Professional Amateur Research Articles

Not so ‘dumb money’? Constituting professionals and amateurs in the history of finance capitalism

This article examines the historically contentious relationship between the financial market and the public as discussed in academic literature, financial journalism and prescriptive how-to invest handbooks during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although financial markets thrive off active public participation, speculating at stock and commodity exchanges has been a sanctioned ritual reserved for a privileged minority. We argue that the financial establishment’s intent to control market access through financial entry-barriers (such as exchange membership fees and margin requirements) has been part of a bigger story we need to understand: a history of delegitimating uninitiated ‘lay speculators’ through the construction of exclusionary narratives about unfit amateur investors and morally corrupt publics. We conceptualize this process as an ongoing and delicate boundary-making exercise contributing to a market participation discourse that has been characterized by a set of reductive binaries, such as those of insider–outsider, professional–amateur and speculator–gambler. We show, however, that attempts to delineate popular participation in financial markets through these binaries have been complicated by the idea that besides being a force of market instability and collective irrationality, the public was a largely untapped source of liquidity. We argue that today’s discourse on public participation in financial markets resuscitates these simplified narratives and propose a more nuanced view of non-professional market participants being both destabilizers and liquidity-providers.

A dragon’s flame of many colours: multiwavelength observations of flares from the active M binary CR Draconis

ABSTRACT We present the results of a multiwavelength Professional–Amateur campaign to study the behaviour of flares from the active M1.5V star binary CR Draconis. CR Dra was observed with Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) 20-s photometry, Swift near-ultraviolet (NUV) grism spectroscopy and with ground-based optical photometry and spectroscopy from a global collaboration of amateur astronomers. We detected 14 flares with TESS and Swift simultaneously, one of which also had simultaneous ground-based photometry and spectroscopy. We used the simultaneous two-colour optical and NUV observations to characterize the temperature evolution of the flare and test the accuracy of using optical data to predict NUV emission. We measured a peak temperature of $7100^{+150}_{-130}$ K for this flare, cooler than the typically assumed 9000 K blackbody model used by flare studies. We also found that the 9000 K blackbody overestimated the NUV flux for other flares in our sample, which we attributed to our Swift observations occurring during flare decays, highlighting the phase-dependence for the accuracy of flare models.

A whole genome sequencing approach to anterior cruciate ligament rupture-a twin study in two unrelated families.

Predisposition to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is multi-factorial, with variation in the genome considered a key intrinsic risk factor. Most implicated loci have been identified from candidate gene-based approach using case-control association settings. Here, we leverage a hypothesis-free whole genome sequencing in two two unrelated families (Family A and B) each with twins with a history of recurrent ACL ruptures acquired playing rugby as their primary sport, aimed to elucidate biologically relevant function-altering variants and genetic modifiers in ACL rupture. Family A monozygotic twin males (Twin 1 and Twin 2) both sustained two unilateral non-contact ACL ruptures of the right limb while playing club level touch rugby. Their male sibling sustained a bilateral non-contact ACL rupture while playing rugby union was also recruited. The father had sustained a unilateral non-contact ACL rupture on the right limb while playing professional amateur level football and mother who had participated in dancing for over 10 years at a social level, with no previous ligament or tendon injuries were both recruited. Family B monozygotic twin males (Twin 3 and Twin 4) were recruited with Twin 3 who had sustained a unilateral non-contact ACL rupture of the right limb and Twin 4 sustained three non-contact ACL ruptures (two in right limb and one in left limb), both while playing provincial level rugby union. Their female sibling participated in karate and swimming activities; and mother in hockey (4 years) horse riding (15 years) and swimming, had both reported no previous history of ligament or tendon injury. Variants with potential deleterious, loss-of-function and pathogenic effects were prioritised. Identity by descent, molecular dynamic simulation and functional partner analyses were conducted. We identified, in all nine affected individuals, including twin sets, non-synonymous SNPs in three genes: COL12A1 and CATSPER2, and KCNJ12 that are commonly enriched for deleterious, loss-of-function mutations, and their dysfunctions are known to be involved in the development of chronic pain, and represent key therapeutic targets. Notably, using Identity By Decent (IBD) analyses a long shared identical sequence interval which included the LINC01250 gene, around the telomeric region of chromosome 2p25.3, was common between affected twins in both families, and an affected brother’. Overall gene sets were enriched in pathways relevant to ACL pathophysiology, including complement/coagulation cascades (p = 3.0e-7), purine metabolism (p = 6.0e-7) and mismatch repair (p = 6.9e-5) pathways. Highlighted, is that this study fills an important gap in knowledge by using a WGS approach, focusing on potential deleterious variants in two unrelated families with a historical record of ACL rupture; and providing new insights into the pathophysiology of ACL, by identifying gene sets that contribute to variability in ACL risk.

Prevalence and mechanisms of abdominal pain development among athletes during exercise (results of an online survey)

Objective: to study the frequency and intensity of abdominal pain that occurs in professional and amateur athletes during endurance sports.Materials and methods: a single-stage cross-sectional study was carried out. A questionnaire was developed, the questionnaire included questions about the training process and about the presence and nature of abdominal pain. The intensity of abdominal pain have been assessed by a 7-point scale. The survey involved 107 people aged 18 to 29 years (average age 21.58 ± 2.86 years). Participation in the study was offered to students of the Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sports (SibGUFC) and the Omsk Olympic Reserve School (UOR Omsk), who are professionally engaged in endurance sports (long-distance running, cycling and swimming), as well as amateur athletes who study at Omsk State Medical University (OmSMU). Among the respondents, 43 (40.19%) were men and 64 (59.81%) were women. 45 (42.68%) people are engaged in professional sports, and 62 (57.94%) amateur athletes were surveyed.Results: abdominal pain occurred in 37 (82.22%) professional athletes and 22 (83.87%) amateur athletes. When comparing the intensity of pain during training in professional athletes (3.75±2.32) and amateurs (2.5+-1.42), it was revealed that the intensity of pain is greater in professional athletes (p=0.004). 22 (59.46%) people among professionals and 34 (65.38%) among amateurs noted the localized nature of pain. The majority of the questionnaire participants in two groups indicated the stabbing nature of pain - 21 (56.76%) professionals, 28 (53.85%) amateur athletes. 26 (70.27%) and 34 (65.38%) respondents in the groups of professional and amateur athletes, respectively, note that they had to reduce the intensity of exercise.Conclusion: sports are associated with the development of abdominal pain among both amateur and professional athletes, which requires a reduction in the intensity of physical activity. The intensity of abdominal pain is higher in professional athletes engaged in endurance sports. The results obtained require the development of appropriate measures to prevent the development of abdominal pain in athletes during exercise.

Ru-Birds.RU, bird observations from Russia and neighbouring regions: an occurrence dataset.

BackgroundThe dataset covers bird observation occurrences in Russia and neighbouring regions (ex-USSR countries and some other countries of Eastern and Western Europe) from 2001–2021. It is based on the internet platform “Online bird observation diaries” (ru-birds.ru), which allows professional ornithologists and amateur bird lovers to exchange their results and to jointly build a common collection of data. The taxonomic backbone of the occurrence dataset follows the standardised GBIF checklist dataset to ensure correct cross-linking of the names.Currently, the database contains 541,900 records of occurrences of 713 bird species, which makes it the largest dataset on birds of Russia and neighbouring regions published in GBIF.New informationThe occurrence dataset contributes to filling gaps in the bird distribution in Russia and Eastern Europe. It can be used for a deeper look at their populations, phenology and migrations over this area. The availability of special tools for verification of the entered information makes the database a valuable tool for analysing occurrences of non-native species, studying vagrancy, immigration, invasions and range dynamics.The dataset is regularly updated. Over the 11 months of 2021, it has increased by 98,165 occurrences.

The Formation of the Professional Arts and Entertainment Music Development Paradigm on the Case of Album Home Music of the ХІХ - Beginning the ХХ Century

Relevance of the study. Through the prism of the tradition of home music of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, the music albums that formed the basis of the repertoire of home music salons are considered. The example of two noble families from Lviv and Odessa shows the importance of such collections for the formation of the individual's personality, perception of the world and spiritual development, as well as influence on the formation of aesthetic tastes. The genre features of the works included in the collections as well as the quantitative correlation of professional composers and amateur composers are analyzed. The main ground in the development of amateur art was home music. Professional music activity for Ukrainians Galicia was almost inaccessible, so they played mainly in a home atmosphere and could reach only the level of amateurism. Families of composer-priests, who essentially made up the elite of the Ukrainian milieu, played a decisive role in this, and accordingly, a special role in the development of Galician musical culture belongs to them. On the example of the tradition of home music, the stratification of the development of musical art into professional and entertaining is explored. The influence of representatives of the "peremyshl school" on professional art, spiritual creativity and entertaining, salon music is considered. The influence of the Austro-German popular Leadertafel songs and Biedermeier style, which, on the example of the albums analyzed, formed the basis of music collections and, in general, had a direct impact on the formation of both professional choral and spiritual composer art and "light" music. The combination of samples of "high", "low" culture and kitsch played an important role in the process of final creation of the "style face" of national music art and the establishment of the paradigm of the national composing school.

Amateur hour: The dominance of purposive benefits among local political party chairs

AbstractObjectivePrevailing theories posit some party activists are amateurs, driven primarily by purposive benefits, while other activists are professionals, motivated mostly by material benefits. The decline of patronage and the rise of polarization suggest re‐examining the relevancy of this distinction.MethodsThe study uses data from a 2019 survey of 1,060 local party chairs in the United States, covering 49 states.ResultsMost respondents are motivated by purposive benefits, while career motivations are relatively rare. Those who do derive material benefits are only slightly more centrist than their peers and are no more pragmatic and no less likely to derive purposive benefits. A substantial segment of local chairs are interested in seeking elective office, but the motivations of these individuals with ambitions connected to party activism are dominated by purposive benefits as much as those of the unambitious.ConclusionThe study demonstrates the professional–amateur typology no longer accurately characterizes local party activists.

INVESTIGATION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC PERIOD OF AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS

The aim of this study is to examine the physical activity levels of amateur and professional football players during the covid-19 pandemic period. For this purpose, 54 amateur female, 69 amateur male and 36 professional male football players participated in the study. The long version of the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to determine the physical activity levels of the participants. SPSS 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) program was used for statistical processing of the data. Values were presented as minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation, and standard error. Significance level was accepted as p<0.05. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for normality test. One Way Anova and LSD tests were performed to analyze the differences between groups. As a result of the statistical analysis, a significant difference was found in the total MET scores of amateur women and amateur men for home-garden work (p<0.05). A significant difference was found in the transportation section bicycle MET scores of the professional male and amateur female groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the MET scores of the age and sports age groups of the participants (p>0.05). As a result, it can be said that the physical activity levels of amateur women, amateur men and professional men groups are low.
 
 <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0729/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Mapping the 'funny bone': neuroanatomical correlates of humor creativity in professional comedians.

What are the neuroanatomical correlates of expertise in a specific creative domain? Professional comedians, amateurs and controls underwent a T1 MRI anatomical scan. Measures of cortical surface area (gyrification and sulcal depth) and thickness were extracted for each participant. Compared to controls, professional comedians had a greater cortical surface area in the left inferior temporal gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus and right medial prefrontal cortex. These regions have been previously implicated in abstract, divergent thinking and the default-mode network. The high degree of overlap between the regions of greater surface area in professional comedians with the regions showing greater activation in the same group during comedy improvisation in our previous work (particularly the temporal regions and angular gyrus) suggests that these regions may be specifically involved in humor creativity.

Hot Girls Wanted and the Ethics of Critiquing Agency in Amateur Porn

In this edited interview, psychologists Nisha Gupta and Eric Greene have a conversation with filmmakers Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus about their documentary film Hot Girls Wanted (2015), which is a first-ever look at the realities of the professional amateur porn world and the 18- to 19-year old young women entering into it. This dialogue explores the relationships they developed with the young women they filmed, the ethical questions that arose when pursuing this kind of project, and the challenge in holding the tension between young women’s agency who engage in porn versus the social critique surrounding the amateur porn industry. Ronna and Jill have since gone on to produce the six-part Netflix documentary series: Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On, which explores these questions further.

Smartphone photography and its socio-economic life in China: An ethnographic analysis

The smartphone is perhaps one of the few items that can define our time in terms of its ubiquity and mobility. The photographic feature of various types of smartphones has also drawn the attention of consumers and manufacturers in recent years, with the consecutive upgrades of built-in cameras, photo-editing and sharing apps. From the taking, retouching, to publishing a photograph, smartphone photography, coupled with social media, has become important in understanding the relationships between digital image and sociality, aesthetics and identity. This article examines several new developments such as the rise of ‘professional amateurs’ and the selfie within the Chinese context. It then attempts to develop theories of smartphone photography that incorporate these developments. Using ethnographic analysis and interviews, this article aims to theorize smartphone photography as a series of practices that reveal local and individual specifications that traverse technicity, sociality and aesthetics. It shows how this has had a significant impact on Chinese people’s economic and social life.

Sums of Powers Via Matrices

Power sums of integers have always been fascinating for professional mathematicians and amateurs alike. There is something intriguing about these sums, a mixture of complexity and simplicity that h...

Долголетие: от социальной практики к социальной технологии

Russian research projects on longevity are actively proceeding in line with social constructivism. Since Russian researchers, according to some Western theorists (P. Bourdieu, K. Popper, D. Buettner and others), have long been held captive by historicist il-lusions, it is fundamentally important that the concept of longevity discussed in Russian literature should not be an “utopian” but a “gradual, step-by-step” kind of social engineering as a purposeful activity to improve social reality. It has to include not so-cial practices, but rather technologies because of their greater effectiveness. This article aims to reveal the peculiarity of social technologies of longevity. The main problem is the demarcation between social practices and technology of longevity. The peculiarity of social technologies of longevity in relation to social practices is revealed in the grid of categories, such as spontaneous–conscious (goal), professional–amateur (activity), and scientific–extra-scientific (knowledge). Ideally, any social technology tends to become a practice and get a residence permit in the structures of the everyday world.

Tenure matters for team cohesion and performance: the moderating role of trust in the coach

ABSTRACT Research question: This study examines team performance as a function of team tenure, cohesion and trust in the coach. Specifically, we propose a moderated-mediation model to explain whether it translates into an objective measure of future team performance. Research methods: The study sample consists of 668 players from 73 professional and top amateur basketball league teams in Catalonia, Spain. Data collection consisted of a survey performed during a regular training session held at the beginning of the second part of the season as well as objective and subjective team performance indicators. Results and findings: Our findings suggest that the indirect effect of team tenure on performance through team cohesion is only significant for high and medium levels of cognitive trust in the coach and low levels of affective trust in the coach. Implications: These findings provide evidence that explains trust's contribution to fostering team dynamics and how team tenure translates into future team performance. The practical implications of this study suggest that simply promoting team cohesion without taking into account the cognitive trust in the coach will not necessarily increase performance. Therefore, coaches and managers must invest in the amount of work they do with team members and their skills in order to ensure team members have high cognitive trust in them.

New records of three Eurytomidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) associated with Stipa arabica Trin. & Rupr. (Poaceae) in Iran

ABSTRACT Despite the valuable scientific contributions of professional workers and amateur naturalists our knowledge of galls is still poorly known in Iran. In this study three species of the genus Eurytoma Illiger, viz Eurytoma collaris Walker, 1832, Eurytoma differta Zerova, 1977 and Eurytoma stepposa Zerova, 1980 reared from Stipa arabica Trin. & Rupr. (Poaceae) were reported for the first time for the fauna of Iran, collected from Kerman province in 2000. Diagnostic characters, short taxonomic comments and geographical distribution of these species are briefly mentioned.

SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF THE PEOPLES OF KABARDINO-BALKARIA, KARACHAY-CHERKESSIA 
 AND ADYGEA IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

The current level of development of Caucasian studies is the result of the work of professional scientists (archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, historians, philologists) and Amateur historians who studied the North Caucasus, identified, accumulated and analyzed the source base of research, formed historical knowledge about the region. The emergence of various trends in Caucasian studies. Active scientific societies and institutions of Moscow and the North Caucasus, individuals, lovers of antiquity and antiquity for the identification, collection, study and introduction into scientific circulation of sources in the pre-October period was a certain step in the organic incorporation of the North Caucasus into a single socio-cultural space of the country, facilitated inter-ethnic dialogue and understanding between the peoples of the Caucasus and Russia.
 In the present authors of this article, the period (early XX century) there were various groups of sources from which the reading public could learn interesting information about the traditional culture of the peoples of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea: bibliography (I. I. Dmitrienko, V. N. Haruzina, E. I. Yakushkin, D. K. Zelenin, D. D. Pagirev, E. D. Felitsyn, V. D. Shamrai, I. M. Pulner, etc.), continuing publications ("Caucasian calendar", "the Collection of materials for description of districts and tribes of Caucasus", "the Collection of information about the Caucasian mountaineers", etc.) materials periodicals ("Terek statements" (Vladikavkaz. 1895-1906), "Terek" (Vladikavkaz, 1906-1917), "Caucasus" (Tbilisi, 1846-1917), "Kazbek" (Vladikavkaz, 1895-1906), "the New review" (Tiflis, 1884-1906), North Caucasus (Stavropol, 1884-1906), "the Kuban regional Vedomosti" (Ekaterinodar, 1871-1917), materials published local intellectual communities, which had a regional focus, articles and essays of scholars on the Caucasus, representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, reference books and guides, etc.

프로 골퍼와 아마추어 골퍼의 골프 퍼팅 시 시선변화의 연구

[목적] 본 연구는 프로골퍼와 아마추어 골퍼의 퍼팅 시 시선변화의 차이를 실험을 통하여 확인하여 밝힘으로써 아마 추어 골퍼의 퍼팅 시 시선 동작을 연습하는 데 도움을 주고, 아마추어의 퍼팅 능력 향상을 위한 기초자료를 제공하 는 데 목적이 있다. [방법] 이를 위해 아마추어 골퍼 7명과 KPGA 프로 이상의 자격을 가진 7명의 프로 골퍼 등 총 14명이 실내 퍼팅그린에서 실험에 참여하였다. 시선변화를 측정하기 위한 아이트래킹 장비는 Tobii pro사의 Tobii Pro Glasses 2를 이용하여서 하였고, 퍼팅 결과는 QEP의 유무에 따라 Clevett의 퍼팅 검사를 응용하여 점수화하였다. 실험을 통해 도출된 자료는 SPSS 18.0을 통해 독립 t-test를 실시하였다. [결과] 도출된 결과를 살펴보면 QEP가 있는 집단에서 퍼팅 점수가 비교적 높게 나타났으며, 그중에서 QEP가 있는 프로 골퍼 집단에서 퍼팅 점수가 가장 높게 나왔다. [결론] 아마추어 골퍼는 시선변화에서 프로골퍼와 다르게 대부분 QEP가 없다는 점이 나타났다. 따라서 아마 추어 골퍼는 퍼팅 시 QEP를 응시하는 자신만의 루틴을 연습하여야 할 것이다.

Comparison of Diastolic Function in Professional Footballers and Amateur Sportsman

Comparison of Diastolic Function in Professional Footballers and Amateur Sportsman

Comparison of Adaptive Changes in The Right Ventricle Between Professional Footballers and Amateur Sportsman

Comparison of Adaptive Changes in The Right Ventricle Between Professional Footballers and Amateur Sportsman

Showcasing the National Museum of the Royal Navy's image collections

It has art and libraries, but it is not a traditional art library. The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) holds extensive imagery and art collections from across two hundred years, a range of locations and breadth of subject matter by professional and talented amateur artists. As a young museum we are discovering the shared heritage and scope of our collections, and the challenges of combining and exhibiting them from six constituent museums.