are based on real events but make use of literary fiction to tell the story. Such representation has been advocated in coaching settings as a reflective tool in coach development (Douglas & Careless, 2008) and has also been seen as a valuable and necessary mode of expression (Sparkes & Smith, 2009). It is hoped that these accounts may offer coaches and sport psychologists in such settings an opportunity to reflect on their practices and processes by gaining an insight into player experience of such practices and processes
Co-construction of the family-focused support conversation: a participatory learning and action research study to implement support for family members whose relatives are being discharged for end-of-life care at home or in a nursing home.
BACKGROUND: Many people move in and out of hospital in the last few weeks of life. These care transitions can be distressing for family members because they signify the deterioration and impending death of their ill relative and forthcoming family bereavement. Whilst there is evidence about psychosocial support for family members providing end-of-life care at home, there is limited evidence about how this can be provided in acute hospitals during care transitions. Consequently, family members report a lack of support from hospital-based healthcare professionals. METHODS: The aim of the study was to implement research evidence for family support at the end-of-life in acute hospital care. Informed by Participatory Learning and Action Research and Normalization Process Theory (NPT) we co-designed a context-specific intervention, the Family-Focused Support Conversation, from a detailed review of research evidence. We undertook a pilot implementation in three acute hospital Trusts in England to assess the potential for the intervention to be used in clinical practice. Pilot implementation was undertaken during a three-month period by seven clinical co-researchers - nurses and occupational therapists in hospital specialist palliative care services. Implementation was evaluated through data comprised of reflective records of intervention delivery (n =â22), in-depth records of telephone implementation support meetings between research team members and co-researchers (n =â3), and in-depth evaluation meetings (n =â2). Data were qualitatively analysed using an NPT framework designed for intervention evaluation. RESULTS: Clinical co-researchers readily incorporated the Family-Focused Support Conversation into their everyday work. The intervention changed family support from being solely patient-focused, providing information about patient needs, to family-focused, identifying family concerns about the significance and implications of discharge and facilitating family-focused care. Co-researchers reported an increase in family members' involvement in discharge decisions and end-of-life care planning. CONCLUSION: The Family-Focused Support Conversation is a novel, evidenced-based and context specific intervention. Pilot implementation demonstrated the potential for the intervention to be used in acute hospitals to support family members during end-of-life care transitions. This subsequently informed a larger scale implementation study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: n/a
Estimation of the worldwide seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus : a systematic review and meta-analysis
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection does not usually produce symptoms when it causes primary infection, reinfection, or reactivation because these three types of infection are all controlled by the normal immune system. However, CMV becomes an important pathogen in individuals whose immune system is immature or compromised, such as the unborn child. Several vaccines against CMV are currently in clinical trials that aim to induce immunity in seronegative individuals and/or to boost the immunity of those with prior natural infection (seropositives). To facilitate estimation of the burden of disease and the need for vaccines that induce de novo immune responses or that boost pre-existing immunity to CMV, we conducted a systematic survey of the published literature to describe the global seroprevalence of CMV IgG antibodies. We estimated a global CMV seroprevalence of 83% (95%UI: 78-88) in the general population, 86% (95%UI: 83-89) in women of childbearing age, and 86% (95%UI: 82-89) in donors of blood or organs. For each of these three groups, the highest seroprevalence was seen in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region 90% (95%UI: 85-94) and the lowest in WHO European region 66% (95%UI: 56-74). These estimates of the worldwide CMV distribution will help develop national and regional burden of disease models and inform future vaccine development efforts
Numerical modeling of the disruption of Comet D/1993 F2 Shoemaker-Levy 9 representing the progenitor by a gravitationally bound assemblage of randomly shaped polyhedra
We advance the modeling of rubble-pile solid bodies by re-examining the tidal
breakup of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, an event that occurred during a 1.33 Jupiter
radii encounter with that planet in July 1992. Tidal disruption of the comet
nucleus led to a chain of sub-nuclei about 100-1000 m in diameter; these went
on to collide with the planet two years later (Chodas & Yeomans 1996). They
were intensively studied prior to and during the collisions, making SL9 the
best natural benchmark for physical models of small body disruption. For the
first time in the study of this event, we use numerical codes treating
rubble-piles as collections of polyhedra (Korycansky & Asphaug 2009). This
introduces forces of dilatation and friction, and inelastic response. As in our
previous studies (Asphaug & Benz 1994,1996) we conclude that the progenitor
must have been a rubble-pile, and we obtain approximately the same pre-breakup
diameter (about 1.5 km) in our best fits to the data. We find that the
inclusion of realistic fragment shapes leads to grain locking and dilatancy, so
that even in the absence of friction or other dissipation we find that
disruption is overall more difficult than in our spheres-based simulations. We
constrain the comet's bulk density at about 300-400 kg/m^3, half that of our
spheres-based predictions and consistent with recent estimates derived from
spacecraft observations.Comment: Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal (7/16/12) added
Acknowledgments (8/29/12) accepted, peer reviewed versio
The relationship between redox enzyme activity and electrochemical potentialâcellular and mechanistic implications from protein film electrochemistry
In protein film electrochemistry a redox protein of interest is studied as an electroactive film adsorbed on an electrode surface. For redox enzymes this configuration allows quantification of the relationship between catalytic activity and electrochemical potential. Considered as a function of enzyme environment, i.e., pH, substrate concentration etc., the activityâpotential relationship provides a fingerprint of activity unique to a given enzyme. Here we consider the nature of the activityâpotential relationship in terms of both its cellular impact and its origin in the structure and catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. We propose that the activityâpotential relationship of a redox enzyme is tuned to facilitate cellular function and highlight opportunities to test this hypothesis through computational, structural, biochemical and cellular studies
Cancer Risks near Nuclear Facilities: The Importance of Research Design and Explicit Study Hypotheses
BackgroundIn April 2010, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission asked the National Academy of Sciences to update a 1990 study of cancer risks near nuclear facilities. Prior research on this topic has suffered from problems in hypothesis formulation and research design.ObjectivesWe review epidemiologic principles used in studies of generic exposureâresponse associations and in studies of specific sources of exposure. We then describe logical problems with assumptions, formation of testable hypotheses, and interpretation of evidence in previous research on cancer risks near nuclear facilities.DiscussionAdvancement of knowledge about cancer risks near nuclear facilities depends on testing specific hypotheses grounded in physical and biological mechanisms of exposure and susceptibility while considering sample size and ability to adequately quantify exposure, ascertain cancer cases, and evaluate plausible confounders.ConclusionsNext steps in advancing knowledge about cancer risks near nuclear facilities require studies of childhood cancer incidence, focus on in utero and early childhood exposures, use of specific geographic information, and consideration of pathways for transport and uptake of radionuclides. Studies of cancer mortality among adults, cancers with long latencies, large geographic zones, and populations that reside at large distances from nuclear facilities are better suited for public relations than for scientific purposes
Notes on the origin of the grassland avifauna
2 p. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references
Mammals of Florida
p. 333-346 ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references
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