Contributors and Constraints to Involvement with Youth Sports Officiating

There is a growing concern about the shortage of sports officials and its impact on organized youth sport. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of psychosocial factors that impact involvement with youth sports officiating by comparing and contrasting the experiences of officials from two distinct sports. In-depth interviews were conducted with baseball umpires and lacrosse officials. Resulting themes were classified as either contributors or constraints to involvement with officiating. The most striking difference between the two groups was the support provided in terms of mentorship, training, and administrative consideration. The baseball umpires received greater support and this was a key factor in overcoming constraints and fostering a sense of community. Implications and strategies for recruiting and retaining officials are discussed. 

Photoassociative creation of ultracold heteronuclear 6Li40K* molecules

We investigate the formation of weakly bound, electronically excited, heteronuclear 6Li40K* molecules by single-photon photoassociation in a magneto-optical trap. We performed trap loss spectroscopy within a range of 325 GHz below the Li(2S_(1/2))+K(4P_(3/2)) and Li(2S_(1/2))+K(4P_(1/2)) asymptotic states and observed more than 60 resonances, which we identify as rovibrational levels of 7 of 8 attractive long-range molecular potentials. The long-range dispersion coefficients and rotational constants are derived. We find large molecule formation rates of up to ~3.5x10^7s^(-1), which are shown to be comparable to those for homonuclear 40K_2*. Using a theoretical model we infer decay rates to the deeply bound electronic ground-state vibrational level X^1\Sigma^+(v'=3) of ~5x10^4s^(-1). Our results pave the way for the production of ultracold bosonic ground-state 6Li40K molecules which exhibit a large intrinsic permanent electric dipole moment.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to EP

Particle Motion in Rapidly Oscillating Potentials: The Role of the Potential's Initial Phase

Rapidly oscillating potentials with a vanishing time average have been used for a long time to trap charged particles in source-free regions. It has been argued that the motion of a particle in such a potential can be approximately described by a time independent effective potential, which does not depend upon the initial phase of the oscillating potential. However, here we show that the motion of a particle and its trapping condition significantly depend upon this initial phase for arbitrarily high frequencies of the potential's oscillation. We explain this novel phenomenon by showing that the motion of a particle is determined by the effective potential stated in the literature only if its initial conditions are transformed according to a transformation which we show to significantly depend on the potential's initial phase for arbitrarily high frequencies. We confirm our theoretical findings by numerical simulations. Further, we demonstrate that the found phenomenon offers new ways to manipulate the dynamics of particles which are trapped by rapidly oscillating potentials. Finally, we propose a simple experiment to verify the theoretical findings of this work.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, published in PR

Sequential auctions and resale

In this thesis I study a market comprised of a sequence of auctions where buyers can choose to later resell any object they now buy. I develop a structural model of such a market and show how the possibility to resell shapes equilibrium strategies. I then estimate the model on data from classic car auctions. The model admits aggregate shocks to buyer and seller wealth and that way matches the positive empirical correlation between prices and the state of the economy. Using a separate two-period model I show analytically that the resale option may increase average prices as compared to an otherwise identical market without resale. The same two-period model shows that with aggregate shocks resale may amplify price volatility. I then evaluate the quantitative importance of these effects in a number of counterfactual experiments on the estimated model. Resale raises prices moderately but does not lead to meaningfully more volatility. Allowing (counterfactually) for instantaneous resale increases average prices and their volatility substantially. A second set of counterfactuals reveals that centralizing trade lowers prices and increases the volume of trade, thereby increasing the efficiency of the market. Price volatility remains unchanged in this scenario, even with frequent resale opportunities. An assumption in my model and several others in the literature is that bidders take a stationary distribution of rival bids as given and don't learn about that distribution from one auction to the next. This is different from the canonical model of sequential auctions in Weber (1983), where learning is present. I therefore compare the Weber model to a model where bidders face a stationary distribution of rival bids in each period. I show how equilibrium strategies differ in the two games and show that despite the differences, the two games yield the same expected prices and payoffs

The Football Factor: Shaping Community on Campus

Many American universities continue to invest in expensive intercollegiate football programs, and specifically cite the sport’s ability to foster a sense of community (SOC) as justification for the cost. This study sought to assess the importance of SOC and the influence of football on the cultivation thereof. A pre-post test design utilizing an online survey compared SOC levels for students (N = 886) before and after the implementation of Division I football on a large university campus. No significant differences were found in SOC levels before and after the football season (regardless of attendance). Post-test SOC perceptions differed based on game attendance (i.e., moderate and loyal attendees reported the highest levels). Finally, SOC had a moderate to strong positive influence on four outcome variables: Satisfaction, Retention, Current Support of Athletics, and Future Support for Athletics. This study suggests that while SOC is very important to students, at least in the short term the introduction of a football program does not foster a greater SOC for all students

Word Play: Modernist Women and Performative Writing

In Word Play: Modernist Women and Performative Writing I read modernist literary texts informed by theories about theatre, performance, and art. Exploring lesser-known works of Djuna Barnes, Gwendolyn Bennett, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Mina Loy, I combine literary analysis and performance studies to discover how modernist texts talk back to performance theories.;Performance studies, of course, is an inter-discipline that includes anthropology, sociology, performing arts, and literary theory. Modernist authors, influenced as they often are by art, performance, and ritual, incorporate these interdisciplinary interests into a writing practice, specifically performative writing. Performative writing is not so much a matter of style and form as a discursive, rhetorical practice. It presents textual moments that invoke performance and is grounded in the corporality of the body, calling attention to physical bodies in relation and movement. Because performative writing contains a rhetoric of potential action, it can have real social and political consequences. It stages a particular type of encounter between textuality and social realities, a relationship that appears in each of the primary texts I explore in this project. The work of these women is an active response to and reworking of social and political issues, and it acknowledges the complex relationship between history/politics and art/aesthetic form. I understand this labor as a modernist performance.;I do not attempt to define or demonstrate the most illustrative examples of performative writing; nor do I aim to lay out a conclusive and complete definition. Rather, I am interested in discovering how performative writing acts in the world and what effects it has. I lead with the writers themselves and map several trajectories of performative writing through these writers and their work. I chose these writers because they employ similar rhetorical strategies and have shared stylistic practices. I set the stage with Barnes to show the relation between physical violence and rhetorical violence; Bennett\u27s performativity involves breaking enforced invisibility and silence and uniting a community; Millay offers a metatheatrical performance that positions human agency against cycles of violence throughout history; and Loy gives a subjective account of the trauma of gender performance. Each chapter explores a different kind of violence and intervenes in that violence, offering commentary and critique in highbrow as well as lowbrow genres. My project demonstrates the ways in which the practice of performative writing can inform and expand our study of modernisms, genre, and gender

Large atom number dual-species magneto-optical trap for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms

We present the design, implementation and characterization of a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for fermionic 6Li and 40K atoms with large atom numbers. The MOT simultaneously contains 5.2x10^9 6Li-atoms and 8.0x10^9 40K-atoms, which are continuously loaded by a Zeeman slower for 6Li and a 2D-MOT for 40K. The atom sources induce capture rates of 1.2x10^9 6Li-atoms/s and 1.4x10^9 40K-atoms/s. Trap losses due to light-induced interspecies collisions of ~65% were observed and could be minimized to ~10% by using low magnetic field gradients and low light powers in the repumping light of both atomic species. The described system represents the starting point for the production of a large-atom number quantum degenerate Fermi-Fermi mixture

Looking at Gender Differences Through the Lens of Sport Spectators

This paper explores common assumptions about the intrinsic differences between male and female consumers within a subset of leisure consumption - sport spectating. This research utilized the Sports Interest Inventory (SII) (Funk, Mahony & Ridinger, 2002) to examine differences between spectators (N = 959) attending men\u27s and women\u27s basketball games at a NCAA Division I institution. MANOVA results revealed nine differences for Team-Gender, seven differences for Spectator-Gender, and three interaction effects. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that three core interest factors (university pride, team interest, and vicarious achievement) explained a significant proportion of variance in commitment and attendance behavior for fans of both teams. However, a number of interest factors related to Team-Gender and Spectator-Gender emerged to differentially explain levels of commitment and behavior. The results indicate that while there are some commonalities that motivate people to attend college basketball games involving athletes of each gender, there are also differences that make women\u27s basketball unique from men\u27s basketball

An Analysis of Donor Involvement, Gender, and Giving in College Athletics

Involvement has been examined extensively within the consumer behavior literature. However, limited research exists concerning involvement and charitable contributions. Additionally, because of women\u27s growing financial power, college athletic departments are increasingly interested in understanding how to attract greater numbers of female donors. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in donor involvement using Zaichkowsky\u27s (1994) Personal Involvement Inventory (PII). Several demographic characteristics of donors were also compared by gender. A sample of 1,664 donors from three NCAA Division I universities participated in this study. The PII was found to be an adequate measure of donor involvement based on the sample scores. Male and female donors differed in their level of affective involvement, annual contributions, donor longevity, and household income. These findings can be used to further our understanding of donor involvement, and to assist in the development of strategies to recruit and retain female contributors