Do oarsmen have asymmetries in the strength of their back and leg muscles?

The aim of this study was to establish whether asymmetry of the strength of the leg and trunk musculature is more prominent in rowers than in controls. Nineteen oarsmen and 20 male controls matched for age, height and body mass performed a series of isokinetic and isometric strength tests on an isokinetic dynamometer. These strength tests focused on the trunk and leg muscles. Comparisons of strength were made between and within groups for right and left symmetry patterns, hamstring: quadriceps ratios, and trunk flexor and extensor ratios. The results revealed no left and right asymmetries in either the knee extensor or flexor strength parameters (including both isometric and isokinetic measures). Knee extensor strength was significantly greater in the rowing population, but knee flexor strength was similar between the two groups. No difference was seen between the groups for the hamstring: quadriceps strength ratio. In the rowing population, stroke side had no influence on leg strength. No differences were observed in the isometric strength of the trunk flexors and extensors between groups, although EMG activity was significantly higher in the rowing population. Patterns of asymmetry of muscle activity were observed between the left and right erector spinae muscles during extension, which was significantly related to rowing side (P < 0.01). These observations could be related to the high incidence of low back pain in oarsmen.     

父母外出务工与留守子女辍学——基于CHNS调查数据的经验分析

利用中国健康与营养调查(CHNS)数据,本研究对农村父母外出务工与留守子女初、高中阶段辍学行为之间的关系进行了实证分析。结果表明:父亲外出务工会显著降低留守子女初、高中阶段的辍学概率,母亲外出务工则会显著增加留守子女初中阶段的辍学概率。此外,免费义务教育政策的实施在较大程度上降低了留守子女的初、高中阶段的辍学概率;与那些父母受教育程度较低的留守子女相比,父母受教育程度越高的留守子女越不容易辍学;家庭子女数和机会成本会提高留守子女初中阶段辍学的概率。因此,为降低农村中学阶段子女辍学率,政府应当增加农村妇女当地就业机会以减少母亲外出的影响、推进户籍制度改革使随迁子女能获得同等的教育机会,并为高中阶段和多子女家庭提供教育补贴。     

Novel model reference adaptive control laws for improved transient dynamics and guaranteed saturation constraints

In classical model reference adaptive control (MRAC), the adaptive rates must be tuned to meet multiple competing objectives. Large adaptive rates guarantee rapid convergence of the trajectory tracking error to zero. However, large adaptive rates may also induce saturation of the actuators and excessive overshoots of the closed-loop system’s trajectory tracking error. Conversely, low adaptive rates may produce unsatisfactory trajectory tracking performances. To overcome these limitations, in the classical MRAC framework, the adaptive rates must be tuned through an iterative process. Alternative approaches require to modify the plant’s reference model or the reference command input. This paper presents the first MRAC laws for nonlinear dynamical systems affected by matched and parametric uncertainties that constrain both the closed-loop system’s trajectory tracking error and the control input at all times within user-defined bounds, and enforce a user-defined rate of convergence on the trajectory tracking error. By applying the proposed MRAC laws, the adaptive rates can be set arbitrarily large and both the plant’s reference model and the reference command input can be chosen arbitrarily. The user-defined rate of convergence of the closed-loop plant’s trajectory is enforced by introducing a user-defined auxiliary reference model, which converges to the trajectory tracking error obtained by applying the classical MRAC laws before its transient dynamics has decayed, and steering the trajectory tracking error to the auxiliary reference model at a rate of convergence that is higher than the rate of convergence of the plant’s reference model. The ability of the proposed MRAC laws to prescribe the performance of the closed-loop system’s trajectory tracking error and control input is guaranteed by barrier Lyapunov functions. Numerical simulations illustrate both the applicability of our theoretical results and their effectiveness compared to other techniques such as prescribed performance control, which allows to constrain both the rate of convergence and the maximum overshoot on the trajectory tracking error of uncertain systems.     

“系统动力学基础”本科课程教学思考与实践

"系统动力学基础"是系统科学理论与建模仿真实践紧密结合的一门课程。本文从课堂讲授、实验教学、答疑考核角度出发,提出在课堂讲授方面需要精心准备课件,激发学员的主体意识,综合运用多种教学方法;在实验教学方面需要正确认识实验教学的作用,精心设计理论验证型实验和实际应用型实验;在答疑考核方面需要师生互动,教学相长。最后探讨了课程实施遇到的问题以及改进提高的方法。     

Impact of age on haematological markers pre- and post-marathon running

This study investigated whether haematological markers differ between young and masters marathon participants, running at similar performance levels. Nine young (31.89 ± 4.96 years) and eight masters (63.13 ± 4.61 years) runners participated. At five time points (pre-race through 54 h post-race), a complete blood cell count, basic metabolic panel and creatine kinase (CK) isoenzyme panel were assessed. Race performance was standardised using the World Masters Association Age Grading Performance Tables. Total CK levels were elevated for all participants at all time points post-race (P < 0.001). The CK-isoenzyme MB% was elevated across groups at 6, 30 and 54 h post-race (P < 0.01, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05), with masters runners having a higher CK-MB% at 30 and 54 h (P < 0.05, P < 0.05). Total white blood cell and neutrophil counts were elevated through 6 h post-race (P < 0.001), with higher levels found in younger runners (P < 0.001). When considering all blood work, masters runners had a higher number of abnormal values at 6, 30 and 54 h post-race (P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05). In conclusion, masters runners demonstrated sustained CK-MB elevation, which may suggest greater cardiac stress. However, future studies using additional cardiac markers should be completed to confirm these findings. In addition, masters runners showed an increased number of laboratory values outside normal range, indicating the body’s reduced capacity to respond to marathon running.