In order to determine how female athletes and women’s sports are framed in sports magazines, a textual analysis was conducted on three popular sports magazines (ESPN Magazine, Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated). The researcher analyzed the texts within these three magazines and found four emergent themes commonly applied to women in sports: mental weakness, male reference, motherhood and sisterhood, and celebrity. The research found both consistencies and inconsistencies in the thematic framing utilized among the three publications. The textual analysis also revealed a tendency for the sports media to reference individual sports more than team sports. Knowing the exact frames utilized in these magazines, allows the researcher to suggest solutions that may alleviate the negative portrayals of female athletes and women's sports in sports magazines. The results from this study also provide a foundation for those who wish to further explore and raise awareness on this issue.

Internal control disclosures mandated by section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) are designed to provide information about a firm’s financial reporting quality and in doing so may offer information on firm-specific tax planning activities. Internal control weaknesses disclosed under SOX are frequently related to a firm’s tax function (Ge and McVay, 2005; Gleason, Pincus and Rego, 2010) and thus raise the question of whether or not these frequent problems affect corporate tax avoidance. In this thesis, I test hypotheses that tax-related disclosures, particularly those that contain company-level internal control weaknesses (ICWs), provide information with respect to long-run tax avoidance. Furthermore, I test hypotheses that the combination of internal control quality and aggressive tax avoidance aid in assessing shareholder returns. To conduct these tests, I collect and construct firm-level SOX disclosure data from 2004 to 2006 across 1,286 publicly-owned corporations. I begin with an empirical analysis of the association between tax avoidance and firm-level ICWs and generally find that the presence of tax ICWs and company-level tax ICWs constrain long-run tax avoidance. For firms with low cash constraints however, company-level tax ICWs appear to lead to an increase in tax avoidance. Nevertheless, subsequent analysis of monthly abnormal returns implies that the stock market reacts negatively to the disclosure of company-level tax ICWs, regardless of whether or not tax aggressiveness is also present. This thesis contributes to the literature by documenting the first evidence that internal control disclosures provide information regarding firm-level tax planning. Although the number of internal control weakness disclosures is decreasing over time, the availability of these SOX disclosures represents a previously unavailable opportunity to examine and further understand internal governance mechanisms within the firm and their influence on tax planning. In addition, this thesis further corroborates prior literature that argues for the importance of the pervasiveness of internal control weaknesses by showing that the pervasive, company-level tax internal control weaknesses are associated with tax avoidance and lower shareholder returns. Finally, my dissertation implies that the presence of tax internal control weaknesses constrains tax avoidance and thus a focus on improving internal controls could help improve the tax planning function. However, my firm-level analysis also implies that effective tax planning is a sustainable process and thus a firm and its stakeholders may require several periods before the full benefits of these improvements are realized.

Professional research project (Au.D.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 24 pages. / Includes bibliographical references. / ABSTRACT: The incidence data provided by previous investigations of peripheral vestibulopathy in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) are quite variable. This variability may be explained, in part, by the otologic history of the patients included in these studies. Specifically, patients with a prior history of other otologic disease and BPPV should be more likely to present with peripheral vestibulopathy than patients without no prior history of otologic disease and BPPV. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of peripheral vestibulopathy in these two groups of BPPV patients. Caloric responses were analyzed for two groups of patients with posterior canal BPPV, those with a positive history of otologic disease and those with a negative history of otologic disease. Data were analyzed retrospectively for 157 BPPV patients. Patients with a positive history of otologic disease exhibited a greater incidence of peripheral vestibulopathy than the negative history group. The positive history group, on average, also exhibited a larger unilateral weakness than those patients in the negative history group. We conclude that patients with BPPV and a prior history of otologic disease are more likely to present with peripheral vestibulopathy than patients with BPPV and no history of otologic disease. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study investigates whether disclosures of material weaknesses in a firm’s internal control over financial reporting are associated with lower investor perceived earnings quality. I measure investor perceived earnings quality by a market returns based representation of earnings quality called e-loading developed by Ecker et al. (2006). My empirical tests use sample firms that disclosed at least one material weakness from August 2002 to October 2005. The cross-sectional univariate analysis shows that firms disclosing internal control material weaknesses have lower investor perceived earnings quality than matched firms that disclose no internal control problems. However, further cross-sectional multivariate regression analysis reveals that after controlling for firm characteristics, only disclosures of company-level material weaknesses have an incremental impact on investor perceived earnings quality, while disclosures of the less pervasive account-specific material weaknesses do not have a measurable effect on perceived earnings quality. From intertemporal within-firm analysis, I find no evidence that firms experienced a change in their perceived earnings quality after their first disclosure of internal control material weaknesses as per SOX 302 or 404. In contrast, I find that firms experienced an increase in perceived earnings quality after they received their first unqualified SOX 404 audit report indicating remediation of previously disclosed material weaknesses. This suggests that, although investors did not find the initial SOX disclosures of internal control weaknesses to be incrementally informative, the legislation motivated firms to remediate weak controls; moreover, the SOX-induced improvement in weak internal controls enhanced investors’ perception of the offending firms’ financial reporting quality. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2009-12-17 11:41:11.323

Internal control disclosures mandated by section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) are designed to provide information about a firm’s financial reporting quality and in doing so may offer information on firm-specific tax planning activities. Internal control weaknesses disclosed under SOX are frequently related to a firm’s tax function (Ge and McVay, 2005; Gleason, Pincus and Rego, 2010) and thus raise the question of whether or not these frequent problems affect corporate tax avoidance. In this thesis, I test hypotheses that tax-related disclosures, particularly those that contain company-level internal control weaknesses (ICWs), provide information with respect to long-run tax avoidance. Furthermore, I test hypotheses that the combination of internal control quality and aggressive tax avoidance aid in assessing shareholder returns. To conduct these tests, I collect and construct firm-level SOX disclosure data from 2004 to 2006 across 1,286 publicly-owned corporations. I begin with an empirical analysis of the association between tax avoidance and firm-level ICWs and generally find that the presence of tax ICWs and company-level tax ICWs constrain long-run tax avoidance. For firms with low cash constraints however, company-level tax ICWs appear to lead to an increase in tax avoidance. Nevertheless, subsequent analysis of monthly abnormal returns implies that the stock market reacts negatively to the disclosure of company-level tax ICWs, regardless of whether or not tax aggressiveness is also present. This thesis contributes to the literature by documenting the first evidence that internal control disclosures provide information regarding firm-level tax planning. Although the number of internal control weakness disclosures is decreasing over time, the availability of these SOX disclosures represents a previously unavailable opportunity to examine and further understand internal governance mechanisms within the firm and their influence on tax planning. In addition, this thesis further corroborates prior literature that argues for the importance of the pervasiveness of internal control weaknesses by showing that the pervasive, company-level tax internal control weaknesses are associated with tax avoidance and lower shareholder returns. Finally, my dissertation implies that the presence of tax internal control weaknesses constrains tax avoidance and thus a focus on improving internal controls could help improve the tax planning function. However, my firm-level analysis also implies that effective tax planning is a sustainable process and thus a firm and its stakeholders may require several periods before the full benefits of these improvements are realized.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2009. / Thesis advisor: Dr. Catherine Peterson. The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. "May 2009" Includes bibliographical references.

Introdução. Pacientes portadores de diabetes mellitus tipo 2 (DM2) podem apresentar fraqueza da musculatura inspiratória. O efeito do treinamento muscular inspiratório (TMI) nesses pacientes ainda é desconhecido. Objetivos. Avaliar os efeitos do TMI sobre a força muscular inspiratória, a função pulmonar, a capacidade funcional e a modulação autonômica em pacientes com DM2 com fraqueza da musculatura inspiratória. Métodos. A pressão inspiratória máxima (PImáx) foi avaliada em uma amostra de 148 pacientes com DM2 da qual 25 pacientes com PImáx < 70% do previsto foram randomizados para um programa de 8 semanas de TMI diário (n=12) ou TMI-placebo (n=13). A PImáx, a função pulmonar, o consumo máximo de oxigênio e a variabilidade da freqüência cardíaca foram avaliados antes e após o TMI. Resultados. Do total de pacientes avaliados, 29,05% (43 pacientes) apresentaram fraqueza muscular inspiratória. O TMI aumentou significativamente a PImáx (118%) e a resistência muscular inspiratória (320%), sem alterar a função pulmonar, a capacidade funcional e a modulação autonômica. Conclusões. O TMI, em pacientes com DM2 e fraqueza dos músculos inspiratórios, aumentou significativamente a PImáx sem modificar a função pulmonar, a capacidade funcional e a modulação autonômica. / Introduction. Subject with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) can present weakness of the inspiratory muscle. The effect of the inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in these patients still is unknown. Objectives. To evaluate the effect of the IMT on the inspiratory muscle force, the pulmonary function, the functional capacity and the autonômica modulation in patients DM2 with weakness of the inspiratory muscle. Methods. The maximum inspiratory pressure (PImáx) was evaluated in a sample of 148 patients with DM2 of which 25 patients with PImáx < 70% of the foreseen one had been randomizeds for a program of 8 weeks of daily IMT (n=12) or IMT-placebo (n=13). The PImáx, the function pulmonary, the VO2 and the variability of the cardiac frequency had been evaluated before and after the IMT. Results. Of the total of evaluated patients, 29.05% (43 patients) had presented inspiratory muscle weakness. The IMT significantly increased the PImáx (118%) and the inspiratory muscle resistance (320%), without modifying the function pulmonary, the exercise capacity and the modulation autonomic. Conclusions. The IMT in patients with DM2 and weakness of the inspiratory muscles increased the PImáx without modifying the function pulmonary, the exercise capacity and the modulation autonomic significantly.

The Gluteus Medius and the Tensor Fascia Lata are two of the main muscles involved in the action of hip abduction. This action is important for both dynamic movements in athletic pursuits and in every day ambulation. Weakness in these muscles has been connected to multiple injuries in the lower limb, but the question of the casual relationship between gait change, hip abductor weakness, and lower limb injury is still up for debate. As presented by the current research, younger populations tend to have overuse injuries with females having a greater susceptibility for injuries connected to hip abductor weakness, and older populations tend to have injures related to atrophy and degeneration of either the hip abductor muscles or the joint surrounding the hip. Research in this field has increasingly focused on sub-sets of the populations, such as just females or just males, trying to pinpoint the role that hip abductor weakness plays in these injuries. By trying to minimize or even eliminate the confounding variables that have previously made it difficult to determine the role hip abductor weakness plays in these gait changes and injuries, these studies have been able to make more clear conclusions at the expense of making a broader generalization. Similarities and differences between how the sub-groups present with hip abductor weakness are discussed, as well as discrepancies observed within the research done on similar cohorts. Future directions for research in this field are discussed, as well as implications for clinical implementation of targeted rehabilitation programs to ensure the best possible outcomes.

O estudo consistiu em uma pesquisa ambiental visando o mapeamento e análise das fragilidades do ambiente na Sub-bacia Hidrográfica do Arroio Santa Isabel (SbHASI), baseando-se na metodologia de Ross (1994). A Bacia situa-se na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul, nos municípios de São Lourenço do Sul e Cristal, com uma área de aproximadamente 294 km², essencialmente relacionada às atividades do espaço rural. Nesta região são comuns as inundações decorrentes de precipitações acumuladas e eventos extremos, além de processos erosivos decorrentes de características do ambiente e do uso intenso dos solos através de atividades como agricultura e pecuária. A análise ambiental dividiu-se em diferentes etapas: caracterização de elementos do meio físico no âmbito regional; mapeamento e caracterização das principais unidades geológicas; mapeamento geomorfológico (padrão de formas semelhantes); análise das características pedológicas e mapeamento dos solos; resgate e análise do processo histórico de ocupação da área de estudo e arredores; análise da evolução da cobertura vegetal e usos da terra através de imagens de satélite dos anos de 1987, 1995 e 2010. A área de estudo está inserida em duas unidades morfoesculturais do RS: a morfoescultura Planalto Uruguaio Sul-rio-grandense constituída de rochas do pré-cambriano, tendo um relevo colinoso, com altitude máxima de 205 m, composto principalmente por Argissolos e Neossolos; a morfoescultura Planície e Terras Baixas Costeiras é constituída por sedimentos quaternários da Planície Costeira, esta possui baixas declividades e é composta basicamente por Planossolos e Gleissolos. A ocupação da área de estudo está diretamente relacionada ao relevo, tendo sido ocupada primeiramente pelos portugueses, nas áreas de planície através do sistema de sesmarias, adquirindo grandes propriedades, que hoje estão associadas ao plantio de arroz e soja e à pecuária. Em um segundo momento de ocupação (a partir de 1850), os imigrantes Pomeranos adquiriram pequenas propriedades nas áreas do planalto, que atualmente está associada ao plantio de fumo, de milho e agricultura de subsistência. Ao final da pesquisa dividiu-se a área de estudo em sistema de vertentes e interflúvios e em sistema fluvial, para entendimento das fragilidades referentes à erosão e inundação respectivamente. No setor de vertentes e interflúvios foram encontradas três classes hierárquicas de fragilidade: Fraca (34,26%), média (61,26%) e forte (4,51%). No sistema fluvial foram encontradas cinco classes hierárquicas de fragilidade: muito fraca (21,52 %), fraca (4,43 %), média (35,56 %), forte (13,39 %) e muito forte (25,10 %), sendo constatada influência antrópica nas fragilidades de ambos os sistemas. A metodologia demonstrou ser um importante instrumento de ordenamento territorial, condizendo com a realidade encontrada nos trabalhos de campo. / This study consisted of an environmental research aiming at mapping and analysis of the weaknesses of the sub-watershed of the Santa Isabel brook (SbHASI), based on Ross methodology (1994). The watershed is located in the Rio Grande do Sul- RS southern region, at São Lourenço do Sul and Cristal counties, with a totally rural area of about 294 km². Floods due to extreme events and accumulated rain are very common in this region, adding erosive processes due to environmental characteristics and from the intensive soil usage through agriculture and livestock activities. The environmental analysis were divided in different stages: characterization of the regional physical medium; mapping and characterization of the main geological units; geomorphological mapping (similar shape pattern); pedological characteristics analysis and soil mapping; recovery and analysis of the historical process of occupation of the study area and vicinity; analysis of the evolution of land cover and land usage through satellite images of the years 1987, 1995 and 2010. The studied area is included in two morfosculptural units from RS. The Uruguaio Sul-rio-grandense plateau is made of precambrian rocks, with a hilly topography, and a 205 m maximum height, composed basically by Argisols and Neosols. The morfosculpture Plain and coastal lowland is made of quaternaries sediments from Coastal plain, presenting low declivity and composed by planosols and gleysols. The studied area occupation is directly related to the topography, had been first occupied by the portugueses, in the plain areas through the sesmarias system, acquiring large properties, which today are associated with the planting of rice and soybeans, and livestock. In a later occupation (from 1850), the Pomerans immigrants acquired small holdings in the areas of the plateau, which is currently associated with the planting of tobacco, corn and subsistence agriculture. At the end of the study the area were divided into slope and interfluves system and waterway system, to understand the weakness related to erosion and flood respectively. In the slope and interfluves sector three hierarchical classes of frailty were found: Weak (34,26%), medium (61,26%)and strong (4,51%). In the fluvial system five hierarchical classes of frailty were found: very weak (21,52 %), weak (4,43 %), medium (35,56 %), strong (13,39 %) and very strong (25,10 %), and found human influence on the weaknesses of both systems. The methodology proved to be an important tool for land use, consistent with the reality in the field.

A fraqueza muscular inspiratória pode estar presente em 30 a 50 % dos pacientes ambulatoriais com insuficiência cardíaca crônica, com implicações na qualidade de vida e prognóstico. Entretanto, não está claro quais características clínicas e comportamentais que estariam associadas a essa disfunção. Além disso, como não estão claros os mecanismos moleculares que conduzem a disfunção do diafragma. Parâmetros contráteis incluindo força de contração máxima, força passiva e cinética de pontes cruzadas podem estar alterados em pacientes com IC, e podem estar associados a FMI. Esta tese investigou, primeiramente, determinantes da FMI em comparação com a fraqueza muscular periférica (preensão manual), em pacientes com ICC. Neste estudo foram avaliadas variáveis clínicas, antropométricas e comportamentais destes pacientes. Os resultados demonstraram que apenas aproximadamente 50 % da FMI pode ser explicada pelas variáveis analisadas. Além disso, as variáveis associadas à fraqueza de preensão manual não são diferentes das encontradas em sujeitos saudáveis (gênero e idade). Entretanto, a força inspiratória máxima pode estar associada com marcadores de capacidade funcional do paciente. Em seguida, foram investigadas propriedades contráteis, ativas e passivas de miofibrilas de músculo cardíaco e diafragma, em um novo modelo animal de camundongos com insuficiência cardíaca desenvolvida por knockout para arginilação cardíaco-específica. Resultados do músculo cardíaco demonstram compatibilidade com a disfunção contrátil encontrada em humanos com insuficiência cardíaca congestiva, tais como redução da contração máxima, redução da força passiva e redução da cinética de relaxamento. Entretanto, nos resultados do músculo diafragma, encontramos aumento da força de contração máxima, o que pode sugerir uma mudança adaptativa compensatória associada ao aumento do trabalho inspiratório associado à insuficiência cardíaca crônica. Em conclusão, menos de 50 % da variância da força muscular inspiratória pode ser explicada por variáveis clínicas e comportamentais de pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca crônica. Em um modelo animal de insuficiência cardíaca que resulta em diminuição da contratilidade de cardiomiofibrilas, observa-se aumento da contratilidade das miofibrilas do diafragma, sugerindo que a fraqueza muscular inspiratória associada à insuficiência cardíaca crônica não seja secundária à disfunção contrátil da musculatura inspiratória. / The inspiratory muscle weakness may be present in 30-50% of outpatients with chronic heart failure, with implications for the quality of life and prognosis. However, it is unclear what clinical and behavioral characteristics that would be associated with this dysfunction. Moreover, as are unclear the molecular mechanisms leading to dysfunction of the diaphragm. Contractile parameters including contraction force maximum passive force and kinetics of cross-bridges can be altered in patients with HF, and may be associated with the IMF. This thesis investigated, firstly, the determinants of IMF in comparison to peripheral muscle weakness (handgrip) in patients with CHF. We evaluated clinical, anthropometric and behavioral disorders in these patients. The results showed that only about 50% of IMW can be explained by the variables. Furthermore, the variables associated with weakness of grip are not different from those found in healthy subjects (gender and age). However, maximum inspiratory force may be associated with markers of patient's functional capacity. Next, we investigated the contractile properties, assets and liabilities of myofibrils of cardiac muscle and diaphragm in an animal model of mice with heart failure developed by knockout arginilação cardiac-specific. Results show compatibility with the cardiac muscle contractile dysfunction found in human with congestive heart failure, such as reduction of maximum contraction, reduction and reduction of the passive force relaxation kinetics. However, the results of the diaphragm, we found increased maximum force of contraction, which may suggest a compensatory adaptive changes associated with increased inspiratory work associated with chronic heart failure. In conclusion, less than 50% of the variance in inspiratory muscle strength can be explained by behavioral and clinical variables of patients with chronic heart failure. In an animal model of heart failure that results in decreased contractility cardiomyofibrils, there was an increase in contractility of the diaphragm myofibrils, suggesting that inspiratory muscle weakness associated with chronic heart failure is not secondary to contractile dysfunction of the respiratory muscles.