How does social support shape the relationship between career calling and PERMA?

Background: Career calling has received significant attention in the last decade, showing an association between calling and varied aspects of wellbeing. However, there is scarce work that has contextualized these concepts within the individual’s immediate environment. This paper explored the role of social support in the association between career calling and wellbeing. Methods: This cross-sectional study is a correlational study based on a survey data from a sample of 96 Turkish immigrant women currently living in the United Kingdom. Quantitative analyses were used, including hierarchical regression and mediation analysis to examine the associations between career calling, social support and wellbeing. Results: Results showed that both presence and search dimensions of career calling, and social support from a special person, family and friends had significant associations with PERMA (Positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment). The path analysis showed some indirect effects in this relationship, such that support from family and friends predicted higher levels of wellbeing via the mediational role of search for a calling for this group of immigrant women. Discussions: These findings add notable insight to literature that explores the indirect ways of the relations between career calling, support and wellbeing. The present study showed that social support can shape the relation between career calling and wellbeing in such a way that the importance of social support for immigrant women become more apparent. Conclusions: The implications of the results underlined the importance of considering career calling and wellbeing within the wider social context of the individuals. Especially in a time when uncertainties and anxieties are on the rise, career calling can help people live a better life, and a contextual positive psychology perspective to career calling can further contribute to how different groups of people individually as well as collectively experience it

Shear stress activation of nitric oxide synthase and increased NO levels in human red blood cells

Since the discovery of nitric oxide (NO) as a vasoactive molecule, red blood cells (RBC) have been considered to participate in NO-mediated control of the circulation. The classical role attributed to RBC was scavenging of NO, thereby impacting the local bioavailability of this important regulator of vascular tone^1^. RBC have been shown to be a source of NO, primarily via its transport bound to haemoglobin^2, 3^. Under specific conditions, haemoglobin plays an active role in converting NO derivatives (e.g., nitrite) to NO^4, 5^, with this NO originating from RBC being an effective modulator of vascular smooth muscle tone^6^. Interestingly, RBC contain a NO synthase (NOS) protein^7^, can actively synthesize NO using L-arginine as a substrate^8^, and can export NO under appropriate conditions^8, 9^. It has been previously hypothesized that RBC NOS may be activated by shear forces acting on the cell^10^, and we have recently shown that RBC NOS phosphorylation can be enhanced by subjecting RBC in suspension to shearing forces^9^: NO concentration in the suspending medium was increased subsequent to flow of RBC suspensions through five [mu]m pores^11^. We have now directly demonstrated increased RBC NOS activity and intracellular NO levels in immobilized RBC exposed to well-defined fluid shear stress. Immunostaining for serine 1177 phosphorylation and the NO-sensitive fluorescent probe diaminofluorescein were employed. Our results suggest that RBC deformation in constricted vessels may increase NO levels and favor vasodilation, thereby providing an important role for RBC in regulating the circulation

Worrying about leadership: Is it a liability or an advantage for leadership of women and men?

Worries about leadership (WAL) is a new construct tapping worries an individual may feel about possible negative consequences of accepting a leadership role. Three studies investigate how WAL is associated with men’s and women’s willingness for leadership and their perceived leadership potential rated by others. The first is a laboratory study on 328 participants, which shows that WAL is negatively associated with women’s willingness for leadership, while it is not related to that of men. The second study, which is a field study with multilevel-nested data from 429 employees and 101 supervisors, reveals that male subordinates are more likely to receive a favorable judgment of leadership potential by their supervisors when their WAL increases, while female subordinates’ WAL is irrelevant to this judgment. The final study, which is an experimental study on 122 supervisors, shows that supervisors view hypothetical male leadership candidates with high WAL as having higher warmth and lower competence (than those with low WAL), which both mediate the effect of WAL on judgments of their leadership potential made by the supervisors. Even though supervisors also view female candidates with high WAL as warmer, this does not evoke higher perceptions of leadership potential. Implications for increasing gender parity in leadership are discussed

Coherent Selection of Independent Trackers for Real-time Object Tracking

International audienceThis paper presents a new method for combining several independent and heterogeneous tracking algorithms for the task of online single-object tracking. The proposed algorithm runs several trackers in parallel, where each of them relies on a different set of complementary low-level features. Only one tracker is selected at a given frame, and the choice is based on a spatio-temporal coherence criterion and normalised confidence estimates. The key idea is that the individual trackers are kept completely independent, which reduces the risk of drift in situations where for example a tracker with an inaccurate or inappropriate appearance model negatively impacts the performance of the others. Moreover, the proposed approach is able to switch between different tracking methods when the scene conditions or the object appearance rapidly change. We experimentally show with a set of Online Adaboost-based trackers that this formulation of multiple trackers improves the tracking results in comparison to more classical combinations of trackers. And we further improve the overall performance and computational efficiency by introducing a selective update step in the tracking framework

Statistical Reasoning: Choosing and Checking the Ingredients, Inferences Based on a Measure of Statistical Evidence with Some Applications

The features of a logically sound approach to a theory of statistical reasoning are discussed. A particular approach that satisfies these criteria is reviewed. This is seen to involve selection of a model, model checking, elicitation of a prior, checking the prior for bias, checking for prior-data conflict and estimation and hypothesis assessment inferences based on a measure of evidence. A long-standing anomalous example is resolved by this approach to inference and an application is made to a practical problem of considerable importance which, among other novel aspects of the analysis, involves the development of a relevant elicitation algorithm

Investigation of the relationship between pelvic floor awareness and urinary incontinence in young athletes

Objectives: Knowledge and awareness about the pelvic floor are closely related to knowing the function of the pelvic floor muscles (PFM), identifying the risk factors for the PFM, and providing the diagnosis and treatment of possible problems. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between pelvic floor muscle awareness and urinary incontinence (UI) in young athletes.Methods: One hundred eighty athletes between the ages of 18-26 were included in the study, which was designed as a cross sectional. The UI status, pelvic floor health knowledge level, physical activity level and daily life effects related to incontinence of the athletes were evaluated. One way ANOVA test was used to analyze the presence of UI according to physical activity level. The presence of incontinence and pelvic floor awareness by gender were analyzed by t-test in independent groups.Results: There was no correlation between the pelvic floor awareness of young athletes and the presence of UI (p>0.01). It was determined that the athletes with moderate and vigorous physical activity levels experienced more incontinence than those with low-intensity physical activity (p<0.05). It has been concluded that athletes whose daily life is affected due to UI have more pelvic floor awareness (p<0.01).Conclusion: Although there is no relationship between the presence of UI and pelvic floor knowledge and awareness in athletes, pelvic floor awareness is higher in athletes whose daily life is affected due to UI