Mechanisms of social capital creation and consumption in a youth baseball league

Abstract

In this paper, I explore social capital creation within a youth baseball league in the American Southwest. Within, I first propose a parent typology that centres on the level of parental social and pragmatic involvement with their child’s team. Second, I examine that the specific facets of league structure facilitate relationship building among parents and volunteers within the league, including team creation, practices and games, all-star participation, volunteering, and player relationships, all of which play both a facilitating and constraining role in the types of relationships parents were prone to forming, and the social capital benefits that were likely to accrue within.     

P.S.: I Survived: An Activism Project to Increase Student and Community Trauma Awareness

Social work students created a community activism project to raise awareness about trauma prevalence and impact. Trauma theory describes silencing as the mechanism that hinders individual and community healing. Therefore, students sought to create an interactive opportunity to heighten trauma visibility on campus. They created a physical mailbox and invited community members respond to the prompt, “I am a survivor because …” and to read others’ responses. Through the project, students were able to document participants’ trauma experiences, increase community trauma awareness, and enhance their own learning. Moreover, the authors believe that this assignment successfully fostered student integration of micro and macro social work skills.     

Supporting the health library and information workforce

As a prelude to his keynote speech at the forthcoming Health Libraries Group conference, Sean McNamara, Head of CILIP Scotland, provides an insight into the work being undertaken with health librarians in Scotland and considers how CILIP Scotland might support the health information sector in the coming years.     

Selective reinstatement of instrumental performance depends on the discriminative stimulus properties of the mediating outcome

We conducted three experiments to investigate the associative structure underlying the reinstatement of instrumental performance after extinction. In each experiment, rats were initially rewarded on two responses with different outcomes. At test, both responses were extinguished in order to assess the impact of a single noncontingent outcome delivery on response selection. Experiment 1 found evidence of outcome-selective reinstatement (i.e., more responses were performed on the lever that was trained with the reinstating outcome than on the other lever). Experiment 2 demonstrated that the outcome’s capacity to reinstate performance was not affected by a reduction in its motivational value. Experiment 3 found evidence that the reinstating outcome selectively retrieved the response it signaled rather than the response it followed during training. Together, these findings are consistent with the view that instrumental reinstatement depends on the discriminative stimulus properties of the reinstating outcome.     

Meditations on Pleasure: John Ruskin and the Value of Art in the Classroom

Life is multiplex; information is ubiquitous. We do our best to learn, but we struggle not to forget. The demand to “know” is powerful; the experience of living can often feel overwhelming. We desire a better way of looking at the world around us. John Ruskin reminds us that it is a good thing to start small. He asks us to look, to train our eyes to see detail. He teaches us to appreciate the one thing for its own sake; it is by appreciating the one thing that we are enabled to better appreciate the world around us.     

Effects of treadmill versus overground soccer match simulations on biomechanical markers of anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in side cutting

This study aimed to investigate whether treadmill versus overground soccer match simulations have similar effects on knee joint mechanics during side cutting. Nineteen male recreational soccer players completed a 45-min treadmill and overground match simulation. Heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded every 5 min. Prior to exercise (time 0 min), at “half-time” (time 45 min) and 15 min post-exercise (time 60 min), participants performed five trials of 45° side-cutting manoeuvres. Knee abduction moments and knee extension angles were analysed using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (α = 0.05). Physiological responses were significantly greater during the overground (HR 160 ± 7 beats ? min^?1; RPE 15 ± 2) than the treadmill simulation (HR 142 ± 5 beats ? min^?1; RPE 12 ± 2). Knee extension angles significantly increased over time and were more extended at time 60 min compared with time 0 min and time 45 min. No significant differences in knee abduction moments were observed. Although knee abduction moments were not altered over time during both simulations, passive rest during half-time induced changes in knee angles that may have implications for anterior cruciate ligament injury risk.     

A battery of strength tests for evidence-based classification in Para swimming

This study examined the validity of isometric strength tests for evidence-based classification in Para swimming. Thirty non-disabled participants and forty-two Para swimmers with physical impairment completed an isometric strength test battery designed to explain activity limitation in the freestyle discipline. Measures pertaining to dominant and non-dominant limb strength and symmetry were derived from four strength tests that were found to be reliable in a cohort of non-disabled participants (ICC = 0.85–0.97; CV = 6.4–9.1%). Para swimmers had lower scores in strength tests compared with non-disabled participants (d = 0.14–1.00) and the strength test battery successfully classified 95% of Para swimmers with physical impairment using random forest algorithm. Most of the strength measures had low to moderate correlations (r = 0.32 to 0.53; p ≤ 0.05) with maximal freestyle swim speed in Para swimmers. Although, fewer correlations were found when Para swimmers with hypertonia or impaired muscle power were analysed independently, highlighting the impairment-specific nature of activity limitation in Para swimming. Collectively, the strength test battery has utility in Para swimming classification to infer loss of strength in Para swimmers, guide minimum eligibility criteria, and to define the impact that strength impairment has on Para swimming performance.