Cumulative trauma and symptom complexity in children: A path analysis

Multiple trauma exposures during childhood are associated with a range of psychological symptoms later in life. In this study, we examined whether the total number of different types of trauma experienced by children (cumulative trauma) is associated with the complexity of their subsequent symptomatology, where complexity is defined as the number of different symptom clusters simultaneously elevated into the clinical range. Children's symptoms in six different trauma-related areas (e.g., depression, anger, posttraumatic stress) were reported both by child clients and their caretakers in a clinical sample of 318 children. Path analysis revealed that accumulated exposure to multiple different trauma types predicts symptom complexity as reported by both children and their caretakers.     

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This study investigated the relationship between the communication source variables of attraction, credibility, and perceived similarity and the overall image of public figures. The arrangement of 15 public figures in a multidimensional space was compared to their arrangement on measures of attraction, credibility, and similarity. The arrangement of public figures in the multidimensional space was based on respondents' paired comparisons among all public figures. Results indicated that most of the theoretic concepts were used by respondents to construct their iamge of public figures. However, the concepts did not emerge as major determinants of that image. It was suggested that these concepts might be part of a latent structure which emerges whenever public figures are viewed as communicative sources.     

Postgraduate coursework in Australia: issues emerging from university and industry collaboration

Coursework masters degrees in Australia have experienced rapid, decentralised growth since deregulation at the end of the 1980s. The result is an extraordinarily high level of diversity and some confusion as to standards, strategic positioning, purpose and educational approaches. Throughout this period of growth, a sense that large-scale (often distance-education based) collaboration between universities and with industry would be beneficial has not always led to successful outcomes. Using a new collaborative, industry-funded postgraduate coursework program as a case study, this paper describes the issues that decision-makers need to address and evaluates the challenges and benefits of the coursework masters in higher education. The outcomes of industry surveys, student interviews and action research suggest that postgraduate coursework can facilitate technology transfer and aid capacity building, through mechanisms similar to ‘mode 2’ research. With some additional systems to ensure sustainability and standards, this could position coursework masters to be uniquely valuable nationally.

Cascade optical chromatography for sample fractionation

Optical chromatography involves the elegant combination of opposing optical and fluid drag forces on colloidal samples within microfluidic environments to both measure analytical differences and fractionate injected samples. Particles that encounter the focused laser beam are trapped axially along the beam and are pushed upstream from the laser focal point to rest at a point where the optical and fluid forces on the particle balance. In our recent devices particles are pushed into a region of lower microfluidic flow, where they can be retained and fractionated. Because optical and fluid forces on a particle are sensitive to differences in the physical and chemical properties of a sample, separations are possible. An optical chromatography beam focused to completely fill a fluid channel is operated as an optically tunable filter for the separation of inorganic, polymeric, and biological particle samples. We demonstrate this technique coupled with an advanced microfluidic platform and show how it can be used as an effective method to fractionate particles from an injected multicomponent sample. Our advanced three-stage microfluidic design accommodates three lasers simultaneously to effectively create a sequential cascade optical chromatographic separation system.     

Exploring formalized elite coach mentoring programmes in the UK: ‘We’ve had to play the game’

Formalized mentoring programmes have been implemented increasingly by UK sporting institutions as a central coach development tool, yet claims supporting formal mentoring as an effective learning strategy are often speculative, scarce, ill-defined and accepted without verification. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore some of the realities of formalized elite sports coaching mentoring programmes. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 15 mentors of elite coaches on formal programmes, across a range of sports. The findings were read through a Bourdieusian lens and revealed the importance of understanding the complexities of elite sports coaching environments, that elite sports coach development is highly specific and, therefore, should not be over-formalized, and how current elite sport coach mentoring programmes may be better conceptualized as a form of social control rather than being driven by pedagogical concerns. Following this empirically based analysis of practice, a number of implications for Governing Bodies, mentors and mentees were considered.     

Reproducibility of measurement techniques used for creatine kinase,interleukin-6 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein determination over a 48 h period in males and females

To examine the reproducibility of three measurement techniques used to determine creatine kinase, interleukin-6 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, 50 participants had blood samples taken on two occasions. Fingertip plasma samples were analysed using the Reflotron for CK determination. Venous blood samples collected into serum separator tubes were used for IL-6 and hs-CRP analyses. IL-6 was measured using an enzyme linked immune assay development kit. The hs-CRP was measured by an in-house ELISA method. Dependent t-tests showed no systematic bias between samples. The interdian CV was 20.0% for CK, 15.3% for IL-6 and 44.2% for hs-CRP. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.90 for CK, 0.98 for IL-6 and 0.70 for hs-CRP. The 95% limits of agreement were ?69.7 to 63.5 IU/L for CK, ?1.48 to 1.80 pg/ml for IL-6 and ?1.10 to 0.91 µg/L for hs-CRP. The results demonstrate low absolute reproducibility, which may obscure a true experimental effect.     

How PETE comes to matter in the performance of social justice education

ABSTRACT

Background: For over four decades, there have been calls for physical education (PE) and physical education teacher education (PETE) to address social inequality and foster social justice. Yet, as numerous studies demonstrate, attempts to educate for social justice in PETE are infrequent and rarely comprehensive. This raises the question why it appears to be possible in some situations but not others, and for some students and not others.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the multiple socio-political networks or assemblages in which PETE is embedded and explore how these shape the possibilities for students to engage with the concept of social justice and sociocultural issues (SCI) when learning to teach PE. Two research questions guided this study: How does an orientation for social justice education (SJE) within education policy affect the standards for enacting PETE programs? How is SJE encouraged within PETE programs?

Methodology: Drawing from a broader study of over 70 key personnel in more than 40 PETE programs, we examined how faculty in PETE understand their professional world, identify their subjective meanings of their experiences, and address SCI andSJE within PETE. Data sources included an initial survey, a semi-structured interview, and program artifacts. We analyze the ways that SJE/SCI was represented in three national settings (England, the United States, and New Zealand) and identified common themes.

Results: Examination of each national setting reveals ways that SJE and SCI were enabled and constrained across the national, programmatic, and individual level in each of the countries. The coherence of explicit National policy and curricula, PETE program philosophies, and the presence of multiple individual interests in social justice served to reify a sociocultural agenda. Conversely, possibilities were nullified by narrow or general National Standards, programs that failed to acknowledge sociocultural interests, and the absence of a critical mass of actors with a socio-critical orientation. These differences in assemblage culminated in variations in curriculum time that served to restrict or enable the breadth, frequency, and consistency of the messages surrounding SCI in PETE.

Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of acknowledging socio-political networks where PETE operates. The agency of PETEs to enact pedagogies that foreground sociocultural interests is contingent on congruity of the networks. The authors caution that although the ‘perfect storm’ of conditions has a profound influence of the possibility of transformational learning of SCI in PETE, this arrangement is always temporary, fluid, and subject to changes in any of the three network levels. Additionally, the success of PETE in enabling graduating PE teachers to recognize the inequities that may be reinforced through the ‘hidden curriculum’ and to problematize the subject area is contingent on the expectations of the schools in which they teach.     

The Women’s Amateur Rowing Association 1923–1963: a prosopographical approach

The formation of the Women’s Amateur Rowing Association (WARA) in 1923 marked the start of a new phase of the sport’s history. Apart from any direct influence it could exercise as a governing body, its foundation suggests a commitment to building the longevity, reach and relevance of women’s rowing. Yet in the context of the renowned conservativism of the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA) which preceded it, and the complex social permissions around women’s sport in the early twentieth century, it also raises important questions about the organisation and status of women’s amateur rowing. This paper aims to extend the understanding of the WARA using prosopographical data and analysis in conjunction with archival material. It challenges the existing depiction of this sporting community and administration as a female reflection of the ARA, aiming to replicate its structures and, in doing so, to bolster its respectability and the legitimacy of its practice among the middle and upper classes. Analysis addresses the intersection of domestic, professional and sporting lives, the role of education in sporting participation and administration, and the influence of class across these issues. The paper also interrogates the use of prosopography as an analytical tool for this type of analysis.