Effects of turf and cleat footwear on plantar load distributions in adolescent American football players during resisted pushing

Metatarsal and midfoot injuries are common in American football. Footwear design may influence injury rates by altering plantar foot loading patterns in these regions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cleat design on in-shoe plantar foot loading during a football-specific, resisted pushing task. Twenty competitive football players (age 14.7 ± 1.8 years, height 1.72 ± 0.10 m, and mass 71.8 ± 26.9 kg) completed three trials of pushing a weighted sled at maximal effort in a standard shoe (CLEAT) and artificial turf-specific shoe (TURF), with flexible in-shoe force measuring insoles. Repeated measures ANOVAs identified mean differences in maximum force and relative load under all regions of the foot. Results showed higher forces in the CLEAT under the medial (p < 0.001) and lateral (p = 0.004) midfoot, central (p = 0.007) and lateral (p < 0.001) forefoot, and lesser toes (p = 0.01), but lower forces in the hallux (p = 0.02) compared to the TURF shoe. Additionally, relative loading was higher in the CLEAT under the medial (p < 0.001) and lateral (p = 0.002) midfoot and lateral (p < 0.001) forefoot, but lower in the medial forefoot (p = 0.006) and hallux (p < 0.001) compared to the TURF shoe. The two shoes elicited distinct plantar loading profiles and may influence shoe selection decisions during injury prevention or rehabilitation practices.     

The development of the Khmer acculturation scale

The purpose of this investigation was to develop a multidimensional, culture-specific acculturation measure, the Khmer acculturation scale (KAS), for use with Cambodians living in the United States. The KAS development was guided by Berry's [W. H. Holtzman, T. Z. Bornemann (Eds.), (1990) Mental health of immigrants and refugees, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, Austin, TX, pp. 90–102] framework and involved two studies. The first study involved the derivation of 130 questionnaire items and demonstration of content validity using 22 expert informants and judges, relevant literature on Cambodian and American cultures, and existing acculturation scales that had been developed for other ethnic groups. Items were created for two KAS subscales written in both English and Khmer, the Khmer orientation scale (KOS) and Anglo-American orientation scale (AOS). The second study inspected reliability and validity of KAS scores obtained from 410 Cambodian participants living in nine states. The two subscales were reduced in length via factor analyses and were found to have high internal consistency and stability reliability. Criterion validity was supported by a modest significant correlation between the KAS and scores on the Suinn–Lew Asian self-identity acculturation scale [Suinn, Rikard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, Educ. Psychol. Meas. 47 (1987) 401]. Construct validity evidence for the KAS was indicated by its factor structure and support for the following predictions derived from Berry's acculturation framework: (1) Those who were in the higher SES and educational levels, of a younger generation, and employed were more acculturated compared to their counterparts; (2) Lower psychological distress as measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 [Mollica, Wyshak, de Marneffe, Khuon, & Lavelle, Am. J. Psych. 144(4) (1987b) 497] was associated with greater acculturation; (3) Those who acculturate in the integration mode, on average, scored in the normal range on the HSCL-25, while those in the separation mode scored, on average, in the clinical range.     

Starting From Ground Zero: Establishing a Collection for a New Doctoral Program

This article reports a librarian's collection development efforts to support her institution's first independent doctoral degree (Ed.D., Educational Leadership) via a citation analysis comparing information usage by education doctorate dissertation authors from six peer institutions nationally. This analysis is part of a long-term examination of library collection use among California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) doctoral students. Key findings include the relative young age among the information resources in educational leadership, which resource formats were cited, what serial titles were cited the most, and where they are available electronically. The ultimate aim is the creation of an essential collection in the subject discipline.     

Still flies in buttermilk: black male faculty,critical race theory,and composite counterstorytelling

Driven by critical race theory, this essay employs composite counterstorytelling to narrate the experiences of black male faculty on traditionally white campuses. Situated at the intersections of race and gender, our composite counterstory is richly informed by 11 interviews with black male faculty alongside critical race scholarship that documents the omnipresence of black misandric ideology. Through our protagonist Dr Timesnow, a black male Assistant Professor, we reflect on how his daily experiences incite racial battle fatigue, feed into imposter syndrome, and circumvent an inclusive campus community.     

Ebony in the Ivory Tower: Examining Trends in the Socioeconomic Status,Achievement, and Self-Concept of Black,Male Freshmen

Despite the educational challenges African American males face, there is a sizeable population successfully finishing high school and entering college. This study provides an overview of how a national sample of black male freshmen embodied the cognitive, social, and institutional factors related to college access between 1971 and 2004. Data reveal that black, male freshmen today have more affluent family backgrounds, better academic records, and greater confidence in their skills and abilities than their peers who entered college in earlier decades. Trends indicate that men with lower incomes, less confidence, and less ideal academic records are increasingly unlikely to be present on college campuses.     

What Do I Want to Be with My PhD? The Roles of Personal Values and Structural Dynamics in Shaping the Career Interests of Recent Biomedical Science PhD Graduates

Interest in faculty careers decreases as graduate training progresses; however, the process underlying career-interest formation remains poorly defined. To better understand this process and whether/how it differs across social identity (i.e., race/ethnicity, gender), we conducted focus groups with 38 biomedical scientists who received PhDs between 2006 and 2011, including 23 women and 18 individuals from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds. Objective performance and quality of advisor relationships were not significantly different between scientists with high versus low interest in faculty careers. Career interests were fluid and formed in environments that generally lacked structured career development. Vicarious learning shaped similar outcome expectations about academic careers for all scientists; however, women and URMs recounted additional, distinct experiences and expectations. Scientists pursuing faculty careers described personal values, which differed by social identity, as their primary driver. For scientists with low interest in faculty careers, a combination of values, shared across social identity, and structural dynamics of the biomedical workforce (e.g., job market, grant funding, postdoc pay, etc.) played determinative roles. These findings illuminate the complexity of career choice and suggest attracting the best, most diverse academic workforce requires institutional leaders and policy makers go beyond developing individual skill, attending to individuals’ values and promoting institutional and systemic reforms.     

Grading leniency, grade discrepancy, and student ratings of instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine how grading leniency and grade discrepancy (the difference between expected grades and deserved grades) were associated with various dimensions of student ratings of instruction. A sample of 754 undergraduate college students completed a student ratings of instruction instrument and provided responses to a number of other questions on topics such as course difficulty and workload. A series of multilevel regression analyses were conducted and results showed that an instructor's grading leniency, as perceived by students, was positively associated with student ratings on 11 of 12 dimensions of instruction examined. This finding suggests that more lenient instructors tend to receive higher student ratings. The second finding shows that grade discrepancy was negatively associated with most dimensions of instruction. This supports the self-serving bias hypothesis under attribution theory (Gigliotti & Buchtel, 1990) in that students tended to punish instructors with lower ratings when expected grades were lower than students believed they deserved, yet little evidence of a pattern of rewards existed in student ratings when students expected grades higher than they deserved.