Professionalisation of sport federations – A multi-level framework for analysing forms, causes and consequences

Research question: International and national sport federations as well as their member organisations are key actors within the sport system and have a wide range of relationships outside the sport system (e.g. with the state, sponsors, and the media). They are currently facing major challenges such as growing competition in top-level sports, democratisation of sports with ‘sports for all’ and sports as the answer to social problems. In this context, professionalising sport organisations seems to be an appropriate strategy to face these challenges and current problems. We define the professionalisation of sport organisations as an organisational process of transformation leading towards organisational rationalisation, efficiency and business-like management. This has led to a profound organisational change, particularly within sport federations, characterised by the strengthening of institutional management (managerialism) and the implementation of efficiency-based management instruments and paid staff. Research methods: The goal of this article is to review the current international literature and establish a global understanding of and theoretical framework for analysing why and how sport organisations professionalise and what consequences this may have. Results and findings: Our multi-level approach based on the social theory of action integrates the current concepts for analysing professionalisation in sport federations. We specify the framework for the following research perspectives: (1) forms, (2) causes and (3) consequences, and discuss the reciprocal relations between sport federations and their member organisations in this context. Implications: Finally, we work out a research agenda and derive general methodological consequences for the investigation of professionalisation processes in sport organisations.

Multiple imputation for missing continuous and dichotomous data: The effects of patterns of missingness and variable correlations on type I error with small samples

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of predictor variable correlations and patterns of missingness with dichotomous and/or continuous data in small samples when missing data is multiply imputed. Missing data of predictor variables is multiply imputed under three different multivariate models: the multivariate normal model for continuous data, the multinomial model for dichotomous data and the general location model for mixed dichotomous and continuous data. Subsequent to the multiple imputation process, Type I error rates of the regression coefficients obtained with logistic regression analysis are estimated under various conditions of correlation structure, sample size, type of data and patterns of missing data. The distributional properties of average mean, variance and correlations among the predictor variables are assessed after the multiple imputation process. ^ For continuous predictor data under the multivariate normal model, Type I error rates are generally within the nominal values with samples of size n = 100. Smaller samples of size n = 50 resulted in more conservative estimates (i.e., lower than the nominal value). Correlation and variance estimates of the original data are retained after multiple imputation with less than 50% missing continuous predictor data. For dichotomous predictor data under the multinomial model, Type I error rates are generally conservative, which in part is due to the sparseness of the data. The correlation structure for the predictor variables is not well retained on multiply-imputed data from small samples with more than 50% missing data with this model. For mixed continuous and dichotomous predictor data, the results are similar to those found under the multivariate normal model for continuous data and under the multinomial model for dichotomous data. With all data types, a fully-observed variable included with variables subject to missingness in the multiple imputation process and subsequent statistical analysis provided liberal (larger than nominal values) Type I error rates under a specific pattern of missing data. It is suggested that future studies focus on the effects of multiple imputation in multivariate settings with more realistic data characteristics and a variety of multivariate analyses, assessing both Type I error and power. ^

Pricing and Policy Problems in the Northeast Fluid Milk Industry

This article documents the need for reform of milk pricing in the Northeast. The New York price gouging law can be recast as a fair share law. This new milk policy “kills two birds with one stone.” It corrects regional inequities in raw milk pricing by reforming the pricing of milk at retail by limiting and redistributing excessive retail margins to farmers and consumers. The fair share policy relieves allocative price inefficiency, improves the performance of the federal milk market order pool, and the general performance of the Northeast dairy farming and fluid milk industries.

The contributions of the hippocampal formation, perirhinal cortex and areas TH/TF to object, spatial and contextual recognition memory in primates

Adult monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with lesions of the hippocampal formation, perirhinal cortex, areas TH/TF, as well as controls were tested on tasks of object, spatial and contextual recognition memory. ^ Using a visual paired-comparison (VPC) task, all experimental groups showed a lack of object recognition relative to controls, although this impairment emerged at 10 sec with perirhinal lesions, 30 sec with areas TH/TF lesions and 60 sec with hippocampal lesions. In contrast, only perirhinal lesions impaired performance on delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMS), another task of object recognition memory. All groups were tested on DNMS with distraction (dDNMS) to examine whether the use of active cognitive strategies during the delay period could enable good performance on DNMS in spite of impaired recognition memory (revealed by the VPC task). Distractors affected performance of animals with perirhinal lesions at the 10-sec delay (the only delay in which their DNMS performance was above chance). They did not affect performance of animals with areas TH/TF lesions. Hippocampectomized animals were impaired at the 600-sec delay (the only delay at which prevention of active strategies would likely affect their behavior). ^ While lesions of areas TH/TF impaired spatial location memory and object-in-place memory, hippocampal lesions impaired only object-in-place memory. The pattern of results for perirhinal cortex lesions on the different task conditions indicated that this cortical area is not critical for spatial memory. ^ Finally, all three lesions impaired contextual recognition memory processes. The pattern of impairment appeared to result from the formation of only a global representation of the object and background, and suggests that all three areas are recruited for associating information across sources. ^ These results support the view that (1) the perirhinal cortex maintains storage of information about object and the context in which it is learned for a brief period of time, (2) areas TH/TF maintain information about spatial location and form associations between objects and their spatial relationship (a process that likely requires additional time) and (3) the hippocampal formation mediates associations between objects, their spatial relationship and the general context in which these associations are formed (an integrative function that requires additional time). ^

Pliocene and Pleistocene abundance of siliceous microfossil assemblages in ODP Leg 127 sites

A close examination of the siliceous microfossil assemblages from the sediments of ODP Leg 127, Japan Sea Sites 794, 795, and 797, reveals that upper Pliocene and Pleistocene assemblages have been subjected to more dissolution than have lower Pliocene assemblages. This conclusion is based on semiquantitative observations of samples processed for diatoms and radiolarians. Although preservation of opaline microfossils in some upper Pliocene and Pleistocene samples is better than others, in general, the poorly preserved state of these assemblages supports the notion that opal dissolution, in response to lowered productivity, is responsible for the paucity of siliceous microfossils in upper Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments. The lithological transition from diatomaceous oozes to silts and clays corresponds to a change between dominantly well preserved to more poorly preserved siliceous assemblages, and is termed the late Pliocene Japan Sea opal dissolution transition zone (ODTZ). The base of the ODTZ is defined as the uppermost occurrence of high abundances of moderately to well preserved valves of the diatom Coscinodiscus marginatus. The dissolution transition zone is characterized by partially dissolved refractory assemblages of radiolarians, the presence of C. marginatus girdles, C. marginatus fragments, siliceous sponge spicules, and a general decrease in weakly silicified, less solution resistant diatoms upward in the section. The top of the dissolution transition zone marks the level where whole C. marginatus valves and C. marginatus fragments are no longer present in significant numbers. Dissolution of the late Pliocene and Pleistocene opaline assemblages is attributed mainly to changes in paleoceanographic circulation patterns and decreased nutrient (dissolved silicon) contents of the water column, and possibly dissolution at the sediment/water interface, rather than to post-depositional dissolution or diagenesis. We suggest that the transition from silica-rich to silica-poor conditions in the Japan Sea was due to fluctuations of deep-water exchange with the Pacific through the Tsugaru Strait between 2.9 and 2.3 Ma.

Panorama general 1970 al 2005 de la matrícula y el egreso universitarios en México como indicadores de la tensión en el mercado laboral

En este trabajo se presentan algunos avances de un proyecto sobre empleo profesional de egresados de universidades públicas y privadas en México. Concretamente se describen los resultados de la fase de indagación cuantitativa de las características de la matrícula y el egreso de nivel universitario por área de estudio, carrera y régimen, de 1970 al 2005, para la población total a nivel nacional, así como algunas características de la participación laboral de nivel profesional. El trabajo se centra en la población de instituciones públicas y privadas por la presencia creciente de estas últimas en la atención de la demanda y para comprender un mercado laboral que parece cada vez más competido y diferenciado por origen institucional. Partimos del supuesto de que la exploración cuantitativa de la dinámica de la educación superior en México en los últimos 35 años, ofrece elementos para conocer algunas de las características de los mercados laborales de nivel profesional y sus niveles de tensión por saturación. En este sentido, la indagación cuantitativa del estudio es una dimensión, entre otras, que contribuye en cierta medida a la comprensión del papel de la educación en el mercado laboral y, en general, de la función social de la educación, dos de los objetivos más amplios del proyecto en el que se enmarca lo que aquí se expone

El cambio en la designación general de material (DGM) de las AACR a las RDA : Definición de los atributos tipo de contenido, tipo de medio y tipo de soporte

Se aborda el estudio de los atributos tipo de contenido, tipo de medio y tipo de soporte definidos por el código de catalogación Resource Description and Access (RDA) para solucionar los problemas que presentaba la lista de términos utilizadas para registrar la designación general de material (DGM) en las Anglo American Cataloging Rules (AACR). Los términos eran ambiguos combinando aspectos referidos al contenido y clase de material del recurso. Se parte de una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica y del estudio de los documentos que se generaron en el proceso de elaboración del nuevo código. Se menciona el trabajo conjunto entre el Joint Steering Committee (JSC) y el estándar ONIX para el establecimiento de criterios que permitieron definir estos tres atributos, así como el aporte del modelo FRBR en la definición de los mismos. Se presentan ejemplos de registros bibliográficos donde se utilizan estos tres atributos en formato MARC21, ISBD consolidada a partir de la definición del área 0 y en el esquema de metadatos Dublin Core. Se finaliza destacando la necesidad de continuar con investigaciones que permitan concluir sobre la adecuación de estos tres atributos a las necesidades de los catalogadores, usuarios y a la realidad tecnológica

Sedimentology, foraminiferal assemblage, and isotope record of the Agulhas Bank region

The Agulhas Bank region, south of Africa, is an oceanographically important and complex area. The leakage of warm saline Indian Ocean water into the South Atlantic around the southern tip of Africa is a crucial factor in the global thermohaline circulation. Foraminiferal assemblage, stable isotope and sedimentological data from the top 10 m of core MD962080, recovered from the western Agulhas Bank Slope, are used to indicate changes in water mass circulation in the southeastern South Atlantic for the last 450 kyr. Sedimentological and planktonic foraminiferal data give clear signals of cold water intrusions. The benthic stable isotope record provides the stratigraphic framework and indicates that the last four climatic cycles are represented (i.e. down to marine isotope stage (MIS) 12). The planktonic foraminiferal assemblages bear a clear transitional to subantarctic character with Globorotalia inflata and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (dextral) being the dominant taxa. Input of cold, subantarctic waters into the region by means of leakage through the Subtropical Convergence, as part of Agulhas ring shedding, and a general cooling of surface waters is suggested by increased occurrence of the subantarctic assemblage during glacial periods. Variable input of Indian Ocean waters via the Agulhas Current is indicated by the presence of tropical/subtropical planktonic foraminiferal species Globoquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinoides ruber (alba) and Globorotalia menardii with maximum leakage occurring at glacial terminations. The continuous presence of G. menardii throughout the core suggests that the exchange of water from the South Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic Ocean was never entirely obstructed in the last 450 kyr. The benthic carbon isotope record and sediment textural data reflect a change in bottom water masses over the core location from North Atlantic Deep Water to Upper Southern Component Water. Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and sediment composition indicate a profound change in surface water conditions over the core site approximately 200-250 kyr BP, during MIS 7, from mixed subantarctic and transitional water masses to overall warmer surface water conditions.

Penetration velocity and deceleration of penetrometer stations N1 to N97 during cruise Senckenberg_11_2008

In-situ geotechnical measurements of surface sediments were carried out along large subaqueous dunes in the Knudedyb tidal inlet channel in the Danish Wadden Sea using a small free-falling penetrometer. Vertical profiles showed a typical stratification pattern with a resolution of ~1 cm depicting a thin surface layer of low sediment strength and a stiffer substratum below (quasi-static bearing capacity equivalent: 1-3 kPa in the top layer, 20-140 kPa in the underlying sediment; thickness of the top layer ca. 5-8 cm). Observed variations in the thickness and strength of the surface layer during a tidal cycle were compared to mean current velocities (measured using an acoustic Doppler current profiler, ADCP), high-resolution bathymetry (based on multibeam echo sounding, MBES) and qualitative estimates of suspended sediment distributions in the water column (estimated from ADCP backscatter intensity). The results revealed an ebb dominance in sediment remobilization, and a general accretion of the bed towards low water. A loose top layer occurred throughout the tidal cycle, likely influenced by bedload transport and small events of suspended sediment resettlement (thickness: 6 +-2 cm). Furthermore, this layer showed a significant increase in thickness (e.g. from 8 cm to 16 cm) related to periods of overall deposition. These findings imply that dynamic penetrometers can conveniently serve to (1) quantify potentially mobile sediments by determining the thickness of a loose sediment surface layer, (2) unravel sediment strength development in potentially mobile sediments and (3) identify sediment accumulation. Such data are an important complement and add a new geotechnical perspective during investigations of sediment remobilization processes in highly dynamic coastal environments.

Panorama general 1970 al 2005 de la matrícula y el egreso universitarios en México como indicadores de la tensión en el mercado laboral

En este trabajo se presentan algunos avances de un proyecto sobre empleo profesional de egresados de universidades públicas y privadas en México. Concretamente se describen los resultados de la fase de indagación cuantitativa de las características de la matrícula y el egreso de nivel universitario por área de estudio, carrera y régimen, de 1970 al 2005, para la población total a nivel nacional, así como algunas características de la participación laboral de nivel profesional. El trabajo se centra en la población de instituciones públicas y privadas por la presencia creciente de estas últimas en la atención de la demanda y para comprender un mercado laboral que parece cada vez más competido y diferenciado por origen institucional. Partimos del supuesto de que la exploración cuantitativa de la dinámica de la educación superior en México en los últimos 35 años, ofrece elementos para conocer algunas de las características de los mercados laborales de nivel profesional y sus niveles de tensión por saturación. En este sentido, la indagación cuantitativa del estudio es una dimensión, entre otras, que contribuye en cierta medida a la comprensión del papel de la educación en el mercado laboral y, en general, de la función social de la educación, dos de los objetivos más amplios del proyecto en el que se enmarca lo que aquí se expone

El cambio en la designación general de material (DGM) de las AACR a las RDA : Definición de los atributos tipo de contenido, tipo de medio y tipo de soporte

Se aborda el estudio de los atributos tipo de contenido, tipo de medio y tipo de soporte definidos por el código de catalogación Resource Description and Access (RDA) para solucionar los problemas que presentaba la lista de términos utilizadas para registrar la designación general de material (DGM) en las Anglo American Cataloging Rules (AACR). Los términos eran ambiguos combinando aspectos referidos al contenido y clase de material del recurso. Se parte de una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica y del estudio de los documentos que se generaron en el proceso de elaboración del nuevo código. Se menciona el trabajo conjunto entre el Joint Steering Committee (JSC) y el estándar ONIX para el establecimiento de criterios que permitieron definir estos tres atributos, así como el aporte del modelo FRBR en la definición de los mismos. Se presentan ejemplos de registros bibliográficos donde se utilizan estos tres atributos en formato MARC21, ISBD consolidada a partir de la definición del área 0 y en el esquema de metadatos Dublin Core. Se finaliza destacando la necesidad de continuar con investigaciones que permitan concluir sobre la adecuación de estos tres atributos a las necesidades de los catalogadores, usuarios y a la realidad tecnológica

Panorama general 1970 al 2005 de la matrícula y el egreso universitarios en México como indicadores de la tensión en el mercado laboral

En este trabajo se presentan algunos avances de un proyecto sobre empleo profesional de egresados de universidades públicas y privadas en México. Concretamente se describen los resultados de la fase de indagación cuantitativa de las características de la matrícula y el egreso de nivel universitario por área de estudio, carrera y régimen, de 1970 al 2005, para la población total a nivel nacional, así como algunas características de la participación laboral de nivel profesional. El trabajo se centra en la población de instituciones públicas y privadas por la presencia creciente de estas últimas en la atención de la demanda y para comprender un mercado laboral que parece cada vez más competido y diferenciado por origen institucional. Partimos del supuesto de que la exploración cuantitativa de la dinámica de la educación superior en México en los últimos 35 años, ofrece elementos para conocer algunas de las características de los mercados laborales de nivel profesional y sus niveles de tensión por saturación. En este sentido, la indagación cuantitativa del estudio es una dimensión, entre otras, que contribuye en cierta medida a la comprensión del papel de la educación en el mercado laboral y, en general, de la función social de la educación, dos de los objetivos más amplios del proyecto en el que se enmarca lo que aquí se expone

El cambio en la designación general de material (DGM) de las AACR a las RDA : Definición de los atributos tipo de contenido, tipo de medio y tipo de soporte

Se aborda el estudio de los atributos tipo de contenido, tipo de medio y tipo de soporte definidos por el código de catalogación Resource Description and Access (RDA) para solucionar los problemas que presentaba la lista de términos utilizadas para registrar la designación general de material (DGM) en las Anglo American Cataloging Rules (AACR). Los términos eran ambiguos combinando aspectos referidos al contenido y clase de material del recurso. Se parte de una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica y del estudio de los documentos que se generaron en el proceso de elaboración del nuevo código. Se menciona el trabajo conjunto entre el Joint Steering Committee (JSC) y el estándar ONIX para el establecimiento de criterios que permitieron definir estos tres atributos, así como el aporte del modelo FRBR en la definición de los mismos. Se presentan ejemplos de registros bibliográficos donde se utilizan estos tres atributos en formato MARC21, ISBD consolidada a partir de la definición del área 0 y en el esquema de metadatos Dublin Core. Se finaliza destacando la necesidad de continuar con investigaciones que permitan concluir sobre la adecuación de estos tres atributos a las necesidades de los catalogadores, usuarios y a la realidad tecnológica

Neogene and Paleocene-Maestrichtian calcareous nannofossils in sediments of the upper continental rise off New Jersey

Maestrichtian to Holocene calcareous nannofossils from two closely spaced sites on the upper continental rise some 100 miles (161 km) southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, were zoned in order to help date a major canyon-cutting event in the late Miocene and to delineate and correlate other hiatuses with seismic stratigraphy. Mid-middle Eocene through middle Miocene sediments (Zones CP14 to CN6) were not recovered in these holes, but nearly all other zones are accounted for. The Eocene section is described in a companion chapter (Applegate and Wise, 1987, doi:10.2973/dsdp.proc.93.118.1987). Nannofossils are generally sparse and moderately preserved in the clastic sediments of Site 604. Sedimentation rates are extremely high for the upper Pleistocene (201 m/m.y. minimum) above a hiatus calculated to span 0.44 to 1.1 Ma. The associated disconformity is correlated with local seismic reflection Horizon Pr . Sedimentation rates continue to be high (93 m/m.y.) down to a second hiatus in the upper Pliocene dated from about 2.4 to 2.9 (or possibly 3.3) Ma. The disconformity associated with this hiatus is correlated with local seismic reflection Horizon P2 and regional Reflector Blue, which can be interpreted to mark either the onset of Northern Hemisphere continental glaciation or circulation changes associated with the closure of the Central American Seaway. Sedimentation rates in the pre-glacial lower Pliocene are only about a third those in the glacial upper Pliocene. A prominent disconformity in the upper Miocene marks a major lithologic boundary that separates Messinian(?) glauconitic claystones above from lower Tortonian conglomeratic debris flows and turbidites below. The debris flows recovered are assigned to nannofossil Zones CN8a and CN7, but drilling difficulties prevented penetration of the bottom of this sequence some 100 m below the terminal depth of the hole. Correlation of the lower bounding seismic reflector (M2/Merlin?) to a drift sequence drilled on the lower rise at DSDP Site 603, however, predicts that the debris flows began close to the beginning of the late Miocene (upper Zone CN6 time) at about 10.5 Ma. The debris flows represent a major canyon-cutting event that we correlate with the beginning of the particularly severe late Miocene glaciations believed to be associated with the formation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The existence of these spectacular debris flows strongly suggest that the late Miocene glacio-eustatic low stand occurred during Vail Cycle TM3.1 (lower Tortonian) rather than during Vail Cycle TM3.2 (Messinian) as originally published. Beneath a set of coalesced regional disconformities centered upon seismic reflection Horizon Au, coccoliths are abundant and in general are moderately preserved at Site 605 in a 619-m carbonate section extending from the middle Eocene Zone CP13b to the upper Maestrichtian Lithraphidites quadratus Zone. Sedimentation rates are 37 m/m.y. in the Eocene down to a condensed interval near the base (Zone CP9). A disconformity is suspected near the Eocene/Paleocene boundary. Sedimentation rates for the upper Paleocene Zone CP8 are similar to those of the Eocene, but Zones CP7 and CP6 lie within another condensed interval. The highest Paleocene rates are 67 m/m.y. down through Zones CP5 and CP4 to a major disconformity that separates the upper Paleocene from the Danian. This hiatus spans about 2.6 m.y. (upper Zone CP3 to lower Zone CP2) and corresponds to the major sea-level drop at the base of Vail Cycle TE2.1. As the most prominent break in this Paleogene section, it may correspond to seismic reflection Horizon A* of the North American Basin. Sedimentation rates from this point to the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary drop to 11 m/m.y., still high for a Paleocene DSDP section. No major break in deposition could be detected at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.

Total and species abundance of Polychaeta during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXIV/2, ANDEEP-SYSTCO, in the Southern Ocean

In the course of the ANDEEP-SYSTCO project, during the ANT XXIV-2 expedition in austral summer 2007/2008, the diversity and composition of the Polychaeta of the Antarctic deep-sea and adjacent South Atlantic basins were analyzed. A total of 847 individuals of 31 families were found belonging to 86 different species. Calculation of diversity (Shannon-Wiener Index, Pielou's Evenness) and the general species composition of Polychaeta showed patterns typical for the deep sea, with high species richness and low abundances. Lowest diversity was found in the Agulhas Basin in over 4000 m water depth. Lowest Evenness was found on top of Maud Rise where one-third of all Polychaeta belonged to one species. Cluster analyses resulted in higher affinities of Maud Rise to the Agulhas Basin than to the Antarctic continental slope. Explanations are sought in similarities of environmental factors (e.g., sediment, food input).