Experiences in Youth Sports: A Comparison Between Players’ and Parents’ Perspectives

vol. 2, no.

Software Tomato Analyzer para a determinação do tamanho do embrião em sementes radiografadas

A primary interest of image analysis of X-rayed seeds is to identify whether the extent of fill in the embryo cavity is associated with to seed physiological quality. The objective of this research was to verify the accuracy of the freely available Tomato Analyzer (TA) software developed at The Ohio State University to determine the ratio of embryo size over total seed area. Seeds of pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber and cotton were X-rayed and analyzed by the software which defines seed and embryo boundaries and automatically generates numerical values to quantify that ratio. Results showed that the TA has the sensitivity to evaluate the extent of embryo growth within the cucurbits and cotton seeds and is a promising alternative for this assessment in other seed species.Uma das prioridades atuais da pesquisa sobre análise de imagens de sementes radiografadas é determinar a proporção entre a área ocupada pelo embrião e o espaço disponível na cavidade interna da semente e associar esse parâmetro ao potencial fisiológico. Este trabalho procurou avaliar a eficiência do software Tomato Analyzer para quantificar o grau de desenvolvimento do embrião. Sementes de abóbora, melancia, pepino e algodão foram radiogafadas e as imagens processadas foram submetidas à análise pelo software, que define o perímetro da semente e o do embrião e gera valores utilizados para expressar a relação percentual entre a área do embrião e a da cavidade interna da semente. Os resultados indicaram que o softwareTomato Analyzer permite determinar o grau de desenvolvimento do embrião de sementes de cucurbitáceas e de algodão, indicado pela área embrionária ou do espaço livre existente entre o embrião e o tegumento; essa alternativa pode ser viável para avaliar sementes de outras espécies.FAPESPCNP

Choosing Sport Management as a College Major

The purpose of this study was to better understand sport management students within departments of parks, recreation, and tourism, and to address the often uneasy fit faculty experience when trying to educate sport and recreation students in the same classes. Researchers sent a 16-item online questionnaire to 1,337 undergraduate sport management majors at seven universities offering sport management as an emphasis within a department of parks, recreation, and tourism. Results yielded a 32% response rate, and indicated many similarities among the seven universities. The results also provided guidance for addressing the challenges faced by parks, recreation, and tourism educators when teaching students who identify with sport rather than recreation, and who are highly focused on a career in sport. The article concludes with implications for advising, curriculum planning, and employment potential

‘Savage times come again’ : Morel, Wells, and the African Soldier, c.1885-1920

The African soldier trained in western combat was a figure of fear and revulsion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. My article examines representations of African soldiers in nonfictional writings by E.D. Morel about the Congo Free State (1885-1908), the same author’s reportage on African troops in post-First World War Germany, and H.G. Wells’s speculative fiction When the Sleeper Wakes (1899, 1910). In each text racist and anti-colonialist discourses converge in representing the African soldier as the henchman of corrupt imperialism. His alleged propensity for taboo crimes of cannibalism and rape are conceived as threats to white safety and indeed supremacy. By tracing Wells’s connections to the Congo reform campaign and situating his novel between two phases of Morel’s writing career, I interpret When the Sleeper Wakes as neither simply a reflection of past events in Africa or as a prediction of future ones in Europe. It is rather a transcultural text which reveals the impact of European culture upon the ‘Congo atrocities’, and the inscription of this controversy upon European popular cultural forms and social debates

Regional Business Cycles in New Zealand: Do they exist? What Might Drive Them?

We use National Bank of New Zealand Regional Economic Activity data, to identify and characterise classical business cycle turning points, for New Zealand’s 14 regions and aggregate New Zealand activity. Using Concordance statistic measures, logistic model and GMM estimation methods, meaningful regional business cycles have been identified and a number of significant associations established. All regions exhibit cyclical asymmetry for both durations and amplitudes, and synchronisations between aggregate NZ activity and each region are contemporaneous. The regional cycles rarely die of old age but are terminated by particular events. The regions most highly synchronised with the NZ activity cycle are Auckland, Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough; those least so are Gisborne and Southland. Noticeably strong co-movements are evident for certain regions. Geographical proximity matters, and unusually dry conditions can be associated with cyclical downturns in certain regions. There is no discernable evidence of association with net immigration movements, and no significant evidence of regional cycle movements being associated with real house price cycles. The agriculture-based nature of the New Zealand economy is highlighted by the strong influence of external economic shocks on rural economic performance. In particular, there is considerable evidence of certain regional cycles being associated with movements in New Zealand’s aggregate terms of trade, real prices of milksolids, real dairy land prices and total rural land prices. JEL Classification: C22, E32, R11, R12, R15 Keywords: Classical business cycle; Turning Points; Regional business cycles; Concordance statistics; New Zealan

Clinical Implementation of Chromosomal Microarray Analysis: Summary of 2513 Postnatal Cases

BACKGROUND: Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (a-CGH) is a powerful molecular cytogenetic tool to detect genomic imbalances and study disease mechanism and pathogenesis. We report our experience with the clinical implementation of this high resolution human genome analysis, referred to as Chromosomal Microarray Analysis (CMA). METHODS AND FINDINGS: CMA was performed clinically on 2513 postnatal samples from patients referred with a variety of clinical phenotypes. The initial 775 samples were studied using CMA array version 4 and the remaining 1738 samples were analyzed with CMA version 5 containing expanded genomic coverage. Overall, CMA identified clinically relevant genomic imbalances in 8.5% of patients: 7.6% using V4 and 8.9% using V5. Among 117 cases referred for additional investigation of a known cytogenetically detectable rearrangement, CMA identified the majority (92.5%) of the genomic imbalances. Importantly, abnormal CMA findings were observed in 5.2% of patients (98/1872) with normal karyotypes/FISH results, and V5, with expanded genomic coverage, enabled a higher detection rate in this category than V4. For cases without cytogenetic results available, 8.0% (42/524) abnormal CMA results were detected; again, V5 demonstrated an increased ability to detect abnormality. Improved diagnostic potential of CMA is illustrated by 90 cases identified with 51 cryptic microdeletions and 39 predicted apparent reciprocal microduplications in 13 specific chromosomal regions associated with 11 known genomic disorders. In addition, CMA identified copy number variations (CNVs) of uncertain significance in 262 probands; however, parental studies usually facilitated clinical interpretation. Of these, 217 were interpreted as familial variants and 11 were determined to be de novo; the remaining 34 await parental studies to resolve the clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS: This large set of clinical results demonstrates the significantly improved sensitivity of CMA for the detection of clinically relevant genomic imbalances and highlights the need for comprehensive genetic counseling to facilitate accurate clinical correlation and interpretation

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Resilience to Climate Change in Underserved Communities

Coastal communities in South Louisiana and worldwide are increasingly impacted by climate-related events such as hurricanes, floods, and rising sea levels. In addition, they have recently faced the burden of a global pandemic that may also be a consequence of climate change. In many under-resourced communities, nongovernmental community-based organizations (CBOs) represent the backbone of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about the pandemic's impact on the efforts of these organizations to support and sustain individual and community resilience to this event and to the disruptive impacts of climate change-related weather events. Procedures embedded in the Rapid Assessment Procedure - Informed Community Ethnography methodology were used to analyze data collected from semi-structured interviews with 26 representatives of 24 different community-based programs in South Louisiana. The pandemic created numerous challenges to under-resourced community resilience by revealing the fragmented nature of community solidarity in adhering to public health guidelines; the lack of available social, political, and economic resources; and the influence of systemic racism and social determinants of health. To address these challenges, communities relied on social connections and support; prior experiences with climate-related disasters and adversity; and the resilience building, supporting, and sustaining efforts of CBOs. These organizations have responded to these challenges through provision of new services, expansion of existing services, providing access to training webinars, partnerships with other CBOs, and initiatives to address broader social issues, while balancing the disparity between increased demand and reduced supply of services and increased reliance on technology that is not uniformly accessible to all communities and residents. In responding to the pandemic, CBOs have played a major role in addressing the threats to individual and community resilience needed to prepare for and respond to natural disasters and other consequences of global environmental change in underserved communities

Report on the 2013: Rapid assessment survey of marine species at New England Bays and Harbors

Introduced species (i.e., non-native species that have become established in\ud a new location) have increasingly been recognized as a concern as they have\ud become more prevalent in marine and terrestrial environments (Mooney and\ud Cleland 2001; Simberloff et al. 2005). The ability of introduced species to alter\ud population, community, and ecosystem structure and function, as well as\ud cause significant economic damage is well documented (Carlton 1989, 1996b,\ud 2000; Cohen and Carlton 1995; Cohen et al. 1995; Elton 1958; Meinesz et al.\ud 1993; Occhipinti-Ambrogi and Sheppard 2007; Pimentel et al. 2005; Thresher\ud 2000). The annual economic costs incurred from managing the approximately\ud 50,000 introduced species in the United States alone are estimated to be over\ud $120 billion (Pimentel et al. 2005).\ud Having a monitoring network in place to track new introductions and\ud distributional changes of introduced species is critical for effective\ud management, as these efforts may be more successful when species are\ud detected before they have the chance to become established. A rapid\ud assessment survey is one such method for early detection of introduced\ud species. With rapid assessment surveys, a team of taxonomic experts\ud record and monitor marine species–providing a baseline inventory of\ud native, introduced, and cryptogenic (i.e., unknown origin) species (as\ud defined by Carlton 1996a)–and document range expansions of previously\ud identified species.\ud Since 2000, five rapid assessment surveys have been conducted in New\ud England. These surveys focus on recording species at marinas, which often\ud are in close proximity to transportation vectors (i.e., recreational boats).\ud Species are collected from floating docks and piers because these structures\ud are accessible regardless of the tidal cycle. Another reason for sampling floating\ud docks and other floating structures is that marine introduced species are often\ud found to be more prevalent on artificial surfaces than natural surfaces (Glasby\ud and Connell 2001; Paulay et al. 2002). The primary objectives of these surveys\ud are to: (1) identify native, introduced, and cryptogenic marine species,\ud (2) expand on data collected in past surveys, (3) assess the introduction status\ud and range extensions of documented introduced species, and (4) detect new\ud introductions. This report presents the introduced, cryptogenic, and native\ud species recorded during the 2013 survey.CZM through NOAA NA13NOS4190040MIT Sea Grant through NOAA NA10OAR4170086

The Changing Face of Winter: Lessons and Questions From the Laurentian Great Lakes

Among its many impacts, climate warming is leading to increasing winter air temperatures, decreasing ice cover extent, and changing winter precipitation patterns over the Laurentian Great Lakes and their watershed. Understanding and predicting the consequences of these changes is impeded by a shortage of winter-period studies on most aspects of Great Lake limnology. In this review, we summarize what is known about the Great Lakes during their 3–6 months of winter and identify key open questions about the physics, chemistry, and biology of the Laurentian Great Lakes and other large, seasonally frozen lakes. Existing studies show that winter conditions have important effects on physical, biogeochemical, and biological processes, not only during winter but in subsequent seasons as well. Ice cover, the extent of which fluctuates dramatically among years and the five lakes, emerges as a key variable that controls many aspects of the functioning of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Studies on the properties and formation of Great Lakes ice, its effect on vertical and horizontal mixing, light conditions, and biota, along with winter measurements of fundamental state and rate parameters in the lakes and their watersheds are needed to close the winter knowledge gap. Overcoming the formidable logistical challenges of winter research on these large and dynamic ecosystems may require investment in new, specialized research infrastructure. Perhaps more importantly, it will demand broader recognition of the value of such work and collaboration between physicists, geochemists, and biologists working on the world\u27s seasonally freezing lakes and seas