"Coaching soccer is a man’s job!" – The influence of gender stereotypes on structures for recruiting female coaches in soccer clubs

Statistics published by the German Football Association indicate that women are significantly under-represented amongst soccer coaches, especially in the amateur leagues. In this paper we analyse how gender stereotypes influence the structural conditions surrounding the recruitment of coaches to soccer clubs that contribute to the exclusion of women from coaching positions. A qualitative study of five selected soccer clubs which are members of a German regional soccer association reveals that informal and personal decision-making practices still play a fundamental role in the recruitment of coaches. These practices undermine formal guidelines and give disproportionate weight to stereotyped preferences in the recruitment of soccer coaches. In this context, decision-makers' (functionaries') professed support of women largely serves a symbolic purpose and creates an illusion of equality concerning decisions that have already been taken at an informal level.

Tissue properties of the human vertebral body sub-structures evaluated by means of microindentation

Purpose The better understanding of vertebral mechanical properties can help to improve the diagnosis of vertebral fractures. As the bone mechanical competence depends not only from bone mineral density (BMD) but also from bone quality, the goal of the present study was to investigate the anisotropic indentation moduli of the different sub-structures of the healthy human vertebral body and spondylophytes by means of microindentation. Methods Six human vertebral bodies and five osteophytes (spondylophytes) were collected and prepared for microindentation test. In particular, indentations were performed on bone structural units of the cortical shell (along axial, circumferential and radial directions), of the endplates (along the anterio-posterior and lateral directions), of the trabecular bone (along the axial and transverse directions) and of the spondylophytes (along the axial direction). A total of 3164 indentations down to a maximum depth of 2.5 µm were performed and the indentation modulus was computed for each measurement. Results The cortical shell showed an orthotropic behavior (indentation modulus, Ei, higher if measured along the axial direction, 14.6±2.8 GPa, compared to the circumferential one, 12.3±3.5 GPa, and radial one, 8.3±3.1 GPa). Moreover, the cortical endplates (similar Ei along the antero-posterior, 13.0±2.9 GPa, and along the lateral, 12.0±3.0 GPa, directions) and the trabecular bone (Ei= 13.7±3.4 GPa along the axial direction versus Ei=10.9±3.7 GPa along the transverse one) showed transversal isotropy behavior. Furthermore, the spondylophytes showed the lower mechanical properties measured along the axial direction (Ei=10.5±3.3 GPa). Conclusions The original results presented in this study improve our understanding of vertebral biomechanics and can be helpful to define the material properties of the vertebral substructures in computational models such as FE analysis.

Measuring the bending of asymmetric planar EAP structures

The geometric characterization of low-voltage dielectric electro-active polymer (EAP) structures, comprised of nanometer thickness but areas of square centimeters, for applications such as artificial sphincters requires methods with nanometer precision. Direct optical detection is usually restricted to sub-micrometer resolution because of the wavelength of the light applied. Therefore, we propose to take advantage of the cantilever bending system with optical readout revealing a sub-micrometer resolution at the deflection of the free end. It is demonstrated that this approach allows us to detect bending of rather conventional planar asymmetric, dielectric EAP-structures applying voltages well below 10 V. For this purpose, we built 100 μm-thin silicone films between 50 nm-thin silver layers on a 25 μm-thin polyetheretherketone (PEEK) substrate. The increase of the applied voltage in steps of 50 V until 1 kV resulted in a cantilever bending that exhibits only in restricted ranges the expected square dependence. The mean laser beam displacement on the detector corresponded to 6 nm per volt. The apparatus will therefore become a powerful mean to analyze and thereby improve low-voltage dielectric EAP-structures to realize nanometer-thin layers for stack actuators to be incorporated into artificial sphincter systems for treating severe urinary and fecal incontinence.

Fluoroscopic anatomy of left-sided heart structures for transcatheter interventions: insight from multislice computed tomography.

With the introduction of transcatheter structural heart therapies, cardiologists are increasingly aware of the importance of understanding anatomical details of left-sided heart structures. Understanding fluoroscopic cardiac anatomy can facilitate optimal positioning and deployment of prostheses during transcatheter valve repair/replacement, left atrial appendage occlusion, septal defect closure, and paravalvular leak closure. It is possible to use multislice computed tomography to determine optimal fluoroscopic viewing angles for such transcatheter therapies. The purpose of this paper is to describe how optimal fluoroscopic viewing angles of left-sided heart structures can be obtained using computed tomography. Two- and 3-chamber views are described and may become standard in the context of transcatheter structural heart interventions.

SPECTRAL DOMAIN-OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY IMAGE CONTRAST AND BACKGROUND COLOR SETTINGS INFLUENCE IDENTIFICATION OF RETINAL STRUCTURES.

PURPOSE To evaluate image contrast and color setting on assessment of retinal structures and morphology in spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. METHODS Two hundred and forty-eight Spectralis spectral-domain optical coherence tomography B-scans of 62 patients were analyzed by 4 readers. B-scans were extracted in 4 settings: W + N = white background with black image at normal contrast 9; W + H = white background with black image at maximum contrast 16; B + N = black background with white image at normal contrast 12; B + H = black background with white image at maximum contrast 16. Readers analyzed the images to identify morphologic features. Interreader correlation was calculated. Differences between Fleiss-kappa correlation coefficients were examined using bootstrap method. Any setting with significantly higher correlation coefficient was deemed superior for evaluating specific features. RESULTS Correlation coefficients differed among settings. No single setting was superior for all respective spectral-domain optical coherence tomography parameters (P = 0.3773). Some variables showed no differences among settings. Hard exudates and subretinal fluid were best seen with B + H (κ = 0.46, P = 0.0237 and κ = 0.78, P = 0.002). Microaneurysms were best seen with W + N (κ = 0.56, P = 0.025). Vitreomacular interface, enhanced transmission signal, and epiretinal membrane were best identified using all color/contrast settings together (κ = 0.44, P = 0.042, κ = 0.57, P = 0.01, and κ = 0.62, P ≤ 0.0001). CONCLUSION Contrast and background affect the evaluation of retinal structures on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography images. No single setting was superior for all features, though certain changes were best seen with specific settings.