An Investigation of Selected Factors on Golfer Attachment

While little change has occurred in the total number of golfers in the United States, the total number of golf courses is rapidly increasing (3). This increase in market competition has made it vital for resort owners and managers to examine the variables which influence golfers to use and return to their facilities. A relationship that appears to form between golfers and golf courses which has been neglected is place attachment. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not place attachment actually occurs on a golf course. A second purpose was to investigate the relationship between attachment and a golfer\u27s proximity to the course, gender, age, frequency of play, handicap and income. A third purpose was to examine the relationship between attachment to course and overall satisfaction and perceived value. Subjects (N=l,397) were randomly selected by tee times stratified by weekday and weekend and season of the year at six different Cleveland Metro Parks golf courses. Of the golfers that participated, the average age was 49.9, 70.2% were married, 79.9% were male, and the median household income was $50,000 to$59,999. Results show that a distinct variable of attachment emerged from golfers\u27 perceptions. Further, age, frequency of play, perceived value and overall satisfaction were all found to have strong relationships to attachment. Managerial implications and applicability are discussed

Difficulty and Ability: Staff Member Perceptions of Seasonal Staff Training

The process that camp directors use to plan and implement their staff training and continu­ing education may be affected by understanding seasonal staff-member perceptions of the diffi­culty and ability of camp-specific skills and knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate staff perceptions to provide a base­line of information for practice and future re­search

Camp and College Parallels: Crucibles for Transition-Linked Turning-Points

This conceptual paper explores how the system of experiences that children encounter in a traditional, residential summer camp setting parallel traditional, residential, college setting for first-year students. Camp is a complex system in the sphere of youth development programs (YDP) because of the expectation for rapid adjustment by the camper to a novel physical and social environment. Many YDPs have a moderate to high level of connection with the child’s normal life, defined as similar to school or home environments and the activities in which youth regularly participate. A traditional residential summer camp offers a different degree of novelty than most other YDP settings. This paper offers a list of physical elements present in a camp setting that parallel the college setting and considers common camp-college parallels to articulate connected physical, social, emotional, and intellectual domains. This integration of ideas illustrates how the socio-physical novelty of the camp experience serves as a crucible for rapid adjustment and multi-dimensional growth in a way that is uniquely different from many other youth development settings

BAFF selectively enhances the survival of plasmablasts generated from human memory B cells

The generation of Ig-secreting cells (ISCs) from memory B cells requires interactions between antigen-specific (Ag-specific) B cells, T cells, and dendritic cells. This process must be strictly regulated to ensure sufficient humoral immunity while avoiding production of pathogenic autoantibodies. BAFF, a member of the TNF family, is a key regulator of B cell homeostasis. BAFF exerts its effect by binding to three receptors — transmembrane activator of and CAML interactor (TACI), B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), and BAFF receptor (BAFF-R). To elucidate the contribution of BAFF to the differentiation of B cells into ISCs, we tracked the fate of human memory B cells stimulated with BAFF or CD40L. BAFF and CD40L significantly increased the overall number of surviving B cells. This was achieved via distinct mechanisms. CD40L induced proliferation of nondifferentiated blasts, while BAFF prevented apoptosis of ISCs without enhancing proliferation. The altered responsiveness of activated memory B cells to CD40L and BAFF correlated with changes in surface phenotype such that expression of CD40 and BAFF-R were reduced on ISCs while BCMA was induced. These results suggest BAFF may enhance humoral immunity in vivo by promoting survival of ISCs via a BCMA-dependent mechanism. These findings have wide-ranging implications for the treatment of human immunodeficiencies as well as autoimmune diseases.This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. S.G. Tangye was supported by a U2000 Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded by the University of Sydney. P.D. Hodgkin is a Senior Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. F. Mackay is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow

Bright emission from a random Raman laser

Random lasers are a developing class of light sources that utilize a highly disordered gain medium as opposed to a conventional optical cavity. Although traditional random lasers often have a relatively broad emission spectrum, a random laser that utilizes vibration transitions via Raman scattering allows for an extremely narrow bandwidth, on the order of 10 cm(−1). Here we demonstrate the first experimental evidence of lasing via a Raman interaction in a bulk three-dimensional random medium, with conversion efficiencies on the order of a few percent. Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the complex spatial and temporal dynamics of nonlinear processes in turbid media. In addition to providing a large signal, characteristic of the Raman medium, the random Raman laser offers us an entirely new tool for studying the dynamics of gain in a turbid medium

Chronic insulin treatment of diabetes does not fully normalize alterations in the retinal transcriptome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness in working age adults. Approximately 95% of patients with Type 1 diabetes develop some degree of retinopathy within 25 years of diagnosis despite normalization of blood glucose by insulin therapy. The goal of this study was to identify molecular changes in the rodent retina induced by diabetes that are not normalized by insulin replacement and restoration of euglycemia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The retina transcriptome (22,523 genes and transcript variants) was examined after three months of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male Sprague Dawley rats with and without insulin replacement for the later one and a half months of diabetes. Selected gene expression changes were confirmed by qPCR, and also examined in independent control and diabetic rats at a one month time-point.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Transcriptomic alterations in response to diabetes (1376 probes) were clustered according to insulin responsiveness. More than half (57%) of diabetes-induced mRNA changes (789 probes) observed at three months were fully normalized to control levels with insulin therapy, while 37% of probes (514) were only partially normalized. A small set of genes (5%, 65 probes) was significantly dysregulated in the insulin-treated diabetic rats. qPCR confirmation of findings and examination of a one month time point allowed genes to be further categorized as prevented or rescued with insulin therapy. A subset of genes (Ccr5, Jak3, Litaf) was confirmed at the level of protein expression, with protein levels recapitulating changes in mRNA expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results provide the first genome-wide examination of the effects of insulin therapy on retinal gene expression changes with diabetes. While insulin clearly normalizes the majority of genes dysregulated in response to diabetes, a number of genes related to inflammatory processes, microvascular integrity, and neuronal function are still altered in expression in euglycemic diabetic rats. Gene expression changes not rescued or prevented by insulin treatment may be critical to the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, as it occurs in diabetic patients receiving insulin replacement, and are prototypical of metabolic memory.</p