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Athletes strive to reach expert performance in sport. However, evidence has shown that the talent development environmental factors significantly influence elite performance. This review study aimed to identify and classify the environmental factors that are essential for effective talent development in sport. A number of talent development environmental factors (e.g., media coverage, sport participation rate, birthplace, long-term development, and quality preparation) emerged from the literature. They were then grouped into three categories: milieu, individuals, and provisions. Implications for the practical practice and future research regarding effective talent development were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A novel global potential energy surface for H2S+(X 4A″) based on accurateab initiocalculations is presented. Energies are calculated at the multi-reference configuration interaction level with Davidson correction using aug-cc-pVQZ basis set plus core-polarisation high-exponent d functions. A grid of 4552 points is used for the least-square fitting procedure in the frame of a many-body expansion. The topographical features of the new potential energy surface are here discussed in detail. Such a surface is then employed for dynamic studies of the S(4S) + H2(X 1Σ+g) →SH+(X 3Σ−) + H(2S) reaction using the quasi-classical trajectory method. State specific trajectories are calculated, for both ground and ro-vibrationally excited initial states of H2(X 1Σ+g). Corrections to the zero point energy leakage of the classical calculations are also presented. Calculated reaction cross sections and rate constants are here reported and compared with available literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Remote sensing of percentage residue cover (PRC) is required to manage crop residue and to provide a key parameter for several biogeochemistry models. However, the growth of the next crop, crop residue decomposition, and precipitation or irrigation can affect the spectral features of crop residue and decrease the spectral difference between crop residue and soil. These factors limit the time window of image acquisition for estimating PRC, especially for double cropping systems (two crops harvested in one year). Remote sensing sensors with a short revisit interval allow imagery to be captured for a specific period (e.g., soon after harvest) when these effects are minimal. SPOT imagery has a short revisit interval of two to three days because of its oblique viewing capacity, and provides balance between high resolution and wide-area coverage. The study aimed to investigate the potential of SPOT 5 imagery for predicting PRC in a typical area of China with a wheat (Triticum aestivum)-corn (Zea mays L.) double cropping system. A SPOT 5 image was acquired with three visible and near infrared bands and one shortwave infrared (SWIR) band, from which six normalized difference indices (NDI) were built. Wheat PRC values (n = 94) were measured immediately after wheat harvest using ground vertical photographs and divided into a calibration set (n = 62) and a validation set (n = 32). To estimate PRC, linear spectral analysis and three regression methods were used. Simple linear regression (SLR) was used for its simplicity, and stepwise regression (SR) and principal component regression (PCR) were used because they could exploit the spectral information from all available image bands. Besides, the bootstrap was used to assess the prediction uncertainty of the regression methods. The results demonstrated that the NDI41 index (derived from SWIR and green bands) performed the best among the four bands and the six indices for estimating PRC when using the SLR method, with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.588 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.114 for the validation set. This estimation accuracy was similar to that observed for the SR and PCR models and much better than that for the linear spectral analysis (R² and RMSE were 0.326 and 0.208, respectively). However, NDI41 accompanied by SLR was the optimal choice for estimating PRC because of its simplicity. These results indicate that SPOT 5 imagery could be used to estimate PRC. Therefore, this study should contribute to crop residue management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The efficacy of a boron-containing cholesteryl ester compound (BCH) as a boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) agent for the targeted irradiation of PC-3 human prostate cancer cells was examined. Materials and methods: Liposome-based delivery of BCH was quantified with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Cytotoxicity of the BCH-containing liposomes was evaluated with neutral red, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-suIfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS), and lactate dehydrogenase assays. Colony formation assays were utilized to evaluate the decrease in cell survival due to high-linear energy transfer (LET) particles resulting from 10 B thermal neutron capture. Results: BCH delivery by means of encapsulation in a lipid bilayer resulted in a boron uptake of 35.2 ±4.3 µg/109 cells, with minimal cytotoxic effects. PC-3 cells treated with BCH and exposed to a 9.4x1011 n/cm² thermal neutron fluence yielded a 20-25% decrease in clonogenic capacity. The decreased survival is attributed to the generation of high-LET α particles and 7Li nuclei that deposit energy in densely ionizing radiation tracks. Conclusion: Liposome-based delivery of BCH is capable of introducing sufficient boron to PC-3 cells for BNCT. High-LET α particles and 7Li nuclei generated from 10B thermal neutron capture significantly decrease colony formation ability in the targeted PC-3 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that examines the differences in game-related statistics in undiscriminating and discriminating female basketball teams that took part in the 1st Youth Olympic Games (YOG) FIBA 33 games in Singapore from August 15 to 23, 2010. It states that the game-related statistics that were analyzed include fouls, turnovers and blocks. Results confirm that tall players, less turnovers and aggressive offensive style are significant variables in differentiating the teams.

A new generation of medical grade 252Cf sources was developed in 2002 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The combination of small size and large activity of 252Cf makes the new source suitable to be used with the conventional high-dose-rate remote afterload-ing system for interstitial brachy therapy. A recent in-water calibration experiment showed that the measured gamma dose rates near the new source are slightly greater than the neutron dose rates, contradicting the well established neutron-to-gamma dose ratio of approximately 2:1 at locations near a 252Cf brachytherapy source. Specifically, the MCNP-predicted gamma dose rate is a factor of two lower than the measured gamma dose rate at the distance of 1 cm, and the differences between the two results gradually diminish at distances farther away from the source. To resolve this discrepancy, we updated the source gamma spectrum by including in the ORIGEN-S data library the experimentally measured 252Cf prompt gamma spectrum as well as the true 252Cf spontaneous fission yield data to explicitly model delayed gamma emissions from fission products. We also investigated the bremsstrahlung X-rays produced by the beta particles emitted from fission product decays. The results show that the discrepancy of gamma dose rates is mainly caused by the omission of the bremsstrahlung X-rays in the MCNP runs. By including the bremsstrahlung X-rays, the MCNP results show that the gamma dose rates near a new 252Cf source agree well with the measured results and that the gamma dose rates are indeed greater than the neutron dose rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the contributing factors for the increased obesity rate in China is the reduction of physical activity and exercise. With this as the backdrop, understanding Chinese students' motivation toward physical education (PE) and physical activity is a worthy area of study. The purpose of this study was to examine Chinese students' motivation for physical activity using Nicholl's (1989) achievement goal approach. A total of 984 Chinese students from six schools in mainland China participated in the survey measuring achievement goals, motivational regulation, perceived competence, attitudes toward PE, and physical activity. Using cluster analysis, four goal profiles were found. Three clusters were similar to the "highly motivated," "moderately motivated," and "lowly motivated" clusters found in previous study (Wang, Chatzisarantis, Spray, & Biddle, 2002). One additional cluster with a "moderate task/moderate ego/high perceived competence" goal profile (Cluster 2) consisted of 39.6% of the sample and was unique to the Chinese sample. This cluster was found to have the lowest external regulation and high identified regulation and intrinsic motivation; they also had the most positive attitudes toward PE and reported highest participation in physical activity. There were gender differences among the four goal profiles. The majority of the Chinese students did not have an ideal goal profile adaptive for long term motivation. Therefore, there is a need for intervention to increase the task orientation and perceived competence of Chinese students in PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report findings from a study into students' and teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of group project work (PW) in promoting students' motivation and learning. The authors gathered students' views on whether PW satisfied their basic psychological needs, affected their motivation, and created opportunities for life skills development. In addition, the authors interviewed 13 of the teachers to assess the extent to which their perceptions matched those of their students. The findings showed that, in general, the students recognized the benefits of PW and perceived themselves as fairly motivated to do PW. However, some of the teachers felt that their students' lack of motivation and competence hindered their performance in PW. Nevertheless, when teachers and students were able to reconcile their differences and reciprocate each other's expectations, PW was carried out effectively, with students and teachers benefiting from the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horizontal-Flow Roughing Filtration (HRF) is an alternative pretreatment method e.g. prior to Slow Sand Filtration (SSF). However, some of its limitations are that the effluent quality drops drastically at higher turbidity (>200NTU) and at higher filtration rate (>1m h-1). To overcome these drawbacks, we suggested Direct Horizontal-Flow Roughing Filtration (DHRF), which is a modified system of Horizontal-Flow Roughing Filtration (HRF) by addition of a low dose of coagulant prior to filtration. To optimize the DHRF configuration, a conceptual and mathematical model for the coarse compartment has been developed in analogy with multi-plate settler. Data from simple column settling test can be used in the model to predict the filter performance. Furthermore, the model developed herein has been validated by successive experiments. The conventional column settling test has been found to be handy and useful to predict the performance of DHRF for different raw water characteristics (e.g. coagulated or uncoagulated water, different amounts of organic matter, etc.) and different initial process conditions (e.g. coagulant dose, mixing time and intensity, etc.). An optimum filter design for the coarse compartment (grain size 20mm) has been found to be of 3m h-1 filtration rate with filter length of 4∼4.5m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smooth motion generation is an important issue in the computer animation and virtual reality (VR) area. In general, the motion of a rigid body consists of translation and orientation. The former is described by a space curve in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, while the latter is represented by a curve in the unit quaternion space. Although there are well-known techniques for smoothing the translation curve in the Euclidean space, few results have been reported for smoothing motion as a whole. This paper improves the previous study and provides a more robust algorithm, which seeks to minimize the weighted sum of the strain-energy and the sum of the squared errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]