Black Male Collegiate Athletes’ Perceptions of Their Career and Academic Preparation: A Mixed Methods Study

We employed a mixed methods approach with sequential explanatory design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2017) and a Social Capital Theory framework (Bourdieu, 1977) to investigate three research questions: (1) In what ways were participants’ career and college readiness capital developed during high school? (2) How do participants view their academic and career growth and development prior to and after coming to college? (3) Who provided career and college development to participants in this study prior to their college entrance? Results revealed potential reasons why disparities existed between Black and White participants beginning in K-12 and continuing through college. Implications for anti-racist school counseling are given

Influence of central obesity in estimating maximal oxygen uptake

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of central obesity on the magnitude of the error of estimate of maximal oxygen uptake in maximal cycling exercise testing. METHOD: A total of 1,715 adults (68% men) between 18-91 years of age underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing using a progressive protocol to volitional fatigue. Subjects were stratified by central obesity into three quartile ranges: Q1, Q2-3 and Q4. Maximal oxygen uptake [mL.(kg.min)-1] was estimated by the attained maximal workload and body weight using gender- and population-specific equations. The error of estimate [mL.(kg.min)-1] and percent error between measured and estimated maximal oxygen uptake values were compared among obesity quartile ranges. RESULTS: The error of estimate and percent error differed (mean ± SD) for men (Q1=1.3±3.7 and 2.0±10.4; Q2-3=0.5±3.1 and -0.5±13.0; and Q4=-0.3±2.8 and -4.5±15.8 (

Use of a fluorescence-based approach to assess short-term responses of the alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata to metal stress

This work explores the use of fluorescent probes to evaluate the responses of the green alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata to the action of three nominal concentrations of Cd(II), Cr(VI), Cu(II) and Zn(II) for a short time (6 h). The toxic effect of the metals on algal cells was monitored using the fluorochromes SYTOX Green (SG, membrane integrity), fluorescein diacetate (FDA, esterase activity) and rhodamine 123 (Rh123, mitochondrial membrane potential). The impact of metals on chlorophyll a (Chl a) autofluorescence was also evaluated. Esterase activity was the most sensitive parameter. At the concentrations studied, all metals induced the loss of esterase activity. SG could be used to effectively detect the loss of membrane integrity in algal cells exposed to 0.32 or 1.3 mol L1 Cu(II). Rh123 revealed a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential of algal cells exposed to 0.32 and 1.3 mol L1 Cu(II), indicating that mitochondrial activity was compromised. Chl a autofluorescence was also affected by the presence of Cr(VI) and Cu(II), suggesting perturbation of photosynthesis. In conclusion, the fluorescence-based approach was useful for detecting the disturbance of specific cellular characteristics. Fluorescent probes are a useful diagnostic tool for the assessment of the impact of toxicants on specific targets of P. subcapitata algal cells.The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013. Manuela D. Machado gratefully acknowledges the post-doctoral grant from FCT (SFRH/BPD/72816/2010)

Tropical and subtropical cloud transitions in weather and climate prediction models: The GCSS/WGNE pacific cross-section intercomparison (GPCI)

International audienceA model evaluation approach is proposed in which weather and climate prediction models are analyzed along a Pacific Ocean cross section, from the stratocumulus regions off the coast of California, across the shallow convection dominated trade winds, to the deep convection regions of the ITCZ-the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Cloud System Study/Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (GCSS/WGNE) Pacific Cross-Section Intercomparison (GPCI). The main goal of GPCI is to evaluate and help understand and improve the representation of tropical and subtropical cloud processes in weather and climate prediction models. In this paper, a detailed analysis of cloud regime transitions along the cross section from the subtropics to the tropics for the season June-July-August of 1998 is presented. This GPCI study confirms many of the typical weather and climate prediction model problems in the representation of clouds: underestimation of clouds in the stratocumulus regime by most models with the corresponding consequences in terms of shortwave radiation biases; overestimation of clouds by the 40-yrECMWFRe-Analysis (ERA-40) in the deep tropics (in particular) with the corresponding impact in the outgoing longwave radiation; large spread between the different models in terms of cloud cover, liquid water path and shortwave radiation; significant differences between the models in terms of vertical cross sections of cloud properties (in particular), vertical velocity, and relative humidity. An alternative analysis of cloud cover mean statistics is proposed where sharp gradients in cloud cover along the GPCI transect are taken into account. This analysis shows that the negative cloud bias of some models and ERA-40 in the stratocumulus regions [as compared to the first International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP)] is associated not only with lower values of cloud cover in these regimes, but also with a stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition that occurs too early along the trade wind Lagrangian trajectory. Histograms of cloud cover along the cross section differ significantly between models. Some models exhibit a quasi-bimodal structure with cloud cover being either very large (close to 100%) or very small, while other models show a more continuous transition. The ISCCP observations suggest that reality is in-between these two extreme examples. These different patterns reflect the diverse nature of the cloud, boundary layer, and convection parameterizations in the participating weather and climate prediction models. © 2011 American Meteorological Society

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV