Top athletes struggle to adjust away from limelight – more should be done for them

First paragraph: It’s just two weeks since the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and two months since the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games. But if I was to ask if you had talked about them with a colleague or friend in the past week, the answer would probably be no. For all the headlines about Britain’s fine performance at the games – not least, if you will forgive me, the athletes from the University of Stirling – it’s all yesterday’s news. No matter how astonishing the performances, the limelight quickly moves elsewhere

A psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners: Development and evaluation

The aim of this thesis is to extend sport career transition knowledge by developing and evaluating a psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners. Study 1 provides an extensive overview of organisational intervention programmes for sport career transition, as well as of training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners from 19 countries worldwide. The purpose of Study 1 was to examine the following five features of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes and training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners: 1) At the government level, which organisation is responsible for the delivery of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? 2) What is the typical strategy of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? 3) Which activities and events are included in sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? 4) Who is responsible for the delivery of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes? and 5) Do sporting organisations have training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners? Findings from Study 1 were used to inform Study 2 and to supplement the literature review. According to the literature, training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners remain scarce, while the number of sport career transition organisational intervention programmes is gradually increasing. The purpose of Study 2 was to develop and evaluate a novel psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners. There were three stages of development and evaluation: (1) content development, (2) curriculum design and (3) curriculum evaluation. To achieve the goal of Study 2, a focus group and a two-round Delphi method were implemented. The final version of the psycho-educational curriculum is presented in Chapter 5. The purpose of Study 3 was to test a key aspect of the psycho-educational curriculum developed in Study 2 concerning 38 competences of sport career transition practitioners. A curriculum package consisting in the key parts from the overall curriculum was developed for Study 3. The findings revealed that the curriculum package positively affected the confidence of the study participants in 38 competences concerning sport career transition. This demonstrates that the curriculum is effective for the development of sport career transition practitioners, as the study participants exhibited greater confidence on all four factorsDual Career Transition Management, Skill Transfer, Social Support, and Career Planningwhen completing the curriculum package. The discussion in Chapter 7 focuses on both the theoretical and practical implications of the research, limitations and future research directions. In conclusion, the findings presented here deepen the knowledge of sport career transition in the areas of organisational intervention programmes for high performance athletes and training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners. In addition, a novel psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners is developed and evaluated

Does Postsecondary Education Attainment Matter in Community Service Engagement? Evidence from Across 18 OECD Countries

This study is concerned with the central issues of community service engagement (CSE) in 21st century democratic societies around the world. To examine the factors influencing postsecondary education attainment’s relationship to CSE, this study utilized data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries using ordinary least square (OLS) and two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) methods, including various factors for each country’s individual and country levels. The results show that attainment in postsecondary education at the individual level and investment and enrollments in tertiary education both have an influence on increasing CSE in 18 OECD countries. The present study is expected to contribute to an understanding of the relationship between postsecondary education and CSE across the world

Esports Players’ Transition out of Esports: Is There Life After Esports?

The purpose of this study is to explore retired/retiring esports players’ experience of transitioning out of esports. To provide in-depth insights into esports players’ transition experiences that may contribute to young players being better prepared for their own transitions, a qualitative approach was applied and four retired professional esports players in South Korea were interviewed. Thematic analysis was applied, and four themes were identified: Pressure and Uncertainty; Lack of Pre-Retirement Planning; Need for Mentorship; Need for Realism about Talent. The findings highlight that esports players experience pressure and struggle with job/finance insecurity during their careers, and that this contributes significantly to their retirement decisions. Lack of pre-retirement planning causes them to be ill-prepared for their life after esports. The study provides empirical evidence which should encourage the industry and stakeholders to establish structured systems to support esports players’ transitions out of esports

The activity of glycopeptide antibiotics against resistant bacteria correlates with their ability to induce the resistance system.

Glycopeptide antibiotics containing a hydrophobic substituent display the best activity against vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and they have been assumed to be poor inducers of the resistance system. Using a panel of 26 glycopeptide derivatives and the model resistance system in Streptomyces coelicolor, we confirmed this hypothesis at the level of transcription. Identification of the structural glycopeptide features associated with inducing the expression of resistance genes has important implications in the search for more effective antibiotic structures.This work was supported by the Royal Society (516002.K5877/ROG) and the Medical Research Council (G0700141).This is the accepted manuscript version. The final version is available from ASM at http://aac.asm.org/content/early/2014/07/30/AAC.03668-14.abstract

Draft Genome Sequence of Amycolatopsis lurida NRRL 2430, Producer of the Glycopeptide Family Antibiotic Ristocetin.

We report here the first draft genome sequence for Amycolatopsis lurida NRRL 2430, the producer of the glycopeptide antibiotic ristocetin. The 9-Mbp genome is predicted to harbor 8,143 genes, including those belonging to the ristocetin biosynthesis cluster and 31 additional predicted secondary metabolite gene clusters.This work was supported by the grants from the Royal Society (516002.K5877/ROG) and the Medical Research Council (G0700141).This paper was originally published in Genome Announcements (Kwun MJ, Hong H-J, Genome Announcements 2014, 2(5):e01050-14. doi:10.1128/genomeA.01050-14)

Genome Sequence of Streptomyces toyocaensis NRRL 15009, Producer of the Glycopeptide Antibiotic A47934.

Here we report the draft genome sequence of Streptomyces toyocaensis strain NRRL 15009 which is the producer of the glycopeptide antibiotic A47934. The genome sequence is predicted to harbor a total of 26 secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters including the A47934 cluster.This work was supported by grants from the Royal Society (516002.K5877/ ROG) and the Medical Research Council (G0700141).This is the final published version, also available from ASM at http://genomea.asm.org/content/2/4/e00749-14

Korea’s first unified Olympic team is an uneasy truce of diplomacy and sexism

First paragraph: TheXXIII Olympic Winter Gamesin PyeongChang provides a fascinating opportunity to consider the complex relationship between sport and national identity, especially as North and South Korea will be fielding a joint women’s ice hockey team. The last-minute teamdecisionwas announced on January 17 as part of theOlympic Korean Peninsula Declaration, and generated considerabledebate, especially among younger South Koreans who view the move to be North Korea hitching a ride on the coat-tails of their own team

eSports: the need for a structured support system for players

Research question This study investigates the roles and responsibilities of eSports stakeholders in ensuring eSports players’ health and wellbeing through the following research questions: (1) What are the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in helping ensure eSports players’ mental and physical health?; and (2) What are stakeholders’ perspectives on criticisms which may affect players’ health and wellbeing as well as the quality of their careers? Research methods Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 51 individuals from 18 nationalities including professional, semi-professional, amateur and retired players, a coach, game publishers, national eSports associations, a sponsor, a tournament organiser, and federations. Deductive analysis is applied to the data. Results and Findings The responsibility for ensuring eSports players’ health and wellbeing should be shared by all stakeholders. Stakeholders are aware of criticisms of eSports and understand this; such criticisms may be deflected with a growing appreciation of eSports’ value. The need for young players to balance training and commitment to eSports with broader educational requirements is highlighted. Implications The paper provides evidence on the need for a holistic developmental model for eSports players which provides better understanding of players’ careers and developmental needs. The study highlights a need for collective engagement and effort by various stakeholders in developing player-centred support schemes. Drawing on evidence from key stakeholders, the study proposes a modified categorisation of the eSports ecosystem model.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin