Two games in town: a comparison of dealer and auction prices in contemporary visual arts markets

The article tests a couple of hypotheses relating to markets where demand is not taken as a given, but subject to sophisticated and encompassing price-building strategies. The study uses a data set that provides quoted dealer prices for medium-sized works of 100 leading visual artists from 1970 to 2004. These data are compared with auction price results for works by the same artists. The study reports significant discrepancies with respect to the relationship between the age of artists and prices paid for their works in the two markets, and with respect to general price developments in the two markets as measured by indices.

Psychological effects of rapid weight loss and attitudes towards eating among professional jockeys

We examined the psychological effects of rapid weight loss among a sample of 41 professional jockeys (mean age 30.9 years, s = 7.0). Participants completed the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) and the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) to establish the relationships between rapid weight loss, mood, and attitudes towards eating. These instruments were administered on three occasions: at the jockeys' minimal weight (achieved through rapid weight loss), their optimal riding weight (when they were not excessively restricting their weight and felt healthy), and their relaxed weight (when there were no forthcoming light rides or no rides at all). It was hypothesized that when riding at minimal weight, jockeys would record a more negative mood profile compared with scores recorded at optimal or relaxed weights. The same trend was expected for eating attitudes. These hypotheses were supported as jockeys reported significantly more negative mood profiles and eating attitudes at minimal weight. The EAT-26 scores indicated the presence of disordered attitudes towards eating at this weight. These results suggest that jockeys' endeavours to reach the minimum weight limit stipulated by governing bodies are likely to jeopardize their psychological well-being. Dialogue surrounding the appropriateness of current weight regulations is therefore encouraged.     

Alternate-forms and alpha reliability of the Teacher Stress Inventory

The alternate-forms and alpha reliabilities of the Teacher Stress Inventory were investigated based on the responses of two groups of 138 teachers. Reliability estimates ranged from .43 to .94 for the TSI subscales and .71 to .94 for the TSI whole scale, indicating high stability and equivalence for the stress factors across immediate, one-day, one-week, and two-week intervals using two different TSI short forms. Between-forms correlations were larger for the immediate sample than they were for the interval samples. Short-form TSI alphas ranged from .76 to .90.     

Correlations between the stanford-binet: Fourth edition and the WISC-R with a learning disabled population

The Fourth Edition of the Stanford-Binet and the WISC-R were compared as instruments for assessing the intellectual strengths and weaknesses of students classified as learning disabled in the primary and secondary grades. Results found only a 3.28-point difference (p≥.0001) between the S-B Composite score and the WISC-R Full Scale score. Correlations between the four broad areas of the S-B and the three scales of the WISC-R ranged from .494 (S-B Abstract/Visual Reasoning with WISC-R Verbal) to .920 (S-B Composite with WISC-R Full Scale). All correlations were found to be significant. Implications of the research findings were discussed.     

The alpha and split-half reliability of the teacher stress inventory

The internal consistency and split-half reliability of the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI) was investigated based on data provided by 3,478 teachers, representing 22 individual and two aggregate samples from six states. The data indicate for both the strength and frequency dimensions that the TSI is highly reliable in terms of both its regular and short-form length, and that the two short forms are highly correlated with one another.     

Cultured meat and cowless milk: on making markets for animal-free food

According to its proponents, animal-free animal food products, such as cultured meat and synthetic cow’s milk, have the potential to overcome various environmental, health and ethical challenges that have emerged around global animal product consumption and the industrial agriculture that is needed to support it. Apart from the myriad of technical problems making animal-free food products, critics have pointed out the blurry ontological status of the food and the ethical challenges therein, and have questioned the veracity of the various promissory narratives being produced. This paper considers animal-free food from a social studies of economies and markets (SSEM) perspective. As a market that currently mostly only exists in potential, an SSEM perspective can reveal the various social and material relations that comprise the (bio)capital formation that will underpin any market-to-be, an aspect of markets that are often invisible once markets are up and running. Moreover, this perspective details the intimate role markets have in establishing the ethical and ontological aspects of animal-free foods in a political economy shaped by neoliberalisation and financialisation.     

Examining coaches’ perceptions of how their stress influences the coach–athlete relationship

This study extends recent coach stress research by evaluating how coaches perceive their stress experiences to affect athletes, and the broader coach–athlete relationship. A total of 12 coaches working across a range of team sports at the elite level took part in semi-structured interviews to investigate the 3 study aims: how they perceive athletes to detect signals of coach stress; how they perceive their stress experiences to affect athletes; and, how effective they perceive themselves to be when experiencing stress. Following content analysis, data suggested that coaches perceived athletes able to detect when they were experiencing stress typically via communication, behavioural, and stylistic cues. Although coaches perceived their stress to have some positive effects on athletes, the overwhelming effects were negative and affected “performance and development”, “psychological and emotional”, and “behavioural and interaction” factors. Coaches also perceived themselves to be less effective when stressed, and this was reflected in their perceptions of competence, self-awareness, and coaching quality. An impactful finding is that coaches are aware of how a range of stress responses are expressed by themselves, and to how they affect athletes, and their coaching quality. Altogether, findings support the emerging view that coach stress affects their own, and athlete performance.     

Long-term endurance training increases serum cathepsin S and decreases IL-6 and hsCRP levels

Cathepsin S (CS) was shown to play a key role in cancer progression, atherosclerosis, heart valve disease, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus. The present prospective study aimed to investigate the influence of sports on CS, interleukin-6 (Il-6) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels.

Ninety-eight of 109 participants completed the study. Ergometries were performed at baseline and after 8 months to evaluate/quantify the performance gain. Blood samples were taken at baseline and every 2 months. CS was measured by ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Compared to the control group (mean performance gain ?3.41 ± 4.62%) we observed a significant physical-activity-induced increase of CS levels (3.45–3.73 ng · ml^?1; P = 0.027) and a significant decrease of Il-6 (2.43–1.91 pg · ml^?1; P = 0.031) and hsCRP-levels (0.11–0.09 mg · dl^?1; P = 0.001) in the intervention group (mean performance gain: 12.13 ± 6.32%). Furthermore, the tendency of the progression was significant for CS and Il-6 (P = 0.002/0.033).

We could show a significant sports-induced decrease of the classic inflammation parameters hsCRP/Il-6, probably expressing a downregulation of permanently prevalent inflammation processes. Simultaneously CS levels increased significantly. Our results show that increasing CS amounts are not simply to equal with an enhanced inflammation status and might even have beneficial effects on inflammation and angiogenesis.