Examining women's experiences of sport participation and (dis)empowerment

textSport has demonstrated the capacity to generate positive personal change for girls and women (e.g., Blinde, Taub, & Han, 2001; Brandy, 2005). While it is suggested that women’s participation in sport can empower them and provide a safe place for them to be themselves, sport experiences can also reinforce the traditional gender roles and expectations and make women feel powerless (e.g., Brace-Govan, 2004; Wheaton & Tomlinson, 1998). The inconsistency of outcomes from women’s sport experiences suggests that sport does not automatically result in positive outcomes (Chalip, 2006; Green, 2008). Therefore, this study utilizes Zimmerman’s framework of Psychological Empowerment, empowerment at the individual level of analysis (Zimmerman, 1995), to explore the sport experiences of women and the empowerment processes and outcomes associated with those experiences. By utilizing the framework, this study aimed to examine how sport experiences affected female participants’ daily lives across different life domains and to identify which attributes of these sport experiences facilitated women’s empowerment or disempowerment. To understand how sport experiences relevant to empowerment, this study utilized an interpretive approach. Twenty three Korean female sport participants were interviewed in-depth using a semi-structured interview technique with probing. The interviewees were asked about their backgrounds of sport participation and then described their sport experiences that they think have strengthened and weakened their capabilities. As results, nearly all the components and elements of the framework were indicated in the interview data. Both empowering and disempowering outcomes and sport elements associated with the outcomes were identified. Some of the women’s empowerment was limited to the sport context, while others infiltrated other life domains such as at work, school, or home. The findings in this study suggest to re-think the conceptualization and boundary condition of Zimmerman’s empowerment framework by proposing two concepts of individual-level empowerment: self empowerment and action empowerment.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Effect of Socio-Demographics, Health-Related Problems, and Family Structure on Chronic Absenteeism Among Children

Purpose/Background: From 5 to 7.5 million school children are chronically absent, defined as missing ≥15 days of school within a year. Students miss schools due to various reasons such as health, socioeconomic status, and environmental factors. We examined child’s health and behavior, family structure, and socio-demographics to understand chronic absenteeism. Materials & Methods: The population included children ages 6 to 17 years from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) years 2008-2013. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify the risk factors of chronic absenteeism, adjusting for the complex sampling design. Results: Among socio-demographic variables, age ≥14 years, race/ethnicity, lower-income family, public health insurance, US-born, and speaking English at home were associated with chronic absenteeism. Asians, Mexican Hispanics, and blacks have lower chronic absenteeism than whites. Among health-related variables, children using an inhaler for asthma, having behavioral problems, and less healthy than other children were more likely to be chronically absent. Among family variables, a smaller family size was a risk factor for chronic absenteeism. Discussion/Conclusion: Asthma and behavioral problems were highly associated with chronic absenteeism. The identification of children at risk for chronic absenteeism will help the educational professionals identify the barriers to academic achievements and develop integrated educational interventions and policies to support disadvantaged children

AGE DIFFERENCES AND MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS ON FOOD STAMP PROGRAM PARTICIPATION

Low income populations are more severely affected by economic downturns than their high income counterparts because they are at high risk of unemployment and face reduced earnings in recessions. The use of food stamp benefits and other types of welfare are one mechanism that families can use to buffer the economic shock brought about by income losses due to unemployment during a recession. As a result, during unfavorable economic conditions, low income households disproportionately rely on public assistance including food stamps. What is less understood are the differential effects of macroeconomic conditions on the participation propensities of different population subgroups. Of particular importance are differential effects by age. Depending on their age, poor workers are likely to experience different patterns of unemployment so that their welfare participation patterns also differ. For example, once older workers lose their jobs, their probability of re-employment is lower than that of their younger counterparts. The reduced expectations of re-employment coupled with fewer opportunities to invest in re-training are discouraging to older unemployed persons, often implying that job losses for older workers are permanent, and eventually lead to long term reliance on welfare programs. In contrast, younger poor workers have comparatively higher chances of re-employment and exit from welfare. Whether the age differences in welfare participation will remain unchanged during economic recessions as well is still unanswered. Understanding variations in FSP participation propensities across age groups and their dependency on macroeconomic conditions is essential to predict future demand for food stamp benefits and, by extension, other welfare programs. The continuing growth in FSP demand may point to unexpectedly large fiscal burdens for future taxpayers. Moreover, understanding differential effects of macroeconomic conditions on participation propensities for different groups will allow policy makers to better identify and eventually reach genuine needy families. Therefore, this study aims to investigate FSP participation patterns with a special emphasis on the differential impact of macroeconomic factors across several demographic groups with a particular focus on age cohort effects. Specifically, transitions into and out of FSP will be explicitly addressed using longitudinal data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2004 panel. To measure the impact of economic conditions, we match SIPP data with economic measures such as the unemployment rate and wages at the state level available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using the data, monthly movements on and off of FSP of individuals is followed and categorized into entry sample and continuation sample. A household not participating in FSP in one month, and thus being part of the entry sample, can choose between entering or not entering FSP in the subsequent month. Similarly, a household enrolled in one month (and thus part of the continuation sample) can choose between either continuing to stay on FSP or exiting FSP in the next month. This gives rise to two types of transition models. The first model, referred to as the entry model, tackles the decision between entry versus non-entry into FSP, conditional on non-participation in the previous months. The second model, referred to as continuation model, addresses the decision between exiting from versus continuing FSP, conditional upon participation in the preceding month. Two transition models are estimated using probit technique while controlling for individual specific effects. This study finds several important results. First, there are significant age differences in entry into and exit from the FSP. The propensity of entry into the FSP among younger people is higher than among older people while young cohorts are more prone to exiting FSP than the oldest cohort of retired or retirement-bound people. The implication for the elderly is that once receiving FSP benefits, they are very likely to continue the FSP. Their observed low FSP participation rates can thus primarily be attributed to FSP entry barriers. Second, rising unemployment boosts FSP entry propensities and lengthens FSP spells. Changes in wage levels, however, affect neither entry nor exit propensities. Third, the effect of unemployment on FSP continuation propensities varies by age. The youngest cohort responds to increasing unemployment by drastically prolonging their FSP spells whereas the older extend their FSP spells more gradually. For the oldest cohort, FSP exit probabilities are even found to rise in association with rising unemployment, a phenomenon that can be explained by retirement and special transfer programs for the elderly.Food Stamp Program, Age, Macroeconomy, Transition, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, I38, J64,

ANALYSIS AND ESTIMATION ON KOREA-SAARC PARTNERSHIP SEMINAR

SAARC was formed in 1985 with the objective of exploiting “accelerated economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region” for the welfare of the peoples of South Asia. In 1995, its corresponding RTA (SAPTA) came into force. South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) has been ratified and entered into force in mid-2006. As its importance echoes around the world over the time, there has been a growing interest among many countries and organizations to be associated with SAARC as Observers and to engage with SAARC in collaborative endeavours. Especially, Korea, as an observer, has opened “Korea –SAARC Partnership Seminar” in Seoul, Korea every year since 2010. For preparing 6th Seminar agenda to be opened on December this year, the authors analyzed its activity during last 5 years and estimated to draw the concrete strategies for co-prospects mutually. As a result, the authors proposed to conclude “Korea-SAARC FTA” linking Korea’s ODA, KSP and FT

ANALYSIS AND ESTIMATION ON KOREA-SAARC PARTNERSHIP SEMINAR

SAARC was formed in 1985 with the objective of exploiting “accelerated economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region” for the welfare of the peoples of South Asia. In 1995, its corresponding RTA (SAPTA) came into force. South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) has been ratified and entered into force in mid-2006. As its importance echoes around the world over the time, there has been a growing interest among many countries and organizations to be associated with SAARC as Observers and to engage with SAARC in collaborative endeavours. Especially, Korea, as an observer, has opened “Korea –SAARC Partnership Seminar” in Seoul, Korea every year since 2010. For preparing 6th Seminar agenda to be opened on December this year, the authors analyzed its activity during last 5 years and estimated to draw the concrete strategies for co-prospects mutually. As a result, the authors proposed to conclude “Korea-SAARC FTA” linking Korea’s ODA, KSP and FT

Impact of Pavilion Quality on Exhibitor Performance at an International Trade Exhibition

AbstractThis study aimed to determine how the quality of a pavilion affects participating exhibitors at an overseas trade exhibition and to suggest strategies for an organizer of pavilions to operate more effectively so as to increase exhibitors’ positive outcomes. We constructed a research model and presented some hypotheses. To assess these hypotheses, questionnaires were distributed to exhibitors who had participated in a Korean pavilion at an international trade exhibition. SPSS 16.0 software was used to analyze the data. First, the factors that determined the quality of a pavilion were analyzed to assess their effect on participant outcome. The only two factors that were found to influence the quality of a pavilion were the conditions of an exhibitor's booth and the support activities by the organizers. These had positive effects on participating exhibitors’ outcomes and anticipated future behaviors. To increase the positive outcomes of exhibitors, various changes should be made to improve the conditions of exhibitors’ booths. The pavilion organizer should also develop other ways to increase the positive outcomes of exhibitors such as local advertising and promotional activities, on-site support activities, invitations to buyers’ luncheons, promotional catalogs for exhibitors, and activities to attract potential buyers

Induction of Anti-Tumour Immune Responses by Dendritic Cells Generated with Flt3-Ligand

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen presenting cells that are crucial for the initiation of an immune response. Due to this property, DCs have been used as the basis of cancer vaccines in immunotherapy. In clinical trials, DCs used for vaccination are commonly generated by culturing monocytes from each patients' blood with the growth factors GM-CSF and IL-4 (GMCSF/IL-4 DCs). The DCs generated are reportedly similar to those that arise in vivo during inflammation and trials using these DCs have been met with some success. A recently developed method of generating mouse or human DCs in vitro, involves the culture of bone marrow (BM) precursors with the cytokine Flt3-Ligand (Flt3L-DCs). Flt3L-DCs differ substantially in phenotype from GMCSF/IL-4 DCs and more closely resemble steady-state DCs in vivo. This thesis investigated the suitability of Flt3L-DCs for cancer immunotherapy. Murine BM cells cultured in Flt3L generated three DC subsets. These consisted of plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) that were CD11c⁺B220⁺, and conventional DCs (cDCs) that were CD11c⁺B220⁻ and could be further subdivided into CD11bhigh and CD24high populations. We observed that cDCs responded to stimulation with a variety of Tolllike receptor (TLR) agonists, as evaluated by the up-regulation of activation markers. However pDCs responded to the agonist CpG at a higher extent compared to all other agonists used. In addition, combining TLR agonists could further enhance the activation of Flt3L-DCs. Among all combinations tested, Pam3Cys/Poly I:C was the most optimal at inducing the secretion of inflammatory cytokines IL-12p70 and TNF-α. Furthermore, Pam3Cys/Poly I:C stimulated Flt3L-cDCs exhibited a greater ability at inducing CD4⁺ T cell proliferation and cross-presentation of soluble antigen to CD8⁺ T cells, compared to Flt3L-cDCs activated with the respective individual agonists. Studies have shown that GM-CSF DCs are highly reliant on glycolytic metabolism during activation in order to up-regulate activation markers. Therefore, we also characterised Flt3L-cDCs for their ability to up-regulate activation markers following stimulation with the agonist LPS and treatment with the glycolysis inhibitor 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG). In line with previous reports, DCs generated in culture with GMCSF/IL-4 were unable to up-regulate activation markers at all the 2-DG concentrations used. In contrast, Flt3L-cDCs appeared to have a threshold level where only high concentrations of 2-DG inhibited their ability to up-regulate activation markers. This result indicates that steady-state and inflammatory DCs preferentially use different metabolic pathways upon activation. The ability of optimally activated Flt3L-cDCs and GMCSF/IL-4 DCs to confer tumour protection was also examined. While unstimulated Flt3L-cDCs or GMCSF/IL-4 DCs could protect mice from tumour growth, vaccination with activated DCs from either population was required for complete tumour protection. Furthermore, we found that even in optimal conditions of activation, 1x10⁵ Flt3LcDCs were required for maximal tumour protection, whereas 1x10⁴ GMCSF/IL-4 DCs provided sufficient protection. These findings indicate that Flt3L-cDCs can be used as the basis of a therapeutic cancer vaccine, but are not superior to GMCSF/IL- 4 DCs. Further studies are required to establish conditions that can enhance the efficacy of Flt3L-cDCs

Synthesis of ??-conjugated block copolymer containing poly(3-hexylthiophene) and bent-core liquid crystal

School of Molecular Sciences(Chemistry)Conjugated polymers consist of organic macromolecules, of which the polymer backbones are comprised of alternating double- and single-bonds. Conjugated polymers have high conductivity and chemical stability due to an overlap of ??-molecular orbitals. Conjugated polymer-based materials have various advantages such as lightweight, low cost, flexibility, and processability. Polythiophene (PT) is an important conjugated polymer. PT has excellent thermal stability, environmental stability, and good conductivity, but has poor solubility. To improve the solubility of PT, flexible side chains were attached onto the backbone. Poly(3-alkylthiophene) (P3AT) can dramatically improve the solubility. The properties of a conjugated polymer are strongly dependent on the morphology of the material in the solid-state. The aim of study was to investigate the morphologies formed self-assembly of block copolymers containing P3HT. We synthesized ethynyl-terminated P3HT by Grignard Metathesis polymerization (GRIM method) and characterized it. The ethynyl-terminated P3HT was reacted with azide-terminated PS or PEG via Cu(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition (click chemistry). The self-assembly behavior of P3HT-b-PS in a thin film was studied by treating the thin films with solvent annealing using chloroform or toluene as a solvent. The self-assembly behavior of P3HT-b-PEGs in aqueous solution was studied. The resulting block copolymers self-assembled into nanofibers in solution presumably due to the crystallization of the core-forming P3HT block. Liquid crystals (LCs) are materials in a state that has properties between those of a conventional liquid and those of a solid crystal. Bent-core LCs have special features of the LC phases formed by banana-shaped molecules (with a bend angle of ~120??). The well-defined morphologies of bent-core LC have exotic physicochemical properties. We synthesized two chiral bent-core mosogens (P8-O-PIMB6* and P9-O-PIMB7*) and an achiral bent-core mesogen (P8-O-PIMB6) in order to obtain well-defined morphologies in the 60 nm AAO nanochannel. The structures of bent-core mesogens were confirmed by NMR and EI-mass spectrometry. The transition temperatures of bent-core mesogens were measured by DSC. The morphologies of bent-core liquid crystals in the 60 nm AAO nanochannel were studied by depolarized reflected light microscopy (DRLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD).ope

THE ANALYSIS OF OCULAR MOVEMENT FOR THE DYNAMIC POSTURAL CONTROL OF TURN MOTION ON THE BALANCE BEAM

This study demonstrated the importance of dynamic postural balancing and ocular movement in a turn motion on the balance beam using a manufactured wireless EOG measuring system with three female gymnasts. This study found that among the dynamic postural control variables, angular displacement and ocular movement were closely related. During a turn motion, the ocular movement was in opposite direction of the angular displacement of head and trunk along the medio-lateral axis. This resulted from the gymnast’s effort to stare at the end of the balance beam or the front in order to keep balance. The change of angular displacement of head around the medio-lateral axis and vertical axis was in opposite direction of the ocular movement. When the motion was successful, the gymnasts performed a spotting motion