Gender comparisons in weight training for collegiate sports

This paper examines one of the factors popularly believed to have discouraged young women from participating in collegiate sports: the fear that their physiques may become unattractive due to the regimen of physical training, such as weight lifting, required in such sports. Based on a study of all the athletes at a private university in the western USA, we found that in comparison with males, female athletes did express greater concern. However, in spite of that fear, they are more rigorous than their male counterparts in weight training. Physical training may have different meanings for the two sexes. Regression analyses, supplemented with qualitative data, show that, for the women, the most important motivation for physical training appears to be the enjoyment that they receive from having a strong body. Among the male athletes, the closest to being a significant factor is that they view weight training as a means to attain a masculine image. It appears that the psychological pathways to physicality for male and female may be quite different. They run against the traditional directions on instrumental and expressive orientations. In addition to the sociology of sport, he has been researching the subculture of the elderly in retirement communities. He has published articles on aging, sexuality, and popular culture. His interests include social learning, behavior management, and psychological assessment.     

Family Phone Therapy in University Counseling and Psychological Service Centers: A Family Systems Approach

Abstract

This paper offers family phone therapy as a method for student mental health practitioners to overcome the obstacle of geographic distance between students and their families when family therapy is the treatment of choice. The issues of confidentiality, triangulation, diversionary conversation, and mixed communication, which present unique concerns when engaging in family phone therapy, are introduced and strategies to deal with them are discussed. A case example is presented to demonstrate the utility of family phone therapy in dealing with problems that students who use university mental health services can typically experience. Finally, implications of dealing with students' developmental tasks from an individual or family systems perspective are discussed.     

Social movement as civic education: communication activities and understanding of civil disobedience in the Umbrella Movement

Occupy Central, which would later evolve into the Umbrella Movement, was conceived as a civil disobedience campaign when it was first proposed in early 2013. Although the history of civil disobedience in Hong Kong arguably spans decades, the concept was seldom discussed in the public arena, and the practice was not well established in the society's repertoire of contentious actions. The years 2013 and 2014 thus constituted a “critical discourse moment” in which the concept of civil disobedience was intensively discussed and debated. This study seeks to determine whether the Occupy Central campaign and the Umbrella Movement had an educational function that led to increased levels of the public's understanding of civil disobedience. The analysis of the responses to two surveys conducted in September 2013 and October 2014 showed that the public's understanding of civil disobedience increased substantially over the year. After the Umbrella Movement started, attitudinal support for and actual participation in the movement, the political use of social media, and discussions with disagreeing others significantly predicted the understanding of civil disobedience. The theoretical and social implications of the findings are discussed.     

Why planners don't

This paper deals with a study which the authors undertook of the planning function in five major U.S. corporations. None of the five engaged in true strategic planning. The authors advance explanations for this relatively low level of planning activity, based on the environmental, organizational, and managerial characteristics of the firms. The authors urge the rapid development of a more sophisticated contingency theory of corporate planning to facilitate practice, teaching, and research.     

A Quantitative Risk Assessment of Waterborne Cryptosporidiosis in France Using Second-Order Monte Carlo Simulation

A pragmatic quantitative risk assessment (QRA) of the risks of waterborne Cryptosporidium parvum infection and cryptosporidiosis in immunocompetent and immunodeficient French populations is proposed. The model takes into account French specificities such as the French technique for oocyst enumeration performance and tap water consumption. The proportion of infective oocysts is based on literature review and expert knowledge. The probability of infection for a given number of ingested viable oocysts is modeled using the exponential dose-response model applied on published data from experimental infections in immunocompetent human volunteers challenged with the IOWA strain. Second-order Monte Carlo simulations are used to characterize the uncertainty and variability of the risk estimates. Daily risk of infection and illness for the immunocompetent and the immunodeficient populations are estimated according to the number of oocysts observed in a single storage reservoir water sample. As an example, the mean daily risk of infection in the immunocompetent population is estimated to be 1.08 x 10(-4) (95% confidence interval: [0.20 x 10(-4); 6.83 x 10(-4)]) when five oocysts are observed in a 100 L storage reservoir water sample. Annual risks of infection and disease are estimated from a set of oocyst enumeration results from distributed water samples, assuming a negative binomial distribution of day-to-day contamination variation. The model and various assumptions used in the model are fully explained and discussed. While caveats of this model are well recognized, this pragmatic QRA could represent a useful tool for the French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA) to define recommendations in case of water resource contamination by C. parvum whose infectivity is comparable to the IOWA strain.     

Regulating Shareholder Value: A Case Study of the Introduction of Value–based Measures in a Water Company

The implementation of a value–based measurement system within a privatized UK regional water company is examined by means of a longitudinal case study. Evidence is presented of how the system was developed within the context of a regulatory environment, which presented special considerations to the company in designing and implementing an appropriate system. In particular the paper considers the implementation issues surrounding the management of the introduction of the value–based measures at the operational level. The authors describe the drivers behind the introduction of the new system and the technical, political and cultural challenges raised by its implementation.     

The Quality of Skill Acquisition in Young Workers' First Job

Young workers' experiences of their first job form an important stage in the transition from school to work, and the quality of that experience is likely to have a strong bearing on future chances in the labour market. We provide evidence on a key aspect of that experience, namely, whether the skills acquired during the first job are firm-specific or in some degree transferable. More than one in six young people acquired only firm-specific skills in their first substantial job. High levels of prior human capital, short training spells or training leading to qualifications tend to raise, while being in casual or temporary jobs tends to lower, the likelihood that transferable skills are acquired.     

Advancing Gendered Analyses of Entrepreneurship: A Critical Exploration of Entrepreneurial Activity among Gay Men and Lesbian Women

This paper advances contemporary gendered analyses of entrepreneurial activity by exploring self‐employment amongst gay men and lesbian women. Within current entrepreneurial debate, heterosexual women have become the visible embodiment of the gendered subject. Our contribution is to queer this assumption when focusing upon the entrepreneurial activity of gays and lesbians. Our core question investigates if ‘there is evidence of differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals in their likelihood of being entrepreneurially active’. To address this question, we contrast competing notions of gender stereotypes and discrimination whilst drawing on findings from a large‐scale population‐based study of 163,000 UK adults. We find few differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals; this persists after examining intersectional patterns and considering if gay and lesbian entrepreneurs choose particular sectors, geographies or forms of self‐employment. As our discussion highlights, the value of this study lies within its critique of contemporary analyses of gender which assume it is an end‐point rather than a foundation for analysing gender as a multiplicity.