Influence of sex and limb dominance on lower extremity joint mechanics during unilateral land-and-cut manoeuvres

Limb dominance theory suggests that females tend to be more one-leg dominant and exhibit greater kinematic and kinetic leg asymmetries than their male counterparts, contributing to the increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury among female athletes. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the influences of sex and limb dominance on lower extremity joint mechanics during unilateral land-and-cut manoeuvres. Twenty-one women and 21 men completed land-and-cut manoeuvres on their dominant limb as well as their nondominant limb. Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics were calculated bilaterally for the entire stance phase of the manoeuvre. Women performed land-and-cut manoeuvres with altered hip motions and loads as well as greater knee abduction at touchdown compared to men. Dominant limb land-and-cut manoeuvres where characterised by decreased hip flexion at touchdown as well as decreased hip flexion and adduction range of motion compared to nondominant land-and-cuts regardless of sex. The observed sex differences are consistent with previous research regarding mechanisms underlying the sex disparity in anterior cruciate ligament injury rates. However, observed differences regarding limb dominances appear somewhat arbitrary and did not suggest that the dominant or nondominant limb would be at increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury.     

Exploring the Robustness of a Unidimensional Item Response Theory Model With Empirically Multidimensional Data

Unidimensionality and local independence are two common assumptions of item response theory. The former implies that all items measure a common latent trait, while the latter implies that responses are independent, conditional on respondents’ location on the latent trait. Yet, few tests are truly unidimensional. Unmodeled dimensions may result in test items displaying dependencies, which can lead to misestimated parameters and inflated reliability estimates. In this article, we investigate the dimensionality of interim mathematics tests and evaluate the extent to which modeling minor dimensions in the data change model parameter estimates. We found evidence of minor dimensions, but parameter estimates across models were similar. Our results indicate that minor dimensions outside the primary trait have negligible consequences on parameter estimates. This finding was observed despite the ratio of multidimensional to unidimensional items being above previously recommended thresholds.     

Globalization or Glocalization? Higher Education Reforms in Singapore

Globalization and the evolution of the knowledge‐based economy have caused dramatic changes to the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalization on universities are not uniform though business‐like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In recent years, widespread concerns over widened access, funding, accountability, quality, and managerial efficiency are perceived as the prominent global trends related to university education. Because of the divergent political, social, economic, cultural and historical backgrounds, national/local governments may adopt similar strategies in response to pressures generated from globalization. Nonetheless, through a close scrutiny of the ways that national policies are made, we may find that governments around the globe, particularly in East Asia, have tried to make use of the globalization discourse to address/justify the local policy/political agendas. This paper aims to examine the latest higher education reform initiatives proposed by the Singapore Government, with particular reference to reflect upon how the Singapore Government reforms its university systems in the context of globalization. It is argued that the latest comprehensive review of public university governance and funding brings about a changing role of the government in the regulation, finance and provision of higher education in Singapore and eventually alters the state‐university relationship.     

Network member support marshaling in response to another’s relational transgression experience

Relational transgressions are emotionally difficult for those who directly experience the transgression. Less is known about how transgressions affect those located within the personal network of a relational transgression victim. This study explored how network members engaged in support marshaling in response to another’s transgression experience. Results indicate that some participants marshaled support, citing four reasons for their actions: perceived insufficiency, camaraderie, personal ramifications, and personal values. We explore these reasons for marshaling support and discuss them within the broader context of support marshaling and relational transgressions.     

Review Essay: Mourning Humanism,or, the Idiom of Haunting

LINCOLN THE PRESIDENT: LAST FULL MEASURE. By J. G. Randall and Richard N. Current. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1955; pp. vii+421. $7.50.

THE METALOGICON OF JOHN OF SALISBURY. Translated with Introduction and Notes by Daniel D. McGarry. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1955; pp. xxvii+305. $5.00.

THE HUMANISM OF CICERO. By H. A. K. Hunt. Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1954, and London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1954; pp. viii+215. $4.50.

LIBERTY AND REFORMATION IN THE PURITAN REVOLUTION. By William Haller. New York: Columbia University Press, 1955; pp. xv+410. $6.00.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN THE UNITED STATES. By Richard Hofstader and Walter P. Metzger. New York: Columbia University Press; pp. 527. $5.50.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN OUR TIME. By Robert M. MacIver. New York: Columbia University Press; pp. 329. $4.00.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LITERARY CRITICISM. By Harry H. Clark, Richard H. Fogle, Robert P. Falk, John H. Raleigh, and C. Hugh Holman. Edited by Floyd Stovall. Chapel Hill, N. C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1955; pp. ix+262. $4.00.

ONE MIGHTY TORRENT: THE DRAMA OF BIOGRAPHY. By Edgar Johnson. New York: Macmillan Co., 1955; pp. 591. $6.50.

THE THEATRE ANNUAL, 1955. Edited by Blanche A. Corin. Vol. XIII. New York: Theatre Annual, Inc., 1955; pp. 89. $1.50.

THE FLOWER IN DRAMA AND GLAMOUR: THEATRE ESSAYS AND CRITICISM. By Stark Young. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955; pp. xiv+223. $3.00.

THE TEMPEST. By William Shakespeare. Edited by Frank Kermode. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954; pp. lxxxviii+167. $3.50.

CYMBELINE. By William Shakespeare. Edited by J. M. Nosworthy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955; pp. lxxxiv+224. $3.85.

KING JOHN. By William Shakespeare. Edited by E. A. J. Honigmann. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955; pp. lxxv+176. $3.85.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. By William Shakespeare. Edited by J. R. Brown. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955; pp. lviii+174. $3.25.

PRESENT DAY PSYCHOLOGY. Edited by A. A. Roback, with the Collaboration of Forty Experts in the Various Fields. New York: Philosophical Library, 1955; pp. xiv+995. $12.00.

THE SANE SOCIETY. By Erich Fromm. New York: Rinehart and Company, Inc., 1955; pp. 370. $5.00.

SPEECH IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM. By Charles Van Riper and Katherine G. Butler. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955; pp. 150. $2.50.

HEARING THERAPY FOR CHILDREN. By Alice Streng, Waring J. Fitch, LeRoy D. Hedgecock, James W. Phillips, and James A. Carrell. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1955: pp. 371. $6.75.

LISTENING FOR SPEECH SOUNDS. By Empress Y. Zedler. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1955; pp. xi+145. $3.00.

THE ART OF COMMUNICATING. By Thomas Pollock, Marion Sheridan, Frances Ledbetter and Ronald Doll. New York: Macmillan Company, 1955; pp. ix+438. $2.88.

SPEECH AND YOUR PERSONALITY. By Theodore F. Nelson and W. Kirtley Atkinson. Chicago: B. H. Sanborn &; Company, 1955; pp. vii+454.

ORAL COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS. By David C. Phillips. New York: The McGraw‐Hill Book Co., 1955; pp. x+223. $3.75.

HOW TO WIN THE CONFERENCE. By William D. Ellis and Frank Siedel. New York: Prentice‐Hall, 1955; pp. x+214. $3.95.

THE STAFF ROLE IN MANAGEMENT. By Robert C. Sampson. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955; pp. xii+226. $4.00.

GROUP‐CENTERED LEADERSHIP. By Thomas Gordon. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955; pp. 366. $5.00.

SPIRITUAL VALUES IN SHAKESPEARE. By Ernest Marshall Howse. New York: Abingdon Press, 1955; pp. 148. $2.50.

SENT FORTH TO PREACH. Studies in Apostolic Preaching. By Jesse Burton Weatherspoon. New York: Harpers and Brothers, 1954; pp. 182. $2.50.     

Measuring the value of theatre for Tyneside audiences

What values do theatre and dance hold for audience members? And how do these values differ between subsidised, amateur, and commercial performance? This paper addresses these questions through a survey of over 1800 spectators for theatre and dance in Tyneside in northeastern England, as well as a parallel set of focus groups, in the spring of 2014. These methods, which are designed for comprehensiveness and comparability, are being used across Europe by the Project on European Theatre Systems, a working group of theatre sociologists. Our research showed two sets of values which performances achieved; one was a common measure of performance quality, while the other described the values particular to subsidised work. This allows us to articulate both the general value of the arts and the particular values which subsidy (attempts to) facilitate. This has implications for both understandings of cultural value and for cultural policy, as the distinction between the two groups was not clean. We also found that amateur theatre participated in the same value system, but with an increased emphasis on loyalty and community cohesion. The paper concludes a methodological reflection on the use of quantitative methods in theatre studies.     

Narrative Capacity,Resistance Performance,and the “Shape” of New Social Movement Networks

The current research explored two new social movement networks in the United States in order to demonstrate the impact of narrative capacity on the “shape” of an activist network. In particular, we found that activists in a network that demonstrated efficient narrative capacity described the hub organization in positive terms, while activists in a network that demonstrated poor narrative capacity held mixed perceptions about the hub. Some activists in the second network held positive perceptions about the organization, while others held negative perceptions. The observations from these two research sites led us to conceptualize activists' differing perceptions about their respective hub organizations as “distance” that they experienced from that hub. Therefore, two different star shapes emerged from our research: a symmetrical star and elongated star. Such findings demonstrate the importance for narrative capacity in the construction and maintenance of effective activist networks.     

Narrowmobilization and Tea Party Activism: A Study of Right-Leaning Alternative Media

Past research concerning the theoretical framework of Resistance Performance (RP) has been based on observations of liberal organizations and activists. In the following essay, we engage in a qualitative content analysis of alternative media utilized by conservative “Tea Party” activists to build on the concept of RP. Overall, we discovered that the dominant theme found in much of the content focuses on “purity,” which is considerably different from past RP research that found broad themes of “human rights,” “democracy,” “be the media,” and “principles of unity” embedded within liberal alternative media content. We conclude that the theme of “purity” gives rise to narrowmobilization, which constructs very focused protest communities within right-leaning politics.     

Meeting Challenges in the Data World: RDAP 2017

The Global Postcards column is pleased to publish two contributions from Joshua Finnell and his colleagues. The first contribution with Brian Cain documents the themes and conversations of the Research Data Access and Preservation Summit (RDAP) in April 2017. The second contribution from Joshua with Stacy Konkiel documents the creation and sustainment of the Library Pipeline, a grassroots library organization. Finally, coeditor Robin Kear provides a personal synopsis of her attendance at the IFLA World Library & Information Congress (WLIC) in Wroclaw Poland in August 2017.

We always welcome contributions. If you would like to send a submission, please contact either of the column's coeditors: Jacqueline Solis, jsolis@email.unc.edu, and Robin Kear, rlk25@pitt.edu.